At that moment her head hit the roof of the hall: now she was more than nine feet[26] high. So she took the little golden key again and hurried to the garden door.
Poor Alice! This time she could look into the garden with only one eye. So she sat down and began to cry again.
“You must be ashamed of yourself,[27]” said Alice, “Stop this moment, I tell you!” But she continued crying and soon there was a large pool all around her.
Suddenly she heard some sound in the distance and quickly dried her eyes to see what it was. It was the White Rabbit returning. It was beautifully dressed and had a pair of white gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other. He was in a great hurry saying: “Oh! The Duchess, the Duchess!” Alice needed help so much that when the Rabbit came near her she began in a low voice:[28] “Please, sir…” The Rabbit jumped up in horror, dropped the white gloves and the fan and ran away into the darkness as fast as it could.[29]
Alice took the Rabbit’s gloves and the fan and began thinking how strange everything was that day. “And yesterday things were just as usual.[30] I wonder if I’ve been changed during the night.[31] Who am I? That’s the great puzzle!” And while she was thinking about that mystery she suddenly noticed that she had put on[32] one of the Rabbit’s white gloves. “How could I do that?” she thought. “Maybe I am growing small again.” So she went to the table to check it and found that she was now about two feet high and she was continuing to get smaller and smaller. And then she understood that it was the fan in her hand and she quickly dropped it.
“And now to the garden!” and Alice ran fast to the little door but, alas! The little door was locked again and the golden key was still on the glass table. “And I am so small now!”
As she said these words[33] her foot slipped and in another moment, splash! She was in salt water. Her first idea was about the sea. However she soon understood that she was in the pool of her own tears.
“I am so sorry I cried so much! I will be drowned[34] in my own tears! That WILL be strange! However everything is strange today!”
Just then[35] she heard something splashing about in the pool and swam nearer to see what it was. At first she thought it was a walrus or a hippo but then she remembered how small she was now and understood that it was only a mouse.
“Shall I speak to this mouse?[36]” thought Alice. “I believe it can talk. I think I will try.” So she began: “O Mouse, do you know the way out of this pool? I am very tired of swimming here!” But the mouse said nothing.
“Perhaps it doesn’t understand English,” thought Alice; “Maybe it’s a French mouse.” So she began again this time with the first sentence in her French lesson-book: “Où est ma chatte?[37]” The Mouse jumped up out of the water in horror. “Oh, I beg your pardon![38]” cried Alice, “I forgot you didn’t like cats.”
“Not like cats!” cried the Mouse. “Would YOU like cats if you were me?[39]”
“Well, perhaps not,” said Alice; “don’t be angry about it. But I would like you to see[40] our cat Dinah. I think you would start liking cats if you could see her.[41] She is such a nice quiet thing.”
“No! Our family always HATED cats: nasty things! I don’t want to hear this name again!” the Mouse was trembling down to the end of its tail.
“I am sorry!” said Alice in a great hurry to change the subject of conversation.[42] “Are you… are you fond… of… of[43] dogs?” The Mouse didn’t answer so Alice continued speaking about dogs. But the Mouse was swimming away from her.
“Mouse dear! Come back again and we won’t talk about cats or dogs if you don’t like them!” Alice called softly. When the Mouse heard this it turned round and swam slowly back to her. “Let us[44] get to the shore and I’ll tell you my story and you’ll understand why I hate cats and dogs,” it said.
It was high time[45] to go because more and more animals were swimming in the pool: there were a Duck and a Dodo,[46] a Lory and an Eaglet and several other creatures. Alice swam to the shore and everybody swam after her.
Chapter 3. A Caucus-Race[47] and a Long Tale
The group looked very strange: the birds and the animals were all wet, angry and unhappy. The first question of course was how to get dry again: they discussed it and at last the Mouse said: “Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I’ll soon make you dry enough![48]” They all sat down at once, in a large ring with the Mouse in the middle.
“Are you all ready?” asked the mouse with an important look, “This is the driest thing I know. Silence, please!” and the Mouse began speaking about the history of England. After some time it asked turning to Alice: “How are you now, my dear?”
“As wet as ever,[49]” answered Alice sadly.
“In that case,” said the Dodo, rising to its feet, “the best thing to get dry would be a Caucus-race.” “And the best way to explain it is to do it.[50]” It added.
First it marked out[51] a race-course in a circle and then all the party stood along the course. And they began running when they liked and stopped when they liked so it was not easy to know when the race was over. However after half an hour of running the Dodo suddenly cried: “The race is over!” and they all crowded around it asking: “But who has won?”
The Dodo couldn’t answer this question at once so it sat for a long time thinking while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said: “EVERYBODY has won, and all must have prizes.”
“But who will give us the prizes?” The voices asked.
“Well, SHE, of course,” said the Dodo, pointing at Alice with one finger; and everybody at once crowded around her crying: “Prizes! Prizes!”
Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair she put her hand into her pocket, and took out a box of comfits, (luckily the salt water had not got into it), and gave them to everybody as prizes.
“But she must have a prize herself,” said the Mouse.
“Of course,” the Dodo answered seriously. “What else have you got in your pocket?” he asked, turning to Alice.
“Only a thimble,” said Alice sadly.
“Give it to me,” it said.
Then they all crowded round her again, while the Dodo solemnly presented the thimble, saying “We beg you to accept this elegant thimble”; and, when it finished this short speech, they all cheered.
Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but they all looked so serious that she couldn’t laugh; and she bowed, and took the thimble, looking as solemn as she could.
After they had eaten the comfits they sat down again in a ring and asked the Mouse to tell them something more.
“You promised to tell me your story,” said Alice, “and why you hate – C and D,” she added in a whisper.
“My tale[52] is long and sad!” said the Mouse sighing.
“It IS a long tail of course!” said Alice looking down at the Mouse’s tail with wonder. “But why do you call it sad?” And she continued thinking about it while the Mouse was speaking.
“You are not listening!” cried the Mouse to Alice angrily. “What are you thinking of?”
“I beg your pardon,[53]” said Alice very politely: “you had come to the fifth point, I think?”
“I had NOT!” cried the Mouse very angrily.
“A knot!” said Alice looking around. “Oh, let me help you to undo it!”
The Mouse stood up and said walking away. “You insult me by talking such nonsense!”
“I didn’t want to do it!” cried poor Alice. “But you’re so easily offended!”
The Mouse didn’t answer.
“Please come back and finish your story!” Alice called after it; and all the others repeated, “Yes, please do![54]” but the Mouse only shook its head and soon it was out of sight.
“What a pity our Dinah is not here!” Alice said aloud. “She would soon bring it here![55]”
“And who is Dinah?” asked the Lory.
Alice was always ready to talk about her pet: “Dinah”s our cat. And she’s so good at catching mice! And oh, the same about birds![56] Well, she’ll eat a little bird as soon as it looks at it![57]”
After Alice’s speech all the party hurried away on different pretexts[58] and Alice was soon alone.
“I wish I hadn’t spoken about[59] Dinah! “She said to herself sadly. “It seems nobody likes her here, and I’m sure she’s the best cat in the world! Oh, my dear Dinah! I wonder if I shall ever see you again!” And here poor Alice began to cry again because she felt very lonely and low-spirited. However a little later she again heard footsteps in the distance. She looked up hoping that the Mouse had changed its mind[60] and was coming back to finish its story.