Chapter 1
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
13
14 CHAPTER 1. DOWN THE RABBIT-HOLE
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 bookshelves;
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
15
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.
16 CHAPTER 1. DOWN THE RABBIT-HOLE
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 cherrytart,
custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot b___ered 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
17
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.
18 CHAPTER 1. DOWN THE RABBIT-HOLE
Chapter 2
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.
19
20 CHAPTER 2. THE POOL OF TEARS
'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 d____ss, the d____ss! 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 h___se and strange, and the words did not come the
same as they used to do:-
21
'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
22 CHAPTER 2. THE POOL OF TEARS
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
23
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.'
It was high time to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded with the
birds and animals that had fallen into it: there were a Duck and a Dodo, a
Lory and an Eaglet, and several other curious creatures. Alice led the way,
and the whole party swam to the shore.
24 CHAPTER 2. THE POOL OF TEARS
Chapter 3
A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale
They were indeed a queer-looking party that a__embled on the bank-the birds
with draggled feathers, the animals with their fur clinging close to them, and
all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable.
The first question of course was, how to get dry again: they had a consultation
about this, and after a few minutes it seemed quite natural to Alice
to find herself talking familiarly with them, as if she had known them all her
life. Indeed, she had quite a long argument with the Lory, who at last turned
sulky, and would only say, 'I am older than you, and must know better'; and
this Alice would not allow without knowing how old it was, and, as the Lory
positively refused to tell its age, there was no more to be said.
At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among them,
called out, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'LL soon make you dry
enough!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse in the
middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt sure she would
catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon.
'Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, 'are you all ready? This
is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! "William the
Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted to
by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much accustomed
to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and
Northumbria-"'
'Ugh!' said the Lory, with a shiver.
'I beg your pardon!' said the Mouse, frowning, but very politely: 'Did
you speak?'
'Not I!' said the Lory hastily.
25
26 CHAPTER 3. A CAUCUS-RACE AND A LONG TALE
'I thought you did,' said the Mouse. '-I proceed. "Edwin and Morcar,
the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him: and even Stigand,
the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable-"'
'Found WHAT?' said the Duck.
'Found IT,' the Mouse replied rather crossly: 'of course you know what
"it" means.'
'I know what "it" means well enough, when I find a thing,' said the Duck:
'it's generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop
find?'
The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly went on, '"-found
it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William and offer him the
crown. William's conduct at first was moderate. But the insolence of his
Normans-" How are you getting on now, my dear?' it continued, turning to
Alice as it spoke.
'As wet as ever,' said Alice in a melancholy tone: 'it doesn't seem to dry
me at all.'
'In that case,' said the Dodo solemnly, rising to its feet, 'I move that the
meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more energetic remedies-'
'Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of half those
long words, and, what's more, I don't believe you do either!' And the Eaglet
bent down its head to hide a smile: some of the other birds t__tered audibly.
'What I was going to say,' said the Dodo in an offended tone, 'was, that
the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.'
'What IS a Caucus-race?' said Alice; not that she wanted much to know,
but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that SOMEBODY ought to speak,
and no one else seemed inclined to say anything.
'Why,' said the Dodo, 'the best way to explain it is to do it.' (And, as
you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell you how
the Dodo managed it.)
First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, ('the exact shape
doesn't matter,' it said,) and then all the party were placed along the course,
here and there. There was no 'One, two, three, and away,' but they began
running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy
to know when the race was over. However, when they had been running half
an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out 'The
race is over!' and they all crowded round it, panting, and asking, 'But who
has won?'
This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought,
27
and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead (the
position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures of him), while
the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, 'EVERYBODY has won,
and all must have prizes.'
'But who is to give the prizes?' quite a chorus of voices asked.
'Why, SHE, of course,' said the Dodo, pointing to Alice with one finger;
and the whole party at once crowded round her, calling out in a confused
way, 'Prizes! Prizes!'
Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair she put her hand in her
pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits, (luckily the salt water had not got
into it), and handed them round as prizes. There was exactly one a-piece all
round.
'But she must have a prize herself, you know,' said the Mouse.
'Of course,' the Dodo replied very gravely. 'What else have you got in
your pocket?' he went on, turning to Alice.
'Only a thimble,' said Alice sadly.
'Hand it over here,' said the Dodo.
Then they all crowded round her once more, while the Dodo solemnly presented
the thimble, saying 'We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble';
and, when it had finished this short speech, they all cheered.
Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but they all looked so grave
that she did not dare to laugh; and, as she could not think of anything to
say, she simply bowed, and took the thimble, looking as solemn as she could.
The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused some noise and confusion,
as the large birds complained that they could not taste theirs, and the
small ones choked and had to be patted on the back. However, it was over at
last, and they sat down again in a ring, and begged the Mouse to tell them
something more.
'You promised to tell me your history, you know,' said Alice, 'and why it
is you hate-C and D,' she added in a whisper, half afraid that it would be
offended again.
'Mine is a long and a sad tale!' said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and
sighing.
'It IS a long tail, certainly,' said Alice, looking down with wonder at the
Mouse's tail; 'but why do you call it sad?' And she kept on puzzling about
it while the Mouse was speaking, so that her idea of the tale was something
like this:-
28 CHAPTER 3. A CAUCUS-RACE AND A LONG TALE
'Fury said to a
mouse, That he
met in the
house,
"Let us
both go to
law: I will
prosecute
YOU. -Come,
I'll take no
denial; We
must have a
trial: For
really this
morning I've
nothing
to do."
Said the
mouse to the
cur, "Such
a trial,
dear Sir,
With
no jury
or judge,
would be
wasting
our
breath."
"I'll be
judge, I'll
be jury,"
Said
cunning
old Fury:
"I'll
try the
whole
29
cause,
and
condemn
you
to
death."'
'You are not attending!' said the Mouse to Alice severely. 'What are you
thinking of?'
'I beg your pardon,' said Alice very humbly: 'you had got to the fifth
bend, I think?'
'I had NOT!' cried the Mouse, sharply and very angrily.
'A knot!' said Alice, always ready to make herself useful, and looking
anxiously about her. 'Oh, do let me help to undo it!'
'I shall do nothing of the sort,' said the Mouse, getting up and walking
away. 'You insult me by talking such nonsense!'
'I didn't mean it!' pleaded poor Alice. 'But you're so easily offended, you
know!'
The Mouse only growled in reply.
'Please come back and finish your story!' Alice called after it; and the
others all joined in chorus, 'Yes, please do!' but the Mouse only shook its
head impatiently, and walked a little quicker.
'What a pity it wouldn't stay!' sighed the Lory, as soon as it was quite
out of sight; and an old Crab took the opportunity of saying to her daughter
'Ah, my dear! Let this be a lesson to you never to lose YOUR temper!' 'Hold
your tongue, Ma!' said the young Crab, a little snappishly. 'You're enough
to try the patience of an oyster!'
'I wish I had our Dinah here, I know I do!' said Alice aloud, addressing
nobody in particular. 'She'd soon fetch it back!'
'And who is Dinah, if I might venture to ask the question?' said the Lory.
Alice replied eagerly, for she was always ready to talk about her pet:
'Dinah's our cat. And she's such a capital one for catching mice you can't
think! And oh, I wish you could see her after the birds! Why, she'll eat a
little bird as soon as look at it!'
This speech caused a remarkable sensation among the party. Some of
the birds hurried off at once: one old Magpie began wrapping itself up very
carefully, remarking, 'I really must be getting home; the night-air doesn't
suit my throat!' and a Canary called out in a trembling voice to its children,
30 CHAPTER 3. A CAUCUS-RACE AND A LONG TALE
'Come away, my dears! It's high time you were all in bed!' On various
pretexts they all moved off, and Alice was soon left alone.
