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CO NT ENT S
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T HE MER MA ID S ’
LA G OO N
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P ET E R PA NA ND W E NDY
CH A PT ER I X

T HE N EV ER BIRD
‘

C HA PT ER X
.

T HE HA PPY HO ME ,

CHA PT ER X I
WEN N
DY S W OR?
!

C HA PT ER X11

T HE CHI LDRE NJA ! E CA RRIED OFF

CHA PT ER
! XI I I
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CHA PT ER X IV
T HE PI RA T E SHI P

CHA PT ER XV

HOO! O R ME I RI S
.

C HA PT ERX V I
T HE RET URNHOME?

CH A P T ER XV 3 1
W HENW ENDY G REW U1?
I LLUS T RA T IO NS I NCO LO UR
P ET ER ! E PT WA TC H .
( Page 7 9) Fr ant
i c/ face

PA G E
‘
I D A R ESA Y IT W I LL HURT A L I TTLE .
’
( P a g e 2 9)

‘
T HEY A RE T HE C HI LDREN W HO FA LL O UT OF T HEI R
P ERA MBULA T ORS ( Pa ge 3 3 )
.
’

‘
T HEY D O N T ’
WA NT US T O LA ND ’
.
( P a ge 48 )

S TA R ! EY S I G HT ED N I BS D I S A PP EA R I NG .
( P a ge 6 2 )

T HE HO U S E UND ER T HE GROUND .
( Pa ge 86 )

A MER MA I D C A UG HT W ENDY .
( Pa ge 1 01 )

T HE N EV ER B I RD .
( Pa ge

BUT T HE W I ND OW W A S
‘
B A RR ED ( P a ge
’
. 1 20 )

T HE S TR A NG E PROC ESS I ON S ET O FF . .
( Pa ge 1 3 5)

W HEN HE HA D F R EED W ENDY .

( Pa ge 1 5 6)

W HEN W ENDY GREW UP

I LLUS T RA T IO NS I NT EXT

T WO IS T HE B EG I N N I NG OF T H E E D N
P ET ER MET I MES C A ME A ND PLA YED ON HIS P I P ES
SO

‘
I W ON T ’
GO T O BED '

MI C HA EL T O O! HI S MED I C I N E

T HEY A RE NOT R EA LLY F R I ENDLY T O P ET ER

HE TR I ED T O S T I C ! IT ONW I T H S OA P—BUT T HA T A LS O
F A I LED

‘
I RA NA Y T O ! EN S I NGT O N G A RD EN S A ND L I V ED
WA A

LONG LO NG T I ME A MO NG T HE FA I R I ES

‘
NO MORE OF I T , N A N A S HE
,
’
S A I D S T ERN LY , PULL I NG
HER O UT OF T HE R OO M

MI C HA EL S UDD ENLY DR OPP ED L I ! E A S T ON E

A ND W HEN P I RA T ES A ND LOS T B OYS MEET T HEY

MERELY B I T E T HEI R T HU MBS A T EA C H OT HER

A S T HE B OYS A D V A NC ED UP ON T HEMI NT HI S T ERR I BL E

A TT I TUD E
C H APTE R I PE ER
T BREA ! S TH ROU G H

A LL c hildren , exc e p t one , grow up They soon know that they

.

will grow u p , and the way Wendy knew was this One day.

when she was two years old she wa s p l aying i n a garden , and
she p lu c ked another flower and ran with
it to her mother I suppose she must
.

have looked rather delightful for M rs

, .

Darlin g p ut her hand to her heart and

‘ ’
c ried , Oh , why can t you remain l ike
’
this for ever I This was all that passed
between the m on the subject , but hen c e
forth Wendy knew that she must grow
up You always know after you are two
. .

Two i s the beginn ing of the en d .

Of c ourse they lived at 1 4, and until

Wen dy c ame her mother was the chief
o ne . She was a lovely lady w i th a
,

romanti c mind and su c h a sweet mocking

mouth Her romanti c mind was l ike
.

t he tiny boxes , one within the other ,

that come from the puzzling East how ,

ever many you dis c over there is always

one more ! and her sweet mocking mouth
had one kiss on it that Wendy could
h begi nni ng of t
never get , though there it was , perfe c tly T w i t o s e h nd ea .

c ons p i c uous in the ri g ht han d c orner

-
.
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
The way M r Darling won her was this ! the many gentle
.

men who had been boys when she was a girl d i scovered
S imultaneously that they loved her and they all ran to he r
,

house to propose to her except M r Darling who took a c ab

.
,

and nipped in first and so he got her He got all of her

, .
,

except the i nnermost box and the kiss H e never knew .

about the box and i n time he gave up trying for the k i ss

, .

Wendy thought Napoleon could have got it , but I can picture

h i m trying and then going off in a passion slamming the
, ,

doo n
Mr Darl i ng used to boast to Wendy that her mother not
.

only loved him but respected h i m He was one of those deep

.

ones who know about stocks and shares Of course no one .

really knows but he quite seemed to know and he often said

, ,

stocks were up and shares were down i n a way that would have
made any woman respe c t h i m .

M rs Darl i ng was married in white and at first s h e

.
,

kept the books perfect l y almost gleefully as i f it were a game

, , ,

not so much as a brussels s prout wa s missing ! but by and

by who l e cauli flowers dropped out and in s tead of them there
,

were p i ctures of bab i e s without face s She drew them when

.

'
she should have been totting up They were Mrs Dar li ng s
. .

guesses.

Wendy came first then John then Michael

, , .

For a week or two after Wendy came i t wa s doubtfu l

whether they would be able to keep her a s sh e wa s another ,

mout h to feed Mr Darl i ng wa s fr i ghtful l y proud of her but

. .
,

he wa s very honourable , and he sat on the edge of Mrs .

Darling s bed holding her hand and calculating expenses ,

’

while she l ooked at him imploring l y She wanted to risk

.

it come what might but that was not h i s wa y ! hi s way

, ,

was with a pen c il and a piece of paper and if she confused ,

 P ETE R B REAKS T H RO U G H
him with suggestions he had to begin at the beginning
aga i n
.

‘ ’ ‘
’
Now don t interru p t , he would beg of her I have one .

pound seventeen here , and two and six at the o ffi c e ! I can cut
off my co ffee at the o ffi c e , say ten shillings , making two nine
and six , with your ei g hteen and three makes three nine seven ,

with five naught naught i n my cheque book makes eight nine

seven —who is that movi ng —eight n ine seven , dot and carry
-

seven —don t speak my own —and the pound you lent to that
,
’

man who came to the door—quiet , child—dot and carry child

,

there , you ve done it l—did I say nine nine seven ? yes I said
’

nine nine s even ! the question is , can we t r y it for a year on

nine n ine seven
‘ ’
Of course we can , George she cried But she was , .

’
p rej udiced in Wendy s favour and he was really the grander ,

c haracter of the two .

’
Remember mumps he warned her almost threateni ngly
,
‘
and off he went again M um p s one pound that i s what I
.
,

have put down but I daresay it will be more like thirty shillings
—don t speak—measles one five , German measles half a gu i nea ,
,
’

makes two fifteen six—don t waggle your fi nger—whooping ’

cough , say fifteen shillings and so on it went , and it added -

up di fferently e ac h time ! but at last Wendy j ust got through ,

with mumps red u c ed to twelve six , and the t wo kinds of measles

treated as one .

There was the same excitement over John and Mi c hael had ,

even a narrower squeak ! but both were kept , and soon you
might have seen the three of them goin g in a row to M iss
Fulsoms Kindergarten s c hool , ac c om p anied by t heir nurse
’
.

M rs Darling loved to have everything j ust so , and Mr

. .

Darling had a passion for being exactly like his nei ghbours ! so ,
of c ourse they had a nurse As t hey were poor , owin g to the
, .
P ET E R PA N AN D WE N DY
amount of milk the c hildren drank this nurse was a pri m New
,

foundla nd dog c alled Nana , who had belonged to no one in

,

particular until the Darlings engaged her She had always .

thought c hildren important , however and the Darlings had

,

be c ome a c quainted with her in Kensington Gardens where she ,

spent most of her spare time peeping into perambulators and ,

was mu c h hated by careless nursemaids whom S he followed to ,

their homes and complained of to the i r mi s tresse s She proved .

to be quite a treasure of a nur s e H ow thorough she was at

.

bath time ! and up at any moment of the night if one of her

-

c harges made the sl i ghtest cry Of course her kenne l wa s i n

.

the nursery . Sh e had a geniu s for knowing when a cough is

a th i ng t o have no pat i ence wit h and when i t n e eds stocking

round your throat She be li eved to h er last day i n old fa s h i oned

.
-

remedie s l ike rhubarb leaf and made sound s of cont e mpt over
,

a l l this new !angled talk about germs , and so on

-
I t was a .

le s son i n propr i ety to see her escort i ng the children to schoo l ,

wa l king sedately by the i r sid e when they were wel l be h aved and ,
’
bu tting them back i nto li ne if they strayed On John s footer .

days she never once forgot h is s weater and she u s ual l y carried
,

an umbrella in her mout h i n cas e of rain There is a room i n .

the basement of M iss Fulsoms s c h ool w h ere the nurs e s wait

’
.

They sat on forms , wh i l e Nana lay on the floor but that wa s ,

the on l y difference They affected to i gnore her as of an infer i or

.

social statu s to themselves and she despised the i r light talk

, .

’
She resented visits to the nursery from M rs Dar l ing s fr i ends
m
.
,
’
but if they did co e she first wh i pped off M i chae l s pinafore and
put hi m into the one w i th blue braiding and s moothed out ,
’
Wendy and made a dash at J ohn s ha i r .

