The White Rabbit Original and Limited Edition Art

The White Rabbit is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" Curious, Alice follows him down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Alice encounters him again when he mistakes her for his housemaid Mary Ann and she becomes trapped in his house after growing too large. The Rabbit shows up again in the last few chapters, as a herald-like servant of the King and Queen of Hearts.

In the Walt Disney adaptation, the White Rabbit is portrayed as an extremely anxious individual in the employ of the Queen of Hearts, constantly on edge while looking at his watch. His frantic movements are what leads Alice on her madcap adventure into Wonderland. Although a fairly minor character in the film, he is the first part of Wonderland we meet and has remained one of the more memorable.