The content of this novel is basically the stories I used to tell my younger sister. She has grown up now and has forgotten the past stories.
For a child's aesthetic, the most important aspect of a story is not the plot, but various novel things, onomatopoeia. The plot and profound meaning are what adults care about.
This story should be considered as a collaborative creation between her and me. It was around my high school years when I spontaneously narrated stories to her and improvised the next sentence based on her reactions. Sometimes, when her eyes drifted away, I knew it had become boring and needed something that children would enjoy. This so-called novel, consisting of five chapters, was sculpted under her picky aesthetic.
Many adults have forgotten the picky and unique aesthetic of children and gradually started to focus more on the story, rationality, and logic. Fortunately, I encountered childhood during my youth, and I am not far from childhood myself, so I can observe and reflect on this difference.
Andersen's fairy tales, Grimm's fairy tales are all for adults. Only stories like the ones I tell, stories like Alice in Wonderland, are what children like.<br/>
In the sixth grade, as my childhood was coming to an end, I once wrote something titled: "19 Things that Adults Don't Know, But We Actually Know." It was a collection of phenomena that my eyes observed, a list of things that shocked me about adult ignorance. But now, more than ten years have passed, and I have almost forgotten those 19 things that were once so important to me.<br/>
But luckily, I observed my sister, acting as an elder brother, and I saw her grow from a shoebox-sized girl to gradually unfolding her own life. I also have the opportunity to return to childhood in advance to experience life, rather than waiting until I have children of my own.<br/>
These five chapters of the novel were roughly compiled into written form when I was in college from the oral version. I adjusted the order of two chapters, but unfortunately, the last two chapters were written on a notebook when I graduated from university and later got lost. Perhaps there will be an opportunity to rewrite them, but unfortunately, there was no 8 or 9-year-old child to help me review them.<br/>
Prologue
The little white dove sang, "Take the bride home quickly, take the bride home quickly. The one sitting beside you is the real bride." After the dove finished singing, it flew up and landed on Cinderella's right shoulder. Cinderella and the prince walked towards the palace together. From then on, they lived a happy life.<br/>
When the snow fell on the hazelnut tree the following year, Cinderella became the queen of the country and gave birth to a daughter. The new princess was named Alice. Alice was a lively and kind little girl who loved a carefree life. However, there were too many rules in the palace, and she was not allowed to do anything.<br/>
Alice liked to sing at night like a nightingale, but the adults found it very noisy. Alice wanted to learn from the gecko how to stick to the wall, but she was always respectfully asked down by the guards patrolling the city walls, telling her to go back to her room. Alice's biggest wish was to play like the pigeons in the palace courtyard, to go to places that others couldn't reach, or to fly with the feathers of pigeons in the wind.
Even so, Alice was always happy. Joy was as rare and light as the feathers of the pigeons floating in the air. She could always find their traces in a casual glance and spend the whole afternoon holding them in her hands and collecting them in a box. The Queen Mother had told Alice about the outside world: "It is bigger than a thousand palaces. In autumn, there are a thousand dandelions opening their umbrellas and soaring into the sky. There are over a thousand fireflies illuminating them, and a thousand pigeons carrying their children to move to warmer places. Feathers are floating and falling in the air, like snowflakes gently falling to the ground, whiter than Snow White's skin. There are a thousand forget-me-not flowers on the ground, and the fragrance can float with the breeze to a hundred miles away. Those who smell this fragrance will never have worries in their lives..."<br/>
Alice wrote these words on the back of her collection box. Yes, the outside world is so big, with countless amazing things. If one day she could go to that free and vast world to play, how much joy would be collected? Or maybe there would be no need to collect joy at all because there would be new joy every day, and a lifetime would not be enough to collect it all. When she became an old lady one day, she would write down all the joy of her life and give it to the other young princesses.<br/>
When the pigeon feathers floated in the air, it was best to sit on a horse at three in the afternoon. When it was raining continuously in spring and she couldn't go out to play, she could pass the time by looking at the mushrooms in the backyard. Autumn was the best season. When the autumn wind came, standing under the tree, countless leaves floated and fell, stretching every second of time.<br/>
But on this day, Alice felt a little bored. The afternoon drowsiness seemed particularly long, and the flowers outside the door seemed particularly listless. At this moment, a white butterfly landed on the edge of the table, catching Alice's attention while she was daydreaming. What did the white butterfly want to tell her? Alice wondered and couldn't help but follow the white butterfly outside. The white butterfly fluttered its wings and flew, passing through the shade of willows and stopping on a pink flower in the garden. The pink flower turned into a pink cake, looking very tempting, as delicate as a flower.<br/>
For some reason, Alice really wanted to eat this cake, as if there was a hint that by eating this cake, she could go to a different world. Alice picked up the cake and took a small bite. At that moment, Alice noticed that things around her were changing. Sunflowers suddenly became as tall as windmills, roses were bigger than cabbages, and the small grass around her became as thick as saplings. The towering tree in front of her turned out to be the small oak sapling she planted a few days ago. Why did this happen? Did the world become bigger, or did she become smaller?
