A Tribute to
Jabberwocky

BY LEWIS CARROLL

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
      And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
      The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
      The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand;
      Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
      And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
      The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
      And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
      The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
      He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
      Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
      He chortled in his joy.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
      And the mome raths outgrabe.

I was born a bandersnatch, but was unaware of it for some time; the Brillig and Slithy Toves had no clue as well for many years, and I gyre'd and gimboled freely amongst them for awhile. But as I grew, my differences became more apparent, I desired to become frumious. My parents, insensed for having produced such offspring, exiled me to live with the Jabberwocky, across the swamp. Banished.

Through rites and trials I became acceptable to the Jabberwocky, gyring and gimboling amongst the Jubjub birds, the jabberwocky, and one other bandersnatch like myself. Over the years, with so few of my own kind, I became more frumious and more like the Jubjub, and less like the jabberwocky, until one day, the elder bandersnatch gave me an irrefusable quest: to recover that which separated me from the Jubjub. Forced back to the Brillig to find my lost attributes. Banished once again.

As I traveled the swamp, the Jubjub's queried me, and wished me success in my quest; promising a warm welcome upon my return. And as I travelled, I realized that were I to remain frumious, it would most likely mean my demise and a certain failure of my quest, disappointing those whom had faith in me, who depended upon me. And so I hid my frumious nature, disguising myself as brillig, and seeking out the most certain and expedient means to restore myself to balance. And it almost worked.

One brillig soused my jubjub nature, hidden within, realizing that I was in fact a bandersnatch, hiding in plain sight. His discovery terrified me, not knowing and expecting the typical responses, I felt my very existence was about to end; but this brillig was unlike most. He 'saw' me, and was not offended. Point of fact he befriended me and we became closer than brothers, he heard my heart, and I his.

The village wherein I had be born, received a message from our king. In a distant land, evil jabberwockies had lain waste to vast stretches of another kingdom, who were allies of our own. Brilligs of our land rallied to the king's summons and made the journey to lend our strength to aid the kingdom in peril. All manner of brillig were assembled, warriors, wizards, spies; and with my disguise in place, I was kept amongst the warriors, and my friend.

One day, we received orders to help transport a wizard and a spy deep into the lands held by the evil jabberwocky. The wizard and the spy took places in the rear of the carriage, and my friend, knowing of my frumious nature, took the guardian's place by my side as I drove through the wilderness towards our destination.

The day was beautiful, wispy clouds scuttled across an azure sky, the gentle breeze wafting a warm rush, the scent of pine and flowers, grasses and nature herself caressing every inch of our being. So peaceful one couldst scarcely believe there was evil afoot. My guardian took center stage, reviling us with tales and amusements to pass the time. His smile could melt the Siberian ice, the tones of his voice, smooth and resonating as a string quartet, the sounds of the carriage rumbling easily along the two tracks of the road.

Suddenly, at a place that held no distinction and no designation, came the roars of a jabberwocky! My guardian fell from the carriage! And it was by instinct alone that I tipped the carriage to it's side to afford us some small protection. More roars from the jabberwocky! The spy and the wizard moved to flank the beast, while I was to keep its focus on myself. My guardian was no where to be seen.

Over and over the jabberwocky roared, seemingly in random directions like an insane tornado. I roared back at him to keep his attention as best I could, and I heard the wizard casting his spells. Silence took the jabberwocky, and we approached cautiously. Still, there was no sign of my guardian.

We reached the top of the small rise, wherein the jabberwocky had hidden; the spy, the wizard, and I rejoining at the corpse of the beast. I looked on in puzzlement, this did not look at all like the jabberwockies I had known, instead it more resembled the brillig I had been amongst. Its attire more of brillig nature, its weaponry of a different kind than I had seen in my youth.

As the wizard and spy crouched to examine the corpse more closely, I rose to scout the vista in hopes to find my guardian; to no avail. In a panic, I rushed back to the carriage; and not seeing him there, I ran back along the roadway from whence we had come. And there, along the dusty path I found him. His body splayed out as a broken doll, blood covering everything, and bits of his flesh festooned the brush like desecrated ornaments to a god of pain and death.

My knees collapsed, and I slid down the embankment wrapping my guardian in my arms. Sobs wracked my body as my mind screamed epithets at the Creator, demanding answers I would never get. The jabberwocky had taken my guardian's head.

I don't know how long I was frozen in sobs and despair, pain lancing through my heart and my soul, screaming in my head to the Creator to allow me to exchange places with my friend. I witnessed the spy and wizard, dragging the body of the jabberwocky down the rise and toss the corpse against the ruined carriage. A look of satisfaction and disdain riding their features.

