Alice Sierra Miller sat in front of her computer in her room typing out her essay assignment for school. Her face wore a very somber expression for she was feeling sad over not being able to go to the Summer Camp her friend Kim was going to, which she had heard had many fun activities, in three weeks. Instead she would be leaving to visit her relatives in West Virginia.
Alice could feel the eyes of her cat Dinah on her from where she sat on her bed. She sighed and got up and went over to her.
"I know you don't like to see me like this, Dinah," she said. "But it's just not fair. I just don't see why I can't go to Kim's cool camp instead of West Virginia. I mean, it's not that I don't like my relatives there but it's just so boring there."
Dinah let out a soft meow of sympathy.
Alice stroked Dinah's furry back and then slowly got off of the bed and stepped over to her mirror.
"Well," she said with a sigh of resignation. "At least there is one place I can still go to to have some excitement."
And so saying she reached out and stepped through her mirror which seemed to turn to liquid at her touch and she came out on the other side of it into Wonderland.
She recognized the place she was in as being Wonderland yet it felt slightly different. She couldn't feel the sun shining because there were too many clouds in the sky, and she also couldn't hear any birds singing.
There seems to be something wrong here, she thought with concern.
She started down the path to the Hatter's house. She hadn't gone very far when she suddenly heard a gentle whistling sound coming from up ahead of her. She stopped in her tracks and waited a few moments before she come over the hill the most astonishing creature she had ever seen, even from here.
It had the appearance of giant beetle-like insect walking upright and carrying a walking stick in one hand and a green suitcase in the other. He was wearing a dark blue swallow-tail coat with a yellow silk lining and a flower in his lapel buttonhole, a waistcoat of white cotton stretched tightly across his wide body, and fawn-colored plush knickerbockers. He had the sunniest smile she had ever seen and it cheered her up just to see it.
When they came in sight of each other they both gave a start and jumped back a pace.
"Oh, my!" exclaimed Alice.
"My Goodness, you startled me," he said while still smiling and speaking in a friendly chirpy voice.
"I'm sorry," said Alice. "I didn't expect to see you here. What are you... I mean, who are you?"
"I am H. M. Wogglebug T. E.," he replied as he tipped his hat to her. "And you may just call me Mr. Wogglebug."
"What do the initials stand for?" asked Alice curiously.
"Highly Magnified and Thoroughly Educated," he replied. "Now I would like to ask you where we are?"
"We're in Wonderland," replied Alice. "Where are you from?"
"I'm from a place very far from here called Oz," he replied. "I'm here because I've come looking for a nice land for my family and I to vacation at. Would you recommend this land?"
"Well, what sort of land do you have in mind?" asked Alice.
"I'd like a place where the weather is always hospitable, where the inhabitants are always happy and love to sing and dance, and, of course, where the impossible often happens every day," Mr. Wogglebug replied.
"Then you've come to the right place!" said Alice brightly. "If you'll follow me I'll show you around and introduce you to my friends here."
"It would be a pleasure," said Mr. Wogglebug with slight bow.
Then as they walked along down the path they continued to converse with each other.
"So what is your name, my dear?" asked Mr. Wogglebug.
"Alice Sierra Miller," she replied.
"That is a pretty name indeed," he said. "So do you live around here?"
"No, I live in the world just outside of here," she replied.
"Ah! You mean you live in America!" Mr. Wogglebug stated.
"How did you know?" asked Alice in surprise.
"I just know these things," he replied earnestly. "And how do you get into Wonderland?"
"Through a mirror in my bedroom," replied Alice.
"Of course! I should have guessed!" said Mr. Wogglebug.
"How many are there in your family?" asked Alice.
"There's the four of us. Me and my wife, Princess Wagneria, and our twin sons, Herbert and George," he said.
Then as they walked on Alice told him all about her friends in Wonderland and of the adventures they had had in the past, and he told her all about his friends in the Land of Oz and of the adventures they had met with.
Alice led him to the tall yellow hat-shaped house that belonged to the Hatter and they found the Hatter, Hare, Tweedles, and Walrus gathered around the tea table in the yard. Strangely though, they all had a very sad and, or somber expression on their faces. The Hatter sat slumped in his chair stirring his tea absentmindedly, the Hare sat beside him absentmindedly drumming his fingers, the Tweedles each sat with their elbows on their knees, and the Walrus sat leaning against his walking stick and letting out deep sighs.
"Hello everyone," Alice greeted. "This is Mr. H. M. Wogglebug T. E."
"It's a great pleasure to meet you all," said the Wogglebug with a courtly bow. "But why, may I ask, do you all seem to be so despondent?"
The Hatter sighed as he looked up and said, "We don't know. We're just depressed is all."
"And nothing seems to cheer us up," added the Hare. "Not even the Hatter's tea."
"Perhaps I'm losing my touch," said the Hatter very miserably.