No nursery c ould possibly hav e been conducted more

correctly and M r Darling knew i t yet he sometimes wondered
, .
,

uneasily whether the ne i ghbours talked .

 P ETE R B REAKS T H RO U G H
He had his position i n the city to consider .

Nana also troubled him in another way He had sometimes .

a feeling that s h e d id not admire him I know she admire s you

.

’
tremendously George M rs Darlin g would assure him and then
, , .
,

S h e would S ign to the children to be spe c ial ly nice to father .

Lovely dances followed i n which the on l y ot h e r servant Liza

, , ,

was somet i mes allowed to join Such a midget s he looked i n her

.

’
long skirt and maid s ca p though she had sworn when engaged
, , ,

that S he would never see ten again The gaiety of those .

rom s l And gayest of a l l wa s M rs Dar l ing who wou l d

p .
,

pirouette so wildly that al l you could see of her wa s the kiss ,

and then if you had dashed at her you m i ght have got i t .

There never was a simpler happier fami l y until t h e coming of

Peter Pan .

M rs Darl i ng first heard of Peter when she wa s tidying up

.

’
her children s m i nds I t is the n ightly custom of eve ry good
.

mother after her ch i ldren are asleep to rummage in the i r minds

and put things straight for next morn i ng repack i ng i nto their ,

proper p l aces the many artic l es that have wandered during the
day I f you c ould keep awake ( but of course you ca n t) you
’

would see your own mother doing th i s and you would find it ,

very interes ting to wat c h her I t is quite l ike tidying up d rawers

. .

You would see her on her knees I expect lingering humorously , ,

over some of your contents wonder i ng where on earth you had

,

picked this thing up making discoveries sweet and not so sweet

, ,

pressing this to her c heek as if it were a s nice as a k i tten and ,

hurriedly stowing that out of s i ght When you wake in the .

morning the naughtinesse s and evil passions with which you went
,

to bed have been folded up small and plac e d at the bottom of

your mind ! and on the top, beautiful ly aired are spread out you r ,

prettier thoughts ready for you to p ut on

, .

’
I don t know whether you have ever seen a map of a person s
’

s
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
mi nd Do c tors sometimes draw maps of other parts of you , and
.

your own map c an become i ntensely interesting , but cat c h them

’
trying to draw a map of a c hild s mind , which i s not only con
fused , but keeps going round all the time There are zigzag .

lines on it , j ust like your temperature on a card , and these are

probably roads in the island ! for the Neverland is always more
or less an island with astonishi ng splashes of colour here and
,

there and coral reefs and rakish look i ng craft i n the o ffing, and
,
-

savages and lonely lairs , and gnomes who are mostly tailors and ,

caves through which a river runs and princes with six elder
,

brothers , and a hut fast going to decay and one very small old
,

lady w i th a hooked nose It wou l d be an easy map if that we re

.

all ! but there is a l so first day at school religion , fathers the

, ,

round pond , needlework murders hangings , verb s that take the

, ,

dative choco l ate pudding day ge tting i nto brace s say ninety
, , ,

n i ne thr eepence for pulling out your tooth yourself, and so on !

,

and either these are part of the island or they are another map
showing t h rough and it is a l l rather confusing , especially as
,

nothing wi l l stand sti l l.

’
Of course the Neverlands vary a good deal John s for .
,

instance had a lagoon with fla mi ngoes fly i ng over it at which

,

Jo h n was shooting wh i le M i chae l who was very sma l l had a

, , ,

flamingo with lagoon s flying over it J ohn l ived i n a boat turned

.

upside down on the sands , M ichael i n a W igwam , Wendy in a

house of leaves deft l y sewn together John had no friends ,
.

M ichael ha d friends at n ight , Wendy had a pet wolf forsaken by

its parents ! but on the whole the Never l ands have a fami ly
resemblance , and if they stood still in a row you could say of
’
t h em that they have each other s nose , and so fort h On these .

magic S hores chi ldren at play are for ever beaching their coracles .

We too have been there ! we can still hear the sound of the surf ,

though we S hall land no more .

6
 P ET E R B REAKS T H RO U G H
Of all delectable islands the Neverland i s the snuggest and
most compact ! not large and sprawly , you know with tedious ,

distances between one adventure and another but n icely crammed ,

.

When you play at it by day with the chairs and table cloth -

i t is not i n the least alarmi ng but in the t wo minutes before ,

you go to sleep it becomes very nearly real That is why there .

are night lights-

.

’
Occasionally in her travels through her children s minds
M rs Darl i ng found things S he could not understand and of
.
,

these qu i te the most perplex i ng wa s the word Peter S he knew .

’
of no Peter and yet he was here and there in John and M ichael s
,
’
minds while Wendy s began to be s crawled all over with h i m
, .

The name stood out in bolder letters than any of the othe r
words and as M rs Darling gazed she felt that it had an oddly
, .

c o c ky appearance .

Yes he i s rather cocky Wendy admitted with regret H er

‘
,
’

, .

mother had been questioni ng her .

’
But who is he my pet ? ,
‘ ’
H e is Peter Pan , you know mother , .

At first Mrs Darling did not know but after thi nk i ng back
.
,

i nto her chi l dhood S he j ust remembered a Peter Pan who was
said to live with the fa i ri es There were odd stories about him
.

as that when c hildren d i ed he went part of the way w i th them ,

so that they should not be fr i ghtened She had believed i n h i m .

at the ti me , but now that she was marr i ed and ful l of sense she
quite doubted whether there wa s any s uch person .

‘ ‘
Besides S he said to Wendy , he would be grown up by
’

,
’
this t i me .

‘ ’ ’
Oh no , he isn t grown up Wendy assured her confident l y , ,

‘ ’
and he is j ust my size She meant that he wa s her size in
.

’
both mind and body ! she d i dn t know how she knew it S he ,

j ust knew it .
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
M rs Darling consulted M r Darling but he smiled pooh
. .
,
‘
pooh . Mark my words he said it is some nonsense Nana has
’

, ,

been putt i ng into their heads j ust the sort of idea a dog wou l d
have Leave it alone , and it wi ll blow over
. .
’

But it would not blow over ! and soon the troublesome boy
gave M rs Darling quite a shock
. .

Ch i ldren have the strangest adventures without be i ng

troub l ed by t h em For i nstance they may remember to mention
.
, ,

a week after the event happened that when they were i n the ,

wood they met their dead fat h er and h ad a game w i t h h i m It .

w a s i n t h i s casua l w a y that Wendy one morn i ng made a d i s

quiet i ng revelat i on Some l eave s of a tree had been found on
.

the nursery floor w hi c h certain l y wer e not there when t h e chi l dren
,

went to b e d and M r s Da rli ng wa s puzzling over them when

, .

Wendy said w i t h a to lerant s m il e !

I do be lie ve i t is that P e ter again
‘
W h at ever do you m e an Wendy ,
’
It i s s o naugh ty of hi m not to w i pe Wendy sa i d sighing , , .

She w a s a tidy c hil d .

Sh e exp l ained i n qu i te a matter of— fact wa y t h at sh e t h ought -

Peter s om e t i mes came to t h e nurs e ry i n t h e nig h t and s at on

t h e foot of h er b e d and p l aye d on h i s p i pe s to h er Un .

fo r tunate l y S he never woke s o s h e d i dn t know h ow she kn ew

,
’

s h e j u s t knew .

‘
What non s ense you talk precious No one can get i nto
, .

’
the house wit h out knocking .

’
I t h ink h e comes i n by the window , she said .

’
My love , it is thre e floors up .

‘
Were not the l eaves at t h e foot of the w i ndow ,
’
mother ?

I t was quite true ! the l eaves had been found ve ry near

the window .

8
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
Bu t Wendy had not been dreaming , as the very next night
showed , the ni g ht on whi c h the extraordinary adventures of
these c hildren may be said to have begun .

On the ni g ht we s p eak of all the c hildren were on c e more

’
in bed I t hap p ened to be Nana s evening off, and M rs Darling
. .

had bathed them and sung to them till one by one they had
let go her hand and slid away i nto the land of slee p .

All were l ooking so safe and c osy that she sm i led at her
fears now and sat down tranquilly by the fire to sew .

It was something for M i chael , who on his b i rthday was

getting i nto shirts The fire wa s warm , however , and the
.

nursery dimly lit by three n i ght l i ghts , and present l y the s ewing
-

’
lay on M rs Darling s lap Th e n her head nodded o h so
. .
, ,

grac e fully She was asleep Look at the four of them Wendy
. .
,

and M i chael over there , Jo h n here , and Mrs Dar li ng by the .

fire There should have been a fourth night light

.
-
.

While she slept she had a dream She dreamt t h at the .

Never l and had come too near and that a strange boy had broken
through from it He did not alarm her, for she t h ought she
.

had seen him before in the face s of many women w h o have no

ch i ldren Perhaps he is to be found in the faces of some
.

mother s also But in her dream he had rent the fi l m that

.

ob s cures the Neverland , and she saw Wendy and J ohn an d

M i c hael peepin g through the gap .

The dream by itself would have been a trifle but while ,

she wa s dreamin g the window of the nursery blew O pen and ,

a boy d id drop on the floor He was acc ompanied by a strange

.

light , no bigger than your fist which darted about the room
,

like a l iving thin g ! and I th i nk i t must have been this light

that waken ed M rs Darling . .

She started u p with a cry, and saw the boy, and somehow
she knew at on ce that he was Peter Pan If you or I or Wendy .

IO
 P ETE R B R EAKS T H RO U G H
had been there we should have seen that he was very l ike
’
M rs Darlin g s kiss H e was a lovely boy, cla d in skeleton
.
.
'

leaves and the jui c es that ooze out of trees ! but the most
entrancing t hin g about him was that he had all his first teeth
.

