Alice in Wonderland 1: The White Rabbit

Alice sat picking daisies with her cat on the riverbank. She was quite bored until a White Rabbit ran by. A rabbit isn’t very exciting, but this rabbit wore a jacket and carried a pocket watch. And if that wasn’t strange enough, it spoke, too.

“Oh dear! I’m late!” it said before jumping down a hole.

The White Rabbit had proved far more interesting than daisies, so Alice ran to the hole and peered after the creature. Before she knew it, she had leaned in too far! Alice fell. And fell. And fell. The hole seemed to be bottomless.

“This must be the deepest hole in the world,” she said. “Unless I’m just falling very slowly!”

“What’s this?” Alice asked as she passed shelves and cupboards that lined the rabbit hole. Her belly rumbled with hunger, so she grabbed a jar labeled “Orange Jam” off one of the shelves.

“Empty!” she said. She returned the jar to a cupboard.

Alice began to worry about her cat. Her worry didn’t last long because her thoughts were interrupted when she crashed into the floor of the rabbit hole. She saw the White Rabbit off in the distance.

“Oh, my ears and whiskers, how late it’s getting!” he called as he turned a corner.

The creature had disappeared into a hall full of doors. Alice tried each and every one of the doorknobs, but they were all locked.

“What’s that?” Alice said as she pulled aside a curtain. It concealed a very small door with an even smaller keyhole. On a table nearby sat a miniature golden key. It fit just right.