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 stick 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 to 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 to even get her head thought he 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 or 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 your 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
though 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 he 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 Alive, - 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,