"The sun hasn't been shining for days," said Tweedle Dee. "Maybe that has something to with it."
"And none of us have been singing or dancing since the weather suddenly changed," added Tweedle Dum.
"And Pinniped was so depressed this morning he couldn't even get out of bed," said the Walrus. "I do hope he isn't becoming ill."
Alice felt deeply distressed at seeing all of her friends so unhappy. "This isn't right," she said. "Wonderland has always been the happiest place of all."
"Well, now it's become the unhappiest," said the Hatter. "Until or unless someone can come up with a solution."
"Have you got any ideas, Mr. Wogglebug?" Alice asked hopefully turning to her newest friend.
"Well," he said thoughtfully. "Whenever we in Oz ever had a problem like depression we would go to our ruler to find a solution. So I suggest we take your problems to your ruler."
"Well, we have nothing to lose by asking advice from the Queen, so we may as well," said the Walrus.
"How true that is," agreed the Hatter.
They all went to the Palace and when they got there they found the Queen sitting slumped on her throne and the Rabbit polishing it in an almost passive way.
"Hello, Your Majesty," greeted Alice. "Everyone is depressed and we were hoping you would have some advice."
"Oh, I wish I did," said the Queen sorrowfully. "But unfortunately I feel like I am the most depressed."
"And when Her Majesty is depressed so am I," the Rabbit added sadly. "And I've just done everything I could think of to bring a smile to her royal face, I've even stood on my head."
"Oh dear," said Alice in despair. "It seems a lot more serious than I thought."
"Whatever shall we do?" moaned the Walrus. "We can't possibly go through the rest of our lives being depressed."
Just then Mr. Wogglebug stepped up in front of the throne and bowed before the Queen as he said, "If I may make so bold, Your Majesty, I am Mr. H. M. Wogglebug T. E., a visitor to your land from Oz, and it would be my pleasure to seek out and find a cure for the depression of your subjects and yourself."
"You have my permission to do so," said the Queen. "At this rate I'm willing to try anything."
Mr. Wogglebug was walking through the Wonderland Woods and trying to think of how he could remedy the depression that had befallen everyone. As he ventured further into the woods he eventually came upon giant sized mushrooms which grew more and more dense until he was surrounded by them.
As he came out into a clearing he came upon the most curious creature he had yet seen in this place. It was a giant sized green caterpillar, at least eight feet tall, with six hands wearing white gloves each and two bottom feet that wore large black shoes.
"Hello, fellow insect," said the caterpillar in a friendly voice.
"Oh, my!" exclaimed Mr. Wogglebug. "Hello, friend caterpillar. I am Mr. H. M. Wogglebug T. E.. A wogglebug is a rare kind of Ozian insect in case you didn't know."
"I know about wogglebugs," replied the caterpillar. "And I knew you are a wogglebug because of the way you move about."
"You are a most learned caterpillar, I see," said Mr. Wogglebug impressed.
"Why, thank you," said the caterpillar. "Now, what brings you here? You do look like you have a lot on your mind."
"Yes, indeed I do," said Mr. Wogglebug solemnly. "You might have noticed a plague of depression has fallen over Wonderland's residents."
"Yes, I have," replied the Caterpillar. "In fact, it has just started to affect me too as I am beginning to feel quite blue."
"Well, that is surprising to hear considering you are a green caterpillar," said Mr. Wogglebug with a slight chuckle.
The Caterpillar chuckled also. "So," he said, "you are concerned with how depressed everyone is?"
"Yes," replied Mr. Wogglebug growing solemn again. "I am trying to think of how to find a cure for this unmerited depression, both because I want to and because the Queen has commanded me to. Now I'm finding it difficult to come up with the perfect solution for a depression which has no cause to it. And most everyone in Oz where I come from is always happy so I suppose we hold the secrets of happiness in us, if only if I knew what they were."
The Caterpillar looked thoughtful. "You know, I might just have a story right here that could help us both." And he picked up a book from beside him and read it aloud to the Wogglebug.
"Once there was a girl named Lucia who was always very happy because she had everything that was needed to make a girl happy. Then one day a terrible thing happened and she lost everything she had and so she was no longer happy. For a long time she was sad until one day she met a hedgehog who told her, "The secret to your happiness lies within you. Make yourself happy again by making others happy." And so Lucia did just that and made as many people as she could happy and before she knew it she was once again the happiest girl in the world."
"Now I think I know just thing to remedy Wonderland's problem!" exclaimed Mr. Wogglebug smiling. "Thank you for the inspiring story, friend Caterpillar."
Then Mr. Wogglebug quickly went to the Hatter's house again where he found the Hatter and the Hare with the Tweedles, Walrus, Queen, and Alice sitting forlornly at the tea table in the yard.
"I bring you good news, everyone!" Mr. Wogglebug announced happily as he skipped up to them.
