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Posted to commits@orc.apache.org by om...@apache.org on 2017/07/24 17:49:37 UTC
[35/51] [partial] orc git commit: ORC-204 Update and use CMake
External Project to build C++ compression libraries.
http://git-wip-us.apache.org/repos/asf/orc/blob/590245a0/c++/libs/snappy-1.1.2/testdata/alice29.txt
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-
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-
-
- ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
-
- Lewis Carroll
-
- THE MILLENNIUM FULCRUM EDITION 2.9
-
-
-
-
- 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 though 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 though 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 he 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. He 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.
-
-
-
- CHAPTER III
-
- A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale
-
-
- They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the
-bank--the birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their
-fur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and
-uncomfortable.
-
- The first question of course was, how to get dry again: they
-had a consultation about this, and after a few minutes it seemed
-quite natural to Alice to find herself talking familiarly with
-them, as if she had known them all her life. Indeed, she had
-quite a long argument with the Lory, who at last turned sulky,
-and would only say, `I am older than you, and must know better';
-and this Alice would not allow without knowing how old it was,
-and, as the Lory positively refused to tell its age, there was no
-more to be said.
-
- At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among
-them, called out, `Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'LL
-soon make you dry enough!' They all sat down at once, in a large
-ring, with the Mouse in the middle. Alice kept her eyes
-anxiously fixed on it, for she felt sure she would catch a bad
-cold if she did not get dry very soon.
-
- `Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, `are you all ready?
-This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please!
-"William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was
-soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been
-of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and
-Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria--"'
-
- `Ugh!' said the Lory, with a shiver.
-
- `I beg your pardon!' said the Mouse, frowning, but very
-politely: `Did you speak?'
-
- `Not I!' said the Lory hastily.
-
- `I thought you did,' said the Mouse. `--I proceed. "Edwin and
-Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him:
-and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found
-it advisable--"'
-
- `Found WHAT?' said the Duck.
-
- `Found IT,' the Mouse replied rather crossly: `of course you
-know what "it" means.'
-
- `I know what "it" means well enough, when I find a thing,' said
-the Duck: `it's generally a frog or a worm. The question is,
-what did the archbishop find?'
-
- The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly went on,
-`"--found it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William
-and offer him the crown. William's conduct at first was
-moderate. But the insolence of his Normans--" How are you
-getting on now, my dear?' it continued, turning to Alice as it
-spoke.
-
- `As wet as ever,' said Alice in a melancholy tone: `it doesn't
-seem to dry me at all.'
-
- `In that case,' said the Dodo solemnly, rising to its feet, `I
-move that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more
-energetic remedies--'
-
- `Speak English!' said the Eaglet. `I don't know the meaning of
-half those long words, and, what's more, I don't believe you do
-either!' And the Eaglet bent down its head to hide a smile:
-some of the other birds tittered audibly.
-
- `What I was going to say,' said the Dodo in an offended tone,
-`was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.'
-
- `What IS a Caucus-race?' said Alice; not that she wanted much
-to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that SOMEBODY
-ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined to say anything.
-
- `Why,' said the Dodo, `the best way to explain it is to do it.'
-(And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter
-day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.)
-
- First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, (`the
-exact shape doesn't matter,' it said,) and then all the party
-were placed along the course, here and there. There was no `One,
-two, three, and away,' but they began running when they liked,
-and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know
-when the race was over. However, when they had been running half
-an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called
-out `The race is over!' and they all crowded round it, panting,
-and asking, `But who has won?'
-
- This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of
-thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon
-its forehead (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare,
-in the pictures of him), while the rest waited in silence. At
-last the Dodo said, `EVERYBODY has won, and all must have
-prizes.'
-
- `But who is to give the prizes?' quite a chorus of voices
-asked.
-
- `Why, SHE, of course,' said the Dodo, pointing to Alice with
-one finger; and the whole party at once crowded round her,
-calling out in a confused way, `Prizes! Prizes!'
-
- Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair she put her hand
-in her pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits, (luckily the salt
-water had not got into it), and handed them round as prizes.
-There was exactly one a-piece all round.
-
- `But she must have a prize herself, you know,' said the Mouse.
-
- `Of course,' the Dodo replied very gravely. `What else have
-you got in your pocket?' he went on, turning to Alice.
-
- `Only a thimble,' said Alice sadly.
-
- `Hand it over here,' said the Dodo.
-
- Then they all crowded round her once more, while the Dodo
-solemnly presented the thimble, saying `We beg your acceptance of
-this elegant thimble'; and, when it had finished this short
-speech, they all cheered.
-
- Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but they all looked
-so grave that she did not dare to laugh; and, as she could not
-think of anything to say, she simply bowed, and took the thimble,
-looking as solemn as she could.
-
- The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused some noise
-and confusion, as the large birds complained that they could not
-taste theirs, and the small ones choked and had to be patted on
-the back. However, it was over at last, and they sat down again
-in a ring, and begged the Mouse to tell them something more.
-
- `You promised to tell me your history, you know,' said Alice,
-`and why it is you hate--C and D,' she added in a whisper, half
-afraid that it would be offended again.
-
- `Mine is a long and a sad tale!' said the Mouse, turning to
-Alice, and sighing.
-
- `It IS a long tail, certainly,' said Alice, looking down with
-wonder at the Mouse's tail; `but why do you call it sad?' And
-she kept on puzzling about it while the Mouse was speaking, so
-that her idea of the tale was something like this:--
-
- `Fury said to a
- mouse, That he
- met in the
- house,
- "Let us
- both go to
- law: I will
- prosecute
- YOU. --Come,
- I'll take no
- denial; We
- must have a
- trial: For
- really this
- morning I've
- nothing
- to do."