'I wish I hadn't mentioned Dinah!' she said to herself in a melancholy
tone. 'Nobody seems to like her, down here, and I'm sure she's the best
cat in the world! Oh, my dear Dinah! I wonder if I shall ever see you any
more!' And here poor Alice began to cry again, for she felt very lonely and
low-spirited. In a little while, however, she again heard a little pattering of
footsteps in the distance, and she looked up eagerly, half hoping that the
Mouse had changed his mind, and was coming back to finish his story.
Chapter 4
The Rabbit Sends in a Little
Bill
It was the White Rabbit, trotting slowly back again, and looking anxiously
about as it went, as if it had lost something; and she heard it muttering
to itself 'The d____ss! The d____ss! Oh my dear paws! Oh my fur and
whiskers! She'll get me executed, as sure as ferrets are ferrets! Where CAN I
have dropped them, I wonder?' Alice guessed in a moment that it was looking
for the fan and the pair of white kid gloves, and she very good-naturedly
began hunting about for them, but they were nowhere to be seen-everything
seemed to have changed since her swim in the pool, and the great hall, with
the glass table and the little door, had vanished completely.
Very soon the Rabbit noticed Alice, as she went hunting about, and called
out to her in an angry tone, 'Why, Mary Ann, what ARE you doing out here?
Run home this moment, and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan! Quick, now!'
And Alice was so much frightened that she ran off at once in the direction it
pointed to, without trying to explain the mistake it had made.
'He took me for his housemaid,' she said to herself as she ran. 'How
surprised he'll be when he finds out who I am! But I'd better take him his
fan and gloves-that is, if I can find them.' As she said this, she came upon
a neat little house, on the door of which was a bright brass plate with the
name 'W. RABBIT' engraved upon it. She went in without knocking, and
hurried upstairs, in great fear lest she should meet the real Mary Ann, and
be turned out of the house before she had found the fan and gloves.
'How queer it seems,' Alice said to herself, 'to be going messages for a
rabbit! I suppose Dinah'll be sending me on messages next!' And she began
31
32 CHAPTER 4. THE RABBIT SENDS IN A LITTLE BILL
fancying the sort of thing that would happen: '"Miss Alice! Come here
directly, and get ready for your walk!" "Coming in a minute, nurse! But I've
got to see that the mouse doesn't get out." Only I don't think,' Alice went
on, 'that they'd let Dinah stop in the house if it began ordering people about
like that!'
By this time she had found her way into a tidy little room with a table
in the window, and on it (as she had hoped) a fan and two or three pairs
of tiny white kid gloves: she took up the fan and a pair of the gloves, and
was just going to leave the room, when her eye fell upon a little bottle that
stood near the looking- glass. There was no label this time with the words
'DRINK ME,' but nevertheless she uncorked it and put it to her lips. 'I know
SOMETHING interesting is sure to happen,' she said to herself, 'whenever
I eat or drink anything; so I'll just see what this bottle does. I do hope it'll
make me grow large again, for really I'm quite tired of being such a tiny little
thing!'
It did so indeed, and much sooner than she had expected: before she
had drunk half the bottle, she found her head pressing against the ceiling,
and had to stoop to save her neck from being broken. She hastily put down
the bottle, saying to herself 'That's quite enough-I hope I shan't grow any
more-As it is, I can't get out at the door-I do wish I hadn't drunk quite so
much!'
Alas! it was too late to wish that! She went on growing, and growing,
and very soon had to kneel down on the floor: in another minute there was
not even room for this, and she tried the effect of lying down with one elbow
against the door, and the other arm curled round her head. Still she went on
growing, and, as a last resource, she put one arm out of the window, and one
foot up the chimney, and said to herself 'Now I can do no more, whatever
happens. What WILL become of me?'
