Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Chapter 2

Summary

Stories Podcast: A Bedtime Show for Kids of All Ages

Episode Summary: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Chapter 2: The Pool of Tears

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Introduction

In this episode of the Stories Podcast, hosted by Amanda Weldon from Starglow Media / Wondery, listeners are transported once again into the whimsical world of Lewis Carroll's classic novel, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." Specifically, this episode delves into Chapter 2: The Pool of Tears, where Alice experiences the consequences of her fluctuating size and navigates the chaotic environment she inadvertently creates.

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Plot Summary

Amanda Weldon welcomes listeners and introduces the story, setting the stage for Alice's continued adventures in Wonderland.

Alice's Height Troubles

The chapter opens with Alice lamenting her sudden and drastic change in size:

Alice [03:22]: "Curiouser and curiouser," cried Alice. "The moment she quite forgot how to speak good English. Now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that ever was. Goodbye, feet."

Alice's newfound height causes her feet to seemingly disappear from sight, leading her to worry about their well-being:

Alice [03:52]: "Oh, my poor little feet. I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears..."

Determined to care for her feet despite her size, Alice contemplates sending them Christmas presents, showcasing her imaginative and caring nature.

However, her towering presence leads to an accident:

Alice [09:35]: "I must be growing small again."

Her interaction with a white rabbit further complicates her situation, as her sudden shrinking threatens her stability:

Alice [09:36]: "I must be growing small again."

The Pool of Tears

As Alice shrinks rapidly, she inadvertently creates a Pool of Tears through her emotional turmoil. Overwhelmed by her predicament, Alice begins to cry excessively:

Alice [05:02]: "I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you."

Her sobbing results in a large pool filling the hall, setting the stage for a community of various creatures to appear, each having fallen victim to Alice's transformations.

Amidst the chaos, Alice encounters a White Rabbit in a hurry, muttering about the Duchess and her fear of her:

White Rabbit [05:43]: "Oh, the duchess, the duchess. Oh, won't she be savage if I've kept her waiting?"

Seeking assistance, Alice timidly interacts with the rabbit, only to witness its sudden disappearance into the darkness, leaving her to fend for herself.

Meeting the Mouse

In her quest to find a way out, Alice spots a mouse struggling in the pool of tears:

Alice [14:50]: "Oh, mouse, do you know the way out of this pool?"

Her attempts at conversation initially falter, leading to a misunderstanding about cats, which exacerbates the tension between them:

Mouse [15:46]: "Would you like cats if you were me?"

Realizing her mistake, Alice endeavors to mend the situation, eventually persuading the mouse to share its history, revealing the complexities of Wonderland's inhabitants.

Together, they navigate the crowded pool, now teeming with various fallen creatures like a duck, a dodo, a lory, and an eaglet, all seeking refuge from the tumultuous changes Alice's presence has wrought.

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Character Development

Alice continues to embody curiosity and resilience despite her unpredictable physical transformations. Her interactions with the White Rabbit and the mouse highlight her empathetic nature and desire to connect, even in confusing and challenging circumstances.

The mouse, initially wary and defensive, showcases the intricate societal dynamics within Wonderland, emphasizing themes of misunderstanding and communication barriers.

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Key Themes

1. Identity and Self-Discovery: Alice's fluctuating size metaphorically represents her journey in understanding herself and her place in the world.

   Alice [05:22]: "I'll try if I know all the things I used to know."

2. Consequences of Actions: Alice's emotional state directly impacts her environment, illustrating the broader theme of how personal emotions can influence one's surroundings.

3. Communication and Misunderstanding: The interaction between Alice and the mouse underscores the challenges of effective communication and the ease of misunderstandings.

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Notable Quotes

• Alice on Her Changing Identity:

  Alice [05:22]: "If I'm not the same, the next question is, who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle."

• Alice Reflecting on Her Feelings:

  Alice [09:24]: "I am so very tired of being all alone here."

• Mouse on Disliking Cats and Dogs:

  Mouse [15:46]: "Our family always hated cats. Nasty, low, vulgar things. Don't let me hear the name again."

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Conclusion

Chapter 2: The Pool of Tears deepens the enchanting yet perplexing world of Wonderland, portraying Alice's struggles with her identity and the unintended chaos her emotions can cause. Through her interactions and the emergence of new characters like the mouse, the story explores profound themes suitable for young listeners and their families. Amanda Weldon's engaging narration ensures that the episode remains captivating, allowing both children and parents to immerse themselves in Alice's adventurous journey.

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Additional Information

For those who haven't listened to this episode, Stories Podcast offers a safe, G-rated environment filled with imaginative tales perfect for bedtime or screen-free time. To experience more enchanting stories like Alice's adventures, consider subscribing to the podcast on your favorite platform.

