table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which she noticed the words 'EAT ME'. 'Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, 'and if I grow larger, I can reach the key; and if I grow smaller, I can creep under the door!'
She soon ate all the cake.
Chapter II
The Pool of Tears
'How strange!' cried Alice; 'how tall I am! Good-bye, my feet! Oh, my poor little feet, who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears?'
When she looked down at her feet they were so far off.
'Let me see. I'll give my feet a new pair of shoes every Christmas.'
She stopped to think: how to send them?
'They must go by mail,' she thought; 'how funny! I'll send shoes to my own feet! How strange the address will be!'
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. But she can't open the door, she is too big. Poor Alice! She sat down and began to cry again.
'Shame on you,' said Alice, 'a big girl like you! Don't cry! Stop at once, I tell you!'
She was shedding gallons[1] 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 some noise. She hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the White Rabbit. He was returning, with a pair of white gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other. He was muttering to himself, 'Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess! She will be angry. Oh! I can't be late!'
Alice began, in a low, timid voice, 'If you please, sir-'
The Rabbit dropped the white gloves and the fan, and ran away into the darkness.
Alice took up the fan and gloves. 'Dear, dear! How queer everything is today! And yesterday everything was as usual. Was I changed in the night? Let me think, who am I? Do I know the things that 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[2]. 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! Who am I then?' cried Alice with tears, 'I am so tired!'
As she said this she looked down at her hands, and was surprised. She put on one of the Rabbit's little white gloves. 'How could I do that?' she thought. 'I am growing small again.'
She got up and went to the table. She was now about two feet high. The cause of this was the fan that she was holding, and she dropped it hastily.
And she ran 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. Her foot slipped, and in another moment, splash! she was in salt water. She was in the pool of her own tears!
'I am drowning in my own tears!' said Alice, 'everything is queer today.'
Just then she heard a splash: at first she thought it was a walrus or hippopotamus, but then she remembered how small she was now, and she soon understood that it was only a mouse.
'Shall I' thought Alice, 'speak to this mouse? I'll try.' So she began: 'O Mouse, do you know the way out of this pool? I am very tired, O Mouse!'
The Mouse looked at her, but it said nothing.
'Perhaps it doesn't understand English,' thought Alice; 'Maybe it's a French mouse.' So she began again: 'Où est ma chatte?[3]' It was the first sentence in her French lesson-book. The Mouse was in terror.
'Oh, I beg your pardon!' cried Alice hastily. 'I quite forgot you didn't like cats.'
'Didn't like cats!' cried the Mouse, in a shrill, passionate voice. 'I am a mouse, can't you see?'
'Yes, yes,' said Alice: 'don't be angry. But there are good cats, for example, our cat Dinah. She is very clever and beautiful. And she likes to catch mice… – oh, I beg your pardon!' cried Alice again. 'We won't talk about Dinah anymore.'
'We indeed!' cried the Mouse. 'Our family always hated cats: nasty, low, vulgar animals! Don't talk about cats again!'
'I won't!' said Alice. 'Do you-do you-like-dogs?' The Mouse did not answer.
'There is such a nice little dog near our house! A little bright-eyed terrier, you know, with oh, such long curly brown hair! It can do everything-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 sorry!'
The Mouse was swimming away from her very fast. Alice called softly after it, 'Mouse dear! Come back again, and we won't talk about cats or dogs, 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, and it said in a low voice, 'Let us get to the shore, and then I'll tell you my story, and you'll understand why it is I hate cats and dogs.'
The pool was overcrowded with the birds and animals. Everybody swam to the shore.
Chapter III
A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale
The Mouse said, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse in the middle.
'Ahem!'
