Dharma/Dean:
I think there's something in your musing on Alice. I grabbed the book from my shelf and found on pg. 4:
Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end? "I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time!" she said aloud, "I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think---" (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) "--yes, that's about the distance--but then I wonder what the Latitude or Longitude I've got to?"
Chapter 12 first paragraph:
"Here!" cried Alice, quite forgetting in the flurry of the moment how large she had grown in the last few minutes, .......
I am not sure if I am right on this--but I think Lewis Carroll wrote this tale in a day or two, maybe less. Almost like it had been channeled, or he had been in the zone that creative people get into now and then. Right at the beginning of his story he introduces the idea of "the center of the earth", and throws in some facts along with it. Then Alice's increase in height near the end of the book may allude to rapid growth due to less gravity. Many other clues suggest Carroll could very well be writing about a HE. Fairy Tales do have truths in them.
Many times writer's have the uncanny ability to actually compose fictional stories that turn into fact and actually happen. Alice in Wonderland would not be the first fictional tale based on truth, or a foreseen event. The story of the Titanic was written before it occurred. Also, there was a writer who wrote either a book or a movie about the Death of a Princess a year before Lady Di left earth.
Plus, there is quite a bit of symbolism in the story, a king and a queen would depict the rulers of the HE.
I will read the story again as it has been years, and see what else is told.
Leslee