Sleep Story: Alice's Adventures In Wonderland Ch 1 & 2

Enjoy this sleep story to help you drift off into a peaceful slumber. Tonight we read Chapters 1 and 2 of the timeless classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. This audio is perfect for children or adults who want to relax or find adventure into a great night's sleep.

Transcript

Good evening.

Enjoy this sleep story to help relax your mind and body for a great night's rest.

Before we begin,

Sell yourself in your bed and find your most comfortable position.

Take a few deep,

Long breaths and feel the gentle,

Soothing support of your pillows,

Sheets and blankets.

Let them cradle your body as you relax and settle in.

Let's begin Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

Chapter 1 Down the Rabbit Hole Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and of having nothing to do.

Once or twice she had peeked into the book her sister was reading,

But it had no pictures or conversations in it.

And what is the use of a book,

Thought Alice,

Without pictures or conversations?

So she was considering in her own mind,

As well as she could,

For the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid.

Whether the pleasure of making a daisy chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies.

When suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that,

Nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear when the rabbit said to itself,

Oh dear,

Oh dear,

I shall be too late.

When she thought it over afterwards,

It occurred to her that she had ought to have wandered at this.

But at the time it all seemed quite natural.

But when the rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat's pocket and looked at it and then hurried on,

Alice started to her feet for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat's pocket or a watch to take out of it.

In burning with curiosity,

She ran across the field after it.

And it was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit hole under the hedge.

In another moment,

Down went Alice after it.

Never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.

The rabbit hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way and then dipped suddenly down.

So suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself.

She found herself falling down a very deep well.

Either the well was very deep or she fell very slowly.

For she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next.

First she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to.

But it was too dark to see anything.

Then she looked at the sides of the well and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and bookshelves.

Here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs.

She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed.

It was labeled orange marmalade,

But to her great disappointment it was empty.

She did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody,

So managed to put it onto the cupboards as she fell past it.

Well,

Thought Alice to herself,

After such a fall as this,

I shall think nothing of tumbling downstairs.

How brave they'll all think of me at home.

Why,

I wouldn't say anything about it,

Even if I fell off the top of the house,

Which was very likely true.

Down,

Down,

Down.

Would the fall never come to an end?

I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time,

She had said aloud.

I must be getting somewhere near the center of the earth.

Let me see.

That would be four thousand miles down,

I think.

For you see,

Alice had learned several things of this sort in her lessons in the school room.

And though this was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge,

As there was no one to listen to her,

Still it was good practice to say it over.

Yes,

That's about the right distance,

But then I wonder what latitude or longitude I've got to.

Alice had not the slightest idea of what latitude was or longitude either,

But she thought they were very nice grand words to say.

Presently,

She began again.

I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth.

How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downwards.

She was rather glad there was no one listening,

But I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is,

You know.

Please,

Ma'am,

Is this New Zealand or Australia?

And she tried to curtsy as she spoke,

Fancy curtsying as you're falling through the air.

Do you think you could manage it?

And what an ignorant little girl shall thank me for asking.

No,

It'll never do to ask.

Perhaps I shall see it written down somewhere.

Down,

Down,

Down.

There is nothing else to do.

So Alice soon began talking again.

Dinah will miss me very much tonight,

I should think.

Dinah was the cat.

I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at tea time.

Dinah,

My dear,

I wish you were down here with me.

There are no mice in this air,

I'm afraid,

But you might catch a bat.

And that's very much like a mouse,

You know.

But do cats eat bats,

I wonder?

And here Alice began to get rather sleepy and went on saying to herself in a dreamy way,

Do cats eat bats?

Do cats eat bats?

And sometimes do bats eat cats?

For you see,

As she couldn't answer either question,

It didn't much matter which way she put it.

She felt that she was dozing off.

And had just begun to dream.

But she was walking hand in hand with Dinah and saying to her very earnestly,

Now Dinah,

Tell me the truth.

Did you ever eat a bat?

When suddenly thump,

Thump,

Down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves.

And the fall was over.

Alice was not a bit hurt.

And she jumped up onto her feet in a moment.

She looked up.

It was all dark overhead.

Before her was another long passage.

And the white rabbit was still in sight,

Hurrying down it.

There was not a moment to be lost.

Away went Alice like the wind.

And just in time to hear it say,

As it turned a corner,

Oh my ears and whiskers how late it's getting.

She was close behind it when she turned the corner.

But the rabbit was no longer to be seen.

