Abenteuer im Wunderland
Lewis Carroll




ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND


ALICE'S·ADVENTURES
IN·WONDERLAND
BY·LEWIS·CARROLL
ILLUSTRATED·BY
ARTHUR·RACKHAM

WITH A PROEM BY AUSTIN DOBSON

LONDON·WILLIAM·HEINEMANN
NEW·YORK·DOUBLEDAY·PAGE·&·Co]

PRINTED IN ENGLAND

_'Tis two score years since CARROLL'S art,
With topsy-turvy magic,
Sent ALICE wondering through a part
Half-comic and half-tragic._

_Enchanting ALICE! Black-and-white
Has made your deeds perennial;
And naught save "Chaos and old Night"
Can part you now from TENNIEL;_

_But still you are a Type, and based
In Truth, like LEAR and HAMLET;
And Types may be re-draped to taste
In cloth-of-gold or camlet._

_Here comes afresh Costumier, then;
That Taste may gain a wrinkle
From him who drew with such deft pen
The rags of RIP VAN WINKLE!_

_AUSTIN DOBSON._



All in the golden afternoon
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretence
Our wanderings to guide.

Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour,
Beneath such dreamy weather,
To beg a tale of breath too weak
To stir the tiniest feather!
Yet what can one poor voice avail
Against three tongues together?

Imperious Prima flashes forth
Her edict "to begin it"--
In gentler tone Secunda hopes
"There will be nonsense in it!"--
While Tertia interrupts the tale
Not _more_ than once a minute.

Anon, to sudden silence won,
In fancy they pursue
The dream-child moving through a land
Of wonders wild and new,
In friendly chat with bird or beast--
And half believe it true.

And ever, as the story drained
The wells of fancy dry.
And faintly strove that weary one
To put the subject by,
"The rest next time--" "It _is_ next time!"
The happy voices cry.

Thus grew the tale of Wonderland:
Thus slowly, one by one,
Its quaint events were hammered out--
And now the tale is done,
And home we steer, a merry crew,
Beneath the setting sun.

Alice! a childish story take,
And with a gentle hand
Lay it where Childhood's dreams are twined
In Memory's mystic band,
Like pilgrim's wither'd wreath of flowers
Pluck'd in a far-off land.




CONTENTS


PAGE

I. DOWN THE RABBIT-HOLE 1

II. THE POOL OF TEARS 13

III. A CAUCUS-RACE AND A LONG TALE 24

IV. THE RABBIT SENDS IN A LITTLE BILL 35

V. ADVICE FROM A CATERPILLAR 49

VI. PIG AND PEPPER 64

VII. A MAD TEA-PARTY 82

VIII. THE QUEEN'S CROQUET-GROUND 96

IX. THE MOCK TURTLE'S STORY 111

X. THE LOBSTER QUADRILLE 126

XI. WHO STOLE THE TARTS? 139

XII. ALICE'S EVIDENCE 150




LIST OF THE PLATES


_To face page_

Alice _Frontispiece_

The Pool of Tears 22

They all crowded round it panting and
asking, "But who has won?" 28

"Why, Mary Ann, what are you doing out
here?" 36

Advice from a Caterpillar 50

An unusually large saucepan flew close
by it, and very nearly carried it off 70

It grunted again