Alice followed the white rabbit down the rabbit hole. At the end of her fall, she came to a large hall with several doors
in it. There was a key – but the door in which it fit was too small for her. Alice spied a beautiful garden beyond the door. She was about to give up, when she found a bottle that had a label on it (the label read “Drink Me”). On drinking the contents of the bottle, Alice shrank to the right size. Unfortunately for her, she had forgotten the key, and could no longer reach it.
Alice then found a cake that said “Eat Me”. On eating the cake, Alice grew big again – all of nine feet tall. And she began to cry, and her tears became a flood. Suddenly, the white rabbit reappeared. It was carrying a pair of gloves and a fan, and muttering to itself. On seeing Alice, it gave a start and dropped the gloves. Alice put on the gloves, and began shrinking again. But a new problem presented itself – she had grown so small that she began to drown in her pool of tears. She was soon joined by a mouse, and several other birds and animals. Together, they swam to the other shore.
The white rabbit returns, looking for his fan and pair of gloves, but Alice could no longer find them. The white rabbit mistakes Alice for his housemaid, and promptly sends her off to fetch another pair of gloves. Alice (somehow) makes her way to the white rabbit’s home. There, she finds another bottle – this time, without a label on it – and promptly drinks it. Alice grows large again, large enough to fill the entire room! Alice hears a sound of footsteps; it is the white rabbit coming to fetch his pair of gloves. But Alice is in no mood to let him in – nor can the white rabbit force her out. A stalemate seems to have been reached, when Alice finds another piece of cake, eats it and runs away into the woods.
Alice enters the Duchess’s house in the woods. There she makes the acquaintance of the Cheshire Cat. The Duchess cannot attend to her, as she has to attend a party given by the Queen. Meanwhile, the child that the Duchess had been nursing (sort of) turns into a pig and scurries away. In a way, Alice is glad to see it go, for it would have made a dreadful child. From the Cheshire cat, Alice learns that everyone here is mad – they must be mad, or they would not be here.
Alice then joins the March Hare and the Hatter in a tea party. They make polite (and not so polite) conversation. The March Hare advises her to say what she means; Alice replies that she means what she says. And so on and so forth. Alice helps herself to some tea and buttered toast. And after a while, they change seats. Alice leaves the tea-party, and enters the garden where the Queen is throwing her party.
Alice joins the royal procession, and the Queen of hearts invites her to a game of croquet. The Duchess – who has been sentenced to death for boxing the Queen’s ears – returns to the party. Alice rejoins the game, but soon there are no players left as they have all been sentenced to death. Along with the Gryphon, Alice goes to see the mock turtle, and to hear his side of the story. In his own fashion, the mock turtle tells Alice about life under the sea, and describes the lobster dance to her. Then they hurry off to attend the trial…
The Knave of Hearts stands accused of stealing the Queen’s tarts. The first witness (the Hatter) is called. But before he can give evidence, the Hatter stands accused of stealing his hats. The next witness (the Duchess’s Cook) refuses to give any evidence at all. And last of all, Alice is called as a witness. Alice insists that she knows nothing whatsoever about the matter being discussed. At that moment, the White Rabbit produces a letter written by the Knave of Hearts. However, the letter is meaningless, and the Knave denies that he has written it. The Queen wants the sentence pronounced before the verdict has been read. But Alice will hear nothing of it, and dismisses them all as a mere pack of cards.