Itwas a warm afternoon and Alice was getting bored. She’d been sitting in the garden for too long, making daisy chains, while her sister was busy with a very strange book that had no drawings or pictures in it.
‘What’s the point of a book with no pictures?’ wondered Alice, with a yawn. And she was still wondering how to spend the rest of the afternoon when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes rushed past. There’s nothing amazing about that, but Alice was surprised by one thing and all of sudden she was wide awake. She’d seen the Rabbit stop behind the hedge and pull a large watch from his jacket pocket!
Thinking about it, the little girl recalled that she’d never seen a rabbit with a watch … or with a
jacket if it came to that. Alice jumped to her feet and decided to see where that funny animal was dashing off to, so she ran after him and passed the hedge just in time to see him disappear into a burrow, muttering: “Poor me! Poor me! I’m late!”
Alice thought it was really strange to hear a rabbit speak so she was intrigued and without thinking twice she knelt down and followed him down the narrow tunnel. She crawled along for a while then abruptly the ground under her gave way and she fell into a deep, dark tunnel!
Maybe Alice was falling slowly due to some mysterious spell, perhaps the burrow was just deeper than she expected, but the fact was that she went on falling and she couldn’t see the bottom.
But when her eyes got used to the dark, she noticed that the walls of the tunnel were full of shelves that held all kinds of objects: cans and cups, picture frames, books and little bottles. Here and there she even saw paintings and maps.
And down, down, down ...
The fall went on and on, and the bottom of the burrow was nowhere in sight. Alice was getting bored and she thought she’d never worry about falling down the stairs again: ‘Compared to this fall, tumbling down the stairs would be a stroll!’ she thought.
And down, down, down ...
She was still falling and the bottom of the burrow was still nowhere in sight.
To pass the time the little girl tried to guess where she would land: “I must be close to the center of the Earth by now !” she said, remembering what her teacher had taught her at school,
‘By now I must have fallen for miles and miles ... who knows at what longitude and latitude I am?’ she wondered (although she had no idea at all what latitude and longitude were). And down, down, down ...
She was still falling and the bottom of the burrow was nowhere in sight.
After a few hours, Alice was getting sleepy. She yawned and wondered what time it was and what was happening at home:
‘By now my cat will be hungry. I hope someone remembers to feed to my pussycat! Oh, kitty cat, I wish you were here with me, even if you wouldn’t find any mice floating in the air, I’m afraid.’
At long last Alice was falling asleep when ...
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Finally she had reached the end of the long tunnel and she found herself thrown onto the ground among dry leaves.
When she was sure she’d stopped shrinking, Alice felt in her pocket for the golden key but she got a nasty surprise. When she’d grabbed the bottle, she’d put the key on the table and left it there. One look at the table legs was enough to make her slide back into despair. Now how could she climb up there? Then she noticed a little box at the foot of the table, so she opened it and found a tart with a card that said:
“EAT ME”
This time Alice didn’t waste a minute, grabbed the tart and bit into it firmly, waiting to see what amazing effect it would have. First nothing happened, except what usually happens when you taste a very good cake – you want to finish it off right away. So she did. When she’d polished off the very last crumb, a surprised Alice exclaimed: “Now I’m stretching.” She was actually growing so fast that after a few moments she almost couldn’t see her feet and she continued going upwards until she banged her head on the ceiling. Then she struggled to kneel in the tight space and realized she’d never get through the little door that was less than two feet high! Alice sat down and burst into tears, but quickly scolded herself: “A great big girl like you, crying for something so silly! Stop it now!” But this time she just couldn’t stop and huge tears continued to fall at her feet, soon making a big puddle, a few inches high and half as wide as the room.
A few minutes later she heard pattering feet in the distance. The White Rabbit was on his way back, as smart as could be, with a pair of white gloves in one paw and a fan in the other. He bustled by, muttering: “The Duchess! Oh, the Duchess will be furious if I’m late.” Alice was so desperate that she decided to ask him for help and as the Rabbit went past her, she spoke shyly “Please, could you tell me ...” But the Rabbit jumped, dropped his gloves and fan, and raced off! Alice then picked up the tiny gloves and the small fan and, since she was feeling very hot, she began to fan herself as she mumbled: “What a mess! What can I do? I’m so sick of being here alone.”
