‘I wonder why it wouldn’t do?’
thought Alice,
as she groped her way
among the tables and chairs,
for the shop was very dark
towards the end.
‘The egg seems to get further away
the more I walk towards it.
Let me see, is this a chair?
Why, it’s got branches, I declare!
How very odd to find
trees growing here!
And actually
here’s a little brook!
Well, this is the very queerest shop
I ever saw!
Ukraine and ‘Mordor’.
Have accused each other.
Of breaching a 30-hour.
“Easter truce”.
“Easter truce”.
Announced by ‘the One’.
On Saturday.
Which has now expired.
So she went on,
wondering more and more
at every step,
as everything turned into a tree
the moment she came up to it,
and she quite expected
the egg to do the same.
the egg to do the same.
There were mixed reactions.
About the 30-hour truce.
From ‘elves’ attending.
Easter morning services.
In Kyiv and.
The ‘orcs’-occupied city.
Of Donetsk.
On Sunday.
“I do not think.
‘The One’ has anything to do.
With humanity.”
A 45-year-old lawyer said.
However, the egg only got
larger and larger,
and more and more human:
when she had come
within a few yards of it,
she saw that it had eyes
and a nose and mouth;
and when she had come close to it,
Meanwhile in Donetsk.
Which has been under.
‘Orcs’ control.
Since 2014.
Residents expressed.
Similar distrust that.
‘Gandalf the Green’ will stick.
To the terms of the ceasefire.
she saw clearly
that it was
HUMPTY DUMPTY himself.
‘It can’t be anybody else!’
she said to herself.
‘I’m as certain of it,
as if his name were
written all over his face.’
“I watched very closely.
‘Gandalf the Green’’s reactions.”
Said a man, who attended.
An Easter morning service in the city.
“There was nothing about the ceasefire…
Just some vague statements.
Not giving any confidence.
That we will not be shelled.”
It might have been written
a hundred times, easily,
on that enormous face.
Humpty Dumpty was sitting
with his legs crossed,
like a Turk,
on the top of a high wall
– such a narrow one
‘Gandalf the Green’ said.
‘Orcs’ troops had violated.
The ceasefire nearly 3,000 times.
Since the start of Sunday.
‘Mordor’’s defence ministry said.
It had “repelled” assaults by Ukraine.
And accused Kyiv of launching.
Hundreds of drones and shells.
that Alice quite wondered
how he could keep his balance –
and, as his eyes were steadily
fixed in the opposite direction,
and he didn’t take
the least notice of her,
she thought he must be
a stuffed figure after all.
Meanwhile, the US President.
– who has been pushing for.
An end to the war –
Said that “hopefully.”
“‘Mordor’ and Ukraine.
Will make a deal.
This week”.
Without giving further details.
‘And how exactly like an egg
he is!’ she said aloud,
standing with her hands ready
to catch him,
standing with her hands ready
to catch him,
for she was every moment
expecting him to fall.
‘Mordor’ launched.
A full-scale invasion.
Of Ukraine.
On 24 February.
2022.
And currently controls.
About 20%.
‘Elves’ territory.
Including the southern.
Crimea peninsula.
Annexed by ‘Mordor’.
In 2014.
It is estimated that.
Hundreds of thousands of people.
– the vast majority.
Of them soldiers –
Have been killed.
Or injured.
On all sides.
Since 2022.
So she went on,
wondering more and more
at every step,
as everything turned into a tree
the moment she came up to it,
and she quite expected
the egg to do the same.
the egg to do the same.
Last month.
Moscow came up with.
A long list of conditions.
In response to.
A full and unconditional ceasefire.
That had been agreed by.
That had been agreed by.
The US and Ukraine.
‘And how exactly like an egg
he is!’ she said aloud,
standing with her hands ready
to catch him,
standing with her hands ready
to catch him,
for she was every moment
expecting him to fall.
On Saturday.
‘The One’ said.
There would be an end.
To all hostilities.
From 18:00 Moscow time.
On Saturday.
Until midnight.
On Sunday.
Kyiv said.
It would also adhere.
Kyiv said.
It would also adhere.
‘It’s very provoking,’
Humpty Dumpty said
after a long silence,
looking away from Alice
as he spoke,
‘to be called an egg – very!’
‘I said you looked like an egg, Sir,’
Alice gentry explained.
“For this period.
I order all.
Military actions to cease.”
‘The One’ said in his announcement.
“We assume that the ‘elves’ side.
Will follow our example.
At the same time.
Our troops must be ready.”
“To repel possible violations.
Of the truce and provocations.
From the enemy.
Any of its aggressive actions.”
‘And some eggs are very pretty,
you know,’ she added,
hoping to turn her remark
into a sort of compliment.
‘Some people,’
said Humpty Dumpty,
looking away from her as usual,
‘have no more sense than a baby!’
However, ‘Gandalf the Green’.
Said late on Sunday that.
There was a total of.
1,882 cases.
There was a total of.
1,882 cases.
Of ‘orcs’ shelling.
812 of which.
Involved heavy weaponry.
According to a report.
From Commander-in-Chief.
Of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Alice didn’t know
what to say to this:
it wasn’t at all like
conversation, she thought,
as he never said anything to her;
in fact, his last remark
was evidently addressed to a tree
– so she stood and softly repeated to herself:
‘Gandalf the Green’ said.