Luckily for Alice, the little magic bottle had now had its full effect, and
she grew no larger: still it was very uncomfortable, and, as there seemed to
be no sort of chance of her ever getting out of the room again, no wonder
she felt unhappy.
'It was much pleasanter at home,' thought poor Alice, 'when one wasn't
always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and
rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole-and yet-and
yet-it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what CAN
have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of
thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one! There ought
33
to be a book written about me, that there ought! And when I grow up, I'll
write one-but I'm grown up now,' she added in a sorrowful tone; 'at least
there's no room to grow up any more HERE.'
'But then,' thought Alice, 'shall I NEVER get any older than I am now?
That'll be a comfort, one way-never to be an old woman- but then-always
to have lessons to learn! Oh, I shouldn't like THAT!'
'Oh, you foolish Alice!' she answered herself. 'How can you learn lessons
in here? Why, there's hardly room for YOU, and no room at all for any
lesson-books!'
And so she went on, taking first one side and then the other, and making
quite a conversation of it altogether; but after a few minutes she heard a
voice outside, and stopped to listen.
'Mary Ann! Mary Ann!' said the voice. 'Fetch me my gloves this moment!'
Then came a little pattering of feet on the stairs. Alice knew it was
the Rabbit coming to look for her, and she trembled till she shook the house,
quite forgetting that she was now about a thousand times as large as the
Rabbit, and had no reason to be afraid of it.
Presently the Rabbit came up to the door, and tried to open it; but, as
the door opened inwards, and Alice's elbow was pressed hard against it, that
attempt proved a failure. Alice heard it say to itself 'Then I'll go round and
get in at the window.'
'THAT you won't' thought Alice, and, after waiting till she fancied she
heard the Rabbit just under the window, she suddenly spread out her hand,
and made a s_____ in the air. She did not get hold of anything, but she
heard a little shriek and a fall, and a crash of broken glass, from which she
concluded that it was just possible it had fallen into a cucumber-frame, or
something of the sort.
Next came an angry voice-the Rabbit's-'Pat! Pat! Where are you?' And
then a voice she had never heard before, 'Sure then I'm here! Digging for
apples, yer honour!'
'Digging for apples, indeed!' said the Rabbit angrily. 'Here! Come and
help me out of THIS!' (Sounds of more broken glass.)
'Now tell me, Pat, what's that in the window?'
'Sure, it's an arm, yer honour!' (He p___ounced it 'arrum.')
'An arm, you goose! Who ever saw one that size? Why, it fills the whole
window!'
'Sure, it does, yer honour: but it's an arm for all that.'
'Well, it's got no business there, at any rate: go and take it away!'
34 CHAPTER 4. THE RABBIT SENDS IN A LITTLE BILL
There was a long silence after this, and Alice could only hear whispers
now and then; such as, 'Sure, I don't like it, yer honour, at all, at all!' 'Do
as I tell you, you coward!' and at last she spread out her hand again, and
made another s_____ in the air. This time there were TWO little shrieks,
and more sounds of broken glass. 'What a number of cucumber-frames there
must be!' thought Alice. 'I wonder what they'll do next! As for pulling me
out of the window, I only wish they COULD! I'm sure I don't want to stay
in here any longer!'
She waited for some time without hearing anything more: at last came
a rumbling of little cartwheels, and the sound of a good many voices all
talking together: she made out the words: 'Where's the other ladder?-Why,
I hadn't to bring but one; Bill's got the other-Bill! fetch it here, lad!-Here,
put 'em up at this corner-No, tie 'em together first-they don't reach half
high enough yet-Oh! they'll do well enough; don't be particular- Here, Bill!
catch hold of this rope-Will the roof bear?-Mind that loose slate-Oh, it's
coming down! Heads below!' (a loud crash)-'Now, who did that?-It was Bill,
I fancy-Who's to go down the chimney?-Nay, I shan't! YOU do it!-That I
won't, then!-Bill's to go down-Here, Bill! the master says you're to go down
the chimney!'