Anyway, after half an hour the dodo said: “The race is over!” and they all stood around asking, “Who won?” The dodo had trouble answering, it sat down on a stone and stayed there for a while, its eyes closed as it concentrated on the right decision, finally crying: “Everyone won and everyone will get a prize.”
“Who will give out the prizes?” asked the eaglet. “She will, of course,” said the dodo, pointing to Alice with one wing. And they all crowded around shouting: “A prize! A prize!” Alice was embarrassed and stuck her hands in her pockets where she discovered some candies she’d hidden there the day before. Luckily there was enough for one each! Everyone clapped their hands and began to eat their candy. Alice then turned to the mouse: “Now will you tell me why you hate c … well, those animals?” she said, stopping herself just in time. “Mine is a miserable story, a truly sad and painful tale ...” sighed the mouse. “I’m so sorry!” Alice said, thinking the mouse had said “tail” and that she had stepped on it without noticing. “I said tale,” cried the
mouse crossly and started to explain, but soon stopped short: “You’re not listening!” it said sternly to the child, who was actually still thinking of the earlier misunderstanding. “I wondered what your tail had to do with your tale...”
“I said, ‘tale’! ‘tale’! Enough! I’m leaving!” said the mouse shaking its head and stomping off. “Oh, how I wish my cat was here. She’d know how to bring a mouse back double quick!” cried Alice. “She’s a very good hunter of mice and birds, you know.” Hearing these words, a number of frightened birds immediately took flight and other animals found an excuse to wander off into the trees, until Alice was alone again. “I shouldn’t have mentioned my cat!” she said, feeling the tears come again, but when she heard someone nearby, she hastily wiped her eyes and looked to see who was arriving. It was the White Rabbit, walking with his eyes looking at the ground, as if he’d lost something. Alice knew he was looking for the fan and gloves, and began to help, but as soon the Rabbit noticed her, he began to scream: “Mary Anne! What are you doing here? Go straight home and get me a pair of gloves and a fan! Go on, quick.” Alice didn’t dare contradict him and walked down the path, thinking he’d mistaken her for his maid. After a few minutes she reached a small house with the door open, so Alice went in. She found herself in a very tidy room and on the desk near the window, she saw a pair of white gloves and a fan. Alice took them and, turning to leave, she noticed a small bottle next to the mirror. The child was very thirsty so she didn’t waste time in uncorking the bottle and putting it to her lips. She wondered if something magical would happen this time too: ‘Maybe I’ll grow big again,’ thought Alice and that’s exactly what happened. But much sooner than she expected as she hadn’t drunk even half the juice before her head bumped against the ceiling, and she just went on growing and growing. Finally she was finally forced to put her arm out of the window and one foot up the chimney! When the effect of the potion ended, Alice wondered how she could get out of that uncomfortable position. After a few minutes, she heard the voice of the Rabbit, who was coming home: “Who’s there?” she heard him ask in surprise. “Pat, stop picking apples and come here! Come and see! What’s that?”
“A huge arm dangling out the window, I’d say,” muttered the gardener. “But that’s out of the question,” cried the angry Rabbit. “We must remove it immediately! Help me.”
“I am not a snake,” cried the little girl annoyed, “Go away.” “Snake I said and I mean it!” but the pigeon was no longer angry, she was sobbing and muttering: “I’ve tried everything, but it’s useless: nothing escapes snakes! As if that weren’t enough, I have to hatch the eggs, I have to hide them! Among tree roots, on the riverbanks, in the hedges. Then I found the tallest tree in the forest, but nothing doing, snakes find me even there.” Alice was very sorry for the confusion her long neck had caused and she quickly to explain: “Believe me, I’m not a snake, I’m ... I’m a child,” she finished with some hesitation, thinking about all the day’s changes. “So you’ve never eaten any eggs?” asked the pigeon suspiciously. “Of course I’ve eaten eggs, what does that have to do with anything?
