Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

176 Pages·2003·0.91 MB·English

Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland
Lewis Carroll
Illustrated by John Tenniel
This public-domain text (U.S.) is derived from
THE MILLENIUM FULCRUM EDITION 3.0,
and from illustrations available on the Inter-
net. The Project Gutenberg edition (desig-
nated “alice30”) was converted to LATEX using
GutenMark software and then re-edited (for
formatting) by Ron Burkey. Report problems
to [email protected].
B 12/14/02. Proofing completed.
C 01/05/03. Added the poem that follows
the frontispiece. (The preparer is un-
known.) Corrected the LATEX construct
used for em-dashes. Corrected a couple
of straight quotes. Improved the format-
ting of ‘Father William’.
Contents
1 Down the Rabbit-Hole 1
2 The Pool of Tears 15
3 A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale 27
4 The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill 39
5 Advice from a Caterpillar 55
6 Pig and Pepper 69
7 A Mad Tea-Party 85
8 The Queen’s Croquet-Ground 99
9 The Mock Turtle’s Story 115
10 The Lobster Quadrille 129
11 Who Stole the Tarts? 143
i
ii
12 Alice’s Evidence 155
iii
iv
Allinthegoldenafternoon
Fullleisurelyweglide;
Forbothouroars,withlittleskill,
Bylittlearmsareplied,
Whilelittlehandsmakevainpretence
Ourwanderstoguide.
Ah,cruelThree! Insuchanhour,
Beneathsuchdreamyweather,
Tobegataleofbreathtooweak
Tostirthetiniestfeather!
Yetwhatcanonepoorvoiceavail
Againstthreetonguestogether?
ImperiousPrimaflashesforth
Heredict“tobeginit”:
IngentlertonesSecundahopes
“Therewillbenonsenseinit!”
WhileTertiainterruptsthetale
Notmorethanonceaminute.
Anon,tosuddensilencewon,
Infancytheypursue
Thedream-childmovingthroughaland
Ofwonderswildandnew,
Infriendlychatwithbirdorbeast—
Andhalfbelieveittrue.
Andever,asthestorydrained
Wellsoffancydry,
Andfaintlystrovethatwearyone
Toputthesubjectby,
“Therestnexttime—”“Itisnexttime!”
Thehappyvoicescry.
v
ThusgrewthetaleofWonderland:
Thusslowly,onebyone,
Itsquainteventswerehammeredout—
Andnowthetaleisdone,
Andhomewesteer,amerrycrew,
Beneaththesettingsun.
Alice! Achildishstorytake,
And,withagentlehand,
LayitwhereChildhood’sdreamsaretwined
InMemory’smysticband,
Likepilgrim’swither’dwreathofflowers
Pluck’dinafar-offland.
vi
Chapter 1
Down the
Rabbit-Hole
Alicewas beginningto getvery tiredof sitting
by her sister on the bank, and of having noth-
ing 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 pic-
tures or conversation?’
Soshewasconsideringinherownmind(as
wellasshecould,forthehotdaymadeherfeel
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
1
2
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 burn-
ing with curiosity, she ran across the field af-
terit,andfortunatelywasjustintimetoseeit
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 sud-
denly down, so suddenly that Alice had not
a moment to think about stopping herself be-
foreshefoundherselffallingdownaverydeep
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 any-
thing; then she looked at the sides of the well,