CHAPTER FOUR

The Rabbit Decides to Send in a Little Bill for Help

But it wasn't the Mouse or even any of the other creatures. It was the White Rabbit, running back again. He was looking anxiously about, like he had lost something important. "The Duchess! The Duchess!" he cried, "Oh, my dear paws! Oh, my fur and whiskers! She's going to kill me! Where could I have dropped those things?"

Alice guessed that he must be looking for his fan and white kid gloves since he had dropped those things earlier in the hallway. She decided to good-naturedly join in the hunt, but she wasn't able to see the Rabbit's belongings anywhere. In fact, everything was different since her swim in the pool. The great hall, the glass table, and the little door had all completely vanished.

The Rabbit stopped in front of Alice and rudely called to her, "Why, Mary Ann, what on earth are you doing down here? Run home this minute and bring me a pair of gloves and my fan. Be quick about it now."

"I think he's mistaken me for his housemaid," said Alice. Quickly, as she was frightened about upsetting the Rabbit even further, she ran off in the direction of the Rabbit's house. "I'm sure he'll be very surprised when he finds out I'm not Mary Ann. But I'd better first bring him his fan and gloves, if I can find them again."

Alice had not thought this any more when she saw a neat little house. There was a metal plate on the door with the words "W. Rabbit" written on it.

Not stopping to knock, she went inside and hurried upstairs to find the fan and gloves in case she was to meet the real Mary Ann, who she feared might tell her to get out of the house.

"How strange it is," Alice remarked to herself, "to be bringing gloves and a fan to a rabbit. I suppose my cat Dinah will be sending me to do things like this next."

She had soon wandered into a small little room where she found a pair of gloves and a fan on a table. Just as she was leaving, she noticed a bottle near the looking-glass, or mirror. Although there was no sign saying "DRINK ME" on the bottle, Alice took off the cap and took a little drink.

"I know that something interesting is going to happen," she whispered to herself, "whenever I eat or drink anything in this place. I hope I will grow large again, for I'm really tired of being such a small little creature."

Before she had drunk half the bottle, her head pressed against the ceiling, and she had to bend down to keep her neck and head from being squeezed. This happened much sooner than she had expected, making her feel very uncomfortable.

Quickly she put the bottle down and said, "That's quite enough for now! I hope I won't be growing any more. Right now I can't even get out of the door. Dear me, I wish I hadn't drunk as much as I did."

It was too late for such wishes! Alice continued to grow until she was down on the floor on her knees. By the next minute she had to lie down on the floor with one elbow against the door and the other curled around her head to fit inside the room. Still she went on growing. As a last attempt, she moved one arm out of the window and her foot into the fireplace and up the chimney. Luckily for her there wasn't a fire in the fireplace. Soon, she stopped growing. Alice was quite relieved.

"It was much more pleasant at home," Alice remembered. "At least there I wasn't always growing larger or becoming smaller. Plus, I didn't have to be ordered about by mice and rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't fallen down that rabbit hole. Still it's rather curious and interesting, this kind of life. I used to read fairy tales, thinking that things like this would never happen. Now I find myself here right in the middle of one!"

Suddenly Alice heard the Rabbit's voice outside. "Mary Ann! Mary Ann!" he cried urgently. "Bring me my gloves right now!"

Then came the sound of his soft feet on the stairs. Alice knew he would soon find her. She started to shake all over from fright, making the house shake as well. She forgot that she was now about a thousand times larger than the Rabbit and didn't have any reason to be afraid of him.

Soon the Rabbit reached the door and was trying to open it, but Alice had pushed her elbow against the door and there was no way for the Rabbit to get in. Just then she heard him say to himself, "I'll just have to go around and climb in a window."

"Oh no, you won't," said Alice, determined. Just when she heard the Rabbit under the window, she reached out with her hand and tried to grab him. Although she was not able to catch him, she heard the Rabbit scream, fall, and crash into what sounded like a lot of glass. She supposed that the Rabbit had fallen into the vegetable garden house.

It was a while before Alice heard anything. Then at last she heard the approaching sound of a wagon which seemed to be carrying a lot of people who were all talking at the same time.

Occasionally she was able to make out a sentence or two. "Where's the ladder?—Bill's got the other—Bill, bring it here.—Catch hold of that rope—Will the roof hold up?—Watch that loose piece!—Oh, it's coming down.—Who's going to go down the chimney?—Here, Bill, it looks like you've got to go down the chimney."

"Oh, so they are going to send Bill down the chimney, are they?" said Alice to herself. "Why, I'm glad I'm not him because even though this fireplace is pretty small, I think I can still kick a little. And that's exactly what I'm going to do."

