Mock Turtle he was a Turtle the Mock Turtle answers, "We called him tortoise because he taught us!" ('tortoise' and 'taught us' both being pronounced <tɔːtʊs> in Carroll's dialect). To say that the Mock Turtle's name is a pun on the name of the soup is incomplete. The Tenniel illustration of the Mock Turtle specifically depicts it as a collection of creatures that make up the ingredients of mock turtle soup; they are not random. The pun is not only of the name, but of the nature of the soup itself. Traditionally, mock turtle soup takes the parts of a calf that
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass (2001 Adrian Mitchell stage adaptation) the miserable mock turtle, who is miserable because has nothing to be miserable about. The two reminisce about their schooldays under the sea and introduce Alice to a dance and a song called the Lobster Quadrille ("The Lobster Quadrille"). After an argument about the song, the Mock Turtle decides to distract the Gryphon and Alice by singing another, this time about soup ("Beautiful Soup"). A fanfare is heard and the White Rabbit scurries onstage, announcing that the trial is beginning. The Gryphon refuses to tell Alice any more information regarding the trial and drags her away from the seashore. Meanwhile,