Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

“At any rate I’ll never go _there_ again!” said Alice as she picked her
way through the wood. “It’s the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in
all my life!”

Just as she said this, she noticed that one of the trees had a door
leading right into it. “That’s very curious!” she thought. “But
everything’s curious today. I think I may as well go in at once.” And
in she went.

Once more she found herself in the long hall, and close to the little
glass table. “Now, I’ll manage better this time,” she said to herself,
and began by taking the little golden key, and unlocking the door that
led into the garden. Then she went to work nibbling at the mushroom
(she had kept a piece of it in her pocket) till she was about a foot
high: then she walked down the little passage: and _then_—she found
herself at last in the beautiful garden, among the bright flower-beds
and the cool fountains.




CHAPTER VIII.
The Queen’s Croquet-Ground


A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden: the roses
growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at it, busily
painting them red. Alice thought this a very curious thing, and she
went nearer to watch them, and just as she came up to them she heard