CHAPTER I. Down was beginning to get very tired of sitting by on , and of having nothing to do : once or twice had peeped into the book was reading , but it had no pictures or conversations in it , ‘ and what is the use of a book , ’ thought ‘ without pictures or conversations ? ’
So was considering in own mind ( as well as could , for the hot day made feel very sleepy and stupid ) , whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies , when suddenly ran close by .
There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that ; nor did think it so VERY much out of the way to hear say to itself , ‘ Oh dear !
Oh dear !
shall be late ! ’
( when thought it over afterwards , it occurred to that ought to have wondered at this , but at the time it all seemed quite natural ) ; but when actually TOOK A WATCH OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT-POCKET , and looked at it , and then hurried on , started to feet , for it flashed across mind that had never before seen , and burning with curiosity , ran across after , and fortunately was just in time to see pop down .
In another moment down went after , never once considering how in was to get out again .
went straight on like for some way , and then dipped suddenly down , so suddenly that had not a moment to think about stopping before found falling down .
Either was very deep , or fell very slowly , for had plenty of time as went down to look about and to wonder what was going to happen next .
First , tried to look down and make out what was coming to , but it was too dark to see anything ; then looked at the sides of , and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves ; here and there saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs .
took down a jar from one of the shelves as passed ; it was labelled ‘ ORANGE MARMALADE ’ , but to great disappointment it was empty : did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing , so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as fell past it .
‘ Well ! ’
thought to , ‘ after such a fall as this , shall think nothing of tumbling down !
How brave ’ll all think at !
Why , would n’t say anything about it , even if fell off ! ’
( Which was very likely true . )
Down , down , down .
Would the fall NEVER come to an end !
‘ wonder how many miles ’ve fallen by this time ? ’
said aloud .
‘ must be getting somewhere near .
Let see : that would be four thousand miles down , think -- ’ ( for , see , had learnt several things of this sort in lessons in , and though this was not a VERY good opportunity for showing off knowledge , as there was to listen to , still it was good practice to say it over ) ‘ -- yes , that ’s about the right distance -- but then wonder what Latitude or Longitude ’ve got to ? ’
( had no idea what Latitude was , or Longitude either , but thought they were nice grand words to say . )
Presently began again .
‘ wonder if shall fall right THROUGH !
How funny it ’ll seem to come out among !
, think -- ’ ( was rather glad there WAS listening , this time , as it did n’t sound at all the right word ) ‘ -- but shall have to ask what the name of is , know .
Please , , is this or ? ’
( and tried to curtsey as spoke -- fancy CURTSEYING as ’re falling through the air !
Do think could manage it ? )
‘ And what ’ll think for asking !
No , it ’ll never do to ask : perhaps shall see it written up somewhere . ’
Down , down , down .
There was nothing else to do , so soon began talking again .
‘ Dinah ’ll miss very much to-night , should think ! ’
( Dinah was the cat . )
‘ hope ’ll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time .
Dinah dear !
wish you were down here with !
There are no mice in the air , ’m afraid , but you might catch a bat , and that ’s very like a mouse , you know .
But do cats eat bats , wonder ? ’
And here began to get rather sleepy , and went on saying to , in a dreamy sort of way , ‘ Do cats eat bats ?
Do cats eat bats ? ’
and sometimes , ‘ Do bats eat cats ? ’
for , see , as could n’t answer either question , it did n’t much matter which way put it .
felt that was dozing off , and had just begun to dream that was walking hand in hand with Dinah , and saying to very earnestly , ‘ Now , Dinah , tell the truth : did you ever eat a bat ? ’
when suddenly , thump !
thump !
down came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves , and the fall was over .
was not a bit hurt , and jumped up on to feet in a moment : looked up , but it was all dark overhead ; before was , and was still in sight , hurrying down .
There was not a moment to be lost : away went like the wind , and was just in time to hear it say , as it turned , ‘ Oh ears and whiskers , how late it ’s getting ! ’
was close behind it when turned , but was no longer to be seen : found in .
There were doors all round , but they were all locked ; and when had been all the way down one side and up the other , trying every door , walked sadly down the middle , wondering how was ever to get out again .
Suddenly came upon a little three-legged table , all made of solid glass ; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key , and ’s first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of ; but , alas !
either the locks were too large , or the key was too small , but at any rate it would not open any of them .
However , on the second time round , came upon a low curtain had not noticed before , and behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high : tried the little golden key in the lock , and to great delight it fitted !
opened the door and found that it led into : knelt down and looked along into .
How longed to get out of , and wander about among and those cool fountains , but could not even get head through the doorway ; ‘ and even if head would go through , ’ thought poor , ‘ it would be of very little use without shoulders .
Oh , how wish could shut up like a telescope !
think could , if only knew how to begin . ’
For , see , so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately , that had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible .
There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door , so went back to the table , half hoping might find another key on it , or at any rate a book of rules for shutting up like telescopes : this time found a little bottle on it , [ ‘ which certainly was not here before , ’ said , ) and round the neck of the bottle was a paper label , with the words ‘ DRINK ME ’ beautifully printed on it in large letters .
It was all very well to say ‘ Drink me , ’ but was not going to do THAT in a hurry .
‘ No , ’ll look first , ’ said , ‘ and see whether it ’s marked “ poison ” or not ’ ; for had read several nice little histories about , all because WOULD not remember the simple rules had taught : such as , that a red-hot poker will burn if hold it too long ; and that if cut finger VERY deeply with a knife , it usually bleeds ; and had never forgotten that , if drink much from a bottle marked ‘ poison , ’ it is almost certain to disagree with , sooner or later .
However , this bottle was NOT marked ‘ poison , ’ so ventured to taste it , and finding it very nice , ( it had , in fact , a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart , custard , pine-apple , roast turkey , toffee , and hot buttered toast , ) very soon finished it off .
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ‘ What a curious feeling ! ’
said ; ‘ must be shutting up like a telescope . ’
And so it was indeed : was now only ten inches high , and face brightened up at the thought that was now the right size for going through the little door into .
First , however , waited for a few minutes to see if was going to shrink any further : felt a little nervous about this ; ‘ for it might end , know , ’ said to , ‘ in going out altogether , like a candle .
wonder what should be like then ? ’
And tried to fancy what the flame of a candle is like after the candle is blown out , for could not remember ever having seen such a thing .