Alice in Wonderland part 5: Advice from a caterpillar

Narrator: After Alice frightened everyone

by growing as big as a house,

she ate some little cakes

and shrank again. She doesn't like being

so tiny, so she's looking for something

to make her grow to the right size.

But this is Wonderland and

what she finds, sitting on top of

a mushroom, is very curious indeed...

Alice: Am I as small as a mushroom,

or is the mushroom as tall as me? Ohh!!

Narrator: Sitting on top of the mushroom

was a blue caterpillar

smoking a hookah pipe.

Caterpillar: Who are you?

Alice: I... I'm not sure. I know who

I was when I woke up this morning.

But I've changed

so many times since then!

Caterpillar: What do you mean by that?

Explain yourself!

Alice: I can't explain myself because I'm

not myself. It's very confusing... I think

you should tell me who YOU are first.

Caterpillar: Why?

Alice: Ummm...

Narrator: Alice couldn't think of

any good reason.

She decided to leave.

Caterpillar: Come back! I have

something important to say!

Alice: Yes?

Caterpillar: Don't be unhappy.

Alice: Is that all?

Caterpillar: No. So you think

you've changed, do you?

Alice: I have, sir. I don't stay

the same size for more than ten minutes!

Caterpillar: What size do you want to be?

Alice: Oh, I don't mind. A little bit bigger

is all I would like. Seven centimetres is

such a terrible height!

Caterpillar: It is a very good height!

I myself am exactly

seven centimetres in height!

Narrator: And with that, the caterpillar

crawled off the mushroom and away.

Caterpillar: One side of the mushroom

will make you grow taller. The other side

will make you grow shorter.

Seven centimetres indeed!

Alice Hmmm... let me pull this side...

and now this side...

But which side is which?

Narrator: There was only one way

to find out the answer to that question.

Alice took a bite of

one piece of the mushroom ...

Narrator: ...and shrank so quickly that she

hit her chin on her foot.

Alice: Ouch!

Narrator: Quickly, she ate some of the

other piece of mushroom and ...

Alice: Where have my shoulders gone?

And my hands ... where are you, hands?

Narrator: Alice grew and grew

until her neck was as long as a snake.

Up and up she grew,

through the branches and leaves,

until her head was higher than the trees.

Alice found she could move her neck

just like a snake, bending this

way and that. She was about to

use her long neck to push her head down

into the trees to look for

her shoulders and hands,

when suddenly a furious bird flew at her.

Bird: Snake! Snake! You want my eggs!

I know!

Alice: Ouch! I'm not a snake!.

I'm a little girl!

Bird: Little girl or snake, it doesn't matter

to me, you want my eggs just the same!

Alice: I don't want your eggs, really I don't!

Bird: Then be off with you! Go away!

Narrator: The bird settled angrily into its

nest. Alice ate a little of one side of the

mushroom, then a little of the other, then

a little of the first again until she was

a good size. She decided to find

her way back the door to

the beautiful garden that she saw when

she first arrived in Wonderland.

As she walked through the forest

she found a little clearing,

with a small house in it, not much more

than a meter or so high.

Alice: I wonder who lives here? This

house is so small ... anyone

who lives here will

surely be afraid of me!

Narrator: Alice ate a little more

of the mushroom and quickly brought

herself down to the right size for

this little house.

Next time, Alice meets

a walking fish, talks to a smiling cat

and has to look after a baby. Goodbye.