When he saw she was a g rown up he g nashed the little pearls

-

at her .
C HAPT E R I I T HE S H A D OW

MR S D A RL IN G screamed , and as i f i n answer to a bell the

.
, ,

door opened , and Nana entered , returned from her even i ng out .

She growled and sprang at t h e boy, who leapt light l y through

the window Again Mr s Darling screamed th is time in distress
. .
,

for him for she thought he wa s k i l l ed and S he ran down into

, ,

the street to look for his l itt l e body , but i t was not there ! and
S he l ooked up , an d in the bla c k night S h e could see nothing but

what she thought was a s hooting star .

S he returned to t h e nurse ry and found Nana wit h some

,
’
th i ng i n her mouth , which proved to be the boy s shadow As .

he leapt at the wi ndow Nana had closed i t quickly, too late to

catch h im but his shadow had not had time to get out ! slam
,

went the window and snapped it off .

You may be s ure M rs Darl i ng examined the shadow c are

.

fully but it was quite the ordinary kind

, .

Nana had no doubt of what was t h e best thing to do with

‘
this shadow She hung it out at the window , meaning H e is
.

sure to come back for it ! let us put it where he can get it eas i l y
’
without disturbing the children .

But unfortunately Mrs Darling could not leave it hang i ng

.

out at the window ! it looked so l ike the washing and lowered

the whole tone of the house She thought of showing it to
.

Mr Darling but he was totting up winter great c oats for Joh n

.
,

and M ichael with a wettowe l round his head to keep his brain
,

I 3
P ETE R PAN AN D WEN DY
c lear , and it seemed a S hame to trouble him ! besides she knew ,
‘
exac tly what he would say ! I t all comes of having a dog for
’

’
a nurse .

She dec i ded to roll the shadow up and put it away carefully
in a drawer until a fittin g opportunity c ame for telling her
,

husband Ah m e ! .

The Opportunity came a week later , on that never to be - -

forgotten Fr i day Of course it was a Friday

. .

‘ ’
I ought to have been spec i a ll y careful on a Fr i day S he ,

used to say aft e rwards to her hu s band , while perhaps Nana was
on the other si de of her holding h er hand , .

‘ ’ ‘
No no M r Darling alway s said , I am respon s ible for it
, , .

all 1 George Darling did it Mea culpa , mea culpa

.
, He had . .
’

had a c lass i ca l e du cation .

They s at thus night after n i g h t recalling that fatal Friday ,

till every deta il of it was stamped on their brain s and came

through on the other side like th e fac es on a bad co i nage .

‘
I f only I had not ac c e pte d that invitation to d i ne at
Mrs Da rli ng s a i d
. .

‘ ’ ’

I f only I had not poured my medicine into Nana s bowl ,

said M r Darl i ng . .

‘ ’
If only I had pretended to like the medic i ne was what ,
'
Nana s wet eyes said .

’
My l ik i ng for parties, George .

’
My fatal gift of humour dearest , .

My touc hiness about t

’
rifles dear master and m i stress , .

Then one or more of them would break down altogether !

’ ’
Nana at the thought, I t s true it s true , they ought not to have ,
’
had a dog for a n urse Many a time it was M r Darling who
. .

’
put the handkerc hief to Nana s eyes .

'
‘ ’
That fiend l Mr Darling would c ry , and Nana s bark was
.

the e c ho of it but M rs Darli ng never upbraided Peter ! there

, .

1 4
 TH E S HADO W
wa s something i n the ri ght hand c orner of her mouth that wanted
-

her not to c all Peter names .

They would sit there in the empty nursery , recalling fondly

every smallest detail of that dreadful evenin g I t ha d begun so .

uneventfully so p rec isely like a hundred other evenings , with

,
’
Nana puttin g on the water for M ichael s bath and carrying hi m
to it on her bac k .

1 o t t
‘ w n’ o o bed
g .
’

‘ ’ ’
I won t g o to bed , he had shouted , like one who still
‘
‘

believed that he had the last word on the subj e c t , I won t , I ’

’ ’ ’
won t Nana , it isn t six o c lock yet Oh dear , oh dear , I shan t
. .
’

’
love you any more , Nana I tel l you I won t be bathed , I won t ,
.
’

' ’
I won t I
Then M rs Darl in g had c ome in , wearin g her white even in g
.

1 5
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
gown She had dressed early because We ndy so l oved to se e
.

her i n her evening gown with the ne c klace George h ad give n

-

her She wa s wearing Wendy s bracelet on h er arm ! s h e had

.
’

a s ked for the l oan of i t Wendy so loved to lend h er bracelet

.

to her mother .

She had found her two o l de r chi l dren playi ng at be i ng

herself and father on the occa si on of Wendy s b i rt h and John ’

wa s say i ng !
‘
I am h appy to inform you Mrs Darl i ng t h at you ar e , .
,

now a mother i n j ust s uch a tone a s M r Dar l i ng hi mself may

’

, .

have u s ed on the r e al occas i on .

We ndy had dance d with joy j ust as t h e rea l M rs Dar li ng , .

must have done .

T h en Jo h n wa s born w i th th e e x t ra pomp t h at he conce i ved

,

du e to t h e birt h of a ma le and M i c h a el came from hi s bat h to

,

a s k to be bo r n al s o but Jo h n said bruta ll y t h at th ey d i d not

,

want any more .

‘ ’

M i c h a e l h ad n e arly cr i ed Nobody want s m e he sa i d

.
, ,

and of cour se t h e l ady i n even i ng dre ss cou l d not stand that .

‘ ’

I do s h e s a i d I so want a t hi rd c hil d
,
’

,
.

Boy or g i rl ? a s ked M i c h ael not too h opefu ll y

’

,
.

’
Boy.

Then he had l eapt i nto h er arms Suc h a l i ttl e t hi ng fo r .

M r and Mr s Da rli ng and Nana to reca ll now but not s o li tt l e

. . ,
’
i f that wa s to b e M ic h ae l s l a s t n i g h t i n t h e nu rs e ry .

Th e y go on with thei r recol l ect i ons .

It
’
‘ ?
th e n t h at I ru s hed i n li ke a tornado wasn t i t
’

wa s ,

M r Darl i ng would say s corning h i ms e lf ! and i ndeed he h ad

.
,

been li ke a to r nado .

Perh ap s t h er e wa s s om e e xcuse for h i m He too had .

, ,

be e n dressi ng for t he party and al l had gone well w i th h i m

,

u nt i l he came to his tie I t i s an astound i ng th i ng to have to

.

r6
P ET E R PAN AN D WE NDY
I r e member I
‘ ’ ’
They were rather sweet , don t you th i n k G eorge ? ,
‘
And they were ours ours , and now they are gon e , .

The romp had ended with the app e arance of Nana and ,

most un l uck i ly M r Dar li ng co ll ided aga i n s t her , covering his

.

trou s er s with h a i r s Th ey w e re not on l y new trousers but they

.
,

w e re th e fir s t h e had eve r had w i t h bra i d on t h em and he h ad ,

to bite h i s l i p to pr e ve nt t h e t e ar s com i ng Of course Mr s . .

Dar li ng b r u s hed hi m but he began to talk again about its be i ng

,

a m is ta ke to have a dog for a nur s e .

‘
G e orge Nana i s a t r ea s u re
, .

‘
No doubt but I h ave an un easy fee l ing at t i me s t h at she
,

l ook s upon th e ch i l d re n a s pupp ies .

’

’
O h no dea r on e I feel s u re S he knows t h ey h ave sou ls
, , .

It
‘ ’ ‘ ’
I wond er M r Dar li ng s a i d t h oug h tfu ll y
, . I wond e r ,
.

wa s an opportun i ty his w i fe fe l t fo r te lli ng h i m about t h e boy

, ,
.

At fi rs t he poo h poo he d th e s tory but he b e came thoughtfu l

-

w he n she sh ow e d hi m t h e sh adow .

It
‘
i s nobody I know he s a i d exam i n i ng i t carefu ll y but
’

, , ,

h e do es l ook a scoundr el .
’

‘ ’

We w e re st il l d i s cu ssi ng i t you remember s ay s Mr , , .

’
Darl i ng wh e n Nana cam e i n w i t h M i c h ael s med i c i ne Y ou
,
‘
.

w ill n e ve r carry the bott l e i n your mout h aga i n Nana and i t '

, ,
’
i s al l my fau l t .

St rong man though he wa s th e re is no doubt that he had ,

b e have d rather fool i shl y over the med i c i n e I f he h ad a weak .

nes s i t wa s for thinking that al l h i s li fe he h ad taken m e d i cin e

,
’
bo l d l y ! and so now w he n M i chael dodged t h e S poon in Nana s
,
’
mouth he h ad s aid reprov i ng l y , Be a man M i c h ael
, , .

‘ ' ’
Won t ! won t M i chael cr i ed naught il y M rs Darling
’

,
. .

l eft the r oom to get a chocolate for h i m , and Mr Darling thought .

th i s sh owe d want of firmne s s .

1 8
 TH E S HADOW
‘ ’ ’ ‘
Mother , don t pamper him , he called after her Michael .
,

when I was your age I took medicine without a murmur I .

said Thank you , kind parents for giving me bottle s to make ,

me
H e really thought thi s wa s true , and Wendy who wa s now ,

in her night gown believed it also and she said to encourag e

-

, , ,
‘
M ichael That medicine you sometimes take , father is much
, ,
’ ’
nastier i sn t it ?
,
‘ ‘ ’
Ever so mu c h na s tier Mr Darling said bravely and I , .
,
’
would take it now as an example to you M ichae l if I hadn t , ,
’
lost the bottle .