Transcript

[Amanda Weldon]

Hello. Welcome to Stories Podcast. I'm your host, Amanda Weldon. Today's story is a chapter from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a classic novel written for you by Lewis Carroll. We have Stories Podcast merch, [e-mail] shop. We're also on Cameo for all of your personalized video message needs. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram Stories Podcast. If you send us a drawing of your favorite scene or character, we'll share it on our feed. Now, here's a word from our sponsors do you want to set your kids up for success in the new year? Is your child struggling with a specific subject and in need of extra help? Or are they maybe way ahead and ready for more challenging material? Make 2025 your family's best academic year yet with IXL Learning IXL Learning is an online learning program that enriches your homeschool curriculum. It offers practice in math, English language arts, science and social studies while adapting to each child, meeting them where they are. Plus, IXL encourages students to be curious and empowers them to choose how to learn. It's the perfect supplement to your homeschool curriculum. IXL offers interactive practice problems, educational games, lessons and video tutorials for every topic you're teaching at home. Everything on IXL is organized by grade, subject, topic and subtopic, making it easy to find activities for the exact skills you're covering. It'll save you so much time. Not only that, but your kids will love IXL's positive feedback awards and educational games make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now and Stories podcast listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at ixl.com dragon Visit ixl.com dragon to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. This episode of Stories Podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just launching a new venture or managing a successful business, Squarespace makes it easy to create a beautiful website, engage with your audience, and sell anything from products to content to time, all in one place, all on your terms. Squarespace makes it easy to build a beautiful website with Design Intelligence, a cutting edge AI technology to unlock your strongest creative potential. Design Intelligence empowers anyone to build a beautiful, more personalized website tailored to your unique needs so your site can really reflect your brand and create a specific digital signature to use throughout your entire online presence. Plus, Squarespace has integrated SEO tools Every Squarespace website is optimized so you show up more often to more people in global search engine results. Head to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're Ready to launch www.squarespace.com dragon to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com dragon for 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

[Alice]

Thanks.

[Amanda Weldon]

Enjoy the episode Chapter 2 the Pool.

[Alice]

Of Tears Curiouser and curiouser, cried Alice.

[Amanda Weldon]

She was so much surprised that for.

[Alice]

The moment she quite forgot how to speak good English. Now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that ever was. Goodbye, feet. For when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out.

[Amanda Weldon]

Of sight, they were getting so far off.

[Alice]

Oh, my poor little feet. I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears, I'm sure I shan't be able I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you. You must manage the best way you can. But I must be kind to them, thought Alice. Or perhaps they won't walk the way I want to go. Let me see. I'll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas. And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it. They must go by the carrier, she thought, and how funny it'll seem sending presents to one's own feet. And how odd the directions will look. Alice's right foot, Esquire hearthrug near the fender with Alice's love. Oh dear, what nonsense I'm talking. Just at this moment her head struck against the roof of the hall. In fact, she was now rather more than nine feet high, and she at once took up the little golden key and hurried off to the garden door.

[Amanda Weldon]

Poor Alice.

[Alice]

It was as much as she could do, lying down on one side to look through into the garden with one eye. But to get through was more hopeless than ever. She sat down and began to cry again. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, said Alice. A great girl like you. She might well say this to go on crying in this way. Stop this moment, I tell you. But she went on all the same.

[Amanda Weldon]

Shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool all round her, about.

[Alice]

4 inches deep and reaching half down the hall. After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance, and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the white rabbit, returning splendidly.

[Amanda Weldon]

Dressed with a pair of white kid.

[Alice]

Gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other. He came trotting along In a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came. Oh, the duchess, the duchess. Oh, won't she be savage if I've kept her waiting? Alice felt so desperate that she was ready to ask help of anyone. So when the rabbit came near her, she began in a low, timid voice, if you please, sir. The rabbit started violently, Dropped the white kid gloves and the fan and scurried.

[Amanda Weldon]

Away into the darkness as hard as he could go.

[Alice]

Alice took up the fan and gloves, and as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself. All the time she went on talking. Dear, dear, how queer everything is today. And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night. Let me think. Was I the same when I got up in the morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle. And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to see if she could have been changed for any one of them. I'm sure I'm not Ada, she said, for her hair goes in such long ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all. And I'm sure I can't be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things. And she. Oh, she knows such a very little. Besides, she's she and I'm I, and. Oh, dear, how puzzling it all is. I'll try if I know all the things I used to know. Let me see. 4 times 5 is 12, and 4 times 6 is 13, and 4 times 7 is. Oh, dear, I shall never get to 20 at that rate. However, the multiplication table doesn't signify. Let's try geography. London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of Rome. And Rome. No, that's all wrong. I'm certain I must have been changed for Mabel. I'll try and say, how doth the little. And she crossed her hands on her.

