Narrator: Hello. So far, Alice had been very
small, then very tall, then very small again
in this strange Wonderland she found
when she chased a talking rabbit and fell
down the rabbit hole.
Now she was swimming in a pool of her
own tears, wondering what was
going to happen next.
Alice: Ooh, whatever's this? It's a mouse!
Hello mouse! You're a very big mouse...
but then, I'm a very, very little girl today.
Whatever next? If this mouse talks, I won't
be at all surprised...
Oh Mouse, do you know the way out
of this pool? I'm very tired of
swimming about here, Mouse!
Mouse? Hmmm. Perhaps it doesn't
understand English. Maybe it's
a French mouse! Now, what was that
French I learned in school?
Où est ma chatte?
Mouse: Chatte? Cat! Did you say cat?!
Alice: Oh, I'm so sorry Mouse!
I forgot mice don't like cats.
Mouse: Would you like cats
if you were me?
Alice: Well... perhaps not. But my cat
Dinah is different.
She's such a sweet, quiet thing.
If you meet her, I'm sure you'll like her.
Mouse: We won't talk about cats
any more, thank you!
Alice: We won't! Er... do you - do you er...
like dogs? They can be so sweet and they kill
all the rats... and... Oh dear!
Alice: Oh please come back, dear Mouse.
We won't talk about cats or dogs, if you
don't like them.
Swim with me to the shore.
Narrator: So Alice and the mouse swam
to the edge of the pool of tears.
And as they swam,
they were joined by lots of other creatures
that had fallen into the pool, just like Alice
and the mouse.
There was a duck and a dodo and
many other strange animals that Alice
had never seen before.
All the creatures had the same question.
Animals: How can we get dry?
oh it's no good for my fur, etc...
Dodo: We must have a Caucus-race!
Animals: Hooray! Hoorah!
Alice: What's a Caucus-race, Mr Dodo?
Dodo: The best way to explain
a Caucus-race is to have a Caucus-race!
Narrator: It was the strangest race Alice
had ever seen. The Dodo marked
a circle for the racecourse and
everyone stood anywhere they wanted to.
Nobody said "One, two, three, go!"
but everyone started running.
Alice ran too,
although she didn't quite know where
she should run to.
Everyone ran left
and right in any direction they pleased.
But after half an hour of running,
everybody was quite dry again.
Dodo: The race is over!
Multiple voices: But who has won?
Did I win? Who is the winner?
Dodo: Ah... yes... Who has won?
Who has won?
Everybody has won and everyone
must have prizes!
And she must give the prizes!
Alice: Me?
Narrator: Alice didn't have any prizes for
a Caucus-race with her, but she searched
in her pockets and found some sweets.
She had enough sweets to give exactly
one sweet to every runner.
Alice: Here you are, one for you,
and one for you...
Aminal: That is a tasty sweet...
Alice: And one for you - now,
does everybody have one?
Oh, I must say, my cat Dinah would
love a Caucus-race...
Cat! Cat!
Animals: Let's go! Come away!
Time for bed! Goodbye!
Bye bye!
Alice: Oh dear. I said it again. Come back!
Please! I'm sorry!
Poor Dinah. Nobody seems to like her
down here and I'm sure she's
the best cat in the world!
Narrator: Poor Alice felt very lonely
and sad. She cried quietly to herself
for a while.
But in a little while, she heard footsteps
in the distance. She looked up to see who
it was.
Next time, I'll tell you who
the footsteps belonged to, and
how Alice got so big she filled a whole
house, and what happened when
she kicked poor Bill the lizard up and out
of the chimney. Goodbye.