He had not exactly lost it ! he had climbed i n the dead of

night to the top of the wardrobe and hidden it there What .

he did not know was that the faithful Liza had found it , and
put it back on his wash stand -
.

‘ ’
I know where it is father, Wendy cried , always glad to ,
‘ ’ ’
be of service I ll bring it , and she was off before he could
.

stop her I mmediately h i s spir i ts sank in the strangest way

. .

‘ ’ ‘ ’ ’
John he said shudder i ng it s most beastly stu ff It s
, , , .

’
that nasty sticky , sweet kind
,
.

‘ ’
I t will soon be over father , J ohn s aid cheerily and then , ,

in rushed Wendy wit h the med i cine in a glass .

’
I have bee n as quick as I could , she panted .

‘ ’
You have been wonderfully quick her father retorted , ,

with a vindictive politene s s that was quite thrown away upon

her.
‘
M i chael fi rst, he said doggedly
’
.

Father fi rstsaid M ichae l who was of a suspicious nature

’

, .

‘
I shall be sick , you know M r Darl i ng said threateningly , . .

’
Come on , father sa i d John ,
.

’
H o l d your tongue , Jo hn his father rapped out , .

‘
Wendy was quite p uzzled I thought you took it quite .

’
easily father
, .

I 9
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
‘ ’ ‘
That is not the point he retorted The point is that
, .
,

t he re i s more in my g l a ss t h an i n M ichael s spoon H i s proud ’

.
’

‘
h eart wa s n e ar l y bu rs t i ng And i t i s n t fa i r I would s ay it
.
’
'

though i t w e re with my last br e ath ! i t i s n t fair ’

.

‘ ’
F athe r I am wa i ting s a i d M i chael coldly
, , .

It
’ ’
s a l l very we ll to s ay you ar e wa i t i ng s o am I wait i ng .

’
F ather s a cowardy cu s ta r d .
’

So are you a cowa r dy cu s tard .

’

I m not fr i g h ten ed
’ ’
.

’
N ei t her am I fri g h t e n e d .

‘ ’
We ll t h en take i t
, , .

‘
Well t he n you t
, a ke i t
, .
’

Wendy h ad a s p le nd i d i dea Why not bot h take i t at t he .

’
s ame t i m e ?
‘ ’ ‘ ’
C er ta i n l y sa i d M r Da rli ng
, Are you ready M ichael ?
. .
,

We ndy gave t h e wo r ds one t wo t h ree and M i cha e l , , , ,

took his med i c i n e , but M r Dar l i ng sl i pp e d hi s b e h i nd h i s .

back .

‘ ’
T h ere wa s a ye ll of rage from M i c h ael and O fat h er ! ,

We ndy e xc l a i med .

‘
W h at do you m ean by O fath e r M r Dar l i ng .

‘
d e mand e d . Stop that row M ichael I meant to tak e m i n e , , .

but I — I m i s sed i t .
’

I twas dreadfu l t he wa y all the t h r e e wer e look i ng at hi m

‘
j u s t a s i f they did not admire hi m Look he r e a ll of you .
, ,

h e s a i d entreat i ng l y a s s oon a s Nana h ad gone into th e bat h

,
‘
r oom I hav e j u s t thought of a sp le nd i d j ok e I s ha l l pou r my
,
.

’
med i c i n e i nto Nana s bowl and s h e w il l dr i nk it t h i nk i ng i t
, ,

i s m ilk
I twas the co l our of m i l k ! but t h e ch il dren d i d not have
’
thei r fat h e r s sen se of humour and they looked at him reproac h ,
’ ‘ ’
ful l y a s h e poured the med i c i n e into Nana s bow l What fun .
,

20
 TH E S HADOW
he said doubtful l y , and they did not dare expose him when Mrs .

Darling and Nana retur ned .

‘ ’ ‘
Nana good dog he said , patting her , I have
, , a little
’
milk i nto your bowl , Nana .

Mi /
c ra d t
ook I i s m fi
r er a
’

ne .

Nana wagged her tail ran to the medicine and began

, ,

lapping it Then she gave M r Darling such a look not an

. .
,

ang ry look ! she showed h im the great red tear that makes us
so sorry for noble dogs and crept i nto h e r kennel
, .

Mr Darling was frightfully ashamed of himself, but he

.

21
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
would not give in I n a horrid silence Mrs Darling smelt the
. .

‘ ’
‘ '
bow l . O George sh e said i t s your med i cine I
, ,
’

‘ ’
I t was only a joke , he roared whi l e s h e comforted her ,
‘
boy s and W e ndy hugg e d Nana
, M uch good he s aid bitterly .
,
’

my wearing my s elf to t h e bone try i ng to b e funny i n t hi s h ous e .

‘ ’
And s t ill We ndy hugged Nana That s r i ght he s hout e d .
’

,
.

‘
Coddl e h er l Nobody codd l es me Oh dear no ! I am on l y .

t he br e adw i n ner why sh ou l d I be codd l ed w h y why why

, , , ,
‘ ’ ‘
G eorg e M rs Dar l i ng e ntreated h i m
, . not s o l oud ! th e ,
’
s ervant s w i ll h ea r you Some h ow they h ad got i nto t h e way of
.

ca lli ng L i za th e se rvant s .

‘ ’ ‘
Let them h e an s wered reckl essl y
, Br i ng i n t he who le .

world But I re fu se to a l low that dog to l ord i t i n my nur s ery

.

for an h ou r l ong er .

T he c hi l d ren wept and Nana ran to hi m beseech i ngly but

, ,
‘
he wave d h e r back He fel t he wa s a strong man aga i n
. In .

va i n i n va i n , h e c ri ed t he p r op e r p l ac e for you i s th e yard and

,
’ ‘
,
’
t h er e you go to b e t i ed up t hi s i n s tant .

’
G e o rge G e o rge M rs Dar l ing w his p e red
, , r e member what
.
,
’
I to l d you about t h at boy .

A l a s h e wou l d not l is t e n He was determ i ned to s h ow wh o

, .

w a s ma s t er i n t h at house and w h en command s wou l d not d raw

,

Nana from t he kenn el h e l ured h e r out of i t w i th hon e ye d word s

, ,

and sei z i ng h er roug hl y dragged h er from t h e nur se ry He wa s

, .

ashamed of h imse l f and ye t h e d i d i t I t was a ll ow i ng to h i s

,
.

too a ffe ct i onate nature w h ic h crave d for adm i rat i on When h e

, .

h ad t i ed h er up in t h e back yard t h e wre tch e d fat h er went and -

sat i n t h e passag e, wit h h is knuckles to h is eyes .

I n the meantime Mr s Da rli ng had put the ch il dren to bed .

i n unwonted si l ence and l it the i r night l i g h t s Th e y cou l d hear -

.

Nana bark i ng and Jo h n w hi mpered It i s because he is chaining

, ,
’
her up in t h e yard but Wendy wa s w iser
,
.

22
 T H E S HADOW
‘ ’ ’
That is not Nana s unhappy bark she said ,l i ttle guessin g what ,
‘ ’
was about to happen that is her bark when she smells danger .

Danger !
‘
Are you sure , Wendy ? ’

‘ ’
Oh yes .

M rs Darling quivered and went to the window I t w a s

. .

s ecurely fastened She l ooked out and the night was peppered
.
,

with stars They were crowding round the house , a s i f

.

curious to see what w a s to take place there but she did not ,

not i ce th i s nor that one or t

, wo of the sma l le r ones w i nked
at h e r Yet a name l ess fear c l utc h ed at h er heart and made he r
.

’ ’
cry Oh how I wi s h that I wasn t going to a party to night 1
, ,
-

Even M i chael already h alf asleep knew that sh e was per

, ,

t urb ed and h e a s ked , Can anyth i ng harm u s mother after the

,
!

, ,

night l i ghts are l it ?

-
’

‘ ‘ ’
N othing precious she sa i d ! they are the eye s a moth er
, ,
’
l eaves behi nd h e r to guard he r c hi l dren .

She went from bed to bed sing i ng enchantment s ove r them ,

’
a nd litt l e M ichael flung h is arms round her Mother he cried , .
,

I m glad of you
‘ ’ ’
T h ey were the l a s t word s s he w a s to hear
.

from h i m for a long time .

No 2 7 w a s on l y a few yards distant but there had been a

.
,

slight fal l of snow and Father and Mot h e r Darl i ng picked the i r
,

way over it deftly not to s oil their s hoes T h ey w e re already .

th e only persons in the street and all th e star s were watc hi ng ,

t h em Stars are beaut i ful but t h ey may not take an active part
.
,

i n anything they must j ust look on for ever It i s a punishment

,
.

put on them for something they did s o long ago that no s tar
now knows what it was So the older on e s hav e become glas s y .

eyed and seldom speak (winki ng i s the star l anguage), but the
l ittle ones stil l wonder They are not really fri e ndly to Peter , .

who has a m is c hievous way of steal i ng up behind them and

23
P ETE R PAN AN D W E N DY

trying to blow them out ! but they are so fond of fun that they
were on 11 1 5 side to night and anxiou s to get
-

, the grown ups out-

of So as soon door of 2 7 c losed on

Darl i ng there was a commot i on i n the and t

he
s ma ll e s t of al l the stars in the M i l ky Way screamed out !
Now , Peter !
24
C HAPT E R I I I CO ME A WA Y , CO ME A WA Y l

FOR a moment after M r and Mrs Darl i ng left the house the
. .

n i ght l ights by the beds of the t hree childr e n continued to burn

-

c l early . Th e y wer e awfu l ly nic e l ittle n i ght l i ghts , and one -

cannot help w i s hing that they cou l d have kept awake to see
’
Pet e r ! bu t Wendy s li ght b li nk e d and gave s uch a yawn that
the ot h er two yawned also and before they could close their
,

mout h s a l l the thr ee went out .

