I think I could , if I only know how to begin . ' For , you see , so many out-of-the-way things had 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 , -LRB- ` which certainly was not here before , ' said Alice , -RRB- and round 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 histories about children who had got burnt , and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things , all because they WOULD not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them : such as , that a red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long ; and that if you cut your finger VERY deeply with a knife , it usually bleeds ; and she had 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 , -LRB- it had , in fact , a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart , custard , pine-apple , roast turkey , toffee , and hot buttered toast , -RRB- 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 at 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 it might 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 of a candle is 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 , -LRB- though she very seldom followed it -RRB- , 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 on a little glass box that was lying under the table : she opened it , and found in it 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 XXXXX , and I do n't care which happens ! '
garden half hurry inches minute sort tears telescope thought use