Amidst blaring trumpets, it was not long before the guards had escorted Tintin inside the castle and into a dark purple and bright red courtroom. "Get in there, boy!" a guard of spades exclaimed, releasing Tintin from the chains and thrusting him forward to a booth facing the King and Queen's thrones. Beside them lay a desk, where a stork wearing large spectacles sat in front of a typewriter.
Professor Calculus then burst in, blowing his horn in the process. Right after straightening himself, he announced, "Ahem! Huh...Your Majesty, members of the jury...loyal subjects..." "Ahem!" the King said, clearing his throat.
The Professor sighed. "And the king," he said once more. Then, he announced, "The prisoner at the bar...is hereby charged with enticing his majesty to a game of croquet, and thereby willfully..." "But wait, I..." Tintin started to say, but was cut off by the Queen shouting, "SILENCE!" Tintin then sealed his mouth shut.
"...and with malice aforethought," the Professor continued, "teasing, tormenting, and otherwise annoying arb..." "Enough of that!" the Queen ordered. "Skip to the part where I lose my temper." "Oh dear..." Professor calculus sighed, then said, "...thereby causing the queen to lose her temper." He then took a deep breath as he had said this.
"Now, ha ha, then," the Queen said, smirking deviously at Tintin. "My boy, are you ready for your sentence?" "Sentence?" Tintin gulped. "B-But, there has to be some kind of verdict first!" "Sentence first!" the Queen exclaimed. "The verdict after." "That's not how it goes!" Tintin said. "That's not the way!" "All ways are my..." the Queen reminded Tintin. "Ugh...Your ways, Your Majesty. I get it," Tintin sighed.
"That's right, my dear," the Queen said. "Now...Off with his...!" "But wait, my dear!" the King said. "Consider, my darling. Um...we have not called any witnesses. Couldn't we, erm...maybe just one or two? Maybe?" "Oh, very well then. But make it quick!" the Queen said.
"Now...First witness! First witness!" the King announced. "We will now call our first witness." "The March Hare!" the Professor announced. Pretty soon, two guards entered, escorting Chang into the courtroom. At least that was enough to give Tintin a small ray of hope.
"Oh! Oh...Now sir," Professor Calculus asked Chang, "what do you know about this, em...unfortunate affair?" "Me? I know nothing!" Chang replied. "Nothing whatsoever?" the Queen questioned. "Nope. Nothing whatever!" Chang said. "That's important! Jury, write that down," the Queen said as the stork began tapping away at his typewriter.
"Um, unimportant, erm...what your majesty means, of course, is..." Tintin started to say, but the Queen ut him off, shouting, "Silence! Next witness!" "Next witness is...the Dormouse!" Two othe guards brought forth Adbullah, who was still in a lazy state. "Well then..." the Queen said, but the guards quickly shushed her, for Abdullah was still sleepy.
"Now...what do you have to say about this crime?" the Queen asked. "Iiii...twinkle twinkle, little bat, how I wonder..." "Ah, that's the most important piece of evidence we have heard yet!" the Queen said. "Write that!" The stork then began tapping away, writing, "Twinkle twinkle twinkle twinkle twinkle twinkle..." "Twinkle twinkle...What next?" Tintin pressed on.
"Next witness: The Mad Hatter!" Professor Calculus announced. At that moment, a guard escorted Yan forward. "Ah! Ha ha he he he!" Yan was laughing. But the Queen found no humor in her laughter, briefly shouting, "You! Off with your hat!"
"Hmm? Oh! Oh my..." Yan said, slowly removing her hat. "And, erm...where were you when this terrible crime was committed?" the King asked Yan. "Ah well, I was just at home, drinking tea," Yan giggled. "You know, today is my unbirthday!"
"Oh! My goodness!" the King said, turning to the Queen. "Why, my dear! Today is YOUR unbirthday too!" "It is?" the Queen asked, quite surprised. "It is?!" Yan and Chang both asked gleefully. "It is?" all the guards in the courtroom asked. "Well, in that case..." Yan said. Soon, she and Chang, along with the castle guards all started singing, "Aaaaaa...very merry unbirthday!" "To me?" the Queen asked. "To you!" "To you!" everyone else sang.
Tintin could only watch hopelessly as the not-so-planned-out party began to unfold. "No no no, this wasn't supposed to happen!" Tintin muttered.