- Said the
- mouse to the
- cur, "Such
- a trial,
- dear Sir,
- With
- no jury
- or judge,
- would be
- wasting
- our
- breath."
- "I'll be
- judge, I'll
- be jury,"
- Said
- cunning
- old Fury:
- "I'll
- try the
- whole
- cause,
- and
- condemn
- you
- to
- death."'
-
-
- `You are not attending!' said the Mouse to Alice severely.
-`What are you thinking of?'
-
- `I beg your pardon,' said Alice very humbly: `you had got to
-the fifth bend, I think?'
-
- `I had NOT!' cried the Mouse, sharply and very angrily.
-
- `A knot!' said Alice, always ready to make herself useful, and
-looking anxiously about her. `Oh, do let me help to undo it!'
-
- `I shall do nothing of the sort,' said the Mouse, getting up
-and walking away. `You insult me by talking such nonsense!'
-
- `I didn't mean it!' pleaded poor Alice. `But you're so easily
-offended, you know!'
-
- The Mouse only growled in reply.
-
- `Please come back and finish your story!' Alice called after
-it; and the others all joined in chorus, `Yes, please do!' but
-the Mouse only shook its head impatiently, and walked a little
-quicker.
-
- `What a pity it wouldn't stay!' sighed the Lory, as soon as it
-was quite out of sight; and an old Crab took the opportunity of
-saying to her daughter `Ah, my dear! Let this be a lesson to you
-never to lose YOUR temper!' `Hold your tongue, Ma!' said the
-young Crab, a little snappishly. `You're enough to try the
-patience of an oyster!'
-
- `I wish I had our Dinah here, I know I do!' said Alice aloud,
-addressing nobody in particular. `She'd soon fetch it back!'
-
- `And who is Dinah, if I might venture to ask the question?'
-said the Lory.
-
- Alice replied eagerly, for she was always ready to talk about
-her pet: `Dinah's our cat. And she's such a capital one for
-catching mice you can't think! And oh, I wish you could see her
-after the birds! Why, she'll eat a little bird as soon as look
-at it!'
-
- This speech caused a remarkable sensation among the party.
-Some of the birds hurried off at once: one the old Magpie began
-wrapping itself up very carefully, remarking, `I really must be
-getting home; the night-air doesn't suit my throat!' and a Canary
-called out in a trembling voice to its children, `Come away, my
-dears! It's high time you were all in bed!' On various pretexts
-they all moved off, and Alice was soon left alone.
-
- `I wish I hadn't mentioned Dinah!' she said to herself in a
-melancholy tone. `Nobody seems to like her, down here, and I'm
-sure she's the best cat in the world! Oh, my dear Dinah! I
-wonder if I shall ever see you any more!' 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 looking-
-glass. 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; but she
-ran off as hard as she could, and soon found herself safe in a
-thick wood.
-
- `The first thing I've got to do,' said Alice to herself, as she
-wandered about in the wood, `is to grow to my right size again;
-and the second thing is to find my way into that lovely garden.
-I think that will be the best plan.'
-
- It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and
-simply arranged; the only difficulty was, that she had not the
-smallest idea how to set about it; and while she was peering
-about anxiously among the trees, a little sharp bark just over
-her head made her look up in a great hurry.
-
- An enormous puppy was looking down at her with large round
-eyes, and feebly stretching out one paw, trying to touch her.
-`Poor little thing!' said Alice, in a coaxing tone, and she tried
-hard to whistle to it; but she was terribly frightened all the
-time at the thought that it might be hungry, in which case it
-would be very likely to eat her up in spite of all her coaxing.
-
- Hardly knowing what she did, she picked up a little bit of
-stick, and held it out to the puppy; whereupon the puppy jumped
-into the air off all its feet at once, with a yelp of delight,
-and rushed at the stick, and made believe to worry it; then Alice
-dodged behind a great thistle, to keep herself from being run
-over; and the moment she appeared on the other side, the puppy
-made another rush at the stick, and tumbled head over heels in
-its hurry to get hold of it; then Alice, thinking it was very
-like having a game of play with a cart-horse, and expecting every
-moment to be trampled under its feet, ran round the thistle
-again; then the puppy began a series of short charges at the
-stick, running a very little way forwards each time and a long
-way back, and barking hoarsely all the while, till at last it sat
-down a good way off, panting, with its tongue hanging out of its
-mouth, and its great eyes half shut.
-
- This seemed to Alice a good opportunity for making her escape;
-so she set off at once, and ran till she was quite tired and out
-of breath, and till the puppy's bark sounded quite faint in the
-distance.
-
- `And yet what a dear little puppy it was!' said Alice, as she
-leant against a buttercup to rest herself, and fanned herself
-with one of the leaves: `I should have liked teaching it tricks
-very much, if--if I'd only been the right size to do it! Oh
-dear! I'd nearly forgotten that I've got to grow up again! Let
-me see--how IS it to be managed? I suppose I ought to eat or
-drink something or other; but the great question is, what?'
-
- The great question certainly was, what? Alice looked all round
-her at the flowers and the blades of grass, but she did not see
-anything that looked like the right thing to eat or drink under
-the circumstances. There was a large mushroom growing near her,
-about the same height as herself; and when she had looked under
-it, and on both sides of it, and behind it, it occurred to her
-that she might as well look and see what was on the top of it.
-
- She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of
-the mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large
-caterpillar, that was sitting on the top with its arms folded,
-quietly smoking a long hookah, and taking not the smallest notice
-of her or of anything else.
