Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: HTML EditionCarroll, Lewis
General
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: HTML Edition
Carroll, Lewis
Alice (Fictitious character from Carroll) -- Juvenile fiction; Children's stories; Fantasy fiction; Imaginary places -- Juvenile fiction
ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
Lewis Carroll
_THE MILLENNIUM FULCRUM EDITION 3.0_
CHAPTER I
Down the Rabbit-Hole
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister
on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had
peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no
pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,'
thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?'
So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could,
for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether
the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble
of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White
Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.
There was nothing so _very_ remarkable in that; nor did
Alice think it so _very_ much out of the way to hear the
Rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!' (when
she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought
to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite
natural); but when the Rabbit actually _took a watch out of its
waistcoat-pocket,_ and looked at it, and then hurried on,
Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that
she had never before seen a rabbit with either a
waistcoat-pocket, 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 to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the
hedge.
In another moment down went Alice after it, never once
considering how in the world she was to get out again.
The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way,
and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a
moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself
falling down a very deep well.
Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for
she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to
wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look
down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to
see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and
noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves;
here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took
down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled
'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great disappointment it was empty:
she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody, so
managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past
it.
'Well!' thought Alice to herself, 'after such a fall as this,
I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll
all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even
if I fell off the top of the house!' (Which was very likely
true.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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