 
CHAPTER IV 

The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill 


It was the White Rabbit, trotting slowly back again, and 
looking anxiously about as it went, as if it had lost something; 
and she heard it muttering to itself `The Duchess! The Duchess! 
Oh my dear paws! Oh my fur and whiskers! She'll get me 
executed, as sure as ferrets are ferrets! Where CAN I have 
dropped them, I wonder?' Alice guessed in a moment that it was 
looking for the fan and the pair of white kid gloves, and she 
very good-naturedly began hunting about for them, but they were 
nowhere to be seen--everything seemed to have changed since her 
swim in the pool, and the great hall, with the glass table and 
the little door, had vanished completely. 

Very soon the Rabbit noticed Alice, as she went hunting about, 
and called out to her in an angry tone, `Why, Mary Ann, what ARE 
you doing out here? Run home this moment, and fetch me a pair of 
gloves and a fan! Quick, now!' And Alice was so much frightened 
that she ran off at once in the direction it pointed to, without 
trying to explain the mistake it had made. 

`He took me for his housemaid,' she said to herself as she ran. 
`How surprised he'll be when he finds out who I am! But I'd 
better take him his fan and gloves--that is, if I can find them.' 
As she said this, she came upon a neat little house, on the door 
of which was a bright brass plate with the name `W. RABBIT' 
engraved upon it. She went in without knocking, and hurried 
upstairs, in great fear lest she should meet the real Mary Ann, 
and be turned out of the house before she had found the fan and 
gloves. 

`How queer it seems,' Alice said to herself, `to be going 
messages for a rabbit! I suppose Dinah'll be sending me on 
messages next!' And she began fancying the sort of thing that 
would happen: `"Miss Alice! Come here directly, and get ready 
for your walk!" "Coming in a minute, nurse! But I've got to see 
that the mouse doesn't get out." Only I don't think,' Alice went 
on, `that they'd let Dinah stop in the house if it began ordering 
people about like that!' 

By this time she had found her way into a tidy little room with 
a table in the window, and on it (as she had hoped) a fan and two 
or three pairs of tiny white kid gloves: she took up the fan and 
a pair of the gloves, and was just going to leave the room, when 
her eye fell upon a little bottle that stood near the looking- 
glass. There was no label this time with the words `DRINK ME,' 
but nevertheless she uncorked it and put it to her lips. `I know 
SOMETHING interesting is sure to happen,' she said to herself, 
`whenever I eat or drink anything; so I'll just see what this 
bottle does. I do hope it'll make me grow large again, for 
really I'm quite tired of being such a tiny little thing!' 

It did so indeed, and much sooner than she had expected: 
before she had drunk half the bottle, she found her head pressing 
against the ceiling, and had to stoop to save her neck from being 
broken. She hastily put down the bottle, saying to herself 
`That's quite enough--I hope I shan't grow any more--As it is, I 
can't get out at the door--I do wish I hadn't drunk quite so 
much!' 

Alas! it was too late to wish that! She went on growing, and 
growing, and very soon had to kneel down on the floor: in 
another minute there was not even room for this, and she tried 
the effect of lying down with one elbow against the door, and the 
other arm curled round her head. Still she went on growing, and, 
as a last resource, she put one arm out of the window, and one 
foot up the chimney, and said to herself `Now I can do no more, 
whatever happens. What WILL become of me?' 

Luckily for Alice, the little magic bottle had now had its full 
effect, and she grew no larger: still it was very uncomfortable, 
and, as there seemed to be no sort of chance of her ever getting 
out of the room again, no wonder she felt unhappy. 

`It was much pleasanter at home,' thought poor Alice, `when one 
wasn't always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about 
by mice and rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that 
rabbit-hole--and yet--and yet--it's rather curious, you know, 
this sort of life! I do wonder what CAN have happened to me! 
When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of thing 
never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one! There 
ought to be a book written about me, that there ought! And when 
I grow up, I'll write one--but I'm grown up now,' she added in a 
sorrowful tone; `at least there's no room to grow up any more 
HERE.' 

`But then,' thought Alice, `shall I NEVER get any older than I 
am now? That'll be a comfort, one way--never to be an old woman-- 
but then--always to have lessons to learn! Oh, I shouldn't like THAT!' 