Just then, Alice noticed a large mouse sitting under the oak sapling, as big as a pig. It looked like a silver fox hamster. Alice bravely walked up to it, and the hamster held its head still, as if thinking or sleeping. Alice waited for a long time, but it didn't notice her. She had to ask, "Respected Mr. Silver Fox Hamster, who are you? Why do you live here? What are you doing in my garden? There is nothing to eat here except for that cake." Saying this, Alice turned around to look for the cake, but it was gone. The hamster seemed to hear Alice's question, nodded thoughtfully, and then changed hands to hold its head, continuing to contemplate.
The hamster noticed the mood of the noble princess in front of it and started speaking.
"Language is a trap, a bottomless pit. Once I start speaking, I will fall into this cage."
"I don't understand," Alice said, but as the hamster spoke, a deep hole really appeared on the ground. Alice was surprised and asked, "Did this hole appear because you spoke? I have never seen such a strange thing!"<br/>
"You just asked me who I am, what I am doing, and to answer these questions, I must jump into this hole to answer you. But after I jump into the hole, I cannot answer your questions. In other words, before I talk about everything in the world, I must first determine what can be talked about. However, talking and discussing cannot solve the problem, and explaining cannot make the problem clear. In short, therefore, because the answer cannot be said, the question does not exist."<br/>
"The answer cannot be said... so the question doesn't exist? It's too complicated. Your words are so strange, I can't understand them. Do you have a way to take me out to play? If you can take me out, I won't ask why you secretly came to my garden."<br/>
"That can be done. This mouse hole leads to all destinations. Let's go!"<br/>
After saying that, before Alice could react, it jumped into the hole without hesitation. Alice shouted from behind, "Hey~" but looking into the hole, it was already pitch black, and there was nothing but Alice's own echo.<br/>
Alice thought for a moment and, feeling defiant, also jumped into the hole. Thus, the descent began. Falling, falling, Alice looked down, wanting to know where she would fall. But it was too dark below, and she couldn't see anything. So she looked at the well wall around her, which had some oil paintings hanging on it, as well as some reliefs and various maps.<br/>
"Well, keep falling, keep falling, just keep falling," Alice thought, "Will I die from falling the first time I go out?"<br/>
Falling, falling, falling. Will it never reach the bottom? Apart from that, there was nothing else to do. Alice felt a bit bored and dull. "Should I fall to the bottom of the well or not? That's a difficult question. And why did the hamster say that this leads to the outside world?" Alice couldn't understand these questions, so she looked around with her eyes, there were too many words, paintings, reliefs, and cupboards. Most things were missed before she had time to look at them, but Alice noticed a thin silver thread on the well wall, changing shapes as it descended, seemingly displaying some pattern. Alice looked at it again and again, finally realizing what it was. It was a series of German letters arranged in this order:<br/>
Closed<br/>
Big<br/>
.<br/>
Hamster<br/>
.<br/>
.<br/>
"So the hamster can really speak German," Alice thought, then closed her eyes and something strange happened. After closing her eyes, she found that she didn't continue to fall, and she could still see the surroundings. "What if I open my eyes?" Alice tried opening her eyes, and the falling resumed. Alice quickly learned to control the falling speed by blinking her eyes, allowing herself to move freely downward in the well. "But what's the use of this? In the end, I will still fall, and once I fall, I won't be able to come up again." Thinking of this, Alice felt a bit discouraged. She stopped next to a cupboard and shouted loudly, "Mr. Hamster, where are you?" The echo took a long time to reach her, but the depths of the well remained dark and silent.<br/>
