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 shehad peeped into the book her

sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of abook,' thought Alice 'without pictures or

conversations?'

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 daisychain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the

daisies, whensuddenly 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 Rabbitsay 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 OUTOF ITS WAISTCOAT-POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across hermind that she had never before seen a rabbit with

either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning

withcuriosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in

time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under thehedge.

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 hadnot 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 towonder what was going to

happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was

coming to, but it was toodark 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 shepassed; it was labelled

'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great disappointment it was empty:

she did not like to dropthe 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'llall 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 likelytrue.)

Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! 'I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?' she saidaloud. 'I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, Ithink—' (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this was nota VERY good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good

practice tosay it over) '—yes, that's about the right distance—but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice hadno 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 amongthe people that walk with their heads downward! The

Antipathies, I think—' (she was rather glad there WAS no onelistening, 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 CURTSEYINGas 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 wishyou 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 toherself, in a dreamy sort of way, 'Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?' and sometimes, 'Do bats eat cats?' for, you see, as shecouldn't answer either question, it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off, and had justbegun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, 'Now, Dinah, tell me thetruth: did you ever eat a bat?' when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, andthe 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 momentto 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 andwhiskers, how late it's getting!' She was close behind it

when she turned the corner, but the Rabbit was no longer to beseen: 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 upthe 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

goldenkey, 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 littledoor 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 andlooked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wanderabout among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head through thedoorway; '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 knew 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 anotherkey 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,' shesaid, 'and see whether it's marked "poison" or not'; for she had read several nice

little histories about children who hadgot burnt, and eaten up by wild

beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they WOULD not

remember the simplerules their friends had taught them: such as, that a redhot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cutyour finger VERY deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten

that, if you drink much from a bottlemarked 'poison,' it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 691