There wa s anoth e r li g h t i n t h e room now a thou s and t i mes ,

brighter t h an the night l i ghts and i n th e t i m e we h ave taken to

-

s ay this i t has been i n al l the draw e r s i n t h e nursery look i ng

, ,
’
for Peter s shadow rummaged the wardrobe and turn e d every
,

pocket i ns i de out It wa s not rea ll y a li g h t ! i t made th i s light

.

by flash i ng about s o qu i ck l y but w h en i t cam e to re s t for a

,

s econd you s aw i t wa s a fa i ry no longer than you r hand but , ,

st i l l grow i ng . I t was a g i r l ca l led Tink e r Be ll exqu i sitely ,

g owned i n a skeleton leaf cut l ow and

, s quare t h rough w hi ch ,

h er figure coul d be s een to the best advantage Sh e wa s s light l y .

incl ined to embonp oznt

'

’
A moment after the fa i ry s entrance the w i ndow was blown
o pen by the breathing of the l itt l e stars and P e ter dropped in , .

He had carried T i nker Bel l part of the way and his ha nd wa s ,

s t il l messy wit h the fairy dust .

‘ ’
T i nker Bell , he cal l ed softly after making sure that the,
‘ ’
children were asleep , T i nk where are you ? , She was i n a j ug
D 25
P ET E R PAN AND WE N DY
for the moment and l iking it extremely ! she had never been
,

i n a j ug before .

‘
Oh do come out of that j ug and tel l m e do you know
, , ,

where th ey put my s hadow ? ’

The l ove l i es t t i nk le a s of golden be ll s answered hi m I ti s .

the fa i r y l anguage You o r d i na r y ch il d ren can neve r hear i t but

.
,

if you w ere to h ear i t you wou l d know t h at you h ad h e ard i t

once b e fo r e .

T i nk said that t he s hadow wa s i n th e b i g box S he m e ant .

t he ch es t of drawe r s and P e t e r j umped at the drawer s s catt e ri ng

, ,
’

the i r content s to t he floo r w i t h bot h h and s a s k i ng s to ss ha p ence ,

to t he c rowd I n a mom e nt h e h ad re covere d hi s s hadow and

.
,

i n hi s d eli g h t he fo rgot t h at h e had sh ut T i nk er B ell up i n t he

drawer .

I f he t h oug h t at a l l but I don t b elie v e h e e v er t h o ug h t i t

’

, ,

w a s t h at he and hi s sh adow w he n b r oug h t n e ar e ac h ot h e r , ,

wou l d jo i n l i k e d rop s of wat e r ! and w he n t he y d i d not he wa s

appa lle d H e tr ie d to s t i ck i t on wi t h s oap from th e bat hr oom
.
,

but t h at als o fa il ed A sh udde r pa sse d t h roug h Pet e r and he

.
,

s at on the floo r and c rie d .

H is s ob s wok e We ndy and sh e s at up i n b e d Sh e w a s , .

not al arm e d to see a st r ang er cry i ng on t h e nu rsery floor ! s he

wa s on l y p l ea s ant l y i nt e res te d .

‘ ’
Boy sh e s a i d cou r teous l y w hy a re you cry i ng ?
’

, ,

P e t er co ul d be exce e d i ng l y po l i t e a ls o h av i ng le a r ned t he ,

grand manne r at fa i ry cer e mon i es and he ro se and bowe d to her ,

b eautifu ll y Sh e wa s muc h p le a s ed and bow e d b eaut i fu ll y to

.
,

hi m from the bed .

‘ ’ ’
Wh at 5 your nam e ? he a s k e d .

‘
Wendy Mo i r a Ange l a Da rl ing she rep lie d w i th s ome ’

,
‘
s at i s fact i on What i s your name ?
’

’
Pete r Pan .

26
 CO M E AWAY COM E AWAY ! ,

She was already sure that he must be Peter , but it did seem
a comparatively short name .

‘ ’
Is that all ?
‘ ’
Yes he said rather sharply He felt for the first time that
, .

it was a shortish name .

N l fl

He t
ri e i k i tn w i t
dtt
os c h
o soa p , butt
ha ta lsof a i le d .

’
so sorry , said Wendy Moira Ange l a .

It doesn t ’
matter , Peter gulped
.
’
.

She asked where he lived .

‘ ‘ ’
Second to the right , said Peter , and then straight on
’
morning .

27
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
‘
What a funny addres s I ’

P e ter had a sinking For th e first time he felt that perhaps .

it wa s a funny address .

’ ’
No it isn t , he said
, .

’
I mean Wendy sa i d n icely remembering that s he was
, ,
‘
hostess is that what they put on t h e letters ?
,
’

He wished she h ad not m e nt i on e d letters .

’ ’
Don t get any letter s he s a i d contemptuously , .

But your mother gets le tt ers ? ’

’ ’
Don t have a mothe r h e s a i d Not only had he no moth er , .
,

but he had not th e s l i g h t es t d esi r e to have one H e thoug h t .

th e m very overrated persons We ndy however felt at onc e that .

, ,

sh e wa s i n the pres e nce of a tragedy .

‘ ’
0 Peter , no wonder you w ere c ry i ng s he said and got out , ,

of bed and ran to him .

‘ ’ ’
I wa s n t crying about moth e r s he said rather ind i gnant l y ,
.

I was cry i ng because I can t get my s hadow to st i ck on

’
.

’ ’
Be si d e s I wasn t crying
, .

‘ ’
It has come off ?
’
Y es .

Then Wendy saw th e s hadow on t h e floor look i ng so ,

draggled and she was frig h tfu ll y s o rry for Peter

, How awfu l ! .

s he s a i d but she cou l d not h e l p s mi l i ng when she saw t h at he

,

had been trying to stick it on w i t h soap H ow ex a ct lS l i ke .

r

a boy !
F ortunately she knew at once w h at to do Itmust be sewn .

on sh e said j ust a l ittle patron isi ng l y

’

, ,
.

‘ ’ ’
What 5 sewn ? he a s k e d .

‘ ’ ’
You re dreadfully ignorant .

’ ’
No I m not, .

‘
B ut she wa s exulting i n h i s i gnorance I shal l sew i t on .

’
for you my little man , she sa i d t h ough he was as tall as h er
, ,

28
 CO M E AWAY , CO M E AWAY !
self ! and she got out her housew i fe , and sewed the s hadow on to
’
Peter s foot .

‘ ’
I daresay it wi l l hurt a l i ttle , she warned h i m .

‘ ’ ’
Oh , I shan t cry , s aid Peter who was already of opinion ,

that h e had never cr i ed in his life And he c l enched his teeth .

and d i d not cry ! and soon hi s shadow was behaving properly ,

though still a l ittle creased .

Perhaps I s hould have i roned i t Wendy said thoughtfully ’

but Peter boyl i ke , was indi fferent to appearances and he wa s

, ,

now j umping about i n the wildest gle e Alas he h ad a l ready .

,

forgotten that he owed h i s b l i s s to Wendy H e thoug h t he had .

‘ ’
attached the shadow him s elf H ow c l ever I am he crowed
.
,
‘ ’
rapturously , oh th e clevernes s of me !
,

It i s humiliating to h ave to confess that th i s conce i t of Pete r

was one of his most fa s cinating qualitie s To put it w i t h brutal .

frankness there never was a cockier boy

, .

‘ ’
But for the moment Wendy was s h ocked You concei t .
,
‘ ’
she exclaimed with frightfu l sarcasm of cour s e I d i d noth i ng I
,
‘ ’
You did a l i tt l e Peter sa i d ca re l es s ly and cont i nu e d to
, ,

dance .

‘ ‘
A little ! s he rep li ed w i th hauteur ! i f I am no u se I can
’
at least withdraw ! an d s he sprang i n the mo s t dign i fied wa y
into bed and covered her face with the blanket s .

To indu c e her to look up he pretended to b e going away and ,

when th i s fai led he sat on the end of th e bed and tapped her
Wendy he sa i d don t withdraw I ca n t
’
‘ ‘ ’ ’ ’
gent l y with his foot .
, , .

’ ’
help crowing , Wendy , when I m pleas e d with myself St i l l s he .

‘ ’
would not look up though she was l istening eagerly
, Wendy , .

he continued i n a voice that no woman has ever yet been able

,
‘ ’
to resist Wendy one girl i s more use than twenty boys
, , .

Now Wendy was every inch a woman , though there were

not very many inches and s he peeped out of the bedclothes
, .

29
PETE R PA NAN D WE NDY
Do you really th i nk 5 0 Peter ? ,
’

‘ ’
Ye s I do
, .

‘ ’ ’ ’
I think it s perfe ctly sweet of you , s h e declared and I l l ,
’
get up again and s h e s at with him on the s ide of the bed She .

al s o s a i d s he wou l d give h i m a k i ss if he l i ked but Pet e r d i d not ,

know w h at s h e m e ant and h e h e ld out h i s h and expectantly

, , .

’
S ure l y you know what a k i ss i s ? s h e a s ked aghast , .

’
I sh a l l know w he n you g i ve i t to m e he rep li ed s t i ffly ! and ,

not to hu r t hi s fee li ng s sh e gave h im a thimble .

‘ ’ ‘ ’
Now sa i d he sh a l l I g i ve you a k is s ? and s he rep li ed
, ,

w i th a sl i ght pr i mness I f you p le a s e , S h e mad e h e r sel f rather .