They came to where I despaired, clutching the remains of my closest friend. Showing no concern, they ripped his body from my grasp, slinging his still form across the shoulders of the spy. Still in shock, and wracked with loss and grief the wizard prodded me aggressively to stand.

His words were curses, covering me in a dust of transformation, changing my pain and grief into hate and anger, revealing that somehow he too has soused my nature. He transformed me with his curses, his vile magic, I was no longer just a warrior, I was now the vorpal sword, relishing in dispensing death and dismay amongst the jabberwocky of this land. Prideful in my reputation as a bringer of death. Hundreds had I slain, 25 with a single roar.

I would have gladly been Death's Scythe forever, basking in the accolades of the brillig, and feeding off the fear of the jabberwocky, until one day, whilst I was preparing to add yet another notch to my record, a most unusual sight did befall me. A young brillig, not yet a decade old, had done a thing no other had been capable of. He came upon me unaware. I was in no danger from him, but he had found one of my devices to dissuade pursuit.

If so much as an over zealous breeze had interacted with my device, the resulting roar would carry for miles. The boy would be naught but a stain of red amongst the brush; but the sound would warn the jabberwocky of the impending trap, leading him to escape. I could roar at the young brillig, but that would still allow the escape of the jabberwocky. I could not allow that to happen. It would mean the jabberwocky would be aware of being the target, of where I was located, and it would destroy my reputation. It would put more brillig in harm's way.

With seemingly no choice, I leapt upon the lad as a cougar on a rabbit, and as gently as I could, I sent the boy to God. To my position I returned, waiting for the 'fly' to enter my 'web'. Voices clamored in my mind, asking questions I could not answer; "why was there a child in a war zone, why was he acceptably dressed rather than in rags, how did he find my device?"

The reek of his fear was surrounding me, piss and more wafted all about as I watched my 'fly' approach. And for the second time since I had picked up a weapon, I missed my target with the first shot. And for the first time ever, my second shot missed, too. There was no time to try a third, a swarm of jabberwocky guardians was now intent on my demise or capture. I fled, pausing only long enough to deploy my pursuit dissuaders twice, leaving corpses and wounded behind me to fertilize the forest. Using my tricks and training I managed to escape, the flying carriage collected me and delivered me back to our encampment.

That night, I strived to rid myself of the young brillig's fear, but gallons of water and buckets of soap couldn't remove the stench. My ego broken, so many unanswered questions, and the inescapable stench drove me to acquire illicit beverage, seeking to drown away the doubts and shame. Well into my 4th bottle, blackness finally took me, at that point I don't believe I desired to awaken again.

As happens, escape is never an easy thing. I awoke, with my head throbbing, and not thinking clearly enough, I began asking those unanswered questions of my superiors, of the spies and of the wizards. Questions they deemed to be not mine to ask nor answers to be due. Within the day they had me headed back to the the wabe. I was no longer the vorpal sword. It would be many years before the truth was revealed that the allied kingdom had lied to gain our participation, there were no jabberwockies, the truth was that brilligs had been fighting a despotic king, seeking to preserve their freedoms from tyranny and slavery.

I was however, not released from my self imposed obligation to our king. Tales of me questioning our valor for our part in that far off land, and rumors concerning my frumious nature sent ripples of animosity through the ranks, it became clear that they desired to make me break my oath, and thus become an object example to others who may wish to be released from their own oaths prematurely. I refused to give them the satisfaction, no matter what denigration they heaped upon me. I had studied their code of honor deeply, and learned means to keep the worst of their efforts away.

Eventually, my honor was restored, and I was released from my oath of service. Seems my inner brillig had never truly been lost, I sought to return to the jabberwocky, but to my dismay, they were gone; and with no clue as to where. I was marooned amongst the brillig and the slithy toves; and with the hatred they held against frumious bandersnatches, simply being myself was a likely death sentence. So I hid myself in plain sight, learning the ways of brillig, pretending to be one of them... for so, so long...

For nearly three decades I hid, always worried that someone would find out my deception. Eventually, the pressures of hiding became so great that even death seemed a better alternative. However, as time passed, as it always does, the fear and hate of the jubjub, the jabberwocky, and even the bandersnatch, grew dimmer. More and more the brillig, and especially the slithy toves realized that we were all just people, not monsters. I conquered my fears, and allowed my disguise to fall away, to be myself. And while there are still some that shun the frumious bandersnatches, they have become the minority, and today we can all gyre and gimbol in the wabe.

www.wikipedia.jabberwocky

p.s. the 'experts' got it wrong