Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland
By Lewis Carroll
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a work of children’s literature
by the English mathematician and author, Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson,
written under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of a girl named
Alice who falls down a rabbit-hole into a fantasy realm populated by talking
playing cards and anthropomorphic creatures. The tale is fraught with satirical
allusions to Dodgson’s friends and to the lessons that British schoolchildren
were expected to memorize. The Wonderland described in the tale plays with
logic in ways that has made the story of lasting popularity with children as
well as adults. The book is often referred to by the abbreviated title Alice
in Wonderland. This alternate title was popularized by the numerous film
and television adaptations of the story produced over the years. Some printings
of this title contain both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its
sequel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.
Source: Carroll, L. (1865). Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland. London: MacMillan Publishing Co.
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 through 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.
http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/1/alices-adventures-in-wonderland/1/chapter-i-down-the-rabbit-hole/
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