Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis
Carroll With 42 Illustrations by John Tenniel en la
mejor de las versiones: http://www.gasl.org/refbib/Carroll__Wonderland.pdf
CHAPTER I - Down the Rabbit-Hole
Alice was beginning to get very tired of
sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do
: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but
it had no pictures or conversations in it, “ and what is the use of a book, ”
thought Alice, “ without pictures or conversations ? ” So she was considering,
in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy
and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the
trouble of getting up and — 8 — picking the daisies, when suddenly a White
Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her. There was nothing so very remarkable in
that ; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the
way to hear the Rabbit say to itself “ Oh dear ! Oh dear
! I shall be too late ! ” (when she thought it
over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but
at the time it all seemed quite natural) ; but, when the Rabbit actually took a
watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice
started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before
seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and,
burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time
to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge. In another moment down
went Alice after it, never once consider- ing how in
the world she was to get out again. The rabbit-hole went straight on like a
tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had
not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling
down what seemed to be a very deep well. Either the well was very deep, or she
fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her,
and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and
make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything : then she looked at the sides of the well, and
noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves : here and there
she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the
shelves as she passed : it was labeled “ ORANGE MARMALADE, ” but to her great
disappointment it was empty : she did not like to drop the jar, for fear of
killing somebody underneath, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as
she fell past it. “ Well ! ” thought Alice to herself. “ After such a fall as this, I
shall think nothing of tumbling down-stairs ! How brave
they’ll all think me at home ! Why, I wouldn’t say
anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house
! ” (Which was very likely true.) Down, down, down. Would the fall never
come to an end ? “ I won-
der how many miles I’ve fallen by this time ? ” she
said aloud. “ I must — 9 — be getting somewhere near
the centre of the earth. Let me see : that would be four thousand miles down, I
think— ” (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her
lessons in the school- room, and though this was not a very good opportunity for
showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was
good prac- tice to say it
over) “ —yes, that’s about the right distance—but then I wonder what Latitude or
Longitude I’ve got to ? ” (Alice had not the slightest idea what Latitude was,
or Longitude either, but she thought they were nice grand words to say.)
Presently she began again. “ I wonder if I shall fall
right through the earth ! How funny it’ll seem to come out among the people that
walk with their heads downwards ! The antipathies, I
think— ” (she was rather glad there was no one listening, this time, as it
didn’t sound at all the right word) “ —but I shall have to ask them what the
name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma’am, is this New Zealand ? Or Aus- tralia ? ” (and she tried to
curtsey as she spoke—fancy, curtseying as you’re falling through the air ! Do you think you could manage it
?) “ And what an ignorant little girl she’ll
think me for asking ! No, it’ll never do to ask :
perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere. ” Down, down, down. There was
nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. “ Dinah’ll miss me very much to-night, I should think !
” (Dinah was the cat.) “ I hope they’ll remember her
saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah, my dear ! I wish you
were down here with me ! There are no mice in the air,
I’m afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that’s very like a mouse, you know.
But do cats eat bats, I wonder ? ” And here Alice began
to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to her- self, in a dreamy sort of way,
“ Do cats eat bats ? Do cats eat bats
? ” and sometimes “ Do bats eat cats ? ”, for,
you see, as she couldn’t answer either question, it didn’t much matter which way
she put it. She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that
she was walk- ing hand in hand with Dinah, and was
saying to her, very earnestly, “ Now, Dinah, tell me the truth : did you ever
eat a bat ? ”, when sud- denly, thump ! thump ! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the
fall was over.