Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat

The Mad Hatter reciting, with the Dormouse next to him, as illustrated by John Tenniel

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat" is a verse recited by the Mad Hatter in chapter seven of Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It is a parody of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".^[1]

Text

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!
Up above the world you fly,
Like a teatray in the sky.^[2]

Context

The Hatter is interrupted in his recitation by the Dormouse. "The Bat" was the nickname of Professor Bartholomew Price, one of the Dons at Oxford, a former teacher of Carroll's and well known to Alice Liddell's family.^[1]

References

1. Gardner, Martin (1998). The Annotated Alice. Random House. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-517-18920-7.
2. Carroll, Lewis (1867). Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. London: Macmillan. p. 103.