– Oh my, I’m late, I’m so, so late!

– What could this be all about? thought Alice and followed the rabbit to his big hole.

– How deep could this rabbit hole be? she wondered as she went lower and lower, through some kind of a tunnel which ended in the middle of a great hall, with many, many doors. Oh… and what will Dina do without me, if I don’t make it home on time? said the little girl, thinking of her cat.

– There’s a gold key! I bet it can open one of these doors.

Alice was right, the key worked just fine, but no human could fit through that door, as it was so tiny, that a mouse could barely crawl through it. Oh, and what a wonderful garden lay behind it!
Looking around, on the table where she had found the key, the little girl saw a tiny bottle, which read DRINK ME.

– Hmmm… if it doesn’t say it’s poison, I wish to taste it. It’s so delicious! Like a wonderful mix of cherry pie, pumpkin custard, turkey and buttered toast… Oh, I feel so odd! shouted the little girl, as she was getting smaller and smaller.

She soon saw a little box under the table. In it she found a piece of cake, with a tag which read EAT ME, so Alice took a bite and grew so big, that she bumped her head against the ceiling.

– Whatever will I do now? said Alice and started crying so hard, that the entire room turned intoo a puddle of tears.

Suddenly, Alice heard the Rabbit’s voice again:

– Oh, dear, the Queen! She will be very cross if I’m late, said the Rabbit, dropping the fan and the gloves he was holding and running away.

– Wait, Mr. Rabbit, wait! This is such a curious day! And to think yesterday everything was… normal.

As she was sitting there, wondering, the little girl started shrinking once more, reaching the perfect size to fit through the door which led to the garden.

– Hey, Mary Ann, come quickly and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan.

It was the White Rabbit, who had mistaken Alice for his maid.

As she had nothing better to do, Alice ran to the whole and found herself standing in front of a large mushrooom. On it there was a giant caterpillar, cross-armed, smoking a long pipe.

– And who might you be?

– Oh, Mister Caterpillar, I don’t even know anymore. I’ve changed so many times lately, that all I can say is that all sorts of curious things have been happening. One moment I’m small, then I’m a giant and I can barely remember things that only yesterday I was certain about.

– If you take a bite of this side of the mushroom, you’ll be big again, but if you take a bite of the other side, you will be small.

Alice took the bite that would help her go back to her usual size.

– Hey, there’a little house! Oh, and I can see a valet that looks like a… fish.

– I have an invitation for the Duchess. The Queen is asking her to come and play criket.

Curious, Alice went into the house and found the Duchess rocking a baby who was squealing like a pig and kept on sneezing – hachoo hachoo – because of the pepper which was floating all over the room. It seemed that the cook was preparing a soup with a lot of pepper. Besides them purred a smiling cat.

– Hello. If you don’t mind, why is your cat grinning like that?

– Because it is a Cheshire cat.

– Cheshire cat… How can I get out of here?

– Well… it depends on where you wish to go. If you take a right, you get to the Hatter’s hut, if you take a left, you’ll find the March Hare. But they’re all a bit mad… said the cat, appearing and disappearing slowly, from the tip of her tail to her large mouth. All that remained was the grin, although the rest of the body disappeared, just like magic.

– I’ll go see the March Hare, for I have seen Hatters before, thought Alice and took a left.

She reached a large house, where the Hare and the Hatter were drinking tea. Between them slept a little Badger, who they both used as a pillow. Although the table was quite large, they were all crammed in one corner.

– There’s no more room left! There’s no more room for you!

– There’s plenty of room, said Alice, a little upset, and sat in a large armchair, at one end of the table.

The moment she sat down, a dizzying conversation started, all about time, tea, and other peculiar things.

They really are mad, thought Alice and walked away, until she reached a large tree, which also had a door. Behind the door was the beautiful garden. Three gardeners, all in the shape of playing cards, were arguing, while painting white roses with red ink.

– Excuse me, but why are you painting the roses?

– You know, miss, there was supposed to be a red rose bush here, but, by mistake, we planted white roses. Should the Queen find out, we’ll lose our heads! Oh no, the Queen, the Queen is coming!

Then Alice saw the royal party, among whom there was also the White Rabbit. The King and the Queen of Hearts, all dressed in red, passed by and waved to their subjects.

– Who’s this? asked the Queen when she saw Alice.

– My name is Alice.

– On your mark, quickly, let’s play cricket!

– But how will we play here? thought Alice. The field is full of holes and instead of balls, there are hedgehogs.

Oh my, and instead of sticks, they have flamingo birds. They are all fighting, yelling and playing without any rules! And the Queen has only one way of solving any problem: she keeps on shouting Off with your head!

That very moment, all the cards in the deck jumped at Alice, who started screaming. She suddenly woke up by the river, besides her sister, who said:

– Wake up, Alice! You’ve slept too much!

– Oh, what a curious dream I’ve had!