Chasing a White Rabbit leads Alice into a fantastical world where logic dissolves. She fluctuates wildly in size, encounters rude and eccentric inhabitants, and survives a terrifying royal trial, ultimately realizing the absurdity of the fantasy is nothing more than a pack of cards.
The Hatter soon breaks the silence to consult his pocket watch, which he claims is two days wrong because the March Hare put butter in the works. Alice is puzzled to see the watch tells the day but not the time. The Hatter explains that he quarreled with Time itself during a concert for the Queen of Hearts, where he sang a distorted song. Accused of “murdering time,” he is now trapped in a perpetual six o’clock, explaining why the tea-party never ends and they must constantly change seats to find clean cups.
Growing tired of the riddles, the Hatter and March Hare wake the Dormouse to tell a story. The Dormouse recounts a tale of three sisters who live at the bottom of a treacle-well, eating nothing but treacle and consequently falling ill. Alice’s logical questions about the well frustrate the group, and the Dormouse explains the sisters were learning to draw things beginning with M, including “muchness.” When Alice attempts to understand, the Hatter rudely tells her she should not talk. Fed up with the madness, Alice walks off, vowing never to return, while the occupants try to stuff the Dormouse into a teapot.
Wandering through the wood, Alice discovers a door in a tree leading back to the long hall. She takes the golden key from the glass table and unlocks the door to the garden. Using a piece of mushroom she kept in her pocket, she nibbles until she shrinks to about a foot high. Finally the right size, she walks down the passage and steps into the beautiful garden, surrounded by bright flower-beds and cool fountains.
Alice had barely stepped into the garden when she came upon three gardeners nervously painting white roses red, a mistake they clearly dreaded. The Queen of Hearts arrives with a grand procession and invites Alice to play croquet.
Alice enters the garden and discovers three gardeners frantically painting white roses red, arguing anxiously as they work to hide their mistake from the Queen. They fear losing their heads if the mistake is discovered, but a grand procession soon interrupts them. Soldiers shaped like playing cards march in, followed by ornamented courtiers and royal children, culminating in the arrival of the King and Queen of Hearts. The Queen stops and demands to know who Alice is, but Alice stands her ground, realizing they are only a pack of cards. When the Queen notices the gardeners and orders their execution, Alice bravely hides them in a large flower-pot, tricking the soldiers into reporting the deed done.
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