'Oh! So Bill's got to come down the chimney, has he?' said Alice to
herself. 'Shy, they seem to put everything upon Bill! I wouldn't be in Bill's
place for a good deal: this fireplace is narrow, to be sure; but I THINK I can
kick a little!'
She drew her foot as far down the chimney as she could, and waited till
she heard a little animal (she couldn't guess of what sort it was) scratching
and scrambling about in the chimney close above her: then, saying to herself
'This is Bill,' she gave one sharp kick, and waited to see what would happen
next.
The first thing she heard was a general chorus of 'There goes Bill!' then
the Rabbit's voice along-'Catch him, you by the hedge!' then silence, and
then another confusion of voices-'Hold up his head-Brandy now-Don't choke
him-How was it, old fellow? What happened to you? Tell us all about it!'
Last came a little feeble, squeaking voice, ('That's Bill,' thought Alice,)
'Well, I hardly know-No more, thank ye; I'm better now-but I'm a deal too
flustered to tell you-all I know is, something comes at me like a Jack-in-thebox,
and up I goes like a sky-rocket!'
'So you did, old fellow!' said the others.
'We must burn the house down!' said the Rabbit's voice; and Alice called
35
out as loud as she could, 'If you do. I'll set Dinah at you!'
There was a dead silence instantly, and Alice thought to herself, 'I wonder
what they WILL do next! If they had any sense, they'd take the roof off.'
After a minute or two, they began moving about again, and Alice heard the
Rabbit say, 'A barrowful will do, to begin with.'
'A barrowful of WHAT?' thought Alice; but she had not long to doubt,
for the next moment a shower of little pebbles came rattling in at the window,
and some of them hit her in the face. 'I'll put a stop to this,' she said to
herself, and shouted out, 'You'd better not do that again!' which produced
another dead silence.
Alice noticed with some surprise that the pebbles were all turning into
little cakes as they lay on the floor, and a bright idea came into her head.
'If I eat one of these cakes,' she thought, 'it's sure to make SOME change in
my size; and as it can't possibly make me larger, it must make me smaller,
I suppose.'
So she swallowed one of the cakes, and was delighted to find that she
began shrinking directly. As soon as she was small enough to get through
the door, she ran out of the house, and found quite a crowd of little animals
and birds waiting outside. The poor little Lizard, Bill, was in the middle,
being held up by two guinea-pigs, who were giving it something out of a
bottle. They all made a rush at Alice the moment she appeared; but she ran
off as hard as she could, and soon found herself safe in a thick wood.
'The first thing I've got to do,' said Alice to herself, as she wandered
about in the wood, 'is to grow to my right size again; and the second thing
is to find my way into that lovely garden. I think that will be the best plan.'
It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply arranged;
the only difficulty was, that she had not the smallest idea how to set
about it; and while she was peering about anxiously among the trees, a little
sharp bark just over her head made her look up in a great hurry.
An enormous puppy was looking down at her with large round eyes, and
feebly stretching out one paw, trying to touch her. 'Poor little thing!' said
Alice, in a coaxing tone, and she tried hard to whistle to it; but she was
terribly frightened all the time at the thought that it might be hungry, in
which case it would be very likely to eat her up in spite of all her coaxing.
Hardly knowing what she did, she picked up a little bit of stick, and held
it out to the puppy; whereupon the puppy jumped into the air off all its feet
at once, with a yelp of delight, and rushed at the stick, and made believe to
worry it; then Alice dodged behind a great thistle, to keep herself from being
36 CHAPTER 4. THE RABBIT SENDS IN A LITTLE BILL
run over; and the moment she appeared on the other side, the puppy made
another rush at the stick, and tumbled head over heels in its hurry to get
hold of it; then Alice, thinking it was very like having a game of play with
a cart-horse, and expecting every moment to be trampled under its feet, ran
round the thistle again; then the puppy began a series of short charges at
the stick, running a very little way forwards each time and a long way back,
and barking h___sely all the while, till at last it sat down a good way off,
panting, with its tongue hanging out of its mouth, and its great eyes half
shut.
