Alice in Wonderland part 3: The Caucus-race

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.