’

c he ap by i nc li n i ng he r face toward s hi m but he m erel y d r opp e d ,

an aco r n button i nto h er h and ! s o s he sl ow l y returned h er face

to w h e re i t h ad b ee n b e fo re and s a i d n i ce l y t h at sh e wou l d we ar
,

h i s k i ss on t he c h a i n r ound h e r n e ck I t wa s l ucky t h at sh e d i d
.

put i t on t h at c h a i n for i t w a s aft e rward s to s ave h er li fe

, .

W h en p e op le i n ou r se t a re i nt roduced i t i s cu s tomary for ,

t he m to a s k e ach ot her s age and s o We nd y w ho a l ways l i k e d

’

, ,

to do t he corr ect t h ing a s k e d Pet e r h ow o l d he w a s I twa s

, .

not rea ll y a h appy quest i on to a s k h i m ! i t wa s l i k e an examina

t i on pap e r t h at asks g ramma r w he n what you want to b e asked
,

i s K i ngs of Eng l and .

‘ ’ ‘ ’
I don t know, he re p l ie d unea si ly but I am qu i t e young
’

, .

H e rea ll y knew not hi ng about i t h e h ad m erely s u s p i c i ons ,

‘
but he s a i d at a ventu re We ndy I ran away t he day I ,
’
wa s born .

Wendy wa s qu i te s urpr ise d but i ntere s ted and s he ind i cated

,

in t h e charming draw i ng room manner by a touch on h er n i ght

-

gown t h at he cou l d si t n ea rer h er

, .

‘ ’
It w as becau s e I heard fath e r and mother he explai ned i n ,

a low vo i c e ta l k i ng about what I wa s to be when I became a

,
‘

’
man . H e wa s extraord i nar i ly agitated now I don t want ever .

30
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
they a l l went skipping about , and that wa s the beginning of
’
fairies .

Ted i ous talk thi s but be i ng a stay at home she l iked it

,
- -
.

‘ ’
And so he we nt on good natured l y there ought to be one
,
-

,
!

’
fa i ry for eve ry boy and g i rl .

‘ ’ ’
Ought to be ? Isn t the re ?
’
N 0 You see c hil dre n know such a l ot now t h ey s oon don t
.
, ,
’
be lie v e i n fa i r i e s and every t i me a chi l d s ays ,
I don t be l ieve ,
!

’
i n fa i r ie s t he re is a fa i ry s om e w h ere that fa lls down d e ad
, .

Re al l y h e thought t hey had now ta l ked e noug h about fa i r i e s

, ,

and i t s truck h i m t h at T i nk e r Be ll wa s k ee p i ng v ery qu i et I .

’ ’
can t t hi nk w h ere sh e h a s gon e to he s a i d r isi ng and he cal l ed , , ,
’
T i nk by nam e We ndy s he art we nt flutt er wit h a s udden
.

t h ril l.

‘ ’ ’
P e t e r she c rie d c l utc hi ng hi m , you don t mean to t ell me
, ,
’
that t h ere i s a fa i ry i n t hi s room !
‘ ’
S h e w as here j ust now h e sa i d a l itt l e i m pat i ent l y You , .

’
don t he ar her do you ? and t hey both lis t e ned
’

, .

‘ ‘ ’
T h e on l y s ound I h ear s a i d Wendy i s l i ke a t i nk l e , ,
’
of b ell s .

‘ ’ ’
We ll t h at s T i n k t h at s t h e fa iry l anguage I t hi nk I
, , .

’
hear her too .

Th e s ound cam e from t h e c hes t of d r awer s and P e te r made ,

a mer ry fac e N 0 one cou l d ever l ook qu i te s o merry a s Peter ,

.

and t h e l ove li e s t of gurgl e s wa s h i s l augh H e had h is first .

l aug h s t ill .

‘ ’ ‘
Wendy h e whi s pered g l eefu ll y I do believe I s hut h e r
, ,
’
up i n t he draw er l
H e l et poor T i nk out of th e drawer and she flew ab out the ,
‘ ’ ’
nu rs ery s cream i ng w i th fury You s hou l dn t say s uch things , .

‘
Of cou rs e I m ve ry sorry but how cou l d I
’
P e te r r e tort e d .
,
’
know you w e re i n the drawer ?
3 2
 CO M E AWAY CO M E AWAY ! ,

‘ ’ ‘
Wendy wa s not listening to hi m 0 Peter she cried if .
, ,
’
she would only s tand still and let me s ee her !
‘ ’
They hardly ever stand still he said , but for one moment ,

Wendy saw the romanti c figure come to rest on the cuckoo clock .

‘ ’
0 the lovely 1 she cried though Tink s fac e was still d i storted
’

with pass i on .

‘ ’ ‘
Tink s aid Peter amiab l y this lady says she wishes you
, ,
’
were her fairy .

Tinker Bel l answered i nsolently .

‘
What does she say Peter ? ,
’

‘
He had to trans l ate She is not very polite S h e says
. .

you are a great ugly girl and that she i s my fairy , .

’

‘
He tr i ed to argue with T i nk You know you can t be my .
’

fairy Tink because I am a gentleman and you are a lady

, , .
’

‘ ’
To this T i nk rep l ied in these words You sil ly as s and , ,
‘
di s appeared i nto the bathroom She is qu i te a common fairy .
,
’

‘
Peter expla i ned apologetically ! sh e is called Tinker Bell because
’
she m e nds the pots and kett l e s .

They were together in the armchair by this t i me and Wendy ,

plied hi m with more questions .

‘ ’
I f you don t live in Ken s ington Gardens now
‘ ’
Sometimes I do still .

’
But where do you live mostly now ?
‘ ’
With the lost boys .

’
Who are they ?
‘
They are the children who fal l out of the i r perambulators
when the nurse is looking the other way I f they are not claimed .

i n seven days they are sent far away to the Neverland to defray
expenses I m captain
’ ’
. .

What fun i t must be

‘ ’ ‘
Yes said cun ning Peter, but we are r a ther lonely You
, .

see we have no female companionship .

E 33
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
’
Are none of the others g irls ?
‘
Oh no ! girls , you know , are much too c lever to fall out of
’
their prams .

‘ ‘ ’
This flattered Wendy immensely I think she said , it .
,

is perfe c tly lovely the way you talk about girls ! John there j ust
’
despises us .

For reply Peter rose and k ic ked John out of bed blankets ,

an d a l l ! one kick This seemed to Wendy rather forward for a

.

first meeting and she to l d him with spir i t that he was not ca ptain
,

i n her house H owever John continued to s leep so placidly on

.
,
‘
the floor that she allowed h i m to rema i n there And I know .

’
you meant to be kind she said , relenting , so you may give me ,
’
a kiss.

For the moment she had forgotten h is ignorance about

‘
kisses. I thought you wou l d want i t back , he said a litt l e ’

bitterly and o ffered to return her the thimble

, .

‘ ’ ’
Oh dear , said the n i ce Wendy , I don t mean a kiss , I mean
’
a thimble .

‘ ’ ’
What s that ?
’ ’
I t s l ike th i s She k i ssed him . .

Funny I said Peter gravel y ’

Now s hall I g i ve you a .

thimb l e
’
I f you wish to , said Wendy keeping her head erect this t i me , .

Peter thimbled her and almost immed i ately she screeched , .

’
What is it Wendy ? ,
’
I t was exactly as if s ome one were pulli ng my hair .

‘
That must have been Tink I never knew her so naughty .

’
before .

And i ndeed T i nk was dart i ng about again using o ffensive ,

language .

She says she wil l do that to you , Wendy every ti me I g i ve ,

’
you a thimb l e .

34
 CO M E AWAY CO M E AWAY ! ,

‘
But why ?
Why, Tink
‘ ’
Again Tink replied , You silly ass Peter could not under .

stand why but Wendy understood ! and she was j ust slightly
,

disappointed when he admitted that he came to the nursery

window not to see her but to listen to stories .

‘ ’
You see I don t know any stories None of the lost boys .

’
know any stories .

H ow perfectly awful Wendy said ’

, .

‘ ’ ‘
Do you know Peter asked why swallows build in the
, ,

ca ves of houses ? I t is to listen to the s tories 0 Wendy, your .

’
mother was telling you such a lovely story .

’
Which story was it ?
‘ ’
About the prince who c ou l dn t find the lady who wore the
’
glass slipper .

‘ ’ ‘
Peter said Wendy excitedly that was Cinderella and he
, , ,
’
found her and they lived happy ever after
, .

Peter was so g l ad that he rose from the floor where they had ,
‘ ’
been sitting and hurried to the window
, Where are you going ? .

she cried with m i sgiving .

’
To tell the other boy s .

‘ ’ ’
Don t go , Peter she entreated I know such lots of
, ,
’
storie s .

Those were her precise words s o there can be no d enying ,

that it was she who first tempted him .

H e came back and there was a greedy look in his eyes now
,

whi c h ought to have alarmed her but did not , .

‘ ’
Oh the stor i es I could tell to the boys ! she cried and
, ,

then Peter gripped her and began to draw her toward the
window .

Let me go ! she ordered him .

‘ ’
Wendy do come with me and tell the other boys
, .

35
 P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
Of course she wa s very pleased to be asked but s he s a i d , ,
‘ ' ’
Oh dear I can t Think of mummy ! Bes i de s , I can t fly
, .
’
.

’
I l l teach you .
’

‘ ’
Oh , how l ovely to fly .

‘ ’
I l l t e ach you how to j ump on the w i nd s back and t h en ’

away we go .
’

Oo s he exc l aimed rapturou sl y .