This seemed to Alice a good opportunity for making her escape; so she
set off at once, and ran till she was quite tired and out of breath, and till the
puppy's bark sounded quite faint in the distance.
'And yet what a dear little puppy it was!' said Alice, as she leant against a
b___ercup to rest herself, and fanned herself with one of the leaves: 'I should
have liked teaching it tricks very much, if-if I'd only been the right size to
do it! Oh dear! I'd nearly forgotten that I've got to grow up again! Let me
see-how IS it to be managed? I suppose I ought to eat or drink something
or other; but the great question is, what?'
The great question certainly was, what? Alice looked all round her at the
flowers and the blades of grass, but she did not see anything that looked like
the right thing to eat or drink under the circumstances. There was a large
mushroom growing near her, about the same height as herself; and when she
had looked under it, and on both sides of it, and behind it, it occurred to
her that she might as well look and see what was on the top of it.
She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the mushroom,
and her eyes immediately met those of a large caterpillar, that was
sitting on the top with its arms folded, quietly smoking a long hookah, and
taking not the smallest notice of her or of anything else.
Chapter 5
Advice from a Caterpillar
The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at
last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in
a languid, sleepy voice.
'Who are YOU?' said the Caterpillar.
This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied,
rather shyly, 'I-I hardly know, sir, just at present- at least I know who I
WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed
several times since then.'
'What do you mean by that?' said the Caterpillar sternly. 'Explain
yourself!'
'I can't explain MYSELF, I'm afraid, sir' said Alice, 'because I'm not
myself, you see.'
'I don't see,' said the Caterpillar.
'I'm afraid I can't put it more clearly,' Alice replied very politely, 'for I
can't understand it myself to begin with; and being so many different sizes
in a day is very confusing.'
'It isn't,' said the Caterpillar.
'Well, perhaps you haven't found it so yet,' said Alice; 'but when you
have to turn into a chrysalis-you will some day, you know-and then after
that into a b___erfly, I should think you'll feel it a little queer, won't you?'
'Not a bit,' said the Caterpillar.
'Well, perhaps your feelings may be different,' said Alice; 'all I know is,
it would feel very queer to ME.'
'You!' said the Caterpillar contemptuously. 'Who are YOU?'
Which brought them back again to the beginning of the conversation.
37
38 CHAPTER 5. ADVICE FROM A CATERPILLAR
Alice felt a little irritated at the Caterpillar's making such VERY short remarks,
and she drew herself up and said, very gravely, 'I think, you ought to
tell me who YOU are, first.'
'Why?' said the Caterpillar.
Here was another puzzling question; and as Alice could not think of any
good reason, and as the Caterpillar seemed to be in a VERY unpleasant state
of mind, she turned away.
'Come back!' the Caterpillar called after her. 'I've something important
to say!'
This sounded promising, certainly: Alice turned and came back again.
'Keep your temper,' said the Caterpillar.
'Is that all?' said Alice, swallowing down her anger as well as she could.
'No,' said the Caterpillar.
Alice thought she might as well wait, as she had nothing else to do, and
perhaps after all it might tell her something worth hearing. For some minutes
it puffed away without speaking, but at last it unfolded its arms, took the
hookah out of its mouth again, and said, 'So you think you're changed, do
you?'
'I'm afraid I am, sir,' said Alice; 'I can't remember things as I used-and
I don't keep the same size for ten minutes together!'
'Can't remember WHAT things?' said the Caterpillar.
'Well, I've tried to say "HOW DOTH THE LITTLE BUSY BEE," but
it all came different!' Alice replied in a very melancholy voice.
