On a sleepy summer day, a young girl named Alice sat by the riverbank with her sister; she was dreadfully bored. Her sister was reading, but the book seemed terribly dull to Alice, for it had no pictures, no conversations, just lines and lines of print. As she mulled over her boredom, a curious thing happened: a White Rabbit darted past her, muttering to himself, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!”
To her astonishment, the Rabbit wore a waistcoat and took a pocket watch from it. Thus, overcome by curiosity, Alice jumped to her feet and followed the Rabbit as he disappeared down a nearby rabbit hole. Curious as she was, Alice jumped into the whole; the hole was deeper than it seemed, and soon Alice was falling—falling faster and faster through what seemed to be an endless tunnel, past shelves of books and strange jars labeled “Orange Marmalade.”
Finally, she landed softly on a bed of dry leaves in a long, narrow hall lined with locked doors of every shape and size. There, on a glass table, she found a tiny golden key, which she soon realized fit a small door hidden behind a curtain. Peeking through, she glimpsed a beautiful garden, lush and filled with bright flowers and fountains. However, she was too big to squeeze through the door! Frustrated, she looked around and noticed a small bottle labeled “DRINK ME” sitting on the table; reasoning that it couldn’t hurt, she took a sip.
As soon as the liquid went down her throat, Alice felt herself shrinking to a tiny size, but she wasn’t afraid. She was simply delighted to be able to fit through the door, so she scurried to the door, only to find that she had left the key back on the table, which was now far, faaar above her reach. Her frustration grew until she spotted a little cake marked “EAT ME.” Doing as it said, she took a bite, and before she knew it, she was growing taller—so tall that her head touched the ceiling. Now she was too big for the door again!
Alice began to cry in despair, her tears forming a pool around her feet. And while she struggled with her newfound size, the White Rabbit reappeared, fretting about his lateness. He was startled to see her and dropped his gloves and fan before scurrying off again. Alice, thinking the fan might help cool her nerves, picked it up—and to her surprise, she began to shrink once more, soon finding herself small enough to swim in her own pool of tears. How odd!
So, she swam in her tears and reached the shore, where she encountered a bizarre assortment of creatures: a Dodo, a Lory, an Eaglet, and other animals, all as bewildered as she was. To dry off, they held a “Caucus Race,” in which everyone ran around aimlessly until they were tired. Surprisingly, there was no real winner, yet everyone was declared victorious and given prizes of candies.
It wasn’t long before Alice found herself alone again, wandering through the woods, until she stumbled upon the White Rabbit’s house. Inside the house, Alice found another bottle, and hoping for a way back to her normal size, she drank it. Instead, she grew so enormous that she filled the entire house with her arms and legs sticking out the windows. The Rabbit and his friends panicked and tried to force her out with sticks and pebbles until Alice managed to shrink back down by eating one of the pebbles, which had turned into a cake.
Free once more, Alice continued her journey, meeting a succession of strange creatures. For instance, she came across a Caterpillar seated atop a mushroom and smoking a hookah. The Caterpillar, rather indifferent to Alice’s plight, gave her cryptic advice about controlling her size by nibbling different sides of the mushroom he sat upon. Alice took pieces from both sides, experimenting until she managed to return to her usual height.
Next, she encountered the Cheshire Cat, a grinning feline who could vanish and reappear at will. The Cat pointed her toward the March Hare’s house, warning that everyone there was “quite mad.” Undeterred, Alice arrived to find the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and a sleepy Dormouse gathered for a nonsensical tea party. The Hatter and the Hare spoke in riddles and nonsense, insisting that it was always teatime for them, as time itself had stopped. Alice was soon frustrated by their absurd conversations and endless riddles, so she left them behind.
Wandering on, she came upon the Queen’s garden, where white roses were being hastily painted red by three nervous gardeners—cards, oddly enough, with spade symbols on their uniforms. They explained they’d mistakenly planted white roses, and if the Queen discovered their error, they feared for their heads. Just then, the Queen of Hearts herself arrived, shouting, “Off with their heads!” at anyone who displeased her.
Alice soon realized that the Queen’s entire court was filled with playing cards, all obediently cowering before her. Despite the Queen’s temper, Alice stood her ground, and the Queen invited her to play croquet. However, it was no ordinary game: the mallets were live flamingos; the balls were hedgehogs; and the Queen changed the rules on a whim. It wasn’t a surprise that the game quickly dissolved into chaos.
Afterwards, Alice found herself summoned to a trial, where the Knave of Hearts was accused of stealing the Queen’s tarts. The King and Queen presided, and a procession of ridiculous witnesses, including the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, testified with absurd statements that made little sense to Alice, and losing patience with the nonsense, she declared the entire proceeding a sham.
Enraged, the Queen shouted, “Off with her head!”
But Alice, who was now back to her full size, boldly retorted, “You’re nothing but a pack of cards!”
At that, the entire court of cards rose up and flew at her, swirling around her in a storm of suits and colours.
Just as she thought she would be smothered by them, Alice woke up. She was back on the riverbank, with her sister gently shaking her. It had all been a dream—a strange, fantastical dream. Her sister listened as Alice recounted her adventures, and as Alice ran off, her sister remained, pondering the curious world Alice had described. She imagined that somewhere, a child-like Alice might indeed encounter such a place, a land of strange creatures and endless curiosity—a Wonderland.
