When a pool came in their way, the fairy swam, and Alice swam by her;
and when they got out they were quite dry, though the water was as
delightfully wet as water should be. Besides the trees, tall, splendid
lilies grew out of it, and hollyhocks and irises and sword-plants, and
many other long-stemmed flowers. From every leaf and petal of these,
from every branch-tip and tendril, dropped bright water. It gathered
slowly at each point, but the points were so many that there was a
constant musical plashing of diamond rain upon the still surface of the
lake. As they went on, the moon rose and threw a pale mist of light
over the whole, and the diamond drops turned to half-liquid pearls, and
round every tree-top was a halo of moonlight, and the water went to
sleep, and the flowers began to dream.
"Look," said the fairy; "those lilies are just dreaming themselves into
a child's sleep. I can see them smiling. This is the place out of which
go the things that appear to children every night."
"Is this dreamland, then?" asked Alice.
"If you like," answered the fairy.
"How far am I from home?"
"The farther you go, the nearer home you are."
Then the fairy lady gathered a bundle of poppies and gave it to Alice.
The next deep pool that they came to, she told her to throw it in.
Alice did so, and following it, laid her head upon it. That moment she
began to sink. Down and down she went, till at last she felt herself
lying on the long, thick grass at the bottom of the pool, with the
poppies under her head and the clear water high over it.
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