'Repeat, "YOU ARE OLD, FATHER WILLIAM,"' said the Caterpillar.
Alice folded her hands, and began:-
'You are old, Father William,' the young man said,
'And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head-
Do you think, at your age, it is right?'
'In my youth,' Father William replied to his son,
'I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again.'
'You are old,' said the youth, 'as I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
39
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door-
Pray, what is the reason of that?'
'In my youth,' said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
'I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment-one shilling the box-
Allow me to sell you a couple?'
'You are old,' said the youth, 'and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak-
Pray how did you manage to do it?'
'In my youth,' said his father, 'I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life.'
'You are old,' said the youth, 'one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose-
What made you so awfully clever?'
'I have answered three questions, and that is enough,'
Said his father; 'don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!'
'That is not said right,' said the Caterpillar.
'Not QUITE right, I'm afraid,' said Alice, timidly; 'some of the words
have got altered.'
'It is wrong from beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar decidedly, and
there was silence for some minutes.
The Caterpillar was the first to speak.
'What size do you want to be?' it asked.
'Oh, I'm not particular as to size,' Alice hastily replied; 'only one doesn't
like changing so often, you know.'
'I DON'T know,' said the Caterpillar.
40 CHAPTER 5. ADVICE FROM A CATERPILLAR
Alice said nothing: she had never been so much contradicted in her life
before, and she felt that she was losing her temper.
'Are you content now?' said the Caterpillar.
'Well, I should like to be a LITTLE larger, sir, if you wouldn't mind,'
said Alice: 'three inches is such a wretched height to be.'
'It is a very good height indeed!' said the Caterpillar angrily, rearing
itself upright as it spoke (it was exactly three inches high).
'But I'm not used to it!' pleaded poor Alice in a piteous tone. And she
thought of herself, 'I wish the creatures wouldn't be so easily offended!'
'You'll get used to it in time,' said the Caterpillar; and it put the hookah
into its mouth and began smoking again.
This time Alice waited patiently until it chose to speak again. In a minute
or two the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth and yawned once
or twice, and shook itself. Then it got down off the mushroom, and crawled
away in the grass, merely remarking as it went, 'One side will make you grow
taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.'
'One side of WHAT? The other side of WHAT?' thought Alice to herself.
'Of the mushroom,' said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud;
and in another moment it was out of sight.
Alice remained looking thoughtfully at the mushroom for a minute, trying
to make out which were the two sides of it; and as it was perfectly round,
she found this a very difficult question. However, at last she stretched her
arms round it as far as they would go, and broke off a bit of the edge with
each hand.
'And now which is which?' she said to herself, and nibbled a little of
the right-hand bit to try the effect: the next moment she felt a violent blow
underneath her chin: it had struck her foot!
She was a good deal frightened by this very sudden change, but she felt
that there was no time to be lost, as she was shrinking rapidly; so she set to
work at once to eat some of the other bit. Her chin was pressed so closely
against her foot, that there was hardly room to open her mouth; but she did
it at last, and managed to swallow a morsel of the lefthand bit.
'Come, my head's free at last!' said Alice in a tone of delight, which
changed into alarm in another moment, when she found that her shoulders
were nowhere to be found: all she could see, when she looked down, was an
immense length of neck, which seemed to rise like a stalk out of a sea of green
leaves that lay far below her.
'What CAN all that green stuff be?' said Alice. 'And where HAVE my
41
shoulders got to? And oh, my poor hands, how is it I can't see you?' She
was moving them about as she spoke, but no result seemed to follow, except
a little shaking among the distant green leaves.
As there seemed to be no chance of getting her hands up to her head,
she tried to get her head down to them, and was delighted to find that her
neck would bend about easily in any direction, like a serpent. She had just
succeeded in curving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was going to dive
in among the leaves, which she found to be nothing but the tops of the trees
under which she had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made her draw
back in a hurry: a large pigeon had flown into her face, and was beating her
violently with its wings.
