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 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 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 would n’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 did n’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 could n’t answer either question , it did n’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 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 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 .