She found herself in a long,

Low hall,

Which was lit up a row of lamps hanging from the roof.

There were doors all around the hall.

But they were all locked.

And when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other,

Trying every door,

She walked sadly down the middle,

Wondering how she was ever to get out again.

Suddenly she came upon a little three legged table,

All made of solid glass.

There was nothing on it but a tiny golden key.

And Alice's first thought was that this might belong to one of the doors of the hall.

But alas,

Either the locks were too large or the key was too small.

But at any rate,

He would not open any of them.

However,

On the second time around,

She came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before.

And behind it was a little door about 15 inches high.

She tried the little golden key in the lock and to her great delight it fitted.

Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage,

Not much larger than a rat hole.

She knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw.

How she longed to get out of the dark hall and wander about among those bed of bright flowers and those cool fountains.

But she could not even get her head through the doorway.

And even if my head would go through that poor Alice,

It would be a very little use without my shoulders.

Oh,

How I wish I could shut up like a telescope.

I think I could if I only know how to begin.

For you see,

So many out of the way things that happened lately that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible.

There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door.

So she went back to the table,

Half hoping she might find another key on it.

Or at any rate a book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes.

This time she found a little bottle on it,

Which certainly was not here before said Alice.

And around the neck of the bottle was a paper label with the words drink me.

Beautifully printed on it in large letters.

It was all very well to say drink me,

But the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry.

No,

I'll look first she said and see whether it's marked poison or not.

For she had read several nice little stories about children who had gotten burnt and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things.

All because they would not remember the simple rules their friends had shown and taught them.

Such as that a red hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long.

And if you cut your finger very deeply with a knife,

It usually bleeds.

And she'd never forgotten that.

If you drink much from a bottle marked poison,

It is almost certain to disagree with you sooner or later.

However this bottle was not marked poison.

So Alice ventured to taste it.

And finding it very nice.

It had in fact a sort of mixed flavor of cherry tart,

Custard,

Pineapple,

Roast turkey,

Toffee,

And hot buttered toast.

She very soon finished it off.

What a curious feeling said Alice.

I must be shutting up like a telescope.

And so it was indeed.

She was now only ten inches high.

And her face brightened up with the thought that she was now the right size for going through the little door into that lovely garden.

First however,

She waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to shrink any further.

She felt a little nervous about this.

For at my end you know,

Said Alice to herself,

In my going out altogether like a candle.

I wonder what I should be like then.

And she tried to fancy what the flame in the candle looks like after the candle is blown out.

For she could not remember ever having seen such a thing.

After a while,

Finding that nothing more happened,

She decided on going into the garden at once.

But alas for poor Alice.

When she got to the door,

She found she had forgotten the little golden key.

And when she went back to the table for it,

She found she could not possibly reach it.

She could see it quite plainly through the glass.

And she tried her best to climb up one of the legs of the table.

But it was too slippery.

And when she had tired herself out with trying,

The poor little thing sat down and cried.

Come,

There's no use in crying like that,

Said Alice to herself rather sharply.

I advise you to leave off this minute.

She generally gave herself very good advice,

Though she very seldom followed it.

And sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes.

And once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself.

For this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people.

But it's no use now,

Thought poor Alice,

To pretend to be two people.

Why,

There's hardly enough of me left to make one respectable person.

Soon her eye fell in a little glass box that was lying under the table.

She opened it and found it in a very small cake on which the words,

Eat me,

Were beautifully marked in currants.

Well,

I'll eat it,

Said Alice.

And if it makes me grow larger,

I can reach the key.

And if it makes me grow smaller,

I can creep under the door.

So either way,

I'll get into the garden.

And I don't care which happens.

She ate a little bit and said anxiously to herself,

Which way,

Which way,

Holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing.

And she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size.

To be sure,

This generally happens when one eats cake.

But Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing,

But out of the way things to happen,

That it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way.

So she set to work and very soon finished off the cake.

Chapter two,

The pool of tears.

Curiouser and curiouser,

Cried Alice.

She was so much surprised that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English.

Now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that ever was.

Goodbye feet.

But when she looked down at her feet,

They seemed to be almost out of sight.

They were getting so far off.

Oh,

My poor little feet.

I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now,

Dears.

I'm sure I shan't be able.

I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you.

You must manage the best way you can.

But I must be kind to them,

But Alice,

Or perhaps they won't walk the way I want them to.

Let me see.

I'll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas.

And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it.

They must go by the carrier,

She thought.

