Project Gutenberg's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

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Title: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

       Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. With a Proem by Austin Dobson

Author: Lewis Carroll

Illustrator: Arthur Rackham

Release Date: May 19, 2009 [EBook #28885]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND

[Illustration: "Alice"]

[Illustration:

          ALICE'S·ADVENTURES

          IN·WONDERLAND

          BY·LEWIS·CARROLL

          ILLUSTRATED·BY

          ARTHUR·RACKHAM

          WITH A PROEM BY AUSTIN DOBSON

          LONDON·WILLIAM·HEINEMANN

          NEW·YORK·DOUBLEDAY·PAGE·&·Co]

          PRINTED IN ENGLAND

          _'Tis two score years since CARROLL'S art,

             With topsy-turvy magic,

           Sent ALICE wondering through a part

             Half-comic and half-tragic._

          _Enchanting ALICE! Black-and-white

             Has made your deeds perennial;

           And naught save "Chaos and old Night"

             Can part you now from TENNIEL;_

          _But still you are a Type, and based

             In Truth, like LEAR and HAMLET;

           And Types may be re-draped to taste

             In cloth-of-gold or camlet._

          _Here comes afresh Costumier, then;

             That Taste may gain a wrinkle

           From him who drew with such deft pen

             The rags of RIP VAN WINKLE!_

                                   _AUSTIN DOBSON._

          All in the golden afternoon

            Full leisurely we glide;

          For both our oars, with little skill,

            By little arms are plied,

          While little hands make vain pretence

            Our wanderings to guide.

          Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour,

            Beneath such dreamy weather,

          To beg a tale of breath too weak

            To stir the tiniest feather!

          Yet what can one poor voice avail

            Against three tongues together?

          Imperious Prima flashes forth

            Her edict "to begin it"--

          In gentler tone Secunda hopes

            "There will be nonsense in it!"--

          While Tertia interrupts the tale

            Not _more_ than once a minute.

          Anon, to sudden silence won,

            In fancy they pursue

          The dream-child moving through a land

            Of wonders wild and new,

          In friendly chat with bird or beast--

            And half believe it true.

          And ever, as the story drained

            The wells of fancy dry.

          And faintly strove that weary one

            To put the subject by,

          "The rest next time--" "It _is_ next time!"

            The happy voices cry.

          Thus grew the tale of Wonderland:

            Thus slowly, one by one,

          Its quaint events were hammered out--

            And now the tale is done,

          And home we steer, a merry crew,

            Beneath the setting sun.

          Alice! a childish story take,

            And with a gentle hand

          Lay it where Childhood's dreams are twined

            In Memory's mystic band,

          Like pilgrim's wither'd wreath of flowers

            Pluck'd in a far-off land.

CONTENTS

                                                      PAGE

             I. DOWN THE RABBIT-HOLE                     1

            II. THE POOL OF TEARS                       13

           III. A CAUCUS-RACE AND A LONG TALE           24

            IV. THE RABBIT SENDS IN A LITTLE BILL       35

             V. ADVICE FROM A CATERPILLAR               49

            VI. PIG AND PEPPER                          64

           VII. A MAD TEA-PARTY                         82

          VIII. THE QUEEN'S CROQUET-GROUND              96

            IX. THE MOCK TURTLE'S STORY                111

             X. THE LOBSTER QUADRILLE                  126

            XI. WHO STOLE THE TARTS?                   139

           XII. ALICE'S EVIDENCE                       150

LIST OF THE PLATES

                                            _To face page_

          Alice                             _Frontispiece_

          The Pool of Tears                             22

          They all crowded round it panting and

             asking, "But who has won?"                 28

          "Why, Mary Ann, what are you doing out

             here?"                                     36

          Advice from a Caterpillar                     50

          An unusually large saucepan flew close

             by it, and very nearly carried it off      70

          It grunted again so violently that she

             looked down into its face in some alarm    74

          A Mad Tea-Party                               84

          The Queen turned angrily away from him

             and said to the Knave, "Turn them over"   100

          The Queen never left off quarrelling

             with the other players, and shouting

             "Off with his head!" or, "Off with her

             head!"                                    116

          The Mock Turtle drew a long breath and

             said, "That's very curious"               132

          Who stole the Tarts?                         140

          At this the whole pack rose up into the

             air, and came flying down upon her        158

CHAPTER I

[Sidenote: _Down the Rabbit-Hole_]

ALICE was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her

sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had

peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or

conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice,

"without pictures or conversations?"

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the

hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid) whether the pleasure of

making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and

picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran

close by her.

There was nothing so _very_ remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it

so _very_ much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, "Oh

dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" (when she thought it over

afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this,

but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit

actually _took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket_, and looked at it,

and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across

her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a

waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with

curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to

see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how

in the world she was to get out again.

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then

dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think

about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed

to be a very deep well.

