Chapter 2 Alice's Tears

'Oh! What's happening?' cried Alice. 'I'm getting taller and taller!' She looked down. 'Goodbye, feet! Who will put your shoes on for you now? I can't do it! I'll give you some new shoes for Christmas. I'll have to send them to you!'

In a short time, Alice was more than three metres high.

' I want to go into that garden!' she thought. She took the little key from the table. Then she went to the door and opened it. But she was too big and couldn't go through it.

She sat down and began to cry again. Because she was very big, her tears were very big too.

' Alice, stop it this minute! Don't cry!' she said.

But she couldn't stop the big tears and after a time there was water everywhere.

♦

She heard the sound of small feet. She looked down and there was the White Rabbit again. He had his best clothes on, and in one hand he had a white hat.

' Oh, the Duchess, the Duchess!' he said.' She'll be angry with me because I'm late!'

Alice wanted to ask him for help.' Please, sir — ' she said very politely.

The White Rabbit jumped. He ran out of the room and his hat fell from his hands. Alice took the hat.

'Am I different?' she wondered. 'I was Alice yesterday, but everything is different today. Perhaps I'm not me now. So who am I? That's the question.'

She began to think about her friends. 'Perhaps I'm one of them,' she thought.' I'm not Ada because her hair is different to mine. I don't want to be my friend Mabel, because she doesn't know very much. I know more than she does.' Then she thought, ' Do I know more ? Let me see. What's four and four ? Eight. Eight and eight is sixteen. Sixteen and sixteen is .. . Oh! I can't remember!' And she started to cry again.

But this time her tears were small tears — she was small again! ' Why ?' she wondered. Then she understood. She had the White Rabbit's hat in her hand.

' I'm smaller because I've got the hat in my hand!' she thought.

She put the hat on. It was the right size for her head.

Am I smaller than the table now ?' she wondered. She went to the table and stood next to it. She was smaller than the table.' I'm getting smaller all the time!' she cried.' I'm going to vanish!' She quickly took the hat off.

' Now I can go into the garden!' thought Alice, and she started to run to the little door. But before she got there, she fell into some water. She tried to put her feet on the ground but she couldn't. She had to swim.

'I'm in the sea!' she thought. But it wasn't the sea.The water was her tears.

♦

Something was in the water — Alice could hear it.' Perhaps it's a big fish or sea animal,' she thought. She looked round. There, very near her, was a mouse.

'I'll speak to it,' thought Alice. 'Everything is strange here. Perhaps it can speak and understand me.'

' Oh Mouse,' she said. ' Do you know the way out of this room?' The Mouse didn't answer.

'Perhaps it doesn't understand English. Perhaps it's a French mouse,' Alice thought. She remembered some words from her schoolbook, so she spoke to the mouse in French.

' Where is my cat ?' she asked.

The Mouse moved quickly away from her.

'Oh, I'm sorry,' said Alice. 'I forgot. You're a mouse, so you don't like cats.'

'Don't like cats!' cried the mouse. 'I'm a mouse. Of course I don't like cats!'

'No,'Alice said. 'No. But I think you will like Dinah. She is a nice, dear thing. She's very quiet and good. She catches a mouse every day - Oh! You're angry again! We won't talk about Dinah any more - '

' We!' cried the Mouse.' I never speak about cats! Our family hates cats! I don't want to hear any more about them.'

' No, no,' said Alice quickly.' Perhaps — perhaps you like dogs ? There's a very nice little dog near our house. It likes playing with children but it works too. It kills all the m — Oh! I'm sorry!'

The Mouse looked angrily at her and swam quickly away. ' Dear Mouse!' said Alice softly. ' Come back again and we won't talk about cats or dogs.'

When the Mouse heard this, it turned round. It swam slowly back. 'All right,' it said. 'I'll talk to you, but let's get out of the

water.'

They climbed out and Alice looked round. There were a lot of animals and birds in the water. When they saw her, they got out of the water too.

Chapter 3 A Race

Alice and the birds and animals felt cold and wet. The largest bird spoke to Alice.

' Good afternoon,' it said loudly.' I am the Dodo.'

'What is a Dodo?' thought Alice, but she smiled politely. ' Hello, Dodo. I'm Alice,' she said.

' I have an idea,' said the Dodo.' We all want to get warm. So let's have a race — a Caucus race.'

'What is a Caucus race?'Alice asked.

' I can tell you,' said the Dodo,'but I won't. I'll show you! That will be easier.'

He put the animals and birds in different places in the room. In a race, somebody usually says,' One, two, three, go!' But the Dodo didn't do that. Everybody started to run at different times and stopped at different times too. After half an hour, the Dodo cried,' Everybody stop!' All the birds and animals stopped. Then they all came to the Dodo and stood round it. 'Who was first? Who was first?' they shouted.

The Dodo had to think about it. He sat for a long time with his finger in his mouth. Then he said, 'Everybody was first. So everybody can have a chocolate.'

' But who will give us the chocolates ?' the Mouse asked.

' She will,' the Dodo said and looked at Alice. The birds and animals came and stood round Alice.

' Chocolates, chocolates!' they cried.

' What am I going to do ?' thought Alice.' I haven't got any chocolates.' But then she saw a box of chocolates near her feet.

' Here we are,' she said, and opened the box. There was one chocolate for each bird and animal.

' But Alice has to have something, you know,' said the Mouse.

' Of course,' the Dodo answered. He turned to Alice.' What can you have ?' he asked.

' I can have the box,' said Alice sadly.

' Give it to me,' said the Dodo and Alice gave it to him.

They all stood round Alice again, and the Dodo gave her the box.

' Please take this beautiful box,' he said.

' This is very stupid,' thought Alice and she wanted to laugh. But she didn't. She took the box and smiled politely.

♦

The animals and birds ate their chocolates noisily. Some of them cried. The big animals and birds wanted more. But the chocolates were too big for the small birds, and they had to eat them very slowly. When they finished their chocolates, they sat and looked at Alice.

' Oh, where is Dinah ?' said Alice.' I want her with me.'

'And who is Dinah?' the Dodo asked.

Alice loved to talk about her cat.' Dinah's our cat. She's very nice. And very clever and fast. She can catch a mouse in the morning for her breakfast and a little bird in the evening for her dinner - Oh! I'm sorry!'

It was too late. The birds and animals started leaving.

One old bird said, 'I really have to go home. It gets so cold at night!'

Another bird called to her children,' Come away, my dears! It's time for bed!'

They all spoke politely to Alice and left the room. ' Oh, why did I talk about Dinah ?' cried Alice.' Nobody likes Dinah down here, but she's the best cat in the world. Perhaps I'll never see her again!'

She sat down and started to cry again. After a time, she heard the sound of small feet and looked up.

' Perhaps it's the Mouse,' she thought.

Date: 2015-02-03; view: 1051