And how funny it'll seem,

Sending presents to one's own feet.

And how odd the directions will look.

Alice's right foot,

On the earth ruck,

Near the fender,

With Alice's love.

Oh,

Nonsense.

Oh,

Dear,

What am I talking about?

Just at this moment,

Her head struck against the roof of the hall.

In fact,

She was now rather more than nine feet high.

And she had once took up the little golden key and hurried off to the garden door.

Poor Alice,

There was as much as she could do lying down on one side to look through into the garden with one eye,

But to get through was more hopeless than ever.

She sat down and began to cry again.

You ought to be ashamed of yourself,

Said Alice,

A great girl like you.

She might well say this,

To go on crying in this way.

Stop this moment,

I tell you.

But she went on all the same,

Shedding gallons of tears until there was a large pool all around her,

About four inches deep,

And reaching half down the hall.

After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance,

And she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming.

It was the white rabbit returning,

Splendidly dressed with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other.

He came trotting along in a great hurry,

Muttering to himself as he came.

Oh,

The Duchess,

The Duchess.

Oh,

Won't she be savage if I keep her waiting.

Alice felt so desperate that she was ready to ask for help of anyone,

So when the rabbit came near her she began in a low timid voice.

If you please,

Sir.

The rabbit started violently,

Dropped the white kid gloves in the fan,

And scurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go.

Alice took up the fan and gloves,

And as the hall was very hot,

She kept fanning herself all the time.

She went on talking.

Dear,

Dear,

How queer everything is today,

And yesterday things went on just as usual.

I wonder if I've been changed in the night.

Let me think.

Was I the same when I got up this morning?

I almost think I can remember feeling a little different.

But if I'm not the same,

The next question is,

Who in the world am I?

And that's the great puzzle.

And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were the same age as herself,

To see if they could have been changed for any of them.

I'm sure I'm not Ada,

She said,

For her hair goes in such long ringlets,

And mine doesn't go in ringlets at all.

And I'm sure I can't be Mabel,

For I know all sorts of things.

And she,

Oh,

She knows such a very little.

Besides she is she,

And I'm I.

Oh dear,

How puzzling it all is.

I'll try if I know all the things I used to know.

Let me see.

Four times five is twelve,

And four times six is thirteen.

And four times seven is,

Oh dear,

I shall never get to twenty at that rate.

However,

The multiplication table doesn't signify.

Let's try geography.

London is the capital of Paris,

And Paris is the capital of Rome,

And Rome,

No,

That's all wrong,

I'm certain.

I must have been changed for maybe.

I must be Mabel.

I'll try and say,

How dot the little.

And she crossed her hands on her lap as if she were saying lessons,

And began to repeat it.

But her voice sounded hoarse and strange,

And the words did not come as they used to.

How dot the little crocodile,

Improve his shining tail,

And pour the waters of the Nile on every golden scale.

How cheerfully he seems to grin,

How neatly spread his claws,

And welcome little fishes in with gently smiling jaws.

I'm sure those are not the right words,

Said poor Alice,

And her eyes filled with tears again as she went on.

I must be Mabel after all,

And I shall have to go and live in that pokey little house,

And have next to no toys to play with,

And oh,

Now there's so many lessons to learn.

No,

I've made up my mind about it.

If I'm Mabel,

I'll stay down here.

It'll be no use there putting their heads down and saying,

Come up again,

Dear.

I shall only look up and say,

Who am I then?

Tell me that first,

And then if I like being that person,

I'll come up.

If not,

I'll stay down here,

Tell him somebody else.

But oh dear,

Cried Alice with a sudden burst of tears.

I do wish they would put their heads down.

I'm so very tired of being all alone here.

As she said this,

She looked down at her hands and was surprised to see that she had put on one of the rabbit's little white kid gloves while she was talking.

How can I have done that,

She thought?

I must be growing small again.

She got up and went to the table to measure herself by it,

And found that as nearly as she could guess,

She was now about two feet high,

And was going on shrinking rapidly.

She soon found out that because of this was the fan she was holding,

And she dropped it hastily,

Just in time to avoid shrinking away altogether.

That was a narrow escape,

Said Alice,

In a good deal frightened at the sudden change,

But very glad to find herself still in existence.

And now for the garden.

And she ran with all her speed back to the little door,

But alas,

The door was shut again,

And the little golden key was lying on the glass table as before.

And things are worse than ever,

Thought the poor child,

For I never was so small as this before,

Never,

And I declared too bad that it is.