[Amanda Weldon]

Lap as if she were saying lessons.

[Alice]

And began to repeat it. But her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the same as they used to do. How doth the little crocodile improve his shining tail and pour the waters of the Nile on every golden scale. How cheerfully he seems to grin. How neatly spreads his claws and welcomes little fishes in with gently smiling jaws. I'm sure those are not the right words, said poor Alice, and her eyes filled with tears again as she went on. I must be Mabel, after all, and I shall have to go and live in that poky little house and have next to no toys to play with and oh, ever so many lessons to learn. No, I've made up my mind about it. If I'm Mabel, I'll stay down here. It'll be no use their putting their heads down and saying, come up again, dear. I shall only look up and say, who am I? Then tell me that first, and then if I like being that person, I'll come up. If not, I'll stay down here till I'm somebody else. But oh dear. Cried Alice with a sudden burst of tears. I do wish they would put their heads down. I am so very tired of being all alone here.

[Amanda Weldon]

As she said this, she looked down.

[Alice]

At her hands and was surprised that she had put on one of the rabbit's little white kid gloves while she was talking. How can I have done that?

[Amanda Weldon]

She thought.

[Alice]

I must be growing small again. She got up and went to the table to measure herself by it and found that as nearly as she could guess, she was now about 2ft high and was going on shrinking rapidly.

[Amanda Weldon]

She soon found out that the cause of this was the fan she was.

[Alice]

Holding, and she dropped it hastily just.

[Amanda Weldon]

In time to save herself from shrinking away altogether.

[Alice]

Now for a quick ad break.

[Amanda Weldon]

We'll be back with the rest of the story after this. If you'd like Stories, Podcast and other favorite Kid Podcasts ad Free subscribe to Wondery Kids on Apple Podcasts have you got kids who can't break away from their screens at bedtime? This is for you. Koala Moon is a podcast of original bedtime stories and sleep meditations for kids, hosted by Abby Ofer. All content is delivered in friendly soft tones, getting slower as the episode goes on to encourage sleep. There are over 450 stories and meditations to choose from, with three episodes added every single week. Koala Moon has helped improve over 25 million bedtimes since its launch in late 2021 and now welcomes over 1 million listeners a month. It even won a British podcast award in 2024. Find out what the fuss is about. Subscribe to Koala Moon wherever you listen to podcasts and start listening for free tonight. Just search Koala Moon on your favorite podcast app. This episode of Stories podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just launching a new venture or managing a successful business, Squarespace makes it easy to create a beautiful website, engage with your audience, and sell anything from products to content to time, all in one place, all on your terms. Squarespace makes it easy to build a beautiful website with Design Intelligence, a cutting edge AI technology to unlock your strongest creative potential. Design Intelligence empowers anyone to build a beautiful, more personalized website tailored to your unique needs so your site can really reflect your brand and create a specific digital signature to use throughout your entire online presence. Plus, Squarespace has integrated SEO tools. Every Squarespace website is optimized so you show up more often to more people in global search engine results. Head to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch www.squarespace.com dragon to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com dragon for 10% off your first purchase of A website or domain. Thanks and now back to the story.

[Alice]

That was a narrow escape, said Alice, a good deal frightened at the sudden change, but very glad to find herself still in existence. And now for the garden.

[Amanda Weldon]

And she ran with all speed back to the little door. But alas, the little door was shut.

[Alice]

Again, and the little golden key was lying on the glass table as before, and things are worse than ever, thought the poor child, for I never was so small as this before, never. And I declare it's too bad that it is.

[Amanda Weldon]

As she said these words, her foot.

[Alice]

Slipped and in another moment, splash. She was up to her chin in salt water.

[Amanda Weldon]

Her first idea was that she had.

[Alice]

Somehow fallen into the sea. And in that case I can go.

[Amanda Weldon]

Back by railway, she said to herself.

[Alice]

Alice had been to the seaside once in her life, and had come to the general conclusion that wherever you go to on the English coast, you find a number of bathing machines in the sea, some children digging in the sand.

[Amanda Weldon]

With wooden spades, then a row of.

[Alice]

Lodging houses, and behind them a railway station.

[Amanda Weldon]

However, she soon made out that she.

[Alice]

Was in the pool of tears, which she had wept when she was nine feet high. I wish I hadn't cried so much, said Alice, as she swam about trying to find her way out. I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears. That will be an odd thing, to be sure. However, everything is odd today.

