Thanks in part to the Walt Disney Corporation…

…. most of you are familiar with the stories of Alice in Wonderland and Beauty and the Beast.

What most of you don’t know is that these two stories are connected by White Rabbit, who visited Beast’s castle on the way to the hole near Alice’s house. In fact, right outside the castle, the rabbit was running and, rather embarrassingly, fell headlong into the mud.

Keep in mind that White Rabbit was a high officer of a rather powerful monarch and a standing Court. He thought nothing of approaching Beast’s large castle and asking for help. If you’ve seen the curiosities and wonders of the Red Queen’s lands, you’ll anticipate that White Rabbit wasn’t fazed when a dancing duster answered the door.

With haste and flourish, he recounted his trouble and asked that the castle’s distinguished ruler take mercy on him and provide him with a bath and a change of clothing. The duster brought him to Lumière who reminded his master of a standing treaty. Beast, too dejected and detached to allow his anger to rise, didn’t even look at White Rabbit and gave a quiet approval.

The White Rabbit took a great, long bath and had never felt so clean.

It turned out that none of Lumière’s clothing fit White Rabbit so the walking candlestick brought the rabbit to Cogsworth. Cogworth brought the rabbit to his room and said, hushed, that he was more than willing to lend him clothing but that it would require White Rabbit keep his darkest secret. Being high officer of a rather powerful monarch and a standing Court, White Rabbit was used to secrets and was able to quell the poor clock’s worry.

Cogsworth’s secret, it turned out, was that he preferred ladies’ undergarments to men’s. This was hardly a secret in White Rabbit’s mind. Cogsworth should only hear some of the card guard’s secrets… the Red Queen would have their heads! But, familiar with bunny trails and not wanting to go down this particular one, White Rabbit donned the clock’s underthings as a gesture of good faith. Cogsworth blushed but his fears were assuaged: his secret remained safe and he was able to aid a fellow agent in need.

While White Rabbit was changing, Cogsworth (as an additional favour) had the rabbit’s pocket watch cleaned thoroughly, wound properly, and reset to the proper time. But in a moment of brain lapse he set the watch to local time and not to Wonderland time and completely forgot to inform the rabbit!

So they kept each other company to the large banquet room that we know from the film where White Rabbit was treated to a more-than-adequate meal and performance. The cabaret would have given any show in France a run for its money. And White Rabbit, partly out of respect for his hosts and partly out of sheer amusement lost track of time. But then, catching a glimpse of his pocket watch, stood up straight on his back paws, announced that he was late for a very important date, and sprang out the door while still wearing Cogsworth clothing!

He ran and bounced. This is where he caught up with Alice and if you’re interested, I highly recommend L. Carroll’s thorough account of this part of the story.

White Rabbit didn't have a chance to check a proper clock until long after his return to Wonderland. So it turned out that he had arrived to his destination after all, just in the knickers of time.