Alice was beginningto get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothingto do:  once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister wasreading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is theuse of a book,' thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?'

        So she wasconsidering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day madeher feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chainwould be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, whensuddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

        There was nothingso VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so VERY much out ofthe way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, `Oh dear!  Oh dear! I shall be late!'  (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurredto her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it allseemed quite natural) ; but when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH OUT OFITS WAISTCOAT-POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice startedto her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seena 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 fortunatelywas just in time to see 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 rabbit-holewent 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 herselfbefore she found herself falling down a very deep well.

        Either thewell was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of timeas she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happennext.  First, she tried to look down and make out what she was comingto, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides ofthe well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs.  She tookdown a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled `ORANGEMARMALADE', but to her great disappointment it was empty:  she didnot like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody, so managed to putit into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.

        `Well!' thoughtAlice to herself, `after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing oftumbling 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 thehouse!' (Which was very likely
true.)

        Down, down,down.  Would the fall NEVER come to an end!  `I wonder how manymiles I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud. `I must be getting somewherenear the centre of the earth.  Let me see:  that would be fourthousand miles down, I think--' (for, you see, Alice had learnt severalthings of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this wasnot a VERY good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there wasno one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) `--yes,that's about the right distance--but then I wonder what Latitude or LongitudeI've got to?'  (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitudeeither, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)

        Presently shebegan again.  `I wonder if I shall fall right THROUGH the earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with theirheads downward!  The Antipathies, I think--' (she was rather gladthere WAS no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the rightword) `--but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is,you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?' (and she triedto curtsey as she spoke--fancy CURTSEYING as you're falling through theair!  Do you think you could manage it?)  `And what
an ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll never do to ask:  perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.'

        Down, down,down.  There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. `Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!'  (Dinah wasthe cat.)  `I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah my dear!  I wish you were down here with me!  There areno mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's verylike a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?'  And hereAlice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamysort of way, `Do cats eat bats?  Do cats eat bats?' and sometimes,`Do bats eat cats?' for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question,it didn't much matter which way she put it.  She felt that she wasdozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in handwith Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, `Now, Dinah, tell me thetruth:  did you ever eat a bat?' when suddenly, thump! thump! downshe came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.

        Alice was nota bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment:  she lookedup, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another long passage,and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it.  Therewas not a moment to be lost : away went Alice like the wind, and was justin time to hear it 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 was lit up by a row of lamps hanging from theroof.

        There weredoors all round the hall, but they were all locked ; and when Alice hadbeen all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, shewalked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again.

        Suddenly shecame upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid glass; there wasnothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice's first thought was thatit might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either thelocks were too large, or the key was too small, but at any rate it wouldnot open any of them.  However, on the second time round, she cameupon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a littledoor about fifteen inches high:  she tried the little golden key inthe lock, and to her great delight it fitted!

        Alice openedthe door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger thana rat-hole:  she knelt down and looked along the passage into theloveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall,and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains,but she could not even get her head though the doorway; `and even if myhead would go through,' thought poor Alice, `it would be of very littleuse without my shoulders.  Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only know how to begin.'  For, you see, so manyout-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to thinkthat very few things indeed were really impossible.

        There seemedto be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went back to the table,half hoping she might find another key on it, or at any rate a book ofrules for shutting people up like telescopes:  this time she founda little bottle on it, (`which certainly was not here before,' said Alice,)and round the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words `DRINKME' beautifully printed on it in large letters.

        It was allvery well to say `Drink me,' but the wise little Alice was not going todo THAT in a hurry.  `No, I'll look first,' she said, `and see whetherit's marked
"poison" or not' ; for she had read several nice littlehistories about children who
had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and otherunpleasant things, all because they WOULD not remember the simple rulestheir friends had taught them:  such as, that a red-hot poker willburn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your finger VERYdeeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten that,if you drink much from a bottle marked `poison,' it is almost certain todisagree with you, sooner or later.

        However, thisbottle was NOT marked `poison,' so Alice ventured to taste it, and findingit very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart,custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) shevery soon finished it off.

        `What a curiousfeeling!' said Alice; `I must be shutting up like a telescope.'

        And so it wasindeed:  she was now only ten inches high, and her face brightenedup at the thought that she was now the right size for going through thelittle door into that lovely garden. First, however, she waited for a fewminutes to see if she was going to shrink any further:  she felt alittle nervous about this; `for it might end, you know,' said Alice toherself, `in my going out altogether, like a candle.  I wonder whatI should be like then?'  And she tried to fancy what the flame ofa candle is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not rememberever having seen such a thing.

        After a while,finding that nothing more happened, she decided on going into the gardenat once; but, alas for poor Alice ! when she got to the door, she foundshe had forgotten the little golden key, and when she went back to thetable for it,
she found she could not possibly reach it:  shecould see it quite plainly through the glass, and she tried her best toclimb up one of the legs of the table, but it was too slippery ; and whenshe had tired herself out with trying, the poor little thing sat down andcried.

        `Come, there'sno use in crying like that!' said Alice to herself, rather sharply; `Iadvise you to leave off this minute!' She generally gave herself very goodadvice, (though she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she scoldedherself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she rememberedtrying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquetshe was playing against herself, for this curious child was very fond ofpretending to be two people.  `But it's no use now,' thought poorAlice, `to pretend to be two people!  Why, there's hardly enough ofme left to make ONE respectable person!'

Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lyingunder the table:  she opened it, and found in it a very small cake,on which the words `EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants. `Well,I'll eat it,' said Alice, `and if it makes me grow larger, I can reachthe key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; soeither way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!'

She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, `Whichway?  Which way?', holding her hand on the top of her head to feelwhich way it was growing, and she was quite surprised to find that sheremained the same size:  to be sure, this generally happens when oneeats cake, but Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothingbut out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupidfor life to go on in the common way.

So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.