The Pool of Tears (Alice in Wonderland (Full Cast))

01Chapter Two.

02The Pool of Tears.

03Curiouser and curiouser, cried Alice.

04She was so much surprised that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English.

05Now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that ever was.

06Goodbye, feet.

07For when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of sight they were getting so far off.

08Oh, my poor little feet.

09I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears.

10I'm sure I shan't be able.

11I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you.

12You must manage the best way you can.

13But I must be kind to them.

14Thought Alice.

15Or perhaps they won't walk the way I want to go.

16Let me see.

17I'll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas.

18And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it.

19They must go by the carrier.

20And how funny it'll seem, sending presents to one's own feet.

21And how odd the directions will look.

22Alice's right foot, Esquire, hearthrug, near the fender, with Alice's love.

23Oh, dear, what nonsense I'm talking!

24Just then her head struck against the roof of the hall.

25In fact, she was now more than nine feet high, and she at once took up the little golden key and hurried off to the garden door.

26Poor Alice!

27It was as much as she could do, lying down on one side, to look through into the garden with one eye.

28But to get through was more hopeless than ever.

29She sat down and began to cry again.

30You ought to be ashamed of yourself, said Alice.

31A great girl like you?

32She might well say this.

33To go on crying in this way?

34Stop this moment, I tell you!

35But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool all round her, about four inches deep and reaching half down the hall.

36After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance, and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming.

37It was the white rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other.

38He came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came.

39Oh, the Duchess!

40The Duchess!

41Oh, won't she be savage if I keep her waiting?

42Alice felt so desperate that she was ready to ask help of anyone.

43So when the rabbit came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, If you please, sir.

44The rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves on the fan, and scurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go.

45Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking.

46Dear, dear, how queer everything is today!

47And yesterday things went on just as usual.

48I wonder if I've been changed in the night.

49Let me think.

50Was I the same when I got up this morning?

51I almost think I can remember feeling a little different.

52But if I'm not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I?

53Ah, that's the great puzzle.

54And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, To see if she could have been changed for any of them.

55I'm sure I'm not Ada.

56She said.

57For her hair goes in such long ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all.

58And I'm sure I can't be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she— Oh, she knows such a very little.

59Besides, she's she, and I'm I, and— Oh, dear, how puzzling it all is!

60I'll try if I know all the things I used to know.

61Let me see.

62Four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is— Oh, dear.

63I shall never get to twenty at that rate.

64However, the multiplication table doesn't signify.

65Let's try geography.

66London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of Rome, and Rome— No, that's all wrong, I'm certain.

67I must have been changed for Mabel.

68I'll try and say.

69How doth the little— And she crossed her hands on her lap, as if she were saying lessons, and began to repeat it.

70But her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the same as they used to do.

71How doth the little crocodile improve his shining tail, And pour the waters of the Nile on every golden scale!

72How cheerfully he seems to grin, how neatly spread his claws, And welcome little fishes in with gently smiling jaws!

73I'm sure those are not the right words, said poor Alice, And her eyes filled with tears again as she went on.

74I must be Mabel after all, And I shall have to go and live in that pokey little house, And have next to no toys to play with, And, oh, ever so many lessons to learn.

75No, I've made up my mind about it.

76If I'm Mabel, I'll stay down here.

77It'll be no use their putting their heads down and saying, Come up again, dear.

78I shall only look up and say, Who am I then?

79Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that person, I'll come up.

80If not, I'll stay down here till I'm somebody else.

81But, oh, dear!

82Cried Alice with a sudden burst of tears.

83I do wish they would put their heads down.

84I am so very tired of being all alone here.

85As she said this, she looked down at her hands, And was surprised to see that she had put on One of the rabbit's little white kid gloves while she was talking.

86How can I have done that?

87She thought.

88I must be growing small again.

89She got up and went to the table to measure herself by it, And found that as nearly as she could guess, She was now about two feet high, And was going on shrinking rapidly.

90She soon found out that the cause of this Was the fan she was holding, And she dropped it hastily just in time To avoid shrinking away altogether.

91That was a narrow escape, Said Alice, A good deal frightened at the sudden change, But very glad to find herself still in existence.

92And now for the garden.

93And she ran with all speed back to the little door.

94But, alas, The little door was shut again, And the little golden key Was lying on the glass table as before.

95And things are worse than ever, Thought the poor child.

96For I never was so small as this before, Never.

97And I declare it's too bad.

98That it is.