-
-
-
- CHAPTER V
-
- Advice from a Caterpillar
-
-
- The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in
-silence: at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its
-mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice.
-
- `Who are YOU?' said the Caterpillar.
-
- This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice
-replied, rather shyly, `I--I hardly know, sir, just at present--
-at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think
-I must have been changed several times since then.'
-
- `What do you mean by that?' said the Caterpillar sternly.
-`Explain yourself!'
-
- `I can't explain MYSELF, I'm afraid, sir' said Alice, `because
-I'm not myself, you see.'
-
- `I don't see,' said the Caterpillar.
-
- `I'm afraid I can't put it more clearly,' Alice replied very
-politely, `for I can't understand it myself to begin with; and
-being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing.'
-
- `It isn't,' said the Caterpillar.
-
- `Well, perhaps you haven't found it so yet,' said Alice; `but
-when you have to turn into a chrysalis--you will some day, you
-know--and then after that into a butterfly, I should think you'll
-feel it a little queer, won't you?'
-
- `Not a bit,' said the Caterpillar.
-
- `Well, perhaps your feelings may be different,' said Alice;
-`all I know is, it would feel very queer to ME.'
-
- `You!' said the Caterpillar contemptuously. `Who are YOU?'
-
- Which brought them back again to the beginning of the
-conversation. Alice felt a little irritated at the Caterpillar's
-making such VERY short remarks, and she drew herself up and said,
-very gravely, `I think, you ought to tell me who YOU are, first.'
-
- `Why?' said the Caterpillar.
-
- Here was another puzzling question; and as Alice could not
-think of any good reason, and as the Caterpillar seemed to be in
-a VERY unpleasant state of mind, she turned away.
-
- `Come back!' the Caterpillar called after her. `I've something
-important to say!'
-
- This sounded promising, certainly: Alice turned and came back
-again.
-
- `Keep your temper,' said the Caterpillar.
-
- `Is that all?' said Alice, swallowing down her anger as well as
-she could.
-
- `No,' said the Caterpillar.
-
- Alice thought she might as well wait, as she had nothing else
-to do, and perhaps after all it might tell her something worth
-hearing. For some minutes it puffed away without speaking, but
-at last it unfolded its arms, took the hookah out of its mouth
-again, and said, `So you think you're changed, do you?'
-
- `I'm afraid I am, sir,' said Alice; `I can't remember things as
-I used--and I don't keep the same size for ten minutes together!'
-
- `Can't remember WHAT things?' said the Caterpillar.
-
- `Well, I've tried to say "HOW DOTH THE LITTLE BUSY BEE," but it
-all came different!' Alice replied in a very melancholy voice.
-
- `Repeat, "YOU ARE OLD, FATHER WILLIAM,"' said the Caterpillar.
-
- Alice folded her hands, and began:--
-
- `You are old, Father William,' the young man said,
- `And your hair has become very white;
- And yet you incessantly stand on your head--
- Do you think, at your age, it is right?'
-
- `In my youth,' Father William replied to his son,
- `I feared it might injure the brain;
- But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
- Why, I do it again and again.'
-
- `You are old,' said the youth, `as I mentioned before,
- And have grown most uncommonly fat;
- Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door--
- Pray, what is the reason of that?'
-
- `In my youth,' said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
- `I kept all my limbs very supple
- By the use of this ointment--one shilling the box--
- Allow me to sell you a couple?'
-
- `You are old,' said the youth, `and your jaws are too weak
- For anything tougher than suet;
- Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak--
- Pray how did you manage to do it?'
-
- `In my youth,' said his father, `I took to the law,
- And argued each case with my wife;
- And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
- Has lasted the rest of my life.'
-
- `You are old,' said the youth, `one would hardly suppose
- That your eye was as steady as ever;
- Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose--
- What made you so awfully clever?'
-
- `I have answered three questions, and that is enough,'
- Said his father; `don't give yourself airs!
- Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
- Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!'
-
-
- `That is not said right,' said the Caterpillar.
-
- `Not QUITE right, I'm afraid,' said Alice, timidly; `some of the
-words have got altered.'
-
- `It is wrong from beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar
-decidedly, and there was silence for some minutes.
-
- The Caterpillar was the first to speak.
-
- `What size do you want to be?' it asked.
-
- `Oh, I'm not particular as to size,' Alice hastily replied;
-`only one doesn't like changing so often, you know.'
-
- `I DON'T know,' said the Caterpillar.
-
- Alice said nothing: she had never been so much contradicted in
-her life before, and she felt that she was losing her temper.
-
- `Are you content now?' said the Caterpillar.
-
- `Well, I should like to be a LITTLE larger, sir, if you
-wouldn't mind,' said Alice: `three inches is such a wretched
-height to be.'
-
- `It is a very good height indeed!' said the Caterpillar
-angrily, rearing itself upright as it spoke (it was exactly three
-inches high).
-
- `But I'm not used to it!' pleaded poor Alice in a piteous tone.
-And she thought of herself, `I wish the creatures wouldn't be so
-easily offended!'
-
- `You'll get used to it in time,' said the Caterpillar; and it
-put the hookah into its mouth and began smoking again.
-
- This time Alice waited patiently until it chose to speak again.
-In a minute or two the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its
-mouth and yawned once or twice, and shook itself. Then it got
-down off the mushroom, and crawled away in the grass, merely
-remarking as it went, `One side will make you grow taller, and
-the other side will make you grow shorter.'
-
- `One side of WHAT? The other side of WHAT?' thought Alice to
-herself.
