Martin Gardner sadly makes no comment on this in his "Annotated Snark" - I personally think the wordplay on "lace" and "fringe" is a good enough pun in itself.
I like the two lines above this stanza, too: But the Beaver went on making lace, and displayed No interest in the concern: Typical lacemaker, it's got better things to occupy itself with (Carroll never specifies whether the beaver is male or female, although I think it's female - it seems to be the only intelligent one in the crew, to go on making lace while everyone else prances about, and it's the only one of the crew who partners up with someone). Noelene in Cooma [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nlafferty/ > > What do you think Lewis Carroll was talking about in the poem when referring > to the lace making beaver, he said: > > Though the Barrister tried to appeal to its pride > And vainly proceeded to cite > A number of cases, in which making laces > Had been proved an infringement of right > > I'm supposing that there might be some word play intended with "fringe" but > I think there must be more to it than that. > > Devon - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
