There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went back to

the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at any rate a book

of rules for shutting people up like telescopes: this time she found a little

bottle on it, (“which certainly was not here before,” said Alice,)

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 the wise little Alice

was not going to do that in a hurry. “No, I’ll look

first,” she said, “and see whether it’s marked

‘poison’ or not”; for she had read several nice little

histories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and

other unpleasant things, all because they would not remember the simple

rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a red-hot poker will burn

you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your finger very deeply

with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink

much from a bottle marked “poison,” it is almost certain to

disagree with you, sooner or later.


However, this bottle was not marked “poison,” so Alice

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,) she very soon finished it off.


*      *      *      *      *      *      *


    *      *      *      *      *      *


*      *      *      *      *      *      *


“What a curious feeling!” said Alice; “I must be shutting up

like a telescope.”


And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her face brightened

up at the thought that she was now the right size for going through the little

door into that lovely garden. First, however, she waited for a few minutes to

see if she was going to shrink any further: she felt a little nervous about