Chapter 1
Alice was a beautiful girl. She had long curly hair and large black eyes. She had a sister who was as beautiful as she.
One day Alice along with her sister went to a grassy pasture. After playing with her sister for a long time she got tired. So she along with her sister took shelter under a tree which was near a pool of water. The land was green and grassy there. There were clumps of daisies around the tree.
All in all, it was a fine atmosphere. Alice and her sister started reading their books respectively. While her sister kept herself busy reading the book, Alice began to feel sleepy because the book didn’t seem to catch her attention.
After some time she saw a White Rabbit. He had large pink eyes. He was quite sprighty. He galloped towards Alice and went past her. While passing by he said to himself, ‘My goodness! My goodness! I shall get late.’ In the next moment, he had a watch in his hands. He had taken it out of its waistcoat pocket. He looked at the watch for some time and then ran with all his might.
Seeing the White Rabbit in front of her, Alice was filled with surprise. She had never seen such a rabbit before. She was amazed by the way the rabbit was dressed beautifully in a waistcoat with a pocket watch. Without thinking anything she ran after the rabbit out of curiosity.
Jumping across field after field, she ran on and on till she reached a wide pasture. Soon the rabbit entered a large hole which was situated under the hedge. Alice came to the hole and thought, ‘I see the rabbit had entered this hole. I too should enter this hole and see where this amazing white Rabbit lives, what he eats and where he sleeps. Thinking wildly she jumped into the hole without thinking how she would come out of it.
As the mouth of the hole was big, Alice entered in comfortably. The passage through the hole was slippery due to presence of mud. Alice slid down it with all caution. The hole had a tunnel like passage for some distance. Alice did not find any problem in wading through the passage of the rabbit hole. After some distance the hole had a sharp bend which was quite steep. Alice did not know about it. She was thinking of the white Rabbit only. As she reached the bend, she could not balance herself.
The passage dipped down so sharply and dangerously that Alice had little time to stop herself from falling down into a bigger hole which seemed like a deep well full of muddy water. Alice closed her eyes out of fear and prayed to the Almighty God for her safety. It seemed as if God had listened to her payer. She fell into the deep well, safe and sound. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in the pond of muddy water. She could not figure out, where she was as it was stark dark.
She thanked God that she was all right. She looked carefully at the sides of the well. What she noticed amazed her completely. The sides were encircled by cupboards and bookshelves. There were pegs on the cupboard and book-shelves. Maps and pictures were hanging upon these pegs. Noticing all these things there in the pool of water Alice was in a state of shock. She was out of her wits.
There were several jars in the cupboards. She chanced to see a jar. It had a slip on its surface. The words ‘ORANGE MARMALADE’ were written on the slip. As Alice was feeling awfully hungry, she took the jar out of the cupboard. But to her utter dismay, it was empty. It contained nothing. She put it back in the cupboard. There she saw several books in the book-shelves.
Alice said to herself, ‘One thing is sure. I am going down and down. However hard I try to stop myself, it bears no fruit. I am just tumbling downstairs with the passing of every minute. Am I not brave enough to face all these somersaults? Had I been at home they would have called me brave. But who on the earth is going to tell them all about this wonderful experience?’
After a little pause she again said to herself, ‘I am going down and down and down. It seems the fall has no end. To my mind, I have fallen several miles down. Still, I am falling. There is no respite from it. If this fall continues, time is not far when I will touch the centre of the earth. If I am not mistaken, it would be four thousand odd miles down. It is a really wonderful experience. I am enjoying every bit of it.’
In fact, Alice was trying her level best to revise her Geography lesson. She had to take her Geography paper next day. So, she was remembering her lesson there. After a little while she again thought, ‘I think this is the centre of the earth where I am heading for. The subject of Geography is about the right distance and right figures. But at what longitudes or latitudes the centre of the earth is. Don’t I know about latitudes or longitudes?
These seem to be grand words. I must avoid them. I must concentrate on some other topic. If my Geography teacher ask me about longitudes and latitudes what should I tell them? This is the question which is haunting my mind. Time and again I must know about latitudes and longitudes as they are special terms in the subject of Geography.’
‘I remember what my Geography teacher told me about longitudes and latitudes. She told me that latitudes are the horizontal lines parallel to the equator whereas longitudes are the vertical lines passing through Greenwich.’
She was thinking of nothing other than the fall. She was going down and down and reaching close to the centre of the earth. She had plenty of time to think about other things.
She said to herself, ‘O Dinah, my cat, you will surely miss me tonight. You will start mewing when you don’t find me at home. Oh dear! Don’t worry. I shall be back soon. I wonder if the members of my family would provide you with milk at tea time. I have placed your saucer of milk down the shelf. Will they find it? I wish I would be with you. But what would you take in absence of your milk? All the mice at home have been caught in a mouse-trap. There is no mouse now. But there are bats at night. My sweet Dinah, will you be able to eat bats? Do cats eat bats, I wonder? Please tell me the truth—whether you are interested in eating bats. I think you are not. But you will have to do so. You can jump into the air and pounce upon them like lighting flashes across the sky.’
All of a sudden, Alice fell with a loud thud. She came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves. The fall had come to an end. Now Alice was relieved a lot. She landed softly. At once, she sprang on her feet. To her utter dismay there was still darkness all around. She stood aghast. She failed to understand why there was darkness all round.
What she noticed in front of her eyes perplexed her.
There was another long passage. It was through this passage that the White Rabbit rushed. Seeing the White Rabbit Alice lost no time in chasing him like the wind. She ran with all her might. She gave the rabbit a hot chase. As the rabbit came round the corner, he said to himself, ‘I am getting late. Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Oh, my ears and whispers, I am getting late.’
