the title and first line of a traditional nursery rhyme . The first verse is:
The Queen of Hearts
She made some tarts,
All on a summer’s day;
The Knave of Hearts
He stole the tarts,
And took them clean away. Characters from the poem appear in Alice in Wonderland , where a trial is held at which the knave (= the jack in a pack of cards) is accused of stealing the tarts (= pastries with jam inside).