Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Chapter 1

Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Chapter 1

Episode Transcript

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This is a LibriVox recording. Allliberyvox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer,visit liberyvox dot org. Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Chapter one, Down the Rabbit Hole. Alice was
beginning to get very tired of sittingby her sister on the bank and of
having nothing to do. Once ortwice she peeped into the book her sister

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was reading, But it had nopictures or conversations in it. And what's
the use of a book, thoughtAlice without pictures or conversation. So she
was considering in her own mind aswell as she could, for the hot
day made her feel very sleepy andstupid whether the pleasure of making a daisy
chain would be worth the trouble ofgetting up and picking the daisies. When
suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyesran close by her. There was nothing

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so very remarkable in that, nordid Alice think it so very much out
of the way to hear the rabbitssay to itself, Oh dear, oh
dear, I shall be late.When she thought it over afterwards, it
occurred to her she ought to havewondered at this, but at the time
it all seemed quite natural. Butwhen the rabbit actually took a watch out
of its waistcoat pocket and looked atit and then hurried on, Alice started

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to her feet, for it flashedacross her mind that she had never before
seen a rabbit with either a waistcoatpocket or a watch to take out of
it. And, burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it,
and fortunately was just in time tosee it pop down a large rabbit
hole under the hedge. In anothermoment, down went Alice after it,
never once considering how in the worldshe was to get out again. The

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rabbit hole went straight on like atunnel for some way, and then dipped
suddenly down, so suddenly that Alicehad not a moment to think about stopping
herself before she found herself falling downa very deep well. Either the well
was very deep or she fell veryslowly, for she had plenty of time
as she went down to look abouther and to wonder what was going to
happen next. First, she triedto look down and make out what she

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was coming to, but it wastoo dark to see anything. Then She
looked at the sides of the welland noticed that they were filled with cupboards
and book shelves. Here and thereshe saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs.
She took down a jar from oneof the shelves as she passed.
It was labeled orange marmalade, butto her great disappointment, it was empty.
She did not like to drop thejar for fear of killing somebody,

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so she managed to put it intoone of the cupboards as she fell past
it. Well, thought Alice toherself, after such a fall as this,
I shall think nothing of tumbling downstairs. How brave they'll all think me
at home. Why I wouldn't sayanything about it? Even if I fell
off the top of a house,which was very likely true, Down,
down, down, would the fallnever come to an end? I wonder

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how many miles I've fallen by thistime, she said aloud, I must
be getting somewhere near the center ofthe earth. Let me see. That
would be four thousand miles down,I think for you. See, Alice
had learnt several things of this sortin her lessons in the schoolroom, and
though this was not a very goodopportunity for showing her knowledge, as there
was no one to listen to her. Still it was good practice to say
it over. Yes, that's aboutthe right distance. But then I wonder

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what latitude or longitude I've got toAlice had no idea what latitude was or
longitude either, but thought they werenice grand words to say. Presently,
she began again, I wonder ifI shall fall right through the earth,
how funny it'll seem to come outamong the people that walk with their heads
downward, the antipathies. I think. She was rather glad there was no

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one listening this time, as itdidn't sound at all the right word.
But I shall have to ask them, what if the name of the country
is you know, please, ma'am? Is this New Zealand or Australia?
And she tried to Curtsey as shespoke, fancy curtseying, as you're falling
through the air, do you thinkyou could manage it? And what an
ignorant little girl shall think me forasking? No, it'll never do to

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ask. Perhaps I shall see itwritten up somewhere down, down down.
There was nothing else to do,so Alice soon began talking again, Miss
me very much tonight, I shouldthink Dinah was the cat. I hope
they'll remember her saucer of milk attea time. Dinah, my dear,
wish you were down here with me. There are no mice in the air,

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I'm afraid, but you might catcha bat, and that's very like
a mouse, you know. Butdo cats eat bats? I wonder?
And here Alice began to get rathersleepy, and went on saying to herself
in a dreamy sort of way,do cats eat bats? Do cats eat
bats? And sometimes do bats eatcats? For you see, as she
couldn't answer either question, it didn'tmuch matter which way she put it.