As he turned around the corner, he disappeared into the thin air. Alice reached there in no time but became sad and disheartened when she did not find the rabbit. Running on and on she had reached a long low hall. It had been lit up by a row of fancy bright lights. Alice was blinded by the glare of the lights which hung from the ceiling. She looked around. There were doors and doors all around.
She was in a fix. Now would she get out of there? She went to each of the doors. But each door was fastened with a padlock. She grew worried. She felt sad and disappointed. ‘Would I ever be out from here?’ she wondered. Walking with a sad heart she reached the middle of the hall. All of a sudden, she sighted a three-legged table. It was made of solid glass. There lay a golden key on it. Seeing the key Alice felt very pleased because she presumed that was the key to each of the locks. She left no lock untried, but to no avail. The key fitted in no lock. Either the locks were big or the key was too small. She felt disheartened. But she did not lose heart. She was sure in her heart of hearts that she would find a way out.
She made up her mind to try each of the locks a second time. She chanced to see a little door behind some curtain. The door was locked. A small lock was hanging on it. Seeing the small lock Alice felt very happy as the key was also small. ‘It must be the right lock,’ she thought.
The door was about fifteen inches in height. With great joy and jubilation she fitted the key in the lock.
Lo and behold! It fitted well in the lock. Alice leapt up in the air out of joy. Her happiness knew no bounds. After fitting the key she turned it. The lock opened. Alice opened the door which led her into a small passage. The passage was not much larger than a rat hole.
She lay prostrate at her feet and looked down below the hole. There was a beautiful garden. Beautiful flowers bloomed all around. Seeing the garden Alice felt very happy. She forgot where she had been. She had never seen such a beautiful garden before. She longed to roam across that beautiful garden. But to her dismay, she couldn’t get even her head through the doorway. However hard she tried to get through the doorway, but it bore no fruit.
Sad and depressed she returned to the table in the hope of getting any key or a rule book from getting out of the doorway. To her utter amazement she found a small bottle lying on the table. There was a label near the neck of the bottle. The label had the words—DRINK ME—written.
Seeing the bottle Alice got tempted to open it at first. But she was very clever. Good sense dawned upon her. She thought, ‘The bottle may contain poisonous liquid. I must avoid drinking it.’ Thinking so she looked at the bottle with all carefulness. There was no word—poison—written on it anywhere. She felt very happy.
She said to herself, ‘It may contain some magic drink which can produce some extraordinary power in me. I should not miss drinking its content. Thinking so Alice picked up the bottle and shook it thoroughly. Afterwards she removed its cork and tasted the liquid. She relished the liquid which was very delicious. It had a fruit flavour.
It contained a mixed flavour of cherry tart, custard, apple, pineapple, roast turkey, toffee, chocolate and hot buttered toast.
Slowly but steadily, Alice drank up the whole liquid contained in the bottle. After drinking the liquid she exclaimed, ‘What a wonderful experience it is! Why am I feeling giddy? The liquid is very delicious. I am not myself. A sort of hallucination prevails. It seems as if I am shortening in height. What is happening to me, I don’t know. But one thing is sure, this drink is no ordinary liquid. It must be magic potion.
Alice was absolutely right in her thinking. She was reduced to a height of ten inches only. Now she had become a dwarf. She became more sad than happy because she had been reduced in height. At the same moment her face brightened at the prospect of going through the little door into the lovely garden. She became cheerful. She began to dance in jubilation. She was on cloud nine.
Full of excitement and eagerness, she reached the little door. She waited there for some time. When she realized that nothing more would happen, she made up her mind to go into the garden at once. All of a sudden, she remembered that she had forgotten to bring the golden key with which she had to open the lock. She felt sad and miserable. Feeling dejected she rushed back to the table where the key was lying. To her utter astonishment, the key was not on the top of the table. It was hovering in the air. Now Alice got puzzled. She found it out of her reach.
The more she tried to reach out to the key, the more the key lifted up in the air. She hopped, jumped and leapt in the air many a time, but all her efforts proved an exercise in futility. She had no alternative, but to sit there calmly. So, she sat still for some time. After a while she again got up and jumped high in the air. But the key was still out of her reach. She felt sad and dejected. She began to sob. Tears were rolling down her cheeks.
After some time she was filled with rage. She began to run here, there and everywhere like a mad bull. She was crying helplessly. She cried on and on but nobody came up to her to lend a helping hand to her. At last she said to herself. There is no use crying over this trifle. This issue matters little. I should be calm and act tactfully.’ Thinking so she stopped crying.
Suddenly, she chanced to see a little glass box. It was lying under the table. Seeing the box she was filled with curiosity. She went up to the table and bent a little to pick the box up. She took the box in her hands and opened it diligently. There was a small cake inside the box. The words—EAT ME—were beautifully marked in currants and raisins.
The cake was beautifully decorated with different dried fruits. Seeing the cake Alice said to herself, ‘How beautiful this cake is! If I eat it and become anger, I can reach out to the key. If I become shorter, I ran creep under the door. I am safe both ways. I won’t lose anything either way. So why care? Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst as well.’
Thinking so Alice picked up the cake and took a small slice out of it. Then she ate it up. She was very excited as she hoped that something strange would happen. So, she waited on and on with great curiosity. But even after much time nothing happened as she had expected. She remained the same size. She grew neither bigger nor shorter. Ever since in the fantasy land, she had become used to the miracles which were taking place time and again. That was why these miracles had lost their importance for Alice. To her, life had become dull and common.
She was now fed up with all the queer things that were happening since she entered the White Rabbit’s hole. She turned to the cake and cut it into small pieces. Then she started eating the pieces one by one. In a few moments she had finished up the entire cake. She relished every slice of the cake. After eating the cake she sat there hoping to come across many more magic things.