But I’ve never stolen any.”
“Nonsense! I’ve seen lots of little girls in my life but no one ever had a neck like that!” screeched the pigeon. “If you’re telling the truth, prove it. Go away and leave me alone, I have my eggs to hatch now,” she added, flying back to her nest.
Alice quickly folded up her long neck, being careful not to get stuck in the branches. After a minute she remembered she was still holding the two pieces of mushroom tightly in her hands. Carefully she began to nibble, first one, then the other, growing a little, shrinking a little, until she was back to her normal size.
“At last,” cried a pleased Alice. “The first part of my plan has worked. Now I just have to look for that beautiful garden.” So off she went, down the path, and after a few minutes she reached a small house in a clearing in the woods.
For a few moments she watched the house without knowing what to do, then she saw a servant in a uniform (Alice decided he was a servant precisely from his uniform, otherwise she’d have thought he was just a big fish). He started banging hard on the door of the house until it was opened by a footman with the round face and big eyes of a frog. Alice was curious and stayed hidden so she could eavesdrop. The Fish-Footman pulled a large envelope from his vest pocket and solemnly handed it to the Frog-Footman, saying: “This is for the Duchess: an invitation to play croquet from Her Majesty.” The Frog-Footman, equally solemnly, repeated the sentence, turning the words around into in a different order: “From Her Majesty, an invitation to the Duchess to play croquet.” Then they both bowed so deeply that the bangs of their powdered wigs touched. When the fish was gone, leaving only the frog at the door, the child came out of the forest and went to knock on the door. “There’s no point knocking,” the frog said, turning around. “For two reasons: the first is that I’m already outside and the second is that inside there’s such a commotion that no one would hear you.” Indeed, from inside the house there was lots of screaming and sneezing and, occasionally, a noise like plates being smashed. “How do I get in then?” asked the girl just as the door swung open and a plate flew out, shattering against a tree.
Alice quickly took her chance and entered the house.
“It’s easy,” said the Gryphon. “First you stand in a line ...”
“Two lines!” the Mock Turtle corrected it. “Seals, cod, turtles, everyone! Then you clear jellyfish off the beach ...”
“That takes a bit of time,” added the Gryphon.
“When everything is ready you advance twice ...”
“Each with a lobster as a partner!”
“Yes! You advance twice, set partners...” “Change lobster and retire in same order!”
“And then it’s so easy! You throw the lobsters, like this!” cried the Mock Turtle, pretending to throw something. “Into the sea! As far as you can!” added the Gryphon, jumping wildly. “Then you swim after the lobster, turn around in the sea!” yelled the Mock Turtle, turning on itself.
“Change lobster again!” shouted the Gryphon. “Then back to the shore and ... and ...”
“And this is the first figure of the dance,” concluded the Mock Turtle, lowering his voice again. And suddenly he and the Gryphon, which until then had been hopping and dancing around Alice, sat down again, its eyes sad and melancholy.
“It seems like a very enjoyable dance,” Alice dared to say. The Gryphon looked up, and after glaring at her for a moment, said: “It’s your turn now. Tell us something about your adventures.”
“Gladly, but may I start from this morning,” said Alice, timidly “Because yesterday I ... well, let’s say that I was another person!”
“What do you mean?” asked the Mock Turtle, “Explain yourself!”
“No, no,” interrupted the Gryphon. “First the adventures! The explanations take too long.”
Alice then began to tell them about her adventures from when she had slipped into the White Rabbit’s lair that morning. At first the two listeners were a bit scary, as they had come up close and were listening with their eyes and mouths wide open, but then she relaxed. She had got to the point where she’d entered the Queen’s garden when she heard a cry in the distance: “The trial begins.”
“Come with me,” cried the Gryphon, grabbing her by the arm. “We have to go to trial!
