'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
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
here
'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. '
'
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
'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
could
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think
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
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
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.