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93 lines
5.0 KiB
Plaintext
93 lines
5.0 KiB
Plaintext
ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
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Lewis Carroll (1865)
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CHAPTER I. Down the Rabbit-Hole
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Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the
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bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the
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book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in
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it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or
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conversations?'
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So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the
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hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure
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of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and
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picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran
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close by her.
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There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so
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VERY much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear!
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Oh dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it
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occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time
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it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH
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OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT-POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on,
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Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had
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never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch
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to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field
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after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large
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rabbit-hole under the hedge.
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In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how
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in the world she was to get out again.
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The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then
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dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think
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about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep
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well.
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Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had
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plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was
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going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what
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she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she
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looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with
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cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures
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hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as
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she passed; it was labelled 'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great
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disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear
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of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as
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she fell past it.
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'Well!' thought Alice to herself, 'after such a fall as this, I shall
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think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll all think me at
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home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top
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of the house!' (Which was very likely true.)
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Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! 'I wonder how
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many miles I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud. 'I must be getting
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somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four
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thousand miles down, I think--' (for, you see, Alice had learnt several
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things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this
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was not a VERY good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there
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was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over)
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'--yes, that's about the right distance--but then I wonder what Latitude
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or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or
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Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)
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Presently she began again. 'I wonder if I shall fall right THROUGH the
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earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with
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their heads downward! The Antipathies, I think--' (she was rather glad
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there WAS no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the
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right word) '--but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country
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is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?' (and
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she tried to curtsey as she spoke--fancy CURTSEYING as you're falling
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through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) 'And what an
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ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll never do to
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ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.'
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Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began
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talking again. 'Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!'
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(Dinah was the cat.) 'I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at
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tea-time. Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no
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mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's very
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like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?' And here Alice
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began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy
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sort of way, 'Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?' and sometimes, 'Do
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bats eat cats?' for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question,
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it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing
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off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with
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Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, 'Now, Dinah, tell me the truth:
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did you ever eat a bat?' when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon
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a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.
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