The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill • The Magic Bottle
Collection
Chapter 4

The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill

4-2 The Magic Bottle

By this time she had found her way into a tidy little room with a table in the window, and on it (as she had hoped) a fan and two or three pairs of tiny white kid gloves:

A tidy little room with a table
The Tidy Room

she took up the fan and a pair of the gloves, and was just going to leave the room, when her eye fell upon a little bottle that stood near the looking-glass.

Unlabeled Magic Bottle
Unlabeled Magic Bottle

There was no label this time with the words “DRINK ME,” but nevertheless she uncorked it and put it to her lips.

Alice:
I know something interesting is sure to happen,
she said to herself,
whenever I eat or drink anything;
Alice:
so I’ll just see what this bottle does.
Alice:
I do hope it’ll make me grow large again, for really I’m quite tired of being such a tiny little thing!

It did so indeed, and much sooner than she had expected: before she had drunk half the bottle, she found her head pressing against the ceiling, and had to stoop to save her neck from being broken.

She hastily put down the bottle, saying to herself,

Alice:
That’s quite enough—I hope I shan’t grow any more—
Alice:
As it is, I can’t get out at the door—
Alice:
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,

Alice:
Now I can do no more, whatever happens.
Alice:
What will become of me?