Bill the Lizard is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. He appears in the chapter “The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill.” Bill is a gardener who works for the White Rabbit, along with his friend Pat.
Despite the lack of description of Bill’s appearance in the text, illustrator John Tenniel depicts Bill as a green, scaly lizard with a long tail. The Annotated Alice, an annotated version of the original novel, suggests that Bill is a blue-tailed skink, based on a species of lizard commonly found in England.
Bill is best known for his role in the chimney episode, where the White Rabbit sends him down the chimney to remove the supposed monster (Alice, who has grown to an enormous size after drinking from a bottle). Bill succeeds in climbing down the chimney, but when he reaches Alice, she kicks him back out, causing him to fly out of the chimney and into the Rabbit’s garden. The Annotated Alice also suggests that Pat and another guinea pig revive Bill after he comes out of the chimney.
Bill the Lizard has been a popular character in adaptations of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, appearing in numerous films, TV shows, and other media. The character has been depicted in a variety of ways, ranging from a comedic, bumbling figure to a more sinister and creepy character.
Overall, Bill the Lizard is a notable character in the world of Alice in Wonderland, and continues to be a beloved and recognizable character for fans of the original novel and its adaptations.