everything seemed to have changed since her swim in the pool, and the great hall, with the glass table and the little door, had vanished completely.
Very soon the Rabbit noticed Alice, as she went hunting about, and called out to her in an angry tone, âWhy, Mary Ann, what are you doing out here? Run home this moment, and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan! Quick, now!â And Alice was so much frightened that she ran off at once in the direction it pointed to, without trying to explain the mistake it had made.
âHe took me for his housemaid,â she said to herself as she ran. âHow surprised heâll be when he finds out who I am! But Iâd better take him his fan and gloves â that is, if I can find them.â As she said this, she came upon a neat little house, on the door of which was a bright brass plate with the name âW. RABBITâ engraved upon it. She went in without knocking, and hurried upstairs, in great fear lest she should meet the real Mary Ann, and be turned out of the house before she had found the fan and gloves.
âHow queer it seems,â Alice said to herself, âto be going messages for a rabbit! I suppose Dinahâll be sending me on messages next!â And she began fancying the sort of thing that would happen: â âMiss Alice! Come here directly, and get ready for your walk!â âComing in a minute, nurse! But Iâve got to watch this mouse-hole till Dinah comes back, and see that the mouse doesnât get out.â Only I donât think,â Alice went on, âthat theyâd let Dinah stop in the house if it began ordering people about like that!â
By this time she had found her way into a tidy little room with a table in the window, and on it (as she had hoped) a fan and two or three pairs of tiny white kid gloves: she took up the fan and a pair of the gloves, and was just going to leave the room, when her eye fell upon a little bottle that stood near the looking-glass. There was no label this time with the words âDRINK ME,â but nevertheless she uncorked it and put it to her lips. âI know something interesting is sure to happen,â she said to herself, âwheneverI eat or drink anything; so Iâll just see what this bottle does. I do hope itâll make me grow large again, for really Iâm quite tired of being such a tiny little thing!â
It did so indeed, and much sooner than she had expected: before she had drunk half the bottle, she found her head pressing against the ceiling, and had to stoop to save her neck from being broken. She hastily put down the bottle, saying to herself âThatâs quite enough â I hope I shanât grow any more â As it is, I canât get out at the door â I do wish I hadnât drunk quite so much!â
Alas! It was too late to wish that! She went on growing, and growing, and very soon had to kneel down on the floor: in another minute there was not even room for this, and she tried the effect of lying down with one elbow against the door, and the other arm curled round her head. Still she went on growing, and as a last resource, she put one arm out of the window, and one foot up the chimney, and said to herself âNow I can do no more, whatever happens. What will become of me?â
Luckily for Alice, the little magic bottle had now had its full effect, and she grew no larger: still it was very uncomfortable, and, as there seemed to be no sort of chance of her ever getting out of the room again, no wonder she felt unhappy.
âIt was much pleasanter at home,â thought poor Alice, âwhen one wasnât always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and rabbits. I almost wishI hadnât gone down that rabbit-hole â and yet â and yet â itâs rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what can have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that kind