意为为什么乌鸦像写字台（没提到嘴）。对此作者给出了答案，他在1896年版《爱丽丝梦游仙境》新序中写到： Enquiries have been so often addressed to me, as to whether any answer to the Hatter's Riddle can be imagined, that I may as well put on record here what seems to me to be a fairly appropriate answer, viz. 'Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!' This, however, is merely an afterthought: the Riddle, as originally invented, had no answer at all. 常有人向我打听疯帽匠的谜题可有解，我就给一个自认为贴切的答案，即“Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!”。但这仅是后来所想，原本并无答案。 这个答案不好翻译，里面暗含双关和文字游戏。前半句Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat是说乌鸦可以发出一些叫声（note），不过很单调（flat），同时note又是笔记的意思，flat又是扁平的意思，所以又可以理解为在写字台上可以写一些笔记，不过很扁平，这是乌鸦和写字台的第一个共同点。后半句and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front是说写字台永远不会被倒过来放，同时注意作者故意把never（永不）拼错成nevar，而nevar倒过来就是raven（乌鸦）。