Alices Adventures in Wonderland | Page 4

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.)
Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! `I wonder how many miles
I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud. `I must be getting somewhere near the centre of
the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think--' (for, you see,
Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though
this was not a VERY good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no
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 Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea
what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)
Presently she began 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 their heads downward! The
Antipathies, I think--' (she was rather glad there WAS no one listening, this time, as it
didn't sound at all the right word) `--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 tried to
curtsey as she spoke--fancy CURTSEYING as you're falling through the air! 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 was the 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 are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's very like
a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?' And here Alice began to get rather
sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort 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 was dozing off, and
had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and saying to her
very earnestly, `Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?' when suddenly,
thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was
over.
Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment: she looked up,
but it was all dark overhead; before her was another long passage, and the White Rabbit

was still in sight, hurrying down it. There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice
like the wind, and was just in 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 the corner, but
the Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she found herself in a long, low hall, which was lit
up by a row of lamps hanging from the roof.
There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when Alice had been
all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, she walked sadly down the
middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again.
Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid glass; there was
nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice's first thought was that it might belong
to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was
too small, but at any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the second time
round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a little
door about fifteen inches high: she tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her great
delight it fitted!
Alice opened the door and