Alice in Wonderland

It all began one sunny afternoon. Alice was sitting by the riverbank with her sister. Her sister was reading a book, while Alice yawned from boredom. Suddenly, something very unusual caught her eye - a white rabbit ran past her!

That wouldn’t have been strange at all... if not for the fact that the rabbit was wearing a waistcoat, holding a large pocket watch, and muttering to himself: “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!”

Alice jumped up and ran after him across the meadow, straight to a rabbit hole. Before she knew it, she was falling - down, down, down a long tunnel.

As she fell, she noticed shelves passing by with books and vases resting on them. “I wonder how far I’ll keep falling,” thought Alice.

At last, she landed safely on a pile of dry leaves. She looked around - she was in a long hallway full of doors. After a moment, she spotted a small golden key lying on a glass table.

The tiniest door opened into a lovely garden path, but Alice was far too big to fit through it. On the table stood a little bottle with a label that said: “DRINK ME.”

“It surely can’t be poison,” Alice murmured, checking that there wasn’t a skull on the label.

She took a sip - and instantly shrank to the size of a doll! “Oh my! Now I can go through the tiny door!” she cried. But... she had left the key on the table and couldn’t reach it anymore!

Luckily, she soon found a small cake on the floor with the words “EAT ME” written on it. After eating the cake, Alice grew and grew until she could barely fit inside the hallway!

“Oh no! What’s going to happen to me now?” She began to cry, and her tears formed a great pool around her.

Just then, the little white rabbit ran past, dropping his gloves as he hurried by.

Alice, sometimes shrinking and sometimes growing again, finally returned to her normal size and floated in the pool of tears - along with a Mouse, a Duck, and other creatures she met there.

They all climbed out onto the shore, where they decided to have a very curious race to get dry. The Mouse began to tell them a story about its tail, while Alice tried to guess whether the Mouse was more afraid of cats or dogs. “Is your story very long?” Alice asked. “It’s very long and very sad,” said the Mouse. “Well, that tail of yours surely has its reasons,” said Alice thoughtfully.

Soon after, Alice met the White Rabbit again and found herself alone in a strange little house. Once more, she began to grow - so much that her elbow pushed right through the window! Terrified animals tried to chase her away, but with the help of a fan and another piece of cake, she managed to return to her usual size.

Wandering through the forest, Alice met a Caterpillar sitting on a mushroom and smoking a hookah.

“Who are you?” asked the Caterpillar lazily. “I - I hardly know, sir,” said Alice. “I’ve changed so many times today, I hardly know who I am anymore!”

The Caterpillar advised her to eat a bit of the mushroom - one side would make her taller, and the other smaller. It was a very useful mushroom indeed!

As she went on, Alice came to a little house with a tea table in front of it. Around it sat the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and a Dormouse.

“There’s plenty of room for everyone!” they shouted.

Alice sat down, but soon discovered what a very mad tea party it was.

“Why is a raven like a writing desk?” asked the Hatter. Alice tried to guess the answer, but there wasn’t one - because the question made no sense at all!

They kept moving round and round the table, because the teapot was always empty.

After that, Alice entered a garden where playing cards were painting white roses red.

“Why are you painting those roses?” asked Alice. “The Queen hates white roses. If she finds out, it’s off with our heads!” whispered one of the cards.

Just then, the Queen of Hearts arrived with her royal procession. She looked very fierce indeed!

“Off with their heads!” she screamed every time she saw someone she didn’t like.

Alice, however, was not afraid. Soon she was invited to a very strange game of croquet, where flamingos were used as mallets and hedgehogs as balls.

During the game, Alice met the Cheshire Cat - a smiling cat who appeared and disappeared, until only his grin remained in the air.

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” asked Alice. “That depends a great deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where.” “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat, “so long as you walk long enough!”

After the game, the Queen called for a trial against the Knave of Hearts, and everyone in

Wonderland came to watch. The Mad Hatter, the Dormouse, and even Alice herself were called as witnesses.

The King read out the ridiculous accusations from a huge scroll, while the Queen kept shouting: “Off with his head!”

At last, Alice, who had grown tall again, could bear it no longer. “You’re nothing but a pack of cards!” she cried.

In an instant, all the cards rose up into the air and came fluttering down upon her.

Alice opened her eyes - she was lying with her head in her sister’s lap. It had all been a wonderful dream! “Wake up, Alice,” said her sister softly. “The sun is setting.”

Alice smiled at the thought of her magical Wonderland, and ran home for tea.