project gutenberg's alice's adventures in wonderland, by lewis carrollthis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever.  you may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the project gutenberg license includedwith this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.orgtitle: alice's adventures in wonderlandauthor: lewis carrollposting date: june 25, 2008 [ebook #11]release date: march, 1994language: englishcharacter set encoding: ascii*** start of this project gutenberg ebook alice's adventures in wonderland ***alice's adventures in wonderlandlewis carrollthe millennium fulcrum edition 3.0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 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 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 book-shelves; 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 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 through 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.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 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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 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.  *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *  *    *    *    *    *    *    *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,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 hoarse and strange, and the words did not come thesame as they used to do:--     '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 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 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.