Produced by Jana Srna, Emmy and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by the
University of Florida Digital Collections.)
ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
[Illustration: "Alice"]
[Illustration:
ALICE'S.ADVENTURES
IN.WONDERLAND
BY.LEWIS.CARROLL
ILLUSTRATED.BY
ARTHUR.RACKHAM
WITH A PROEM BY AUSTIN DOBSON
LONDON.WILLIAM.HEINEMANN
NEW.YORK.DOUBLEDAY.PAGE.&.Co]
PRINTED IN ENGLAND
_'Tis two score years since CARROLL'S art,
With topsy-turvy magic,
Sent ALICE wondering through a part
Half-comic and half-tragic._
_Enchanting ALICE! Black-and-white
Has made your deeds perennial;
And naught save "Chaos and old Night"
Can part you now from TENNIEL;_
_But still you are a Type, and based
In Truth, like LEAR and HAMLET;
And Types may be re-draped to taste
In cloth-of-gold or camlet._
_Here comes afresh Costumier, then;
That Taste may gain a wrinkle
From him who drew with such deft pen
The rags of RIP VAN WINKLE!_
_AUSTIN DOBSON._
All in the golden afternoon
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretence
Our wanderings to guide.
Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour,
Beneath such dreamy weather,
To beg a tale of breath too weak
To stir the tiniest feather!
Yet what can one poor voice avail
Against three tongues together?
Imperious Prima flashes forth
Her edict "to begin it"--
In gentler tone Secunda hopes
"There will be nonsense in it!"--
While Tertia interrupts the tale
Not _more_ than once a minute.
Anon, to sudden silence won,
In fancy they pursue
The dream-child moving through a land
Of wonders wild and new,
In friendly chat with bird or beast--
And half believe it true.
And ever, as the story drained
The wells of fancy dry.
And faintly strove that weary one
To put the subject by,
"The rest next time--" "It _is_ next time!"
The happy voices cry.
Thus grew the tale of Wonderland:
Thus slowly, one by one,
Its quaint events were hammered out--
And now the tale is done,
And home we steer, a merry crew,
Beneath the setting sun.
Alice! a childish story take,
And with a gentle hand
Lay it where Childhood's dreams are twined
In Memory's mystic band,
Like pilgrim's wither'd wreath of flowers
Pluck'd in a far-off land.
CONTENTS
PAGE
I. DOWN THE RABBIT-HOLE 1
II. THE POOL OF TEARS 13
III. A CAUCUS-RACE AND A LONG TALE 24
IV. THE RABBIT SENDS IN A LITTLE BILL 35
V. ADVICE FROM A CATERPILLAR 49
VI. PIG AND PEPPER 64
VII. A MAD TEA-PARTY 82
VIII. THE QUEEN'S CROQUET-GROUND 96
IX. THE MOCK TURTLE'S STORY 111
X. THE LOBSTER QUADRILLE 126
XI. WHO STOLE THE TARTS? 139
XII. ALICE'S EVIDENCE 150
LIST OF THE PLATES
_To face page_
Alice _Frontispiece_
The Pool of Tears 22
They all crowded round it panting and
asking, "But who has won?" 28
"Why, Mary Ann, what are you doing out
here?" 36
Advice from a Caterpillar 50
An unusually large saucepan flew close
by it, and very nearly carried it off 70
It grunted again so violently that she
looked down into its face in some alarm 74
A Mad Tea-Party 84
The Queen turned angrily away from him
and said to the Knave, "Turn them over" 100
The Queen never left off quarrelling
with the other players, and shouting
"Off with his head!" or, "Off with her
head!" 116
The Mock Turtle drew a long breath and
said, "That's very curious" 132
Who stole the Tarts? 140
At this the whole pack rose up into the
air, and came flying down upon her 158
CHAPTER I
[Sidenote: _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 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 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 too 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 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 what seemed
to be a very deep well.
[Illustration]
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 disappointment it
was empty; she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing
somebody underneath, 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 downwards! 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! 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 but a tiny golden key, and Alice's first
idea was that this 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 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 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 tied 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 stories 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, pineapple, roast turkey, coffee, 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 that 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 looks 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 is what 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.
* * * * *