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She felt that she was dozing offand had just begun to dream that she
was walking hand in hand with Dinahand saying to her very earnestly, now,
Dinah, tell me the truth.Did you ever eat a bat?
When suddenly, bump, bump,down, she came upon a heap of
sticks and dry leaves, and thefall was over. Alice was not a
bit hurt, and she jumped upon her feet. In a moment,

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she looked up, but it wasall dark overhead before her was another long
past, and the white rabbit wasstill in sight, hurrying down it.
There was not a moment to belost. Away went Alice like the wind,
and was just in time to hearit say as it turned a corner,
Oh, my ears and whiskers,how late it's getting. She was
close behind it when she turned thecorner, but the rabbit was no longer
to be seen. She found herselfin a long, low hall, which

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was lit up by a row oflamps hanging from the roof. There were
doors all around the hall, butthey were all locked, And when Alice
had been all the way down oneside and up the other, trying every
door, she walked sadly down themiddle, wondering how she was ever to
get out again. Suddenly she cameupon a little three legged table, all
made of solid glass. There wasnothing on it except a tiny golden key,

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and Alice's first thought was that itmight belong to one of the doors
of the hall, but alas eitherthe locks were too large or the key
was too small, but at anyrate, it would not open any of
them. However, on the secondtime round, she came upon a low
curtain she had not noticed before,and behind it was a little door about
fifty teen inches high. She triedthe little golden key in the lock,

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and to her great delight it fitted. Alice opened the door and found it
led into a small passage, notmuch larger than a rat hole. She
knelt down and looked along the passageinto the loveliest garden you ever saw.
How she longed to get out ofthat dark hall and wander about among those
beds of bright flowers and those coolfountains. But she could not even get

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her head through the doorway. Andeven if my head would go through,
thought poor Alice, it would beof very little use without my shoulders.
Oh how I wish I could shutup like a telescope. I think I
could, if I only know howto begin. For you see, so
many out of the way things hadhappened lately that Alice had begun to think
that very few things, indeed,were really impossible. There seemed to be

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no use in waiting by the littledoor, so she went back to the
table, half hoping she might findanother key on it, or, at
any rate, a book of rulesfor shutting people up like telescopes. This
time she found a little bottle onit, which certainly was not here before,
said Alice, And round the neckof the bottle was a paper label
with the words drink me beautifully printedon it in large letters. It was

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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 markedpoison or not. For she had read
several nice little histories about children who'dgotten burnt and eaten up by wild beasts
and other unpleasant things, all becausethey would not remember the simple rules their
friends had taught them, such asthat a red hot poker will burn you

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if you hold it too long,and that if you cut your finger very
deeply with a knife, it usuallybleeds. And she had never forgotten that
if you'd drink much from a bottlemarked poison, it's 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 flavorof cherry tart, custard, pineapple,

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roast, turkey, toffee, andhot buttered toast. She very soon
finished it off. What a curiousfeeling, said Alice, I must be
shutting up like a telescope, andso it was. Indeed, she was
now only ten inches high, andher face brightened up at the thought that
she was now the right size forgoing through the little door into that lovely
garden. First, however, shewaited for a few minutes to see if

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she was going to shrink any further. She felt a little nervous about this,
for it might end, you know, said Alice to herself. Am
I going out altogether like a candle? I wonder what I should be like?
Then? And she tried to fancywhat the flame of a candle is
like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember having ever
seen such a thing. After awhile, finding that nothing more happened,

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she decided on going into the gardenat once. But alas for poor Alice,
when she got to the door,she found she'd forgotten the little golden
key, and when she went backto 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 bestto climb up one of the legs of
the table, but it was tooslip, and when she had tired herself

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out with trying, the poor littlething sat down and cried. Come.
There's no use crying like that,said Alice to herself, rather sharply,
I advise you to leave off thisminute. She generally gave herself very good
advice, though she very seldom followedit, and sometimes she scolded herself so
severely as to bring tears into hereyes. She once remembered trying to box

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her own ears for having cheated herselfin a game of croquet. She was
playing against herself. For this,curious child was 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 to make
one respectable person. Soon her eyefell on a little glass box that was
lying under the table. She openedit and found in it a very small

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cake, on which the words eatme were beautifully marked in currants. Well
I'll eat it, said Alice.And if it makes me grow larger,
I can reach the key. Andif it makes me grow smaller, I
can creep under the door. SoI away, 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

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her head to feel which way itwas growing, and she was quite surprised
to find that she remained the samesize. To be sure, this generally
happens when one eats cake. ButAlice had gotten so much into the way
of expecting nothing but out of theway things to happen that it seemed quite
dull and stupid for life to goon in the common way. So she
set to work and very soon finishedoff the cake. End of Chapter one

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read by Krista mc quillan, Tokyo, Japan, November fifteenth, two thousand five.