Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Once upon a summer afternoon, a girl named Alice sat by a riverbank with her sister, feeling rather bored. Suddenly, a White Rabbit hurried past her, wearing a little waistcoat and pulling a pocket watch from its pocket. 'Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!' it cried.
Alice had never seen a rabbit with a waistcoat or a pocket watch before, so she jumped up and followed it across the field. The Rabbit popped down a large rabbit hole under a hedge, and without stopping to think, Alice hopped in after it.
Down the Rabbit Hole
Down, down, down Alice fell — so slowly that she had time to look at the shelves and cupboards around her as she tumbled. At last she landed softly on a pile of leaves, quite unharmed.
She found herself in a long hallway lined with doors, all locked. On a little glass table she found a tiny golden key, and behind a curtain, a door so small only a mouse could fit through. Beyond it, she glimpsed the loveliest garden she had ever seen.
Nearby sat a bottle labeled 'DRINK ME.' Alice sipped it carefully, and to her astonishment, she began to shrink until she was small enough to fit through the tiny door! But alas, she had left the key on the table, now far above her. Then she found a cake labeled 'EAT ME,' and after a nibble, she grew and grew until she was taller than the hallway itself.
Curious Creatures
Eventually, Alice made her way into Wonderland itself, where nothing was ordinary. She met a Caterpillar sitting atop a mushroom, smoking a pipe, who asked her the puzzling question, 'Who are YOU?' She met a grinning Cheshire Cat who could vanish completely, leaving only its smile behind, floating in the air.
She was invited to the strangest tea party she had ever seen, hosted by the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, who insisted it was always teatime and never washed the cups. A sleepy Dormouse sat between them, telling half-finished stories about treacle wells.
The Queen of Hearts
Soon Alice wandered into a garden where playing-card gardeners were painting white roses red, terrified because they had planted the wrong color for the Queen of Hearts. When the Queen herself arrived — a fierce little woman fond of shouting 'Off with their heads!' — Alice was invited (rather nervously) to play a game of croquet using flamingos as mallets and hedgehogs as balls.
Later, Alice was called to a trial, for someone was accused of stealing the Queen's tarts. As the trial grew sillier and sillier, and the Queen grew angrier and angrier, Alice found herself growing bigger and bolder too. When the Queen shouted her famous command once more, Alice declared bravely, 'Who cares for you? You're nothing but a pack of cards!'
Waking Up
At that moment, the whole strange world of cards came tumbling down around her — and Alice opened her eyes to find herself back on the riverbank, her head resting in her sister's lap. It had all been the most wonderful, curious dream.
She sat for a while, thinking of all the strange creatures and curious adventures, and smiled, deciding that Wonderland — dream or not — had been the most marvelous place she had ever visited.
A warm closing thought: Curiosity can lead us to the strangest, most wonderful places — so it's always worth following that rabbit, at least in our imagination.
Attribution: Adapted from Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) — public domain.