‘
Wendy Wendy when you a re sl eep i ng i n your sill y bed
, ,

you mig h t be flyi ng about w i t h me say i ng funny t hi ng s to t h e

t
s a rsf

Oo
‘
And We ndy there are merma i d s
, , .
’

Mermaids ! With ta il s
’
Suc h l ong ta i l s .

‘ ’ ‘
Oh , c ri ed W e ndy to see a me r ma i d ! ,
‘ ’
H e h ad b e come fr i g h tfu ll y cu nn i ng We ndy h e s aid .
, ,

how we s hould a ll re s pect you

’
.

She wa s wrigg l i ng he r body i n d is t ress It wa s qu i t e a s .

i f she wer e t ry i ng to rema i n on th e nu rse ry floor .

But he h ad no p i ty for he r .

‘ ’ ‘
Wendy he sa i d the sl y one you cou l d tuck u s i n at n i ght
, , , .
’

Oo
’
None of u s has e ve r been tuck e d i n at n i ght .

‘ ’
Oo and her arm s went out to h i m
, .

‘
And you cou l d darn our c l ot hes and mak e pock e ts fo r us , .

’
None of us h as any pock e t s .

’
H ow cou l d sh e r esis t Of cou rse i t s awfu l l y fa s c i nat i ng !
.
’

s h e c rie d Peter wou l d you teach Jo h n and M i c h a el to

.
,

fly too
’
I f you l i k e he s a i d i nd i ffe r e nt l y ! and s he r an to John
,
‘ ‘ ’

and M i c h ae l and s hook t he m Wake up sh e c ri ed P e t er .

, ,

’
Pa n h a s come and h e i s to t e ac h u s to fly .

36
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
‘
But Liza wa s dense No more of it Nana she said
.
, ,
’

‘
sternly , pulling her out of the room I warn you if you bark .

aga i n I s hall go straight for master and m i ssus and bring them
home from the party and then , oh won t master whip yon
, ,
’

j us t ’

N mo
o f
re o i tN n siz s i d stnly
, a
’
a, e a er p ulli ng lzer
, ou tof t
il e r oom
.

She t i ed the unhappy dog up aga i n but do you t hi nk Nana ,

cea s ed to bark ? Br i ng mas t e r and m i ss u s home from t h e party !

Why that wa s ju s t w h at she want e d Do you think she cared
, .

whet h er she wa s w hi pped so l ong as her charges were safe ?

Unfortunat el y Liza retu r ned to he r pudding s and Nana seeing , ,

that no he l p wou l d come from her s t ra i ned and st ra i ned at the

,

cha i n unti l at la s t s he broke i t I n another moment s he h ad

.

burst i nto t h e d i n i ng r oom of 2 7 and flung up her paw s to

-

heav e n her most expre ss ive wa y of mak i ng a commun i cation

, .

M r and M rs Dar l ing knew at once that s omething terrible was

. .

happ e n i ng in th e ir nursery and w i t h out a good bye to the i r

,
-

h o s t es s they rushed i nto the stree t .

But it wa s now ten m i nute s since three s coundre l s had been

0
J 8
 CO M E AWAY , COM E AWAY !

brea thing behind the c urtains ! and Peter Pan c an do a g reat

deal i n ten mi nutes .

We now return to the nurse ry .

‘
I t s all ri g ht , John announ c ed , emerg in g fro m his hiding
’ ’

p l ace
. I say , Peter , c an you really fly
I nstead of troublin g to answer him Peter flew round the
room , takin g the mantel p ie c e on the way .

H ow top pin g said John and M i c hael .

H ow sweet ! c ried Wendy .

’ '
Yes , I m sweet , oh, I am sweet I said Peter , forgetting
his manners again .

I t looked deli ghtfully easy, and they tried it first from the
floor and then from the beds , but they always went down instead
of up .

‘ ?
I say, how do you do it asked John , rubbin g his knee !

H e was quite a prac ti c al boy .

‘ ’
You j ust thi nk lovely wonderful thou ghts , Peter expla i ned ,
‘ ’
and they lift you u p in the air .

H e showed them again .

’ ’ ’
You re so nippy at it John said ! couldn t you do it very
,
’
slowly on c e ?
‘ ’
Peter did it both slowly and qui c kly I ve got it now .
,

W endy l c ried John , but soon he found he had not Not one
’
.

of them c ould fly an inch though even M i c hael was in words

,

of two syl lables , and Peter did not know A from ! .

Of c ourse Peter had been trifl i ng with them , for no one c an

fly unless the fairy dust has been blown on hi m Fortunately , .

as we have mentioned , one of his hands was messy with i t and ,

he blew some on eac h of them with the most su p erb results, .

‘ ‘ ’
Now j ust wri ggle your s houlders this way, he said , and
’
let go .

They were al l on their beds and g al lant M i c hael let go ,

39
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
first H e d i d not quite mean to let go but he did it and
.

, ,

i mmediat e ly he wa s borne across the room

I flewed h e s creamed wh i le sti l l in m i d —
.

ai r .

John let go and met Wendy near the bathroom .

‘
Oh love ly ,
‘
Oh r i pp i ng !
,
’

Look at me !
Look at m e !
Look at me
They we re not n e ar l y s o elegant a s Peter they cou l d not ,

help k i ck i ng a li tt l e but the i r head s w e re bobb i ng aga i n s t th e

,

ceil i ng and t h er e i s a l mo s t not hi ng so de li cious as that Pet e r

, .

gave We ndy a hand at fir s t but had to des i st T i nk w a s s o , ,

i nd i gnant .

Up and down they went and round and round Heaven l y , .

’
wa s Wendy s word .

’ ‘ ’
I say cr ie d Jo h n why sh ou l dn t we a ll go out
, ,

Of cou rs e i t wa s to th i s that Pete r h ad be e n lur i ng t h em .

M i c h ae l wa s ready ! he wanted to s ee how l ong i t took h i m

to do a b illi on m il es But Wendy he s itated
. .

‘
Mermaids s a i d Peter aga i n .

Oo
‘ ’
And there are p i rates .

‘ ’ ‘
Pirates cried J ohn s e i z i ng hi s Sunday hat let us go
, , ,
’
at once .

It wa s j u s t at t his moment t h at Mr and M rs Darling . .

hurr i ed wit h Nana out of 2 7 T h ey ran into th e middle of t he .

street to look up at the nu rsery w i ndow ! and yes it wa s s ti l l , ,

shut but the room wa s ab l aze with l i ght and mo s t heart

, ,

gr i pping sight of al l th ey could see in s hadow on t h e curta i n

,

three little figures in night attire circ l ing round and round not ,

on the floor but in the air .

40
 CO M E AWAY CO M E AWAY !
,

Not three figures , four !

I n a tremble they Opened the street door M r Darling
. .

would have rushed upstairs but M rs Darling signed to him

, .

to go soft l y She even tried to make her heart go softly

. .

Wil l they reach the nursery in time ? If so how del i ghtful

,

for them and we shall all breathe a sigh of rel ief b ut there wil l
, ,

be no story On the other hand , if they are not in time I

.
,

solemn l y promise that it wi l l a l l come r i ght in the end.

They would have reac hed the nursery in time had it not
been that the litt l e stars were watch i ng them Once again the
.

stars b l ew the window Open and t h at smallest star of al l

,

called out !
Cave , Peter
Then Peter knew that there was not a moment to lose .

’
Com e he cried i mperiously and s oared out at once into the
, ,

night followed by J o h n and M ichael and Wendy .

and M rs Dar li ng and Nana rushed i nto the nursery

.

too l ate The birds were flown

. .

41
C HAPT E R IV T HE FL G I HT

S ECOND to the right , and s traight on till morning .

’

That , Peter had told Wendy wa s the way to the Neverland

,

but even birds , carrying maps and consult i ng them at windy

corners , could not have sighted i t with these i nstructions .

Peter you see , j ust said anything that came into his head
, .

At first his companions trusted him i mplicitly and so great

,

were the delight s of flying that they wasted time ci rc l i ng round

church s p ires or any other ta l l obje c ts on the way that took
their fan c y .

John and Michael raced M ichae l gett i ng a start

, .

They recalled with contempt that not so l ong ago they had
thought themselves fine fe l l ows for be i ng able to fly rou nd
a room .

Not so l ong ago But h ow long ago ? They were flying

.

over the sea before thi s thought began to di sturb Wendy

seriously John thought i t was their second sea and their third
n i ght
.

Sometimes it wa s dark and somet i mes l ight and now they

,

we re very cold and again too warm Did they really feel hungry
.

at times or were they mere l y pretend i ng because Peter had

, ,

such a jolly new way of feeding them ? H i s way was to pursue

b i rds w ho had food in th e i r mouths suitable for humans an d
snatch it from them ! then the birds would follow and snatch it
back and they wou l d a ll go chasing each other gaily for miles ,

p arting at last with mutual expressions of good will But -

.

43
P ETE R PAN AN D WE NDY

Wendy noticed with gentle concern that Peter d i d not s eem to

know that this wa s rather an Odd way of getting your bread and
butter nor even t h at there are othe r ways
, .

Certainly they d i d not pretend to be s l ee py they were sleepy ! ,

and that was a danger for the moment ,

they popped off down th ey fe ll , The .

awful th i ng was that Peter thought th i s

funny .

‘
Th e re he go e s agai n ! h e wou l d cry
g l eeful l y as M i c h a e l s udden l y dropped
,

l i ke a s ton e .

