2.1K
CHAPTER I. DOWN THE RABBIT-HOLE
There seemed to be no use in wait-
ing 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
of rules for shutting people up like tele-
scopes; this time she found a little bot-
tle on it, ('which certainly was not here
before,' said Alice,) and round the neck
of the bottle was a paper label, with the
words 'Drink Me' beautifully printed
on it in large letters.
It was 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 marked "poi-
son" or not' ; for she had read several nice
little histories about children who had
got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts
and other unpleasant things, all because
they would not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as,
that a red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your
finger very deeply 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 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 flavour of cherry-tart, custard,
pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee and hot buttered toast) she very soon finished it off.
'What a curious feeling!' said Alice, T must be shutting up like a telescope.'
And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high and her face bright-
ened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going through the little
door into that lovely garden. First, however, she waited for a few minutes to see
if she was going to shrink any further; she felt a little nervous about this; 'for
it might end, you know,' said Alice to herself, 'in my going out altogether, like
a candle. I wonder what I should be like then?' And she tried to fancy what the
flame of a candle is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember
ever having seen such a thing.
After a while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided on going into
the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice! when she got to the door, she found
she had forgotten the little golden key, and when she went back to the table for it,