`Oh, you foolish Alice!' she answered herself. `How can you 
learn lessons in here? Why, there's hardly room for YOU, and no 
room at all for any lesson-books!' 

And so she went on, taking first one side and then the other, 
and making quite a conversation of it altogether; but after a few 
minutes she heard a voice outside, and stopped to listen. 

`Mary Ann! Mary Ann!' said the voice. `Fetch me my gloves 
this moment!' Then came a little pattering of feet on the 
stairs. Alice knew it was the Rabbit coming to look for her, and 
she trembled till she shook the house, quite forgetting that she 
was now about a thousand times as large as the Rabbit, and had no 
reason to be afraid of it. 

Presently the Rabbit came up to the door, and tried to open it; 
but, as the door opened inwards, and Alice's elbow was pressed 
hard against it, that attempt proved a failure. Alice heard it 
say to itself `Then I'll go round and get in at the window.' 

`THAT you won't' thought Alice, and, after waiting till she 
fancied she heard the Rabbit just under the window, she suddenly 
spread out her hand, and made a snatch in the air. She did not 
get hold of anything, but she heard a little shriek and a fall, 
and a crash of broken glass, from which she concluded that it was 
just possible it had fallen into a cucumber-frame, or something 
of the sort. 

Next came an angry voice--the Rabbit's--`Pat! Pat! Where are 
you?' And then a voice she had never heard before, `Sure then 
I'm here! Digging for apples, yer honour!' 

`Digging for apples, indeed!' said the Rabbit angrily. `Here! 
Come and help me out of THIS!' (Sounds of more broken glass.) 

`Now tell me, Pat, what's that in the window?' 

`Sure, it's an arm, yer honour!' (He pronounced it `arrum.') 

`An arm, you goose! Who ever saw one that size? Why, it 
fills the whole window!' 

`Sure, it does, yer honour: but it's an arm for all that.' 

`Well, it's got no business there, at any rate: go and take it 
away!' 

There was a long silence after this, and Alice could only hear 
whispers now and then; such as, `Sure, I don't like it, yer 
honour, at all, at all!' `Do as I tell you, you coward!' and at 
last she spread out her hand again, and made another snatch in 
the air. This time there were TWO little shrieks, and more 
sounds of broken glass. `What a number of cucumber-frames there 
must be!' thought Alice. `I wonder what they'll do next! As for 
pulling me out of the window, I only wish they COULD! I'm sure I 
don't want to stay in here any longer!' 

She waited for some time without hearing anything more: at 
last came a rumbling of little cartwheels, and the sound of a 
good many voices all talking together: she made out the words: 
`Where's the other ladder?--Why, I hadn't to bring but one; 
Bill's got the other--Bill! fetch it here, lad!--Here, put 'em up 
at this corner--No, tie 'em together first--they don't reach half 
high enough yet--Oh! they'll do well enough; don't be particular-- 
Here, Bill! catch hold of this rope--Will the roof bear?--Mind 
that loose slate--Oh, it's coming down! Heads below!' (a loud 
crash)--`Now, who did that?--It was Bill, I fancy--Who's to go 
down the chimney?--Nay, I shan't! YOU do it!--That I won't, 
then!--Bill's to go down--Here, Bill! the master says you're to 
go down the chimney!' 

`Oh! So Bill's got to come down the chimney, has he?' said 
Alice to herself. `Shy, they seem to put everything upon Bill! 
I wouldn't be in Bill's place for a good deal: this fireplace is 
narrow, to be sure; but I THINK I can kick a little!' 

She drew her foot as far down the chimney as she could, and 
waited till she heard a little animal (she couldn't guess of what 
sort it was) scratching and scrambling about in the chimney close 
above her: then, saying to herself `This is Bill,' she gave one 
sharp kick, and waited to see what would happen next. 

The first thing she heard was a general chorus of `There goes 
Bill!' then the Rabbit's voice along--`Catch him, you by the 
hedge!' then silence, and then another confusion of voices--`Hold 
up his head--Brandy now--Don't choke him--How was it, old fellow? 
What happened to you? Tell us all about it!' 

Last came a little feeble, squeaking voice, (`That's Bill,' 
thought Alice,) `Well, I hardly know--No more, thank ye; I'm 
better now--but I'm a deal too flustered to tell you--all I know 
is, something comes at me like a Jack-in-the-box, and up I goes 
like a sky-rocket!' 

