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Alice didn’t want to do that in a hurry. Maybe it was poison. But the bottle did NOT say “poison” so Alice tasted it and it was very nice so soon she drank it all.

“What a curious feeling!” said Alice, “I must be shutting up like a telescope”. And now she was only ten inches high. And she could go through that little door! But poor Alice! When she was near the door she remembered that the little golden key was on the table. She went back and saw that she couldn’t take it from the glass table because she was too small. So she sat down and cried.

“But there is no use in crying” said Alice to herself and soon she noticed a little glass box under the table. She opened it and found in it a very small cake with the words “EAT ME” in currants. She ate a little bit but nothing happened so very soon she ate all the cake.

Chapter 2. The Pool of Tears

“Curiouser and curiouser!” – cried Alice (she was so surprised that for the moment she forgot how to speak good English); “now I’m opening out like the largest telescope! Good-bye, feet!” (she looked down at her feet and they were almost out of sight). “Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears? I will be too far away. But I will send you a new pair of boots every Christmas. How funny it will seem!”

“Oh dear, what nonsense I’m talking!”

At that moment her head hit the roof of the hall: now she was more than nine feet high. So she took the little golden key again and hurried to the garden door.

Poor Alice! This time she could look into the garden with only one eye. So she sat down and began to cry again.

“You must be ashamed of yourself,” said Alice, “Stop this moment, I tell you!” But she continued crying and soon there was a large pool all around her.

Suddenly she heard some sound in the distance and quickly dried her eyes to see what it was. It was the White Rabbit returning. It was beautifully dressed and had a pair of white gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other. He was in a great hurry saying: “Oh! The Duchess, the Duchess!” Alice needed help so much that when the Rabbit came near her she began in a low voice: “Please, sir…” The Rabbit jumped up in horror, dropped the white gloves and the fan and ran away into the darkness as fast as it could.

Alice took the Rabbit’s gloves and the fan and began thinking how strange everything was that day. “And yesterday things were just as usual. I wonder if I’ve been changed during the night. Who am I? That’s the great puzzle!” And while she was thinking about that mystery she suddenly noticed that she had put on one of the Rabbit’s white gloves. “How could I do that?” she thought. “Maybe I am growing small again.” So she went to the table to check it and found that she was now about two feet high and she was continuing to get smaller and smaller. And then she understood that it was the fan in her hand and she quickly dropped it.