A character in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll. Alice meets the HAtter, the March Hare and the Dormouse at a tea-party at a table under the tree. Uninvted , she joins them and becomes embroiled in a truly mad conversation full of puns and other nonsense with more than a soupcon of meaning. "It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life!" concluded the befuddled Alice. Nevertheless, a mad hatter is logically not mad, at all.
The Cheshire Cat:
Alice first sees the Cheshire Cat in the Duchess's pepper-filled kitchen. The only two creatures who do not sneeze are t he cook and a "large cat, which was lying on the hearth and grinning from ear to ear". Later, Alice notices the cat sitting on the bough of a tree, grinning and looking good natured.
A conversation between the two ensues, in the midst of which the cat abruptly vanishes and reappears several times:
"...I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly; you make me quite giddy!"
"All right," said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly beginning with the end of it's tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.
"Well, I've often seen a cat without a grin", thought Alice; "but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life!"
To say a person looks like a Cheshire Cat is to say that he or she is grinning from ear to ear, looking mysterious and feeling quite pleased with himself or herself.
Queen of Hearts:
Is a character in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) who, when crossed in any way, screams "Off with his head!" or "Off with her head!" Although everybody is condemned, nobody is ever executed. At the end of the trial of the Knave of Hearts who stole the tarts, all the characters turn into a pack of cards, which come fluttering down upon Alice as she wakes from her dream of Wonderland.
'The Queen of Hearts' refers to a somewhat mad, arbitary ruler or judge.