-
- `Of the mushroom,' said the Caterpillar, just as if she had
-asked it aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight.
-
- Alice remained looking thoughtfully at the mushroom for a
-minute, trying to make out which were the two sides of it; and as
-it was perfectly round, she found this a very difficult question.
-However, at last she stretched her arms round it as far as they
-would go, and broke off a bit of the edge with each hand.
-
- `And now which is which?' she said to herself, and nibbled a
-little of the right-hand bit to try the effect: the next moment
-she felt a violent blow underneath her chin: it had struck her
-foot!
-
- She was a good deal frightened by this very sudden change, but
-she felt that there was no time to be lost, as she was shrinking
-rapidly; so she set to work at once to eat some of the other bit.
-Her chin was pressed so closely against her foot, that there was
-hardly room to open her mouth; but she did it at last, and
-managed to swallow a morsel of the lefthand bit.
-
-
- * * * * * * *
-
- * * * * * *
-
- * * * * * * *
-
- `Come, my head's free at last!' said Alice in a tone of
-delight, which changed into alarm in another moment, when she
-found that her shoulders were nowhere to be found: all she could
-see, when she looked down, was an immense length of neck, which
-seemed to rise like a stalk out of a sea of green leaves that lay
-far below her.
-
- `What CAN all that green stuff be?' said Alice. `And where
-HAVE my shoulders got to? And oh, my poor hands, how is it I
-can't see you?' She was moving them about as she spoke, but no
-result seemed to follow, except a little shaking among the
-distant green leaves.
-
- As there seemed to be no chance of getting her hands up to her
-head, she tried to get her head down to them, and was delighted
-to find that her neck would bend about easily in any direction,
-like a serpent. She had just succeeded in curving it down into a
-graceful zigzag, and was going to dive in among the leaves, which
-she found to be nothing but the tops of the trees under which she
-had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made her draw back in a
-hurry: a large pigeon had flown into her face, and was beating
-her violently with its wings.
-
- `Serpent!' screamed the Pigeon.
-
- `I'm NOT a serpent!' said Alice indignantly. `Let me alone!'
-
- `Serpent, I say again!' repeated the Pigeon, but in a more
-subdued tone, and added with a kind of sob, `I've tried every
-way, and nothing seems to suit them!'
-
- `I haven't the least idea what you're talking about,' said
-Alice.
-
- `I've tried the roots of trees, and I've tried banks, and I've
-tried hedges,' the Pigeon went on, without attending to her; `but
-those serpents! There's no pleasing them!'
-
- Alice was more and more puzzled, but she thought there was no
-use in saying anything more till the Pigeon had finished.
-
- `As if it wasn't trouble enough hatching the eggs,' said the
-Pigeon; `but I must be on the look-out for serpents night and
-day! Why, I haven't had a wink of sleep these three weeks!'
-
- `I'm very sorry you've been annoyed,' said Alice, who was
-beginning to see its meaning.
-
- `And just as I'd taken the highest tree in the wood,' continued
-the Pigeon, raising its voice to a shriek, `and just as I was
-thinking I should be free of them at last, they must needs come
-wriggling down from the sky! Ugh, Serpent!'
-
- `But I'm NOT a serpent, I tell you!' said Alice. `I'm a--I'm
-a--'
-
- `Well! WHAT are you?' said the Pigeon. `I can see you're
-trying to invent something!'
-
- `I--I'm a little girl,' said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she
-remembered the number of changes she had gone through that day.
-
- `A likely story indeed!' said the Pigeon in a tone of the
-deepest contempt. `I've seen a good many little girls in my
-time, but never ONE with such a neck as that! No, no! You're a
-serpent; and there's no use denying it. I suppose you'll be
-telling me next that you never tasted an egg!'
-
- `I HAVE tasted eggs, certainly,' said Alice, who was a very
-truthful child; `but little girls eat eggs quite as much as
-serpents do, you know.'
-
- `I don't believe it,' said the Pigeon; `but if they do, why
-then they're a kind of serpent, that's all I can say.'
-
- This was such a new idea to Alice, that she was quite silent
-for a minute or two, which gave the Pigeon the opportunity of
-adding, `You're looking for eggs, I know THAT well enough; and
-what does it matter to me whether you're a little girl or a
-serpent?'
-
- `It matters a good deal to ME,' said Alice hastily; `but I'm
-not looking for eggs, as it happens; and if I was, I shouldn't
-want YOURS: I don't like them raw.'
-
- `Well, be off, then!' said the Pigeon in a sulky tone, as it
-settled down again into its nest. Alice crouched down among the
-trees as well as she could, for her neck kept getting entangled
-among the branches, and every now and then she had to stop and
-untwist it. After a while she remembered that she still held the
-pieces of mushroom in her hands, and she set to work very
-carefully, nibbling first at one and then at the other, and
-growing sometimes taller and sometimes shorter, until she had
-succeeded in bringing herself down to her usual height.
-
- It was so long since she had been anything near the right size,
-that it felt quite strange at first; but she got used to it in a
-few minutes, and began talking to herself, as usual. `Come,
-there's half my plan done now! How puzzling all these changes
-are! I'm never sure what I'm going to be, from one minute to
-another! However, I've got back to my right size: the next
-thing is, to get into that beautiful garden--how IS that to be
-done, I wonder?' As she said this, she came suddenly upon an
-open place, with a little house in it about four feet high.
-`Whoever lives there,' thought Alice, `it'll never do to come
-upon them THIS size: why, I should frighten them out of their
-wits!' So she began nibbling at the righthand bit again, and did
-not venture to go near the house till she had brought herself
-down to nine inches high.