'Serpent!' screamed the Pigeon.
'I'm NOT a serpent!' said Alice indignantly. 'Let me alone!'
'Serpent, I say again!' repeated the Pigeon, but in a more subdued tone,
and added with a kind of sob, 'I've tried every way, and nothing seems to
suit them!'
'I haven't the least idea what you're talking about,' said Alice.
'I've tried the roots of trees, and I've tried banks, and I've tried hedges,'
the Pigeon went on, without attending to her; 'but those serpents! There's
no pleasing them!'
Alice was more and more puzzled, but she thought there was no use in
saying anything more till the Pigeon had finished.
'As if it wasn't trouble enough hatching the eggs,' said the Pigeon; 'but
I must be on the look-out for serpents night and day! Why, I haven't had a
wink of sleep these three weeks!'
'I'm very sorry you've been annoyed,' said Alice, who was beginning to
see its meaning.
'And just as I'd taken the highest tree in the wood,' continued the Pigeon,
raising its voice to a shriek, 'and just as I was thinking I should be free of
them at last, they must needs come wriggling down from the sky! Ugh,
Serpent!'
'But I'm NOT a serpent, I tell you!' said Alice. 'I'm a-I'm a-'
'Well! WHAT are you?' said the Pigeon. 'I can see you're trying to
invent something!'
'I-I'm a little girl,' said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she remembered the
number of changes she had gone through that day.
'A likely story indeed!' said the Pigeon in a tone of the deepest contempt.
'I've seen a good many little girls in my time, but never ONE with such a
42 CHAPTER 5. ADVICE FROM A CATERPILLAR
neck as that! No, no! You're a serpent; and there's no use denying it. I
suppose you'll be telling me next that you never tasted an egg!'
'I HAVE tasted eggs, certainly,' said Alice, who was a very truthful child;
'but little girls eat eggs quite as much as serpents do, you know.'
'I don't believe it,' said the Pigeon; 'but if they do, why then they're a
kind of serpent, that's all I can say.'
This was such a new idea to Alice, that she was quite silent for a minute
or two, which gave the Pigeon the opportunity of adding, 'You're looking for
eggs, I know THAT well enough; and what does it matter to me whether
you're a little girl or a serpent?'
'It matters a good deal to ME,' said Alice hastily; 'but I'm not looking
for eggs, as it happens; and if I was, I shouldn't want YOURS: I don't like
them raw.'
'Well, be off, then!' said the Pigeon in a sulky tone, as it settled down
again into its nest. Alice crouched down among the trees as well as she could,
for her neck kept getting entangled among the branches, and every now and
then she had to stop and untwist it. After a while she remembered that
she still held the pieces of mushroom in her hands, and she set to work very
carefully, nibbling first at one and then at the other, and growing sometimes
taller and sometimes shorter, until she had succeeded in bringing herself
down to her usual height.
It was so long since she had been anything near the right size, that it
felt quite strange at first; but she got used to it in a few minutes, and began
talking to herself, as usual. 'Come, there's half my plan done now! How
puzzling all these changes are! I'm never sure what I'm going to be, from
one minute to another! However, I've got back to my right size: the next
thing is, to get into that beautiful garden-how IS that to be done, I wonder?'
As she said this, she came suddenly upon an open place, with a little house
in it about four feet high. 'Whoever lives there,' thought Alice, 'it'll never
do to come upon them THIS size: why, I should frighten them out of their
wits!' So she began nibbling at the righthand bit again, and did not venture
to go near the house till she had brought herself down to nine inches high.
Chapter 6
Pig and Pepper
For a minute or two she stood looking at the house, and wondering what to do
next, when suddenly a footman in livery came running out of the wood-(she
considered him to be a footman because he was in livery: otherwise, judging
by his face only, she would have called him a fish)-and rapped loudly at the
door with his knuckles. It was open

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