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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 The Pool of Tears
`Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for
the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English); `now I'm
opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!' (for
when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of sight,
they were getting so far off). `Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put
on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears? I'm sure _I_ shan't be
able! I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you: you
must manage the best way you can; --but I must be kind to them,' thought
Alice, `or perhaps they won't walk the way I want to go! Let me see: I'll
give them a new pair of boots every Christmas.'
And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it. `They must
go by the carrier,' she thought; `and how funny it'll seem, sending presents
to one's own feet! And how odd the directions will look!
ALICE'S RIGHT FOOT, ESQ.
HEARTHRUG,
NEAR THE FENDER,
(WITH ALICE'S LOVE).
Oh dear, what nonsense I'm talking!'
Just then her head struck against the roof of the hall: in fact she was now
more than nine feet high, and she at once took up the little golden key and
hurried off to the garden door.
Poor Alice! It was as much as she could do, lying down on one side, to look
through into the garden with one eye; but to get through was more
hopeless than ever: she sat down and began to cry again.
`You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' said Alice, `a great girl like you,'
(she might well say this), `to go on crying in this way! Stop this moment, I
tell you!' But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of tears, until
there was a large pool all round her, about four inches deep and reaching
half down the hall.
After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance, and she
hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the White Rabbit
returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand
and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great hurry,
muttering to himself as he came, `Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess! Oh! won't
she be savage if I've kept her waiting!' Alice felt so desperate that she was
ready to ask help of any one; so, when the Rabbit came near her, she
began, in a low, timid voice, `If you please, sir--' The Rabbit started
violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan, and skurried away into
the darkness as hard as he could go.
Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept
fanning herself all the time she went on talking: `Dear, dear! How queer
everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder
if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got
up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different.
But if I'm not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah,
THAT'S the great puzzle!' And she began thinking over all the children she
knew that were of the same age as herself, to see if she could have been
changed for any of them.
`I'm sure I'm not Ada,' she said, `for her hair goes in such long ringlets,
and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all; and I'm sure I can't be Mabel, for I
know all sorts of things, and she, oh! she knows such a very little! Besides,
SHE'S she, and I'm I, and--oh dear, how puzzling it all is! I'll try if I know
all the things I used to know. Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four
times six is thirteen, and four times seven is--oh dear! I shall never get to
twenty at that rate! However, the Multiplication Table doesn't signify: let's
try Geography. London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of
Rome, and Rome--no, THAT'S all wrong, I'm certain! I must have been
changed for Mabel! I'll try and say "How doth the little--"' and she crossed
her hands on her lap as if she were saying lessons, and began to repeat it,
but her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the
same as they used to do:--
`How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
`How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcome little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!'
`I'm sure those are not the right words,' said poor Alice, and her eyes filled
with tears again as she went on, `I must be Mabel after all, and I shall
have to go and live in that poky little house, and have next to no toys to
play with, and oh! ever so many lessons to learn! No, I've made up my
mind about it; if I'm Mabel, I'll stay down here! It'll be no use their putting
their heads down and saying "Come up again, dear!" I shall only look up
and say "Who am I then? Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that
person, I'll come up: if not, I'll stay down here till I'm somebody else"--but,
oh dear!' cried Alice, with a sudden burst of tears, `I do wish they WOULD
put their heads down! I am so VERY tired of being all alone here!'
As she said this she looked down at her hands, and was surprised to see
that she had put on one of the Rabbit's little white kid gloves while she was
talking. `How CAN I have done that?' she thought. `I must be growing
small again.' She got up and went to the table to measure herself by it, and
found that, as nearly as she could guess, she was now about two feet high,
and was going on shrinking rapidly: she soon found out that the cause of
this was the fan she was holding, and she dropped it hastily, just in time to
avoid shrinking away altogether.
`That WAS a narrow escape!' said Alice, a good deal frightened at the
sudden change, but very glad to find herself still in existence; `and now for
the garden!' and she ran with all speed back to the little door: but, alas! the
little door was shut again, and the little golden key was lying on the glass
table as before, `and things are worse than ever,' thought the poor child,
`for I never was so small as this before, never! And I declare it's too bad,
that it is!'
As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another moment, splash!
she was up to her chin in salt water. Her first 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 a number of bathing machines in the sea, some children
digging in the sand with wooden spades, then a row of lodging houses, and
behind them a railway station.) However, she soon made out that she was
in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high.
`I wish I hadn't cried so much!' said Alice, as she swam about, trying to
find her way out. `I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being
drowned in my own tears! That WILL be a queer thing, to be sure!
However, everything is queer to-day.'
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 she remembered how small she was
now, and she soon made out that it was only a mouse that had slipped in
like herself.
`Would it be of any use, now,' thought Alice, `to speak to this 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 this pool? I am very tired of swimming about
here, O Mouse!' (Alice thought this must be the right way of speaking to a
mouse: she had never done such a thing before, but she remembered
having seen in her brother's Latin Grammar, `A mouse--of a mouse--to a
mouse--a mouse--O mouse!' The Mouse looked at her rather inquisitively,
and seemed to her to wink with one of its little eyes, but it said nothing.
`Perhaps it doesn't understand English,' thought Alice; `I daresay it's a
French mouse, come over with William the Conqueror.' (For, with all her
knowledge of history, Alice had no very clear notion how long ago anything
had happened.) So she began again: `Ou est ma chatte?' which was the
first sentence in her French lesson-book. The Mouse gave a sudden leap out
of the water, and seemed to quiver all over with fright. `Oh, I beg your
pardon!' cried Alice hastily, afraid that she had hurt the poor animal's
feelings. `I quite forgot you didn't like cats.'
`Not like cats!' cried the Mouse, in a shrill, passionate voice. `Would YOU
like cats if you were me?'
`Well, perhaps not,' said Alice in a soothing tone: `don't be angry about it.
And yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah: I think you'd take a fancy to
cats if you could only see her. She is such a dear quiet thing,' Alice went
on, half to herself, as she swam lazily about in the pool, `and she sits
purring so nicely by the fire, licking her paws and washing her face--and
she is such a nice soft thing to nurse--and she's such a capital one for
catching mice--oh, I beg your pardon!' cried Alice again, for this time the
Mouse was bristling all over, and she felt certain it must be really offended.
`We won't talk about her any more if you'd rather not.'
`We indeed!' cried the Mouse, who was trembling down to the end of his
tail. `As if I would talk on such a subject! Our family always HATED cats:
nasty, low, vulgar things! Don't let me hear the name again!'
`I won't indeed!' said Alice, in a great hurry to change the subject of
conversation. `Are you--are you fond--of--of dogs?' The Mouse did not
answer, so Alice went on eagerly: `There is such a nice little dog near our
house I should like to show you! A little bright-eyed terrier, you know, with
oh, such long curly brown hair! And it'll fetch things when you throw them,
and it'll sit up and beg for its dinner, and all sorts of things--I can't
remember half of them--and it belongs to a farmer, you know, and he says
it's so useful, it's worth a hundred pounds! He says it kills all the rats and--
oh dear!' cried Alice in a sorrowful tone, `I'm afraid I've offended it again!'
For the Mouse was swimming away from her as hard as it could go, and
making quite a commotion in the pool as it went.
So she called softly after it, `Mouse dear! Do come back again, and we
won't talk about cats or dogs either, if you don't like them!' When the
Mouse heard this, it turned round and swam slowly back to her: its face
was quite pale (with passion, Alice thought), and it said in a low trembling
voice, `Let us get to the shore, and then I'll tell you my history, and you'll
understand why it is I hate cats and dogs.'