-
-
-
- CHAPTER VI
-
- Pig and Pepper
-
-
- For a minute or two she stood looking at the house, and
-wondering what to do next, when suddenly a footman in livery came
-running out of the wood--(she considered him to be a footman
-because he was in livery: otherwise, judging by his face only,
-she would have called him a fish)--and rapped loudly at the door
-with his knuckles. It was opened by another footman in livery,
-with a round face, and large eyes like a frog; and both footmen,
-Alice noticed, had powdered hair that curled all over their
-heads. She felt very curious to know what it was all about, and
-crept a little way out of the wood to listen.
-
- The Fish-Footman began by producing from under his arm a great
-letter, nearly as large as himself, and this he handed over to
-the other, saying, in a solemn tone, `For the Duchess. An
-invitation from the Queen to play croquet.' The Frog-Footman
-repeated, in the same solemn tone, only changing the order of the
-words a little, `From the Queen. An invitation for the Duchess
-to play croquet.'
-
- Then they both bowed low, and their curls got entangled
-together.
-
- Alice laughed so much at this, that she had to run back into
-the wood for fear of their hearing her; and when she next peeped
-out the Fish-Footman was gone, and the other was sitting on the
-ground near the door, staring stupidly up into the sky.
-
- Alice went timidly up to the door, and knocked.
-
- `There's no sort of use in knocking,' said the Footman, `and
-that for two reasons. First, because I'm on the same side of the
-door as you are; secondly, because they're making such a noise
-inside, no one could possibly hear you.' And certainly there was
-a most extraordinary noise going on within--a constant howling
-and sneezing, and every now and then a great crash, as if a dish
-or kettle had been broken to pieces.
-
- `Please, then,' said Alice, `how am I to get in?'
-
- `There might be some sense in your knocking,' the Footman went
-on without attending to her, `if we had the door between us. For
-instance, if you were INSIDE, you might knock, and I could let
-you out, you know.' He was looking up into the sky all the time
-he was speaking, and this Alice thought decidedly uncivil. `But
-perhaps he can't help it,' she said to herself; `his eyes are so
-VERY nearly at the top of his head. But at any rate he might
-answer questions.--How am I to get in?' she repeated, aloud.
-
- `I shall sit here,' the Footman remarked, `till tomorrow--'
-
- At this moment the door of the house opened, and a large plate
-came skimming out, straight at the Footman's head: it just
-grazed his nose, and broke to pieces against one of the trees
-behind him.
-
- `--or next day, maybe,' the Footman continued in the same tone,
-exactly as if nothing had happened.
-
- `How am I to get in?' asked Alice again, in a louder tone.
-
- `ARE you to get in at all?' said the Footman. `That's the
-first question, you know.'
-
- It was, no doubt: only Alice did not like to be told so.
-`It's really dreadful,' she muttered to herself, `the way all the
-creatures argue. It's enough to drive one crazy!'
-
- The Footman seemed to think this a good opportunity for
-repeating his remark, with variations. `I shall sit here,' he
-said, `on and off, for days and days.'
-
- `But what am I to do?' said Alice.
-
- `Anything you like,' said the Footman, and began whistling.
-
- `Oh, there's no use in talking to him,' said Alice desperately:
-`he's perfectly idiotic!' And she opened the door and went in.
-
- The door led right into a large kitchen, which was full of
-smoke from one end to the other: the Duchess was sitting on a
-three-legged stool in the middle, nursing a baby; the cook was
-leaning over the fire, stirring a large cauldron which seemed to
-be full of soup.
-
- `There's certainly too much pepper in that soup!' Alice said to
-herself, as well as she could for sneezing.
-
- There was certainly too much of it in the air. Even the
-Duchess sneezed occasionally; and as for the baby, it was
-sneezing and howling alternately without a moment's pause. The
-only things in the kitchen that did not sneeze, were the cook,
-and a large cat which was sitting on the hearth and grinning from
-ear to ear.
-
- `Please would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, for
-she was not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to
-speak first, `why your cat grins like that?'
-
- `It's a Cheshire cat,' said the Duchess, `and that's why.
-Pig!'
-
- She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice
-quite jumped; but she saw in another moment that it was addressed
-to the baby, and not to her, so she took courage, and went on
-again:--
-
- `I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I
-didn't know that cats COULD grin.'
-
- `They all can,' said the Duchess; `and most of 'em do.'
-
- `I don't know of any that do,' Alice said very politely,
-feeling quite pleased to have got into a conversation.
-
- `You don't know much,' said the Duchess; `and that's a fact.'
-
- Alice did not at all like the tone of this remark, and thought
-it would be as well to introduce some other subject of
-conversation. While she was trying to fix on one, the cook took
-the cauldron of soup off the fire, and at once set to work
-throwing everything within her reach at the Duchess and the baby
---the fire-irons came first; then followed a shower of saucepans,
-plates, and dishes. The Duchess took no notice of them even when
-they hit her; and the baby was howling so much already, that it
-was quite impossible to say whether the blows hurt it or not.
-
- `Oh, PLEASE mind what you're doing!' cried Alice, jumping up
-and down in an agony of terror. `Oh, there goes his PRECIOUS
-nose'; as an unusually large saucepan flew close by it, and very
-nearly carried it off.
-
- `If everybody minded their own business,' the Duchess said in a
-hoarse growl, `the world would go round a deal faster than it
-does.'
-
- `Which would NOT be an advantage,' said Alice, who felt very
-glad to get an opportunity of showing off a little of her
-knowledge. `Just think of what work it would make with the day
-and night! You see the earth takes twenty-four hours to turn
-round on its axis--'
-
- `Talking of axes,' said the Duchess, `chop off her head!'