"A very merry unbirthday!" everyone sang. "For me?" the Queen asked again. "For you!" Yan said, plopping a giant birthday cake in front of the Queen. "Now blow the candle off, my dear, and make your wish come true! Ha ha!" "A very merry unbirthday...To you!" everyone in the whole courtroom chanted as the cake exploded, leaving behind an extravagant crown atop the Queen's head.
As Tintin perked his head up, he noticed that the crown had transformed...into the Cheshire Cat!" "Aha! Your Majesty!" Tintin shouting, pointing to the Queen's head. "Yes, my dear?" The Queen asked. "Look, there she is! The Cheshire Cat!" "Her?" The Queen asked, turning to find no cat. "Where? Who?"
"The Cheshire Cat!" Tintin said, pointing to the Cheshire Cat as she reappeared. "A cat?" the Queen asked. "Cat? Cat?!" Abdullah panicked. "Cat! Cat cat cat cat!" "Wait! Hang on, hang on!" Chang exclaimed. "No, this is terrible!" Yan said. "Cat cat cat cat!" Adbullah cried out. "Help! Help!" Yan cried out.
By then, Abdullah was running around, screaming, "Cat! Cat!" "Catch him! Go for it!" the King cried out. "Catch him!" Yan said. "Give him the jam!" "The jam!" the King ordered. "Get the jam! By order of the king!" "The jam!" Yan cried out, bringing a jar of jam forward and trying to spread it on Abdullah's mouth.
"Let me have it!" the Queen exclaimed, seizing the jar. "Someon's head is going to ROLL for this! Aha ha ha!" Tintin could see this trial was going nowhere. "No, this is really serious!" Tintin mumbled under his breath. "Now how am I gonna-huh?"
As he put his hand in his right pocket, he felt something. He took the object out, revealing it to be a piece of mushroom. "Aha! The mushroom!" Tintin whispered. Then, he quickly realized that he was holding the piece of mushroom that made him grow giant. He had an idea. Instead of just taking a small bite, Tintin popped the whole mushroom in his mouth and began chewing it, eventually swallowing it in one gulp.
"Now then!" the Queen said, practically heating up. "Of with his he-whaaaaa...?" "Hey, Your Majesty!" a voice bellowed. The Queen looked up and gave a gasp of horror. Tintin had grown to gigantic size, towering over the Queen, King, and the guards. The castle guards were practically screaming for their lives.
"Well, what do you know?" Tintin said, his voice seeming to echo through the entire courtroom. "I'm not scared of any of you!" A group of guards began running, but were halted as Tintin picked them up by a handful. "And I see clearly now!" Tintin said, picking up each guard and letting them float to the ground. "You guys are just nothing but a simple pack of cards!"
"Erm...Rule forty-two: all persons more than a mile high must be asked to leave the court immediately!" a frightened King stammered, trying to grasp Tintin's height. "For your information, I'm not a mile high!" Tintin said. "And I am not going!"
"Ah ah ah! Truly sorry, my boy!" the Queen sneered. "Rule forty-two! That's the rule, you know!"
"And as for you, Your Majesty!" Tintin seemed to thunder. "Huh, Your Majesty indeed!" He then took the mushroom in his left hand and popped in his mouth, swallowing it whole. "You, my queen," Tintin said as he started to shrink, "the way I see it...you're not a queen at all! You are just nothing but a fat...pompous...bad-tempered...old..."
By the time Tintin shrank down to the size of a tiny rock, he shouted, "TYRANT!" However, the Queen still remained ignorant. "Hmmm hm hm hm hm," she muttered, smiling devilishly. "And, uh..." she asked, looking down upon a now tiny Tintin, "what were you saying, boy?"
"Ooh! How about I tell you?" a voice asked. Tintin looked up and gasped; the Cheshire Cat reappeared atop the Queen's head! "No no no, don't say!" Tintin pleaded. "Well, he simply said..." the Cheshire Cat started to say. "No please! No!" Tintin begged.
"He simply said that you are not a queen, and that you are just nothing but a fat, pompous, bad-tempered, old tyrant! Haha!" the Cheshire Cat had told the Queen.
Now the Queen was full-on enraged. "Well, that settles it!" she exploded. "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" "You heard your majesty!" the King cried out. "Off with his head!"
"Off with his head! Off with his head!" the guards were chanting. Tintin sensed he was in terrible danger and started running away as the castle guards swarmed all around him, chasing him.