The heaviest shelling.
And assaults were.
In eastern Ukraine.
Near the besieged city.
Of Pokrovsk.
A key logistics hub.
In the Donetsk region.
“The nature of ‘elves’ actions.
Will continue to be mirrored:
We will respond to silence.
With silence.”
“Our strikes will be.
To protect against ‘orcs’ strikes.”
“The nature of ‘elves’ actions.
Will continue to be mirrored:”
Give me an egg, nuncle,
and I’ll give thee two crowns.
What two crowns
shall they be?
Why, after I have cut the egg
i’ the middle,
and eat up the meat,
the two crowns of the egg.
Earlier in the day.
Earlier in the day.
He said that “there were.
No air raid alerts today”.
Referring to ‘orcs’.
Daily drone and.
Missile strikes.
Against Ukraine.
When thou clovest thy crown
i’ the middle,
and gavest away
both parts,
thou borest thy ass
on thy back
o’er the dirt:
thou hadst little wit
He proposed “to cease.
Any strikes using long-range.
Drones and missiles.
On civilian infrastructure.”
“For a period of.
At least 30 days.
With the possibility.
Of extension”.
in thy bald crown,
when thou gavest
thy golden one away.
thy golden one away.
If I speak like
myself in this,
let him whipped that
first finds it so.
‘Gandalf the Green’ also said.
‘The One’’s declaration.
Of a truce amounted to.
A “PR” exercise.
And his words were “empty”.
He also accused the Kremlin.
Of trying to create.
“A general impression of a ceasefire”.
‘Are there many crabs here?’
said Alice.
‘Crabs, and all sorts of things,’
said the Sheep:
‘plenty of choice,
only make up your mind.
Now, what do you want to buy?’
‘To buy!’ Alice echoed
“This Easter has clearly.
Demonstrated that.
The only source.
Of this war.”
“And the reason.
It drags on.
Is ‘Mordor’.”
‘Gandalf the Green’ said.
in a tone that was
half astonished
and half frightened
– for the oars,
and the boat, and the river,
had vanished all in a moment,
and she was back again
in the little dark shop.
The ‘Mordor’’s defence ministry insisted.
Its troops had “strictly observed.
The ceasefire”.
Meanwhile, the ‘Mordor’’s.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.
Accused Ukraine of using.
US-supplied Himars missiles.
During the ceasefire.
‘I should like to buy
an egg, please,’
she said timidly.
‘How do you sell them?’
‘Fivepence farthing for one
– twopence for two,’
the Sheep replied.
‘Then two are cheaper than one?’
Several hours before.
The truce expired.
The Kremlin spokesman said.
‘The One’ had not given an order.
‘The One’ had not given an order.
To extend it.
The surprise ceasefire announcement.
Came shortly after.
The US President threatened.
To “take a pass”.
On brokering further.
‘Mordor’-Ukraine peace talks.
Alice said in a surprised tone,
taking out her purse.
‘Only you must eat them both,
if you buy two,’ said the Sheep.
‘Then I’ll have one, please,’
said Alice, as she put
the money down on the counter.
For she thought to herself,
However, a state department.
Spokesperson said.
On Sunday that.
Washington remained.
“Committed to achieving.
A full and comprehensive ceasefire”.
“Committed to achieving.
A full and comprehensive ceasefire”.
“It is long past time.
To stop the death.
And destruction.
And end this war.”
‘They mightn’t be
at all nice, you know.’
‘They mightn’t be
at all nice, you know.’
The Sheep took the money,
and put it away in a box:
then she said, ‘I never put
things into people’s hands
On Sunday.
The British government described.
The proposed ceasefire.
As a “one day stunt”.
Saying that the claimed truce.
Involved “violations.
Including the killing and wounding.
Of more innocent ‘elves’”.
– that would never do –
you must get it for yourself.’
And so saying,
she went off
to the other end
of the shop,
and set the egg
upright on a shelf.
The US has been directly.
Talking to ‘Mordor’.
As part of its efforts.
To end the war.
But has struggled.
To make major progress.
On Friday.
The Secretary of State said.
The US was not “going.
To continue with this endeavour.
For weeks and months on end”.
As it had “other priorities to focus on”.
“We need to determine.
Very quickly now.
– and I’m talking about.
A matter of days –”
“Whether or not this is doable.
If it’s not going to happen.
Then we’re just going.
To move on.”
‘I wonder why it wouldn’t do?’
thought Alice,
as she groped her way
among the tables and chairs,
for the shop was very dark
towards the end.
‘The egg seems to get further away
the more I walk towards it.
Let me see, is this a chair?
Why, it’s got branches, I declare!
How very odd to find
trees growing here!
And actually
here’s a little brook!
Well, this is the very queerest shop
I ever saw!
*Because I read “Ukraine and Russia report fighting as ‘Easter truce’ ends” by Lucy Clarke-Billings & Jaroslav Lukiv on 21 Apr 2025, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem, including a story of Olena and a story of Vladimir, led by ‘KING LEAR’ written by William Shakespeare and ‘THROUGH the LOOKING-GLASS’ written by Lewis Carroll, you know.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