-
- Alice glanced rather anxiously at the cook, to see if she meant
-to take the hint; but the cook was busily stirring the soup, and
-seemed not to be listening, so she went on again: `Twenty-four
-hours, I THINK; or is it twelve? I--'
-
- `Oh, don't bother ME,' said the Duchess; `I never could abide
-figures!' And with that she began nursing her child again,
-singing a sort of lullaby to it as she did so, and giving it a
-violent shake at the end of every line:
-
- `Speak roughly to your little boy,
- And beat him when he sneezes:
- He only does it to annoy,
- Because he knows it teases.'
-
- CHORUS.
-
- (In which the cook and the baby joined):--
-
- `Wow! wow! wow!'
-
- While the Duchess sang the second verse of the song, she kept
-tossing the baby violently up and down, and the poor little thing
-howled so, that Alice could hardly hear the words:--
-
- `I speak severely to my boy,
- I beat him when he sneezes;
- For he can thoroughly enjoy
- The pepper when he pleases!'
-
- CHORUS.
-
- `Wow! wow! wow!'
-
- `Here! you may nurse it a bit, if you like!' the Duchess said
-to Alice, flinging the baby at her as she spoke. `I must go and
-get ready to play croquet with the Queen,' and she hurried out of
-the room. The cook threw a frying-pan after her as she went out,
-but it just missed her.
-
- Alice caught the baby with some difficulty, as it was a queer-
-shaped little creature, and held out its arms and legs in all
-directions, `just like a star-fish,' thought Alice. The poor
-little thing was snorting like a steam-engine when she caught it,
-and kept doubling itself up and straightening itself out again,
-so that altogether, for the first minute or two, it was as much
-as she could do to hold it.
-
- As soon as she had made out the proper way of nursing it,
-(which was to twist it up into a sort of knot, and then keep
-tight hold of its right ear and left foot, so as to prevent its
-undoing itself,) she carried it out into the open air. `IF I
-don't take this child away with me,' thought Alice, `they're sure
-to kill it in a day or two: wouldn't it be murder to leave it
-behind?' She said the last words out loud, and the little thing
-grunted in reply (it had left off sneezing by this time). `Don't
-grunt,' said Alice; `that's not at all a proper way of expressing
-yourself.'
-
- The baby grunted again, and Alice looked very anxiously into
-its face to see what was the matter with it. There could be no
-doubt that it had a VERY turn-up nose, much more like a snout
-than a real nose; also its eyes were getting extremely small for
-a baby: altogether Alice did not like the look of the thing at
-all. `But perhaps it was only sobbing,' she thought, and looked
-into its eyes again, to see if there were any tears.
-
- No, there were no tears. `If you're going to turn into a pig,
-my dear,' said Alice, seriously, `I'll have nothing more to do
-with you. Mind now!' The poor little thing sobbed again (or
-grunted, it was impossible to say which), and they went on for
-some while in silence.
-
- Alice was just beginning to think to herself, `Now, what am I
-to do with this creature when I get it home?' when it grunted
-again, so violently, that she looked down into its face in some
-alarm. This time there could be NO mistake about it: it was
-neither more nor less than a pig, and she felt that it would be
-quite absurd for her to carry it further.
-
- So she set the little creature down, and felt quite relieved to
-see it trot away quietly into the wood. `If it had grown up,'
-she said to herself, `it would have made a dreadfully ugly child:
-but it makes rather a handsome pig, I think.' And she began
-thinking over other children she knew, who might do very well as
-pigs, and was just saying to herself, `if one only knew the right
-way to change them--' when she was a little startled by seeing
-the Cheshire Cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards off.
-
- The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-
-natured, she thought: still it had VERY long claws and a great
-many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.
-
- `Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at
-all know whether it would like the name: however, it only
-grinned a little wider. `Come, it's pleased so far,' thought
-Alice, and she went on. `Would you tell me, please, which way I
-ought to go from here?'
-
- `That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said
-the Cat.
-
- `I don't much care where--' said Alice.
-
- `Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
-
- `--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.
-
- `Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, `if you only walk
-long enough.'
-
- Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another
-question. `What sort of people live about here?'
-
- `In THAT direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw round,
-`lives a Hatter: and in THAT direction,' waving the other paw,
-`lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad.'
-
- `But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
-
- `Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here.
-I'm mad. You're mad.'
-
- `How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
-
- `You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
-
- Alice didn't think that proved it at all; however, she went on
-`And how do you know that you're mad?'
-
- `To begin with,' said the Cat, `a dog's not mad. You grant
-that?'
-
- `I suppose so,' said Alice.
-
- `Well, then,' the Cat went on, `you see, a dog growls when it's
-angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm
-pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.'
-
- `I call it purring, not growling,' said Alice.
-
- `Call it what you like,' said the Cat. `Do you play croquet
-with the Queen to-day?'
-
- `I should like it very much,' said Alice, `but I haven't been
-invited yet.'
-
- `You'll see me there,' said the Cat, and vanished.
-
- Alice was not much surprised at this, she was getting so used
-to queer things happening. While she was looking at the place
-where it had been, it suddenly appeared again.
-
- `By-the-bye, what became of the baby?' said the Cat. `I'd
-nearly forgotten to ask.'
-
- `It turned into a pig,' Alice quietly said, just as if it had
-come back in a natural way.
-
- `I thought it would,' said the Cat, and vanished again.
