ALICE'S
ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
Lewis Carroll
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- CHAPTER
I
- Down
the Rabbit-Hole
- Alice
was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister
on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice
she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but
it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is
the use of a book,' thought Alice `without pictures or
conversation?'
- So she
was considering in her own mind (as well as she could,
for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid),
whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be
worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies,
when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by
her.
- There
was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice
think it so VERY much out of the way to hear the Rabbit
say to itself, `Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!' (when
she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that
she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it
all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually
TOOK A WATCH OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT- POCKET, and looked at
it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for
it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen
a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to
take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran
across the field after it, and fortunately was just in
time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the
hedge.
- In
another moment down went Alice after it, never once
considering how in the world she was to get out again.
- The
rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way,
and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had
not a moment to think about stopping herself before she
found herself falling down a very deep well.
- Either
the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she
had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and
to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried
to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it
was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the
sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with
cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps
and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one
of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled `ORANGE
MARMALADE', but to her great disappointment it was empty:
she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing
somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards
as she fell past it.
- `Well!'
thought Alice to herself, `after such a fall as this, I
shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave
they'll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say
anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the
house!' (Which was very likely true.)
- Down,
down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! `I
wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?' she said
aloud. `I must be getting somewhere near the centre of
the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles
down, I think--' (for, you see, Alice had learnt several
things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and
though this was not a VERY good opportunity for showing
off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her,
still it was good practice to say it over) `--yes, that's
about the right distance--but then I wonder what Latitude
or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what
Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were
nice grand words to say.)
- Presently
she began again. `I wonder if I shall fall right THROUGH
the earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among the
people that walk with their heads downward! The
Antipathies, I think--' (she was rather glad there WAS no
one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the
right word) `--but I shall have to ask them what the name
of the country is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New
Zealand or Australia?' (and she tried to curtsey as she
spoke--fancy CURTSEYING as you're falling through the
air! Do you think you could manage it?) `And what an
ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No,
it'll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up
somewhere.'
- Down,
down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon
began talking again. `Dinah'll miss me very much
to-night, I should think!' (Dinah was the cat.) `I hope
they'll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah my
dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no
mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat,
and that's very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat
bats, I wonder?' And here Alice began to get rather
sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort
of way, `Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?' and
sometimes, `Do bats eat cats?' for, you see, as she
couldn't answer either question, it didn't much matter
which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off,
and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in
hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, `Now,
Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?' when
suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of
sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.
- Alice
was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a
moment: she looked up, but it was all dark overhead;
before her was another long passage, and the White Rabbit
was still in sight, hurrying down it. There was not a
moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and was
just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, `Oh
my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!' She was
close behind it when she turned the corner, but the
Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she found herself in a
long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps
hanging from the roof.
- There
were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked;
and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up
the other, trying every door, she walked sadly down the
middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again.
- Suddenly
she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of
solid glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden
key, and Alice's first thought was that it might belong
to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either the
locks were too large, or the key was too small, but at
any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the
second time round, she came upon a low curtain she had
not noticed before, and behind it was a little door about
fifteen inches high: she tried the little golden key in
the lock, and to her great delight it fitted!
- Alice
opened the door and found that it led into a small
passage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down
and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden
you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark
hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers
and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her
head though the doorway; `and even if my head would go
through,' thought poor Alice, `it would be of very little
use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could shut up
like a telescope! I think I could, if I only know how to
begin.' For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had
happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very
few things indeed were really impossible.
- There
seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she
went back to the table, half hoping she might find
another key on it, or at any rate a book of rules for
shutting people up like telescopes: this time she found a
little bottle on it, (`which certainly was not here
before,' said Alice,) and round the neck of the bottle
was a paper label, with the words `DRINK ME' beautifully
printed on it in large letters.
- It was
all very well to say `Drink me,' but the wise little
Alice was not going to do THAT in a hurry. `No, I'll look
first,' she said, `and see whether it's marked
"poison" or not'; for she had read several nice
little histories about children who had got burnt, and
eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things, all
because they WOULD not remember the simple rules their
friends had taught them: such as, that a red-hot poker
will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you
cut your finger VERY deeply with a knife, it usually
bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink
much from a bottle marked `poison,' it is almost certain
to disagree with you, sooner or later.
- However,
this bottle was NOT marked `poison,' so Alice ventured to
taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a
sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard,
pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered
toast,) she very soon finished it off.
- * * * *
* * *
- * * * *
* *
- * * * *
* * *
- `What a
curious feeling!' said Alice; `I must be shutting up like
a telescope.'
- And so
it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her
face brightened up at the thought that she was now the
right size for going through the little door into that
lovely garden. First, however, she waited for a few
minutes to see if she was going to shrink any further:
she felt a little nervous about this; `for it might end,
you know,' said Alice to herself, `in my going out
altogether, like a candle. I wonder what I should be like
then?' And she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle
is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not
remember ever having seen such a thing.
- After a
while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided on
going into the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice!
when she got to the door, she found she had forgotten the
little golden key, and when she went back to the table
for it, she found she could not possibly reach it: she
could see it quite plainly through the glass, and she
tried her best to climb up one of the legs of the table,
but it was too slippery; and when she had tired herself
out with trying, the poor little thing sat down and
cried.
- `Come,
there's no use in crying like that!' said Alice to
herself, rather sharply; `I advise you to leave off this
minute!' She generally gave herself very good advice,
(though she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she
scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her
eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears
for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was
playing against herself, for this curious child was very
fond of pretending to be two people. `But it's no use
now,' thought poor Alice, `to pretend to be two people!
Why, there's hardly enough of me left to make ONE
respectable person!'
- Soon
her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under
the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small
cake, on which the words `EAT ME' were beautifully marked
in currants. `Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, `and if it
makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it
makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so
either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care
which happens!'
- She ate
a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, `Which way?
Which way?', holding her hand on the top of her head to
feel which way it was growing, and she was quite
surprised to find that she remained the same size: to be
sure, this generally happens when one eats cake, but
Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing
but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite
dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way.
- So she
set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter
II
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