2.4 The Croquet Ground
A game played with flamingos and hedgehogs, under management that does not tolerate losing
Introduction
The Queen of Hearts plays croquet on a ground where the mallets are live flamingos, the balls are live hedgehogs, and the hoops are live soldiers who wander off whenever they get bored. There are no rules — or if there are, no one observes them, and the Queen quarrels constantly and orders everyone’s execution between strokes. Above the field, the Cheshire Cat materializes just enough to comment on the proceedings; the Queen tries to have it beheaded, but discovers that without a body, the question is technically unprecedented.