The Junior Classics, Volume 6: Old-Fashioned Tales
General
The Junior Classics, Volume 6: Old-Fashioned Tales
Children's literature
By this time she had found her way into a tidy little room with a
table in the window, and on it (as she had hoped) a fan and two or
three pairs of tiny white kid-gloves: she took up the fan and a pair
of the gloves, and was just going to leave the room, when her eye fell
upon a little bottle that stood near the looking glass. There was no
label this time with the words, "DRINK ME," but nevertheless she
uncorked it and put it to her lips.
"I know _something_ interesting is sure to happen," she said to
herself, "whenever I eat or drink anything: so I'll just see what this
bottle does. I do hope it'll make me grow large again, for really I'm
quite tired of being such a tiny little thing!"
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 _can_ have happened to me! When I used to read fairy
tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am
in the middle of one! There ought to be a book written about me, that
there ought! And when I grow up I'll write one--but I'm grown up now"
she added in a sorrowful tone: "at least there's no room to grow up
any more _here_."
"But then," thought Alice, "shall I _never_ get any older than I
am now? That'll be a comfort, one way--never to be an old woman--but
then--always to have lessons to learn! Oh, I shouldn't like _that_!"
"Oh, you foolish Alice!" she answered herself. "How can you learn
lessons in here? Why, there's hardly room for _you_, and no room at
all for any lesson books!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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