Monday, July 16, 2012

The White Knight's Sugar Loaf Helmet


From the script:

"ALICE. What a curious helmet you've got! Is that your invention too?

WHITE KNIGHT. (Looking down proudly at his helmet, which hangs from the saddle.) Yes, but I've invented a better one than that--like a sugar loaf. When I used to wear it, if I fell off the horse, it always
touched the ground directly. So I had a very little way to fall, you see--But there was the danger of falling into it, to be sure. (Solemnly.) That happened to me once--and the worst of it was, before I could get out again, the other White Knight came and put it on. He thought it was his own helmet."

p. 60

So what is a sugar loaf?

A sugarloaf was the traditional form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process that saw the dark molasses-rich raw sugar refined into white sugar.

(mawer.clara.net/usefularts.html)




No comments:

Post a Comment