`So you did, old fellow!' said the others. 

`We must burn the house down!' said the Rabbit's voice; and 
Alice called out as loud as she could, `If you do. I'll set 
Dinah at you!' 

There was a dead silence instantly, and Alice thought to 
herself, `I wonder what they WILL do next! If they had any 
sense, they'd take the roof off.' After a minute or two, they 
began moving about again, and Alice heard the Rabbit say, `A 
barrowful will do, to begin with.' 

`A barrowful of WHAT?' thought Alice; but she had not long to 
doubt, for the next moment a shower of little pebbles came 
rattling in at the window, and some of them hit her in the face. 
`I'll put a stop to this,' she said to herself, and shouted out, 
`You'd better not do that again!' which produced another dead 
silence. 

Alice noticed with some surprise that the pebbles were all 
turning into little cakes as they lay on the floor, and a bright 
idea came into her head. `If I eat one of these cakes,' she 
thought, `it's sure to make SOME change in my size; and as it 
can't possibly make me larger, it must make me smaller, I 
suppose.' 

So she swallowed one of the cakes, and was delighted to find 
that she began shrinking directly. As soon as she was small 
enough to get through the door, she ran out of the house, and 
found quite a crowd of little animals and birds waiting outside. 
The poor little Lizard, Bill, was in the middle, being held up by 
two guinea-pigs, who were giving it something out of a bottle. 
They all made a rush at Alice the moment she appeared; but she 
ran off as hard as she could, and soon found herself safe in a 
thick wood. 

`The first thing I've got to do,' said Alice to herself, as she 
wandered about in the wood, `is to grow to my right size again; 
and the second thing is to find my way into that lovely garden. 
I think that will be the best plan.' 

It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and 
simply arranged; the only difficulty was, that she had not the 
smallest idea how to set about it; and while she was peering 
about anxiously among the trees, a little sharp bark just over 
her head made her look up in a great hurry. 

An enormous puppy was looking down at her with large round 
eyes, and feebly stretching out one paw, trying to touch her. 
`Poor little thing!' said Alice, in a coaxing tone, and she tried 
hard to whistle to it; but she was terribly frightened all the 
time at the thought that it might be hungry, in which case it 
would be very likely to eat her up in spite of all her coaxing. 

Hardly knowing what she did, she picked up a little bit of 
stick, and held it out to the puppy; whereupon the puppy jumped 
into the air off all its feet at once, with a yelp of delight, 
and rushed at the stick, and made believe to worry it; then Alice 
dodged behind a great thistle, to keep herself from being run 
over; and the moment she appeared on the other side, the puppy 
made another rush at the stick, and tumbled head over heels in 
its hurry to get hold of it; then Alice, thinking it was very 
like having a game of play with a cart-horse, and expecting every 
moment to be trampled under its feet, ran round the thistle 
again; then the puppy began a series of short charges at the 
stick, running a very little way forwards each time and a long 
way back, and barking hoarsely all the while, till at last it sat 
down a good way off, panting, with its tongue hanging out of its 
mouth, and its great eyes half shut. 

This seemed to Alice a good opportunity for making her escape; 
so she set off at once, and ran till she was quite tired and out 
of breath, and till the puppy's bark sounded quite faint in the 
distance. 

`And yet what a dear little puppy it was!' said Alice, as she 
leant against a buttercup to rest herself, and fanned herself 
with one of the leaves: `I should have liked teaching it tricks 
very much, if--if I'd only been the right size to do it! Oh 
dear! I'd nearly forgotten that I've got to grow up again! Let 
me see--how IS it to be managed? I suppose I ought to eat or 
drink something or other; but the great question is, what?' 

The great question certainly was, what? Alice looked all round 
her at the flowers and the blades of grass, but she did not see 
anything that looked like the right thing to eat or drink under 
the circumstances. There was a large mushroom growing near her, 
about the same height as herself; and when she had looked under 
it, and on both sides of it, and behind it, it occurred to her 
that she might as well look and see what was on the top of it. 

She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of 
the mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large 
caterpillar, that was sitting on the top with its arms folded, 
quietly smoking a long hookah, and taking not the smallest notice 
of her or of anything else.  