Alice pushed her foot up the chimney as far as it would go and waited until she heard the sound of a little animal scratching and moving in the space above her. "That must be Bill," She said and made one swift kick. Then she waited to see what was going to happen next.

"There goes Bill!" the voices outside cried. Then the Rabbit shouted, "Catch him! He's over there by the bushes!"

Silence followed, and then she heard a lot of worried voices, talking away. "Make sure to hold up his head. Now don't break his neck! Hey, old fellow, tell us. What happened to you?"

At last Alice heard a little, weak, squeaking voice that she knew must be Bill. "I'm not exactly sure. Seems like something came at me like a springing toy, and I went flying up into the air like a sky rocket."

"You certainly did, old fellow," cried the crowd.

"We have to burn down the house," exclaimed the Rabbit.

"If you even think about trying, I'm going to send Dinah after all of you," Alice yelled as loud as she could.

Instantly, the crowd was silent. Alice began to wonder to herself about what they were going to do next. "If they have any sense, then they will take the roof off," she thought.

After a few minutes had passed, Alice heard the Rabbit say, "I think a huge bucket will do to begin with."

"A bucket of what?" wondered Alice.

To her surprise a shower of little rocks were thrown against the window. Some even hit her in the face. "I'd better put a stop to this." She shouted, "You had better not do that again."

All she heard was more silence.

Alice soon noticed that the pebbles were all amazingly turning into little delicious cakes. "Maybe if I eat one of these it will surely change my size. Since I can't possibly get any larger, I'm sure these must make me smaller."

She ate one of the little cakes and was happy to find that she began getting smaller almost at once. When she was small enough to fit through the door, she quickly ran outside and discovered that a crowd of little animals and birds were waiting for her.

Poor little Lizard Bill was in the middle of the crowd, held up by two guinea pigs who were making him drink something out of a bottle.

They all ran towards Alice when they saw her, but she ran off as fast as she could and soon found herself safe in the middle of a thick wood.

"The first thing I've got to fix," Alice told herself, as she wandered about in the quiet forest, "is my size. I've got to become my right size again. The second thing I'll do is to find my way back into that lovely garden. I think this is the plan I should use. It's certainly the best."

No doubt, it sounded like an excellent plan. However, there was the difficulty of not knowing how to carry out the plan. She didn't really have the slightest idea. While she was anxiously looking among the trees, she heard what sounded like a sharp little bark just over her head. She immediately looked up.

An enormous puppy larger than she had ever dreamed possible was looking down at her. It had large round eyes and was carefully stretching out one paw, trying to touch her.

"What a poor little thing," said Alice in a friendly manner, and she tried to whistle to him. But she stopped herself all of a sudden. She became terribly frightened because it occurred to her that the puppy might be hungry and could decide to eat her, even though she was just being friendly.

Hardly knowing what to do, she picked up a stick and held it out for the puppy to see. He jumped off his feet high up into the air, and with a delightful bark, rushed to bring back the stick.

Alice had to hide behind a huge flower to make sure he didn't run her over. When Alice came around the other side of the flower, the puppy made another rush forward and fell head over heels in his hurry to bring back the stick.

Alice, very worried about being run over by his feet at any moment, ran and hid behind the flower again. The puppy began to play with the stick. He made a series of short charges at the stick, running a little way forward and then a long way back, barking loudly. Finally, he lay down quite far away from Alice, sighed heavily, and his tongue was hanging out of his mouth. His large sleepy eyes were already half shut.

This seemed like a good opportunity for Alice to make her escape, so she ran away at once. She ran until she was out of breath and was far enough away that the puppy's bark was barely heard in the distance.

"What a shame! What a dear little puppy it was!" said Alice, as she leaned against another large yellow flower to rest and fanned herself with one of its leaves.

"I really would have enjoyed teaching him some more tricks but I'm not the right size to do it. Oh dear! I'd almost forgotten I have to grow big again. Let me think—how should I do it? I guess I should start by eating or drinking something, but the important question is, 'what?'"

Looking around at the flowers and blades of grass, Alice did not see anything that might be suitable for her situation. Finally she spotted a large mushroom that was about as tall as she was.

Alice looked around the mushroom and under the mushroom but didn't see anything. Then she decided to look at the top of it.

Alice had to stand on the tips of her toes to look over the edge of the mushroom. Her eyes instantly met the eyes of a large blue caterpillar that was sitting on the top with his many arms folded. This interesting creature was also smoking a long hookah, which is also known as a water pipe. However, he didn't seem much interested in her, though, and did not pay the slightest attention to her or to anything else.

(end of section)