[Illustration]

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had

plenty of time as she went down to look about her, and to wonder what

was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out

what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she

looked at the sides of the well and noticed that they were filled with

cupboards and book-shelves: here and there she saw maps and pictures

hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she

passed; it was labelled "ORANGE MARMALADE," but to her disappointment it

was empty; she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing

somebody underneath, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as

she fell past it.

"Well!" thought Alice to herself. "After such a fall as this, I shall

think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll all think me at

home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top

of the house!" (Which was very likely true.)

Down, down, down. Would the fall _never_ come to an end? "I wonder how

many miles I've fallen by this time?" she said aloud. "I must be getting

somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four

thousand miles down. I think--" (for, you see, Alice had learnt several

things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this

was not a _very_ good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as

there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it

over) "--yes, that's about the right distance--but then I wonder what

Latitude or Longitude I've got to?" (Alice had no idea what Latitude

was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to

say.)

Presently she began again. "I wonder if I shall fall right _through_ the

earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with

their heads downwards! The Antipathies, I think--" (she was rather glad

there _was_ no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the

right word) "--but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country

is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?" (and she

tried to curtsey as she spoke--fancy _curtseying_ as you're falling

through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) "And what an

ignorant little girl she'll think me! No, it'll never do to ask: perhaps

I shall see it written up somewhere."

Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began

talking again. "Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!"

(Dinah was the cat.) "I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at

tea-time. Dinah, my dear, I wish you were down here with me! There are

no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's

very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?" And here

Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a

dreamy sort of way, "Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?" and sometimes,

"Do bats eat cats?" for, you see, as she couldn't answer either

question, it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she

was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in

hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, "Now, Dinah, tell me

the truth: did you ever eat a bat?" when suddenly, thump! thump! down

she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.

Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment:

she looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another long

passage, and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it.

There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and

was just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, "Oh my ears and

whiskers, how late it's getting!" She was close behind it when she

turned the corner, but the Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she found

herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging

from the roof.

There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when

Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every

door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to

get out again.

Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid

glass; there was nothing on it but a tiny golden key, and Alice's first

idea was that this might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but,

alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was too small, but at

any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the second time

round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and

behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high: she tried the

little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted!

Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not

much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage

into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of

that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and

those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head through the

doorway; "and even if my head would go through," thought poor Alice, "it

would be of very little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could

shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only knew how to begin."

For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that

Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really

impossible.

There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went

back to the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at

any rate a book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes: this

time she found a little bottle on it ("which certainly was not here

before," said Alice,) and tied round the neck of the bottle was a paper

label, with the words "DRINK ME" beautifully printed on it in large

letters.

It was all very well to say "Drink me," but the wise little Alice was

not going to do _that_ in a hurry. "No, I'll look first," she said, "and

see whether it's marked '_poison_' or not;" for she had read several

nice little stories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by

wild beasts, and other unpleasant things, all because they _would_ not

remember the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a

red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that, if you

cut your finger _very_ deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she

had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked

"poison," it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.

However, this bottle was _not_ marked "poison," so Alice ventured to

taste it, and finding it very nice (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed

flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pineapple, roast turkey, coffee, and

hot buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off.

       *       *       *       *       *

"What a curious feeling!" said Alice. "I must be shutting up like a

telescope."

And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her face

brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going

through that little door into that lovely garden. First, however, she

waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to shrink any further:

she felt a little nervous about this: "for it might end, you know," said

Alice to herself, "in my going out altogether, like a candle. I wonder

what I should be like then?" And she tried to fancy what the flame of a

candle looks like after the candle is blown out, for she could not

remember ever having seen such a thing.

After a while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided on going

into the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice! when she got to the

door, she found she had forgotten the little golden key, and when she

went back to the table for it, she found she could not possibly reach

it: she could see it quite plainly through the glass, and she tried her

best to climb up one of the legs of the table, but it was too slippery;

and when she had tired herself out with trying, the poor little thing

sat down and cried.

"Come, there's no use in crying like that!" said Alice to herself,

rather sharply. "I advise you to leave off this minute!" She generally

gave herself very good advice (though she very seldom followed it), and

sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her

eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having

cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself,

for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people.

"But it's no use now," thought poor Alice, "to pretend to be two people!

Why there's hardly enough of me left to make _one_ respectable person!"

Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table:

she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words

"EAT ME" were beautifully marked in currants. "Well, I'll eat it," said

Alice, "and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it

makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I'll

get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!"

She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, "Which way? Which

way?" holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was

growing, and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same

size; to be sure, this is what generally happens when one eats cake,

but Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but

out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid

for life to go on in the common way.

So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.

       *       *       *       *       *

CHAPTER II

[Sidenote: _Pool of Tears_]

"CURIOUSER and curiouser!" cried Alice (she was so much

surprised, that for a 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_ sha'n'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 rather 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.

[Illustration: CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER]

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 scurried 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 during 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 spreads his claws,

           And welcomes 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