-
- Alice waited a little, half expecting to see it again, but it
-did not appear, and after a minute or two she walked on in the
-direction in which the March Hare was said to live. `I've seen
-hatters before,' she said to herself; `the March Hare will be
-much the most interesting, and perhaps as this is May it won't be
-raving mad--at least not so mad as it was in March.' As she said
-this, she looked up, and there was the Cat again, sitting on a
-branch of a tree.
-
- `Did you say pig, or fig?' said the Cat.
-
- `I said pig,' replied Alice; `and I wish you wouldn't keep
-appearing and vanishing so suddenly: you make one quite giddy.'
-
- `All right,' said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite
-slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the
-grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.
-
- `Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin,' thought Alice;
-`but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever
-say in my life!'
-
- She had not gone much farther before she came in sight of the
-house of the March Hare: she thought it must be the right house,
-because the chimneys were shaped like ears and the roof was
-thatched with fur. It was so large a house, that she did not
-like to go nearer till she had nibbled some more of the lefthand
-bit of mushroom, and raised herself to about two feet high: even
-then she walked up towards it rather timidly, saying to herself
-`Suppose it should be raving mad after all! I almost wish I'd
-gone to see the Hatter instead!'
-
-
-
- CHAPTER VII
-
- A Mad Tea-Party
-
-
- There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house,
-and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a
-Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two
-were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and the
-talking over its head. `Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse,'
-thought Alice; `only, as it's asleep, I suppose it doesn't mind.'
-
- The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded
-together at one corner of it: `No room! No room!' they cried
-out when they saw Alice coming. `There's PLENTY of room!' said
-Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one
-end of the table.
-
- `Have some wine,' the March Hare said in an encouraging tone.
-
- Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it
-but tea. `I don't see any wine,' she remarked.
-
- `There isn't any,' said the March Hare.
-
- `Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it,' said Alice
-angrily.
-
- `It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being
-invited,' said the March Hare.
-
- `I didn't know it was YOUR table,' said Alice; `it's laid for a
-great many more than three.'
-
- `Your hair wants cutting,' said the Hatter. He had been
-looking at Alice for some time with great curiosity, and this was
-his first speech.
-
- `You should learn not to make personal remarks,' Alice said
-with some severity; `it's very rude.'
-
- The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all
-he SAID was, `Why is a raven like a writing-desk?'
-
- `Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice. `I'm glad
-they've begun asking riddles.--I believe I can guess that,' she
-added aloud.
-
- `Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?'
-said the March Hare.
-
- `Exactly so,' said Alice.
-
- `Then you should say what you mean,' the March Hare went on.
-
- `I do,' Alice hastily replied; `at least--at least I mean what
-I say--that's the same thing, you know.'
-
- `Not the same thing a bit!' said the Hatter. `You might just
-as well say that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat
-what I see"!'
-
- `You might just as well say,' added the March Hare, `that "I
-like what I get" is the same thing as "I get what I like"!'
-
- `You might just as well say,' added the Dormouse, who seemed to
-be talking in his sleep, `that "I breathe when I sleep" is the
-same thing as "I sleep when I breathe"!'
-
- `It IS the same thing with you,' said the Hatter, and here the
-conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a minute,
-while Alice thought over all she could remember about ravens and
-writing-desks, which wasn't much.
-
- The Hatter was the first to break the silence. `What day of
-the month is it?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his
-watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking
-it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.
-
- Alice considered a little, and then said `The fourth.'
-
- `Two days wrong!' sighed the Hatter. `I told you butter
-wouldn't suit the works!' he added looking angrily at the March
-Hare.
-
- `It was the BEST butter,' the March Hare meekly replied.
-
- `Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,' the Hatter
-grumbled: `you shouldn't have put it in with the bread-knife.'
-
- The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then
-he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he
-could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, `It
-was the BEST butter, you know.'
-
- Alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity.
-`What a funny watch!' she remarked. `It tells the day of the
-month, and doesn't tell what o'clock it is!'
-
- `Why should it?' muttered the Hatter. `Does YOUR watch tell
-you what year it is?'
-
- `Of course not,' Alice replied very readily: `but that's
-because it stays the same year for such a long time together.'
-
- `Which is just the case with MINE,' said the Hatter.
-
- Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to
-have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English.
-`I don't quite understand you,' she said, as politely as she
-could.
-
- `The Dormouse is asleep again,' said the Hatter, and he poured
-a little hot tea upon its nose.
-
- The Dormouse shook its head impatiently, and said, without
-opening its eyes, `Of course, of course; just what I was going to
-remark myself.'
-
- `Have you guessed the riddle yet?' the Hatter said, turning to
-Alice again.
-
- `No, I give it up,' Alice replied: `what's the answer?'
-
- `I haven't the slightest idea,' said the Hatter.
-
- `Nor I,' said the March Hare.
-
- Alice sighed wearily. `I think you might do something better
-with the time,' she said, `than waste it in asking riddles that
-have no answers.'
-
- `If you knew Time as well as I do,' said the Hatter, `you
-wouldn't talk about wasting IT. It's HIM.'
-
- `I don't know what you mean,' said Alice.
-
- `Of course you don't!' the Hatter said, tossing his head
-contemptuously. `I dare say you never even spoke to Time!'
-
- `Perhaps not,' Alice cautiously replied: `but I know I have to
-beat time when I learn music.'
-
- `Ah! that accounts for it,' said the Hatter. `He won't stand
-beating. Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he'd do
-almost anything you liked with the clock. For instance, suppose
-it were nine o'clock in the morning, just time to begin lessons:
-you'd only have to whisper a hint to Time, and round goes the
-clock in a twinkling! Half-past one, time for dinner!'