Alice glanced to the side and found the hamster sitting on a cupboard, lost in thought. The thin silver thread also stopped there. Alice hurried over and asked the hamster, "Mr. Hamster, how do we get out through the well?"<br/>
The hamster looked up, raised a paw, and said, "First, remember that after we go out, we still have to come back. No matter where we go, we will eventually return to this well. In the end, you will still have to face the well alone."<br/>
"After coming back, do I still have to keep falling?"<br/>
"We fall every moment, and it is inevitable..."<br/>
"Then let's leave this place first. It's too cramped here, and I feel uncomfortable." Alice interrupted the hamster.<br/>
The hamster took out two blackboard erasers from a cupboard and pulled out a box of colored chalk from behind. It asked Alice, "Can you draw?"<br/>
Alice was a bit puzzled, "Draw? Do you want me to draw here? I have only learned simple sketches. I don't understand those complex meticulous paintings, so I only learned simple sketches."<br/>
"Simple sketches are enough. Later, we will erase this cupboard. You draw a door, and then we can go out."<br/>
After saying that, the hamster closed the cupboard door, asked Alice to step back a few steps, and stand at an angle to the cupboard. The hamster said, "Do it like this: close your left eye, open your right eye, pick up the eraser, stretch your arm, align your line of sight and the direction of your arm, and when your line of sight and arm touch the cupboard at the same time, you can start erasing. As long as your line of sight can reach, we can erase it."<br/>
Alice obediently stood to the side and followed its instructions. Indeed, the corner of the cupboard gradually turned into a dark hole as the yellow powder fell. "Mr. Silver Fox Hamster, you are so amazing!" Alice exclaimed, but the hamster just waved its hand skillfully, jumped onto the accumulated powder, and didn't pay attention to Alice's admiration.<br/>
In the flying gray-yellow powder, the two finally cleaned the cupboard. Alice looked at herself covered in powder and smiled at the hamster, "Mr. Silver Fox Hamster, I'm not making fun of you, but now you have become Mr. Gold Fox Hamster." The hamster raised its neck, shook its body, and said, "Hurry up and draw. Don't forget to draw the scenery outside the door. Otherwise, when we go out, it will be all yellow sand and white soil, which is dangerous."<br/>
Alice took a white chalk and drew an arched line, saying, "This is the door. But what scenery should I draw?" As she spoke, she drew several overlapping big wavy lines inside the door, "These are several big mountains. It seems that something is missing." Then she drew several long wavy lines, "This is a river. Well, that's it. Mr. Hamster, what do you think?"<br/>
The hamster obviously thought that the scenery Alice drew was not good, but there was no way to remedy such a simple sketch. It took out a horse sticker from a nearby cupboard and stuck it on Alice's simple drawing, saying, "Close your eyes and cross the door, then you can go out. Ride this horse and cross the river to wherever you want to go. I will stay in the well alone, waiting for your return." After saying that, it sat down again, propped up its head, and contemplated.<br/>
Alice knew that once it started contemplating, it wouldn't stop. She had to go on her own. "Maybe I made the scenery look ugly," she thought. Closing her eyes, she stepped through the door with one foot.