[Amanda Weldon]

Just then she heard something splashing about.

[Alice]

In the pool a little way off, and she swam nearer to make out what it was.

[Amanda Weldon]

At first she thought it might be a walrus or hippopotamus, but then she.

[Alice]

Remembered how small she was now, and.

[Amanda Weldon]

She soon made out that it was.

[Alice]

Only a mouse that had slipped in like herself. Would it be of any use now, thought Alice, to speak to this mouse? Everything is so out of the way down here that I should think very likely it can talk. At any rate, there's no harm in trying. So she began.

[Amanda Weldon]

Oh, mouse, do you know the way.

[Alice]

Out of this pool? I am very tired of swimming about here. Oh, mouse.

[Amanda Weldon]

Alice thought this might be the right.

[Alice]

Way of speaking to a mouse. She had never done such a thing.

[Amanda Weldon]

Before, but she remembered having seen in.

[Alice]

Her brother's Latin grammar, a mouse of a mouse to a mouse, a mouse, O mouse. The mouse looked at her rather inquisitively and seemed to her to wink with one of its little eyes, but it said nothing. Perhaps it doesn't understand English, thought Alice. I dare say it's a French mouse come over with William the Conqueror. For with all her knowledge of history, Alice had no very clear notion how long ago anything had happened. So she began again, ou esteem. Which was the first sentence in her French lesson book. The mouse gave a sudden leap out.

[Amanda Weldon]

Of the water and seemed to quiver.

[Alice]

All over with fright. Oh, I beg your pardon.

[Amanda Weldon]

Cried Alice, hastily, afraid that she had.

[Alice]

Hurt the poor animal's feelings. I quite forgot you didn't like cats. Not like cats. Cried the mouse in a shrill, passionate voice. Would you like cats if you were me? Well, perhaps not, said Alice in a soothing tone. Don't be angry about it. And yet I wish I could show you our cat. Dinah. I think you'd take a fancy to cats if only you could see her. She is such a dear, quiet thing. Alice went on, half to herself as she swam lazily about in the pool. And she sits purring so nicely by the fire, licking her paws and washing her face. And she is such a nice soft thing to nurse. And she's such a capital one for catching mice. Oh, I beg your pardon. Cried Alice again, for this time the mouse was bristling all over, and she felt certain it must be really offended. We won't talk about her anymore, if you'd rather not. We indeed. Cried the mouse, who was trembling down to the end of its tail. As if I would talk on such a subject. Our family always hated cats. Nasty, low, vulgar things. Don't let me hear the name again. I won't indeed, said Alice, in a great hurry to change the subject of conversation.

[Amanda Weldon]

Are you.

[Alice]

Are you fond of. Of dogs? The mouse did not answer, so Alice went on eagerly. There is such a nice little dog near our house I should like to show you. Little bright eyed terrier, you know, with. Oh, such long curly brown hair, and it'll fetch things when you throw them, and it'll sit up and beg for its dinner and all sorts of things. I can't remember half of them. And it belongs to a farmer, you know, and he says it's so useful it's worth a hundred pounds. He says it kills all the rats and oh dear. Cried Alice in a sorrowful tone, I'm afraid I've offended it again, for the mouse was swimming away from her as hard as it could go, and making quite a commotion in the pool as it went. So she called softly after it, mouse dear, do come back again, and we won't talk about cats or dogs either, if you don't like them. When the mouse heard this, it turned round and swam slowly back to her. Its face was quite pale with passion, Alice thought, and it said in a low, trembling voice, let us get to the shore and then I'll tell you my history and you'll understand why it is I hate cats and dogs. It was high time to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded with the birds and animals that had fallen into it.

[Amanda Weldon]

There was a duck and a dodo.

[Alice]

A lory and an eaglet, and several other curious creatures. Alice led the way and the whole party swam to the shore.

[Amanda Weldon]

Today's story was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a classic novel written for you by Lewis Carroll. It was edited and produced for you by Andrew Martin and performed for you by me, Amanda Walden. If you would like to support Stories podcast you can leave us a five star review on iTunes. Check out all of our merch [e-mail] Shop Commission a special video on Cameo. Follow us on Instagram Stories Podcast or simply tell your friends about us. In case you missed it, Dan and I have a new show on Stories rpg. We play games just like Starsworn with all your Max Good name friends and Gigacity Guardians featuring the brilliant Firefly. Click the link in the episode description or go to patreon.com storiesrpg to get ad free episodes play along games and coloring books. We've already got a bunch of episodes over there so check them out now. Thanks for listening.