02. The pool of tears

　　'Curiouser and curiouser！'said Alice．(She was very surprised，and for a minute she forgot how to speak good English．)

　　'I shall be as tall as a house in a minute，'she said．She tried to look down at her feet，and could only just see them．'Goodbye，feet！'she called．'Who will put on your shoes now？Oh dear！What nonsense I'm talking！'

　　Just then her head hit the ceiling of the room．She was now about three metres high．Quickly，she took the little gold key from the table and hurried to the garden door．

　　Poor Alice！She lay on the floor and looked into the garden with one eye．She could not even put her head through the door．

　　She began to cry again，and went on crying and crying．The tears ran down her face，and soon there was a large pool of water all around her on the floor．Suddenly she heard a voice， and she stopped crying to listen．

　　'Oh，the Duchess，the Duchess！She'll be so angry！I'm late，and she's waiting for me．Oh dear，oh dear！'

　　It was the white Rabbit again．He was hurrying down the long room，with some white gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other hand．

　　Alice was afraid，but she needed help．She spoke in a quiet voice．'Oh，please，sir—'

　　The Rabbit jumped wildly，dropped the gloves and the fan， and hurried away as fast as he could．

　　Alice picked up the fan and the gloves．The room was very hot，so she began to fan herself while she talked．'Oh dear！ How strange everything is today！Did I change in the night？ Am I a different person today？But if I'm a different person， then the next question is—who am I？Ah，that's the mystery．'

　　She began to feel very unhappy again，but then she looked down at her hand．She was wearing one of the Rabbit's white gloves．'How did I get it on my hand？'she thought．'Oh，I'm getting smaller again！'She looked round the room．'I'm al- ready less than a metre high．And getting smaller every second！How can I stop it？'She saw the fan in her other hand， and quickly dropped it．

　　She was now very，very small－and the little garden door was locked again，and the little gold key was lying on the glass table．

　　'Things are worse than ever，'thought poor Alice．She turned away from the door，and fell into salt water，right up to her neck．At first she thought it was the sea，but then she saw it was the pool of tears．Her tears．Crying makes a lot of tears when you are three metres tall．

　　'Oh，why did I cry so much？'said Alice．She swam around and looked for a way out，but the pool was very big．Just then she saw an animal in the water near her．It looked like a large animal to Alice，but it was only a mouse．

　　'Shall I speak to it？'thought Alice．'Everything's very strange down here，so perhaps a mouse can talk．'

　　So she began：'Oh Mouse，do you know the way out of this pool？I am very tired of swimming，oh Mouse！'(Alice did not know if this was the right way to speak to a mouse．But she wanted to be polite．)

　　The mouse looked at her with its little eyes，but it said nothing．

　　'Perhaps it doesn't understand English，'thought Alice．'Perhaps it's a French mouse．'So she began again，and said in French：'Where is my cat？'（This was the first sentence in her French lesson-book．）

　　The mouse jumped half out of the water and looked at her angrily．

　　'Oh，I'm so sorry！'cried Alice quickly．'Of course，you don't like cats，do you？'

　　'Like cats？'cried the mouse in a high，angry voice．'Does any mouse like cats？'

　　'Well，perhaps not，'Alice began kindly．

　　But the mouse was now swimming quickly away，and soon Alice was alone again．At last she found her way out of the pool and sat down on the ground．She felt very lonely and unhappy．But after a while the White Rabbit came past again， looking for his white gloves and his fan．

　　'The Duchess！The Duchess！Oh my ears and whiskers！She'll cut my head off，I know she will！Oh，where did I drop my gloves？'Then he saw Alice．'Why，Mary Ann， what are you doing here？Run home at once，and bring me some gloves and a fan．Quick，now！'

　　Alice hurried away．'But where is his house？'she thought while she ran．Strangely，she was no longer in the long room with the little door，but outside in a wood．She ran and ran but could not see a house anywhere，so she sat down under a flower to rest．