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.
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