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and when she had tired herself out with trying, `
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the poor little thing sat down and cried. `
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`Come, there's no use in crying like that!' said Alice to `
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herself, rather sharply; `I advise you to leave off this minute!' `
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She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very `
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seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so `
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severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she remembered `
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trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game `
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of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious `
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child was very fond of pretending to be two people. `But it's no `
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use now,' thought poor Alice, `to pretend to be two people! Why, `
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there's hardly enough of me left to make ONE respectable `
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person!' `
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Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under `
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the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on `
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which the words `EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants. `
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`Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, `and if it makes me grow larger, `
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I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep `
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under the door; so either way I'll get into the garden, and I `
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don't care which happens!' `
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She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, `Which `
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way? Which way?', holding her hand on the top of her head to `
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feel which way it was growing, and she was quite surprised to `
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find that she remained the same size: to be sure, this generally `
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happens when one eats cake, but Alice had got so much into the `
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way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, `
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that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the `
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common way. `
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So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake. `
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* * * * * * * `
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* * * * * * `
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* * * * * * * `
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CHAPTER II `
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The Pool of Tears `
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`Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so much `
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surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good `
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English); `now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that `
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ever was! Good-bye, feet!' (for when she looked down at her `
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feet, they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so `
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far off). `Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put on `
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your shoes and stockings for you now, dears? I'm sure _I_ shan't `
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be able! I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself `
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about you: you must manage the best way you can; --but I must be `
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kind to them,' thought Alice, `or perhaps they won't walk the `
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way I want to go! Let me see: I'll give them a new pair of `
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boots every Christmas.' `
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And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it. `
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`They must go by the carrier,' she thought; `and how funny it'll `
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seem, sending presents to one's own feet! And how odd the `
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directions will look! `
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ALICE'S RIGHT FOOT, ESQ. `
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HEARTHRUG, `
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NEAR THE FENDER, `
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(WITH ALICE'S LOVE). `
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Oh dear, what nonsense I'm talking!' `
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Just then her head struck against the roof of the hall: in `
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fact she was now more than nine feet high, and she at once took `
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up the little golden key and hurried off to the garden door. `
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`
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Poor Alice! It was as much as she could do, lying down on one `
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side, to look through into the garden with one eye; but to get `
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through was more hopeless than ever: she sat down and began to `
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cry again. `
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`You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' said Alice, `a great `
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girl like you,' (she might well say this), `to go on crying in `
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this way! Stop this moment, I tell you!' But she went on all `
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the same, shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool `
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all round her, about four inches deep and reaching half down the `
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hall. `
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After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the `
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distance, and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. `
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It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a `
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pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the `
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other: he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to `
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himself as he came, `Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess! Oh! won't she `
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be savage if I've kept her waiting!' Alice felt so desperate `
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that she was ready to ask help of any one; so, when the Rabbit `
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came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, `If you please, `
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sir--' The Rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid `
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gloves and the fan, and skurried away into the darkness as hard `
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as he could go. `
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Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very `
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hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: `
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`Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday `
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things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in `
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the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this `
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morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little `
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different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, Who in `
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the world am I? Ah, THAT'S the great puzzle!' And she began `
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thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age `
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as herself, to see if she could have been changed for any of `
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them. `
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`I'm sure I'm not Ada,' she said, `for her hair goes in such `
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long ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all; and I'm `
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sure I can't be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she, `
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oh! she knows such a very little! Besides, SHE'S she, and I'm I, `
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and--oh dear, how puzzling it all is! I'll try if I know all the `
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things I used to know. Let me see: four times five is twelve, `
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and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is--oh dear! `
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I shall never get to twenty at that rate! However, the `
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Multiplication Table doesn't signify: let's try Geography. `
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London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of Rome, `
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and Rome--no, THAT'S all wrong, I'm certain! I must have been `
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changed for Mabel! I'll try and say "How doth the little--"' `
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and she crossed her hands on her lap as if she were saying lessons, `
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and began to repeat it, but her voice sounded hoarse and `
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strange, and the words did not come the same as they used to do:-- `
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`
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`How doth the little crocodile `
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Improve his shining tail, `
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And pour the waters of the Nile `
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On every golden scale! `
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`How cheerfully he seems to grin, `
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How neatly spread his claws, `
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And welcome little fishes in `
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With gently smiling jaws!' `
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`I'm sure those are not the right words,' said poor Alice, and `
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her eyes filled with tears again as she went on, `I must be Mabel `
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after all, and I shall have to go and live in that poky little `
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house, and have next to no toys to play with, and oh! ever so `
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many lessons to learn! No, I've made up my mind about it; if I'm `
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Mabel, I'll stay down here! It'll be no use their putting their `
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heads down and saying "Come up again, dear!" I shall only look `
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up and say "Who am I then? Tell me that first, and then, if I `
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like being that person, I'll come up: if not, I'll stay down `
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here till I'm somebody else"--but, oh dear!' cried Alice, with a `
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sudden burst of tears, `I do wish they WOULD put their heads `
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down! I am so VERY tired of being all alone here!' `
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As she said this she looked down at her hands, and was `
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surprised to see that she had put on one of the Rabbit's little `
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white kid gloves while she was talking. `How CAN I have done `
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that?' she thought. `I must be growing small again.' She got up `
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and went to the table to measure herself by it, and found that, `
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as nearly as she could guess, she was now about two feet high, `
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and was going on shrinking rapidly: she soon found out that the `
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cause of this was the fan she was holding, and she dropped it `
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hastily, just in time to avoid shrinking away altogether. `
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`That WAS a narrow escape!' said Alice, a good deal frightened at `
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the sudden change, but very glad to find herself still in `
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existence; `and now for the garden!' and she ran with all speed `
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back to the little door: but, alas! the little door was shut `
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again, and the little golden key was lying on the glass table as `
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before, `and things are worse than ever,' thought the poor child, `
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`for I never was so small as this before, never! And I declare `
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it's too bad, that it is!' `
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As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another `
`
moment, splash! she was up to her chin in salt water. Her first `
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idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea, `and in that `
`
case I can go back by railway,' she said to herself. (Alice had `
`
been to the seaside once in her life, and had come to the general `
`
conclusion, that wherever you go to on the English coast you find `
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a number of bathing machines in the sea, some children digging in `
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the sand with wooden spades, then a row of lodging houses, and `
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behind them a railway station.) However, she soon made out that `
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she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine `
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feet high. `
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`I wish I hadn't cried so much!' said Alice, as she swam about, `
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trying to find her way out. `I shall be punished for it now, I `
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suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That WILL be a queer `
`
thing, to be sure! However, everything is queer to-day.' `
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`
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Just then she heard something splashing about in the pool a `
`
little way off, and she swam nearer to make out what it was: at `
`
first she thought it must be a walrus or hippopotamus, but then `
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she remembered how small she was now, and she soon made out that `
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it was only a mouse that had slipped in like herself. `
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`Would it be of any use, now,' thought Alice, `to speak to this `
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mouse? Everything is so out-of-the-way down here, that I should `
`
think very likely it can talk: at any rate, there's no harm in `
`
trying.' So she began: `O Mouse, do you know the way out of `
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this pool? I am very tired of swimming about here, O Mouse!' `
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(Alice thought this must be the right way of speaking to a mouse: `
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