99As she said these words, Her foot slipped, And another moment, Splash!

100She was up to her chin in salt water.

101Her first idea was that she had somehow Fallen into the sea.

102And in that case, I can go back by railway.

103She said to herself, Alice had been to the seaside once in her life, And had come to the general conclusion That wherever you go to on the English coast, You find a number of bathing machines in the sea, Some children digging in the sand with wooden spades, Then a row of lodging-houses, And behind them a railway station.

104However, She soon made out that she was in the pool of tears Which she had wept when she was nine feet high.

105I wish I hadn't cried so much, Said Alice, As she swam about trying to find her way out.

106I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, By being drowned in my own tears.

107That will be a queer thing, To be sure.

108However, Everything is queer to-day.

109Just then she heard something splashing about in the pool A little way off, And she swam nearer to make out what it was.

110At first she thought it must be a walrus or hippopotamus, But then she remembered how small she was now, And she soon made out that it was only a mouse That had slipped in like herself.

111Would it be of any use now, Thought Alice, To speak to this mouse?

112Everything is so out of the way down here, That I should think very likely it can talk.

113At any rate, There's no harm in trying.

114So she began, Oh, mouse, Do you know the way out of this pool?

115I am very tired of swimming about here.

116Oh, mouse.

117Alice thought this must be the right way of speaking to a mouse.

118She had never done such a thing before, But she remembered having seen in her brother's Latin grammar, A mouse, Of a mouse, To a mouse, A mouse, Oh, mouse.

119The mouse looked at her rather inquisitively, And seemed to her to wink with one of its little eyes, But it said nothing.

120Perhaps it doesn't understand English, Thought Alice.

121I dare say it's a French mouse.

122Come over with William the Conqueror.

123For with all her knowledge of history, Alice had no very clear notion How long ago anything had happened.

124So she began again, Où est ma chatte?

125Which was the first sentence in her French lesson book.

126The mouse gave a sudden leap out of the water, And seemed to quiver all over with fright.

127Oh, I beg your pardon, Cried Alice hastily, Afraid that she had hurt the poor animal's feelings.

128I quite forgot you didn't like cats.

129Not like cats!

130Cried the mouse in a shrill, passionate voice.

131Would you like cats if you were me?

132Well, perhaps not, Said Alice in a soothing tone.

133Don't be angry about it.

134And yet, I wish I could show you our cat Dinah.

135I think you'd take a fancy to cats if you could only see her.

136She is such a dear, Quiet thing.

137Alice went on, Half to herself, As she swam lazily about in the pool.

138And she sits purring so nicely by the fire, Licking her paws and washing her face.

139And she is such a nice, Soft thing to nurse.

140And she's such a capital one for catching mice.

141Oh, I beg your pardon, Cried Alice again, For this time the mouse was bristling all over, And she felt certain it must be really offended.

142We won't talk about her any more, If you'd rather not.

143We indeed, Cried the mouse, Who was trembling down to the end of his tail.

144As if I would talk on such a subject.

145Our family always hated cats.

146Nasty, Low, Vulgar things.

147Don't let me hear the name again.

148I won't, Indeed, Said Alice, In a great hurry to change the subject of conversation.

149Are you, Are you fond of, Of dogs?

150The mouse did not answer, So Alice went on eagerly.

151There is such a nice little dog near our house, I should like to show you.

152A little bright-eyed terrier, You know, With, Oh, Such long, Curly brown hair.

153And it'll fetch things when you throw them, And it'll sit up and beg for its dinner, And all sorts of things, I can't remember half of them.

154And it belongs to a farmer, You know, And he says it's so useful, It's worth a hundred pounds.

155He says it kills all the rats, And, Oh, Dear, Cried Alice in a sorrowful tone.

156I'm afraid I've offended it again.

157For the mouse was swimming away from her, As hard as it could go, And making quite a commotion in the pool as it went.

158So she called softly after it.

159Mouse, Dear, Do come back again, And we won't talk about cats or dogs either, If you don't like them.

160When the mouse heard this, It turned round and swam slowly back to her.

161Its face was quite pale, With passion, Alice thought, And it said in a low, Trembling voice, Let us get to the shore, And then I'll tell you my history.

162And you'll understand why it is.

163I hate cats and dogs.

164It was high time to go, For the pool was getting quite crowded With the birds and animals that had fallen into it.

165There were a duck and a dodo, A lorry and an eaglet, And several other curious creatures.

166Alice led the way, And the whole party swam to the shore.

167End of chapter 2