- 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 IV
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 Duchess! The Duchess! 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 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 lookingglass. 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 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 snatch 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 pronounced 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!
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 snatch 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 voice 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-the-box, 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 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;
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
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 IV
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 Duchess! The Duchess! 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 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 lookingglass. 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 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 snatch 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 pronounced 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!
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 snatch 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 voice 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-the-box, 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 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;
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14