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