After eating the cake, Alice began to grow very tall. “This is curious!” she exclaimed. She grew so much that her head touched the ceiling. Looking down, her feet seemed so far away. “Oh dear, my poor feet!” she said. She bent down to pick up the little golden key and hurried to the garden door. But she was now too big to go through it.
Feeling sad, Alice began to cry. Her tears formed a large pool around her. Soon, she heard footsteps. It was the White Rabbit again, dressed in fine clothes and holding a fan and gloves. Alice asked him for help, but he was so startled that he dropped his things and ran away.
Alice picked up the fan and began to fan herself. As she did, she noticed that she was shrinking again. She became small enough to fit through the door but realized she had left the key on the table, which she could no longer reach. The situation made her feel hopeless.
Suddenly, she slipped and found herself in a pool of salty water—it was her own tears! As she swam, she saw a Mouse nearby. “Oh, Mouse, do you know how to get out of here?” she asked. The Mouse didn’t reply, so she tried speaking French, thinking it might understand. But when she mentioned her cat, Dinah, the Mouse became upset.
Alice quickly apologized and tried to change the subject by talking about dogs, but this only made the Mouse more uncomfortable. Realizing her mistakes, she promised not to talk about cats or dogs anymore. The Mouse agreed to tell her why it disliked them once they reached the shore.
They swam towards the edge of the pool, joined by other animals that had fallen in. Together, they made their way to dry land.