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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland -- Chapter I
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.
White Rabbit checking watch
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.
Alice finding tiny door behind curtain
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.
Alice taking "Drink Me" bottle
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.