As she said these words,

Her foot slipped,

And in another moment's splash she was up to her chin in salt water.

Her first idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea,

And in that case I can go back to railway,

She said to herself.

Alice had been to the seaside once in her life,

And had come to the general conclusion that wherever you go on in the English coast,

You will find a number of bathing machines in the sea,

Some children digging in the sand with wooden spades,

Then a row of lodging houses,

And behind them a railway station.

However,

She soon made out that she was in her pool of tears,

Which she had wept when she was nine feet high.

I wish I hadn't cried so much,

Said Alice,

As she swam about trying to find her way out.

I shall be punished for it now,

I suppose by being drowned by my own tears.

That will be a queer thing to be sure.

However,

Everything is queer today.

Just then she heard something splash about in the pool a little way off,

And she swam nearer to make out what it was.

At first she thought it must be a walrus or hippopotamus,

But then she remembered how small she was now,

And she soon laid out that it was only a mouse that had slipped in just like herself.

Would it be of any use now,

Thought Alice,

To speak to this mouth?

Everything is so out of the way down here,

And that I should think that it was very likely it can talk.

At any rate,

There's no harm in trying.

So she began,

Oh mouse,

Do you know the way out of this pool?

I'm very tired of swimming about here,

Oh mouse.

Alice thought this must be the right way of speaking to a mouse.

She had never done a thing before,

For she remembered having seen in her brother's Latin grammar a mouse of a mouse to a mouse,

A mouse,

Oh mouse.

The mouse looked at her rather inquisitively and seemed to her to wink with one of its little eyes,

But it said nothing.

Perhaps it doesn't understand English,

Thought Alice.

I dare say it's a French mouse.

Come over with William the Conqueror,

For with all her knowledge of history,

Alice had no very clear notion how long ago anything had happened.

The mouse gave a sudden leap out of the water and seemed to quiver all over with fright.

Oh,

I beg your pardon,

Cried Alice hastily,

Afraid that she had hurt the poor animal's feelings.

I quite forgot you don't like cats.

Not like cats,

Cried the mouse in a shrill,

Passionate voice.

Would you like cats if you were me?

Well,

Perhaps not,

Said Alice in a soothing tone.

Don't be angry about it.

And yet,

I wish I could show you our cat,

Dinah.

I think you'd take fancy to cats.

If you could only see her,

She is such a dear,

Quiet thing.

Alice went on after herself as she swam lazily around in the pool,

And she sits purring so nicely by the fire,

Licking her paws and washing her face.

And she's such a nice,

Soft thing to nurse.

And she's such a capital one for catching mice.

Oh,

I beg your pardon,

Cried Alice again.

For this time,

The mouse was bristling all over,

And she felt certain it must be really offended.

We won't talk about her anymore if you'd rather not.

We indeed,

Cried the mouse,

Who was trembling down to the edge of his tail.

As if I would talk on such a subject.

Our family has always hated cats.

Nasty,

Low,

Vulgar things.

Don't let me hear the name again.

I won't indeed,

Said Alice in a great hurry to change the subject of conversation.

Are you fond of dogs?

The mouse did not answer.

So Alice went on eagerly.

There is a nice little dog near her house.

I should like to show you.

A little bright-eyed terrier,

You know,

With oh such long curly brown hair.

And it'll fetch things when you throw them.

And it'll sit up and beg for its dinner and all sorts of things.

I can't remember half of them.

And it belongs to the farmer,

You know.

And he says it's so useful,

It's worth a hundred pounds.

He says it kills all the rats and oh dear,

Cried Alice in a sorrowful tone.

I'm afraid I've offended you again.

But the mouse was swimming away from her as hard as it could go and making quite a commotion in the pool as it went.

So she called softly after it.

Mouse dear,

Do come back again and we won't talk about cats or dogs.

If you don't like them.

When the mouse heard this,

It turned around and swam slowly back to her.

Its face was quite pale with passion.

And it said in a low trembling voice,

Let us get to the shore and then I'll tell you my history and you'll understand why I don't like cats or dogs.

It was high time to go.

But the pool was getting quite crowded with the birds and animals that had fallen into it.

There was a duck and a dodo,

A lorry and an eaglet and several other curious creatures.

Alice led the way and the whole party swam to the shore.

That is the end of our story this evening.

Thank you for allowing me the precious gift of your time.

Until next time.

Sweet dreams.

Reviews

Nothing like a good story to send me to sleep. Ta 🙏🏼❤️