-
- (`I only wish it was,' the March Hare said to itself in a
-whisper.)
-
- `That would be grand, certainly,' said Alice thoughtfully:
-`but then--I shouldn't be hungry for it, you know.'
-
- `Not at first, perhaps,' said the Hatter: `but you could keep
-it to half-past one as long as you liked.'
-
- `Is that the way YOU manage?' Alice asked.
-
- The Hatter shook his head mournfully. `Not I!' he replied.
-`We quarrelled last March--just before HE went mad, you know--'
-(pointing with his tea spoon at the March Hare,) `--it was at the
-great concert given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had to sing
-
- "Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
- How I wonder what you're at!"
-
-You know the song, perhaps?'
-
- `I've heard something like it,' said Alice.
-
- `It goes on, you know,' the Hatter continued, `in this way:--
-
- "Up above the world you fly,
- Like a tea-tray in the sky.
- Twinkle, twinkle--"'
-
-Here the Dormouse shook itself, and began singing in its sleep
-`Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle--' and went on so long that
-they had to pinch it to make it stop.
-
- `Well, I'd hardly finished the first verse,' said the Hatter,
-`when the Queen jumped up and bawled out, "He's murdering the
-time! Off with his head!"'
-
- `How dreadfully savage!' exclaimed Alice.
-
- `And ever since that,' the Hatter went on in a mournful tone,
-`he won't do a thing I ask! It's always six o'clock now.'
-
- A bright idea came into Alice's head. `Is that the reason so
-many tea-things are put out here?' she asked.
-
- `Yes, that's it,' said the Hatter with a sigh: `it's always
-tea-time, and we've no time to wash the things between whiles.'
-
- `Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice.
-
- `Exactly so,' said the Hatter: `as the things get used up.'
-
- `But what happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice
-ventured to ask.
-
- `Suppose we change the subject,' the March Hare interrupted,
-yawning. `I'm getting tired of this. I vote the young lady
-tells us a story.'
-
- `I'm afraid I don't know one,' said Alice, rather alarmed at
-the proposal.
-
- `Then the Dormouse shall!' they both cried. `Wake up,
-Dormouse!' And they pinched it on both sides at once.
-
- The Dormouse slowly opened his eyes. `I wasn't asleep,' he
-said in a hoarse, feeble voice: `I heard every word you fellows
-were saying.'
-
- `Tell us a story!' said the March Hare.
-
- `Yes, please do!' pleaded Alice.
-
- `And be quick about it,' added the Hatter, `or you'll be asleep
-again before it's done.'
-
- `Once upon a time there were three little sisters,' the
-Dormouse began in a great hurry; `and their names were Elsie,
-Lacie, and Tillie; and they lived at the bottom of a well--'
-
- `What did they live on?' said Alice, who always took a great
-interest in questions of eating and drinking.
-
- `They lived on treacle,' said the Dormouse, after thinking a
-minute or two.
-
- `They couldn't have done that, you know,' Alice gently
-remarked; `they'd have been ill.'
-
- `So they were,' said the Dormouse; `VERY ill.'
-
- Alice tried to fancy to herself what such an extraordinary ways
-of living would be like, but it puzzled her too much, so she went
-on: `But why did they live at the bottom of a well?'
-
- `Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very
-earnestly.
-
- `I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, `so
-I can't take more.'
-
- `You mean you can't take LESS,' said the Hatter: `it's very
-easy to take MORE than nothing.'
-
- `Nobody asked YOUR opinion,' said Alice.
-
- `Who's making personal remarks now?' the Hatter asked
-triumphantly.
-
- Alice did not quite know what to say to this: so she helped
-herself to some tea and bread-and-butter, and then turned to the
-Dormouse, and repeated her question. `Why did they live at the
-bottom of a well?'
-
- The Dormouse again took a minute or two to think about it, and
-then said, `It was a treacle-well.'
-
- `There's no such thing!' Alice was beginning very angrily, but
-the Hatter and the March Hare went `Sh! sh!' and the Dormouse
-sulkily remarked, `If you can't be civil, you'd better finish the
-story for yourself.'
-
- `No, please go on!' Alice said very humbly; `I won't interrupt
-again. I dare say there may be ONE.'
-
- `One, indeed!' said the Dormouse indignantly. However, he
-consented to go on. `And so these three little sisters--they
-were learning to draw, you know--'
-
- `What did they draw?' said Alice, quite forgetting her promise.
-
- `Treacle,' said the Dormouse, without considering at all this
-time.
-
- `I want a clean cup,' interrupted the Hatter: `let's all move
-one place on.'
-
- He moved on as he spoke, and the Dormouse followed him: the
-March Hare moved into the Dormouse's place, and Alice rather
-unwillingly took the place of the March Hare. The Hatter was the
-only one who got any advantage from the change: and Alice was a
-good deal worse off than before, as the March Hare had just upset
-the milk-jug into his plate.
-
- Alice did not wish to offend the Dormouse again, so she began
-very cautiously: `But I don't understand. Where did they draw
-the treacle from?'
-
- `You can draw water out of a water-well,' said the Hatter; `so
-I should think you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well--eh,
-stupid?'
-
- `But they were IN the well,' Alice said to the Dormouse, not
-choosing to notice this last remark.
-
- `Of course they were', said the Dormouse; `--well in.'
-
- This answer so confused poor Alice, that she let the Dormouse
-go on for some time without interrupting it.
-
- `They were learning to draw,' the Dormouse went on, yawning and
-rubbing its eyes, for it was getting very sleep
<TRUNCATED>