"Well, it had better be good news," grumbled the Queen. "I simply couldn't bear to hear anything less."
"I've just thought of the perfect solution to all of your unhappiness!" he went on.
"That's wonderful!" exclaimed Alice brightly.
"I'll need the help of the Hatter first for it to work," Mr. Wogglebug added.
"It won't be too complicated will it?" asked the Hatter.
"Not at all," Mr. Wogglebug assured him. "All you have to do is help me to mix up a special tea with a special ingredient from the Land of Oz in it."
"In that case I'll be happy to help," said the Hatter cordially.
So Mr. Wogglebug went with the Hatter into his kitchen and together they brewed the Hatter's favorite tea with was mixed with wild bees honey, hollyhock's petals, and extra sugar and cinnamon.
"What is the secret ingredient?" asked the Hatter as the tea was brewing in the kettle.
"If I told you it wouldn't be a secret, now would it?" replied Mr. Wogglebug with a sly smile.
"How true that is," agreed the Hatter.
Then as soon as the Hatter's back was turned Mr. Wogglebug took from his green suitcase a pouch full of the Wizard of Oz's patented crystallized rainbow bubbles and carefully dropped one of each color into the tea.
When the tea was done they poured it into a teapot and then into ten small teacups and carried them on a tray outside where everyone was waiting and served them individually.
"Gee, this tea sure looks different from any I've ever had before," said Alice as she gazed into her teacup and found the tea looked like a mixture of all the colors of the rainbow swirling around. "I'm sure, though, if Mr. Hatter and Mr. Wogglebug made it it will be good," she added.
Then once everyone had been served they all slowly raised their cups and sipped their tea. And then a most remarkable thing happened. All of the glumness on everyone's faces was lifted and replaced by a look of delight.
"Well, I'll be!" exclaimed the Hare. "I feel as if I love myself just for who I am!"
"And I feel as if everything is alright with the world and it's as it is meant to be," said Alice.
"And I feel as if I want to do everything I possibly can to make my subjects feel happy and content," said the Queen.
"And I feel as if I am in control of my own life if I just wish to be," said the Walrus.
Soon everyone agreed they were experiencing the same wonderfully delightful feelings as the others were.
Mr. Wogglebug, though, seemed to be the happiest of all. "Those are the secret ingredients I put in the tea," he explained proudly. "They are the secrets to be truly happy. Loving yourself, being optimistic, being kind to everyone, and taking control of your own life."
He then got up from his place at the table and began to dance around them as he sang and soon they all joined in.
"You were so depressed,
Life had you feeling stressed,
But all that has passed
For you drank my magic tea
And now you have happiness
That is sure to last
For life is full of loveliness
If you can only see
Love yourself
And you will heal yourself
Why be pessimistic
When you can be optimistic
Treat others right
And you will find
All the world is bright
When you are kind
Take control
And make your future
What you want it to be
And then you will feel whole."
After they had all had tea at the Hatter's they all met in the Queen's courtyard at her command as she gave a royal announcement.
"Friends, loyal subjects, fellow Wonderlandians," the Queen began. "Today has been a day of great rejoicing as we have all had our depression lifted from us by knowing the secrets of happiness which our visitor, Mr. H. M. Wogglebug T. E. has so generously provided us with. We must always remember them, especially should trying times ever come our way, and therefore I declare today to be a Wonderland holiday of celebrating the secrets of happiness. On this day we will honor them by counting our blessings and showing kindness to each other and reevaluating our lives to see how we can do better."
Then everyone cheered heartily. They all felt like Christmas had come early. Then the Queen continued with her speech:
"We must also thank Mr. Wogglebug for without him this wouldn't be. So, Mr. Wogglebug, we would like to ask if there is anything you would like in return."
Mr. Wogglebug stood up and bowed and spoke humbly, "All I ask in return, Your Majesty, is that me and my family be allowed to visit Wonderland at least once every Summer as a vacation home."
"Then permission is granted," said the Queen smiling.
Then for the rest of the day the people of Wonderland all celebrated their new holiday. They got each other presents, such as the Hare gave the Hatter new tea sets to replace his broken ones, and Tweedle Dum gave Tweedle Dee new sets of cards with which they could make bigger houses of cards, and the Rabbit got the Caterpillar a new set of books, and the Walrus got his invisible friend Pinniped a new rainbow colored vest which he said really brought out his eyes.
Alice stayed in Wonderland and celebrated with her friends as long as she could, then towards the end of the day she went to the spot where the portal behind her mirror opened up and stepped through it and back into her bedroom again.
"You know, Dinah," she said as she went over to her bed where her cat was resting. "I've been thinking, I don't mind spending my summer vacation with my relatives in West Virginia. I mean, there's bound to be fun things to find to do there. And as long as you're with me. And I can always go to camp with Kim next year."