Calico Illustrated Classics: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
was empty She didn’t dare drop the jar and hurt anyone underneath So she managed to place it on a shelf as she continued her fall Well thought Alice after such a fall as this I shall think nothing of tumbling down the stairs Even if I fell off the house it would not be such a fall as this Down down down Would the fall ever end I wonder how many miles I’ve fallen Alice thought I must be getting near the center of the earth Let me see that would be about 4,000 miles down Then she had an eerie thought I wonder if I shall fall through the earth I’d have to ask if I were in New Zealand or Australia I suppose Alice tried to curtsy as she fell for she wanted to appear polite They’d think I was a silly girl for asking Alice said aloud She decided she’d never ask anyone which country she landed in She’d find out the answer herself She must 6
Down down down There was nothing else to do So Alice soon began talking again My poor cat Dinah will miss me terribly tonight I do hope they’ll remember her saucer of milk at teatime Alice sighed Oh Dinah I do wish you were here with me There are no mice in the air though Perhaps you’d catch a bat Do cats eat bats I wonder Alice started to get sleepy She continued to talk to herself Do cats eat bats Do bats eat cats She had no answers She was dozing off when suddenly thump Down she came upon a heap of leaves At last the fall was over Alice wasn’t hurt one bit She jumped to her feet It was very very dark Before her there was a long passage The White Rabbit was scurrying down it Alice chased it in a flash She could hear the White Rabbit speaking Oh my ears and whiskers How late it’s getting It’s terribly late Terribly late 8
Then the White Rabbit rounded the corner and was gone Alice was left all alone in a long low hall It was lit only by lamps hanging from the roof There were doors all around the hall Alice walked up and down and tried opening each one but she had no luck They were all locked How would she ever get out again Suddenly Alice came upon a three-legged table It was made of solid glass On top of the table lay a tiny golden key She noticed the locks on the doors were much bigger The key would never work Lucky for her she then saw a curtain about fifteen inches high Behind it was a little door To her delight the key fit into the lock Alice opened the door It led to a small passage no bigger than a rat hole She knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw How Alice longed to get out of that dark hall Wouldn’t it be wonderful to wander 9
