Lewis Carroll - Alices Adventures in Wonderland

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sisteron the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she hadpeeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had nopictures or conversations in it, &O;and what is the use of a book,&C;thought Alice &O;without pictures or conversation?&C;

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could,for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whetherthe pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the troubleof getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a WhiteRabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alicethink it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say toitself, &O;Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!&C; (when she thoughtit over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to havewondered 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 toher feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had neverbefore seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch totake out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across thefield after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it popdown a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

In another moment down went Alice after it, never onceconsidering 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 amoment to think about stopping herself before she found herselffalling down a very deep well.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for shehad plenty of time as she went down to look about her and towonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to lookdown and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark tosee anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, andnoticed that they were filled with cupboards and bookshelves;here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. Shetook down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it waslabelled &O;Orange Marmalade&C;, but to her great disappointment itwas empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killingsomebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as shefell past it.

&O;Well!&C; thought Alice to herself, &O;after such a fall as this, Ishall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'llall think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it,even if I fell off the top of the house!&C; (Which was very likelytrue.)

Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end! &O;Iwonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?&C; she said aloud.&O;I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Letme see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think&D;&C; (for,you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in herlessons in the schoolroom, and though this was not a very goodopportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one tolisten to her, still it was good practice to say it over) &O;&D;yes,that's about the right distance&D;but then I wonder what Latitudeor Longitude I've got to?&C; (Alice had no idea what Latitude was,or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words tosay.)

Presently she began again. &O;I wonder if I shall fall rightthrough the earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among thepeople that walk with their heads downward! The Antipathies, Ithink&D;&C; (she was rather glad there Was no one listening, thistime, as it didn't sound at all the right word) &O;&D;but I shallhave to ask them what the name of the country is, you know.Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?&C; (and she triedto curtsey as she spoke&D;fancy curtseying as you're fallingthrough the air! Do you think you could manage it?) &O;And whatan ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'llnever do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.&C;

Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soonbegan talking again. &O;Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, Ishould think!&C; (Dinah was the cat.) &O;I hope they'll rememberher saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah my dear! I wish you weredown here with me! There are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, butyou might catch a bat, and that's very like a mouse, you know.But do cats eat bats, I wonder?&C; And here Alice began to getrather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort ofway, &O;Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?&C; and sometimes, &O;Dobats eat cats?&C; for, you see, as she couldn't answer eitherquestion, it didn't much matter which way she put it. She feltthat she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that shewas walking hand in hand with Dinah, and saying to her veryearnestly, &O;Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat abat?&C; when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap ofsticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.

Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in amoment: she looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before herwas another long passage, and the White Rabbit was still insight, hurrying down it. There was not a moment to be lost:away went Alice like the wind, and was just in time to hear itsay, as it turned a corner, &O;Oh my ears and whiskers, how lateit's getting!&C; She was close behind it when she turned thecorner, but the Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she foundherself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lampshanging 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 theother, 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 ofsolid glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key,and Alice's first thought was that it might belong to one of thedoors of the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too large, orthe key was too small, but at any rate it would not open any ofthem. However, on the second time round, she came upon a lowcurtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a littledoor about fifteen inches high: she tried the little golden keyin the lock, and to her great delight it fitted!

Alice opened the door and found that it led into a smallpassage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down andlooked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw.How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander aboutamong those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, butshe could not even get her head though the doorway; &O;and even ifmy head would go through,&C; thought poor Alice, &O;it would be ofvery little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wishI could shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I onlyknow how to begin.&C; For, you see, so many out-of-the-way thingshad happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very fewthings indeed were really impossible.

There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so shewent back to the table, half hoping she might find another key onit, or at any rate a book of rules for shutting people up liketelescopes: this time she found a little bottle on it, (&O;whichcertainly was not here before,&C; said Alice,) and round the neckof the bottle was a paper label, with the words &O;DRINK ME&C;beautifully printed on it in large letters.