Save hi m ,s ave hi m cr ie d Wendy ,

l ook i ng w i th ho r ror at th e cru e l sea far

be l ow Eventua l l y Peter wou l d d i ve
.

t h rough the a i r and catc h M i chae l j u s t

,

before h e could st ri ke the s ea and i t ,

w a s l ove l y t he wa y he d i d i t ! but h e
a l way s wa i t e d t i ll the l a s t mom e nt and ,

you fel t i t wa s hi s c l evern ess t h at i nter

est ed hi m and not the s av i ng of human

l i fe A ls o he wa s fond of va rie ty and

.
,

t he spo r t t h at e ngro sse d hi m one moment

wo ul d sudden l y cea s e to engage hi m so ,

t h e re wa s a l way s t h e pos si b i li ty that th e

next t i m e you fell he wou l d le t you go .

H e cou l d sl eep i n t h e a i r w i t h out

fa lli ng by m erel y l y i ng on his back
,

and float i ng but t hi s w a s pa r t l y at

, ,

! M " hi
a e
lea s t becau s e h e wa s s o l i g h t that i f you
,

got b ehi nd h i m and b l ew he went fa s ter .

’
‘
Do be more po li te to h i m Wendy wh i s pered to John
, ,
’
w h en t h ey we re p l ay i ng Follo w my Leader .

44
P ETE R PAN AND WE NDY
Peter was not with them for the moment and they felt ,

rather lonely up there by themselves He cou l d go so much .

faster than they that he would s uddenly shoot out of sight to ,

have some adventure in which they had no share He wou l d .

come down laugh i ng over something fearfully fun ny he had

been saying to a star but he had already forgott e n what it was
, ,

or he would come up with merma i d scales still sticking to him ,

and yet not be able to s ay for certain what h ad been happe ning .

I t was really rather irritating to ch i ldren who had never seen

a merma i d .

‘ ‘ ’
And i f he forgets them so quick l y Wendy argued , h ow ,
’
can we expect that he will go on remembering us ?
I ndeed sometimes when h e returned he did not remember
,

them , at le ast not well Wendy was s ure of i t She saw

. .

recognit i on come into h is eyes a s h e was about to pass them

the time of day and go on ! once e ven she had to te l l hi m her
name .

I m Wendy s he s aid ag i tated l y

' ’

, .

‘ ’
H e wa s very sorry . I say Wendy , he whispered to her ,
,
‘ ’
a l way s i f you see me forgett i ng you j ust keep on saying I m
,
’ ’
Wendy and then I ll remember
, .

Of course th i s wa s rather un s at i s fa c tory However , to .

make amends he showed t h em how to li e out flat on a strong

w i nd that wa s going the i r way and th i s wa s s uch a pleasant
,

change t h at they tried i t severa l tim e s and found they c ould

s leep t h us with security I ndeed t h ey wou l d h ave s l e pt longer
.
,

but Peter t i red qu i ck l y of sl eepi ng , and soon he would cry i n

‘ ’
hi s capta i n vo i ce , We get off h e re So w i t h occasional ti ffs
.
,

but on the who l e ro l l i ck i ng t h ey drew nea r the Neverland ! for

,

after many moons they d i d reach i t and what i s more they had
, , ,

been go i ng pretty straig h t all the time not perhaps so much ,

owing to t h e guidance of Peter or T i nk as becau s e the i sland

46
 TH E FLI GHT
was out look i ng for them I t is only thus that any one may .

sight those magic shores .

’
There it is said Peter c almly
, .

’
Where , where ?
‘ ’
Where all the arrows are pointing .

Indeed a million golden arrows were po i nting out the i sland

to the children , all directed by their friend th e sun who wanted ,

them to be sure of their way before leaving them for the n i ght .

Wendy and John and M ichael stood on tiptoe in the a i r

to get their fi rst s i ght of the island Strange to say they a l l .
,

rec ognised it at once and until fear fell upon t h em they hailed
,

it not as someth ing long dreamt of and seen at last but a s a

, ,

fami l iar friend to whom they were returning home for the
holidays .

‘ ’ ’
John there s the l agoon
, .

‘ ’
Wendy l ook at the turt l es burying the i r eggs in the sand
, .

’
I say, John , I see your flamingo w i t h the broken leg .

’ ’
Look M ichael , there s your cave
, .

‘ ’
J ohn what s that in the brushwood
,

It s a wolf With her whelps Wendy I do bel i eve that s

’
.
,
’

’
your little whelp .

’ ’

There 5 my boat J ohn w i th her side s stove i n

, , .

NO it isn t Why we burned your boat

,
’
.
, .
’

‘ ’
That 5 her at any rate I say J ohn I see the smoke of
, .
, ,
’
the redskin camp .

‘ ’
Where ? Show me and I ll te l l you by the way the smoke
,
’
curls whether they are on the war path -
.

‘
There just a c ross the Mysterious Ri ver
’

,
.

‘ ’
I see now Yes they are on the war path r i ght enough
.
,
-
.

Peter was a litt l e annoyed with them for knowing so much

but if he wanted to lord it over them hi s triumph wa s at hand for ,

have I not told you that anon fear fell upon them ?
47
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
I t came as the arrows went leaving the island i n gloom
, .

I n the old days at home the Never l and had a l ways begun to
l ook a l ittle dark and threaten i ng by bedtim e Then unexplored .

patches arose in it and s pread ! black shadows moved about i n

them the roar of the beasts of prey wa s qu i te di fferent now , and
above al l you lo s t the certainty that you would w i n You were
, .

quite g l ad that the n i ght lights were in You even liked Nana
-
.

to s ay t h at this w a s j ust t h e mante l p i ece over here and that the ,

Never l and wa s all mak e be l i e ve

-
.

Of cour s e the Neve r l and had been make be l ieve i n those -

day s ! but i t wa s rea l now and there were no n i ght lights

,
-

and i t w a s gett i ng darker ev e ry moment and where was ,

Nana ?
T h ey had been flying apart but t h ey huddled close to Peter
,

now . H i s care l ess ma nner had gone at la s t hi s eyes were ,

S park l i ng, and a ting l e w e nt t h roug h t h em eve ry t i me they

touch e d hi s body Th e y were now over the fear s ome i s l and
.
,

fly i ng s o low that s omet i me s a tree grazed their fe e t Noth i ng .

h o rr i d wa s vi s ible in the a i r yet th e ir progre ss had become sl ow

,

and l aboured exact l y a s i f t h ey were pu shi ng their way through

,

h o s ti l e forces Somet i me s they h ung in the a i r until P e ter had

.

beaten on i t with hi s fists .

‘ ’ ’
T h ey don t want us to land he expla i n e d , .

‘ ’
Who are they ? Wendy whispered sh uddering , .

But he cou l d not or would not s ay T i nk e r Be ll had been

.

a sl eep on his s h ou l der , but now h e wakened her and sent her
on i n front .

Sometimes he poi s ed h i m s e l f i n th e a i r l i sten i ng i ntently ,

w i t h h i s hand to h i s ear and aga i n he wou l d stare down with

,

e ye s s o br i g h t t h at they s eemed to bore two ho l es to earth .

Having done t h ese thing s he went on again , .

‘
H is courage wa s almo s t appalling Do you want an .

48
 T H E FLI GHT
’ ‘
adventure now he sa i d casual l y to John or would you like to
, ,

have your tea fi rs t

We ndy said tea fi rst qu i ckly and M i chael pressed her
‘ ’

hand i n grat i tude , but the brave r John hes i tated .

‘
Wh at k i nd of adventure ? he a s ked cautiously ’

‘ ’ ’
T h ere 5 a p i rate asleep in the pampas j ust beneath us ,
‘ ’ ’
Peter to l d him I f you l i ke , we l l go down and kill him
. .

’ ’
I don t see him J ohn said after a l ong pause
, .

‘ ’
I do .

‘ ’ ‘ ’
Suppose John said a little husk i ly he were to wak e up
, , .

’
Peter s poke i ndignantly You don t think I would kill him
.

w hil e he wa s s l eep i ng ! I would wake him first , and then kil l

’ ’
h i m That s t h e way I always do
. .

‘
I say ! Do you kill many ?
’

‘ ’
Tons .

‘ ’
John said how ripp i ng but decided to have tea first H e , .

a s ked i f there were many pirates on the is l and j ust now , and
Peter said he had never known s o many .

‘
Who i s capta i n now
‘ ’
Hook , answered Peter ! and h i s face be c ame very stern as
he said that hated word .

‘ ’
J as H ook ?
.

A y .

Th e n indeed M ichae l b egan to cry and even John could ,

’
s peak in gu l p s on l y for they kne w H ook s reputation
, .

’ ’ ’
He was Blackbeard s bo sun John whispered h u s k il y He , .

i s the wor s t of them a ll H e i s the on l y man of whom Barbecu e

.

’
wa s afra i d .

’ ’
T h at s h i m , said Peter .

’
What is he li ke ? I s he big ?
’
He i s not so b i g a s he was .

How do you mean ?

G 49
P ETE R PAN AN D WE NDY
I c ut off a bit of him .
’

‘
You
‘ ’
Yes , me said Peter sharply
, .

‘ ’
I wasn t meaning to be disres p e c tful .
’

‘ ’
Oh , al l right .

’
But , I say what bit ? ,
’
H is right hand .

‘ ’ ’
Then he can t fi ght now ?
’
Oh , c an t h e j ust I
Left hander
-

He has an i ron hook instead of a right hand , and he

’
claws with it .

‘
Claws
’
I say, John , said Peter .

’
Yes.

Say , A y a y, sir , .

‘ ’
A y, a y, sir .

‘ ‘ ’
There i s one thi ng Peter continued , that every boy who ,
’
serves under me has to promise , and so must you .

J ohn paled .

‘
It is thi s i f we meet Hook i n open fight , you must l eave
,
’
him to me .

’
I promise , J ohn said loya ll y .

For the momen t they w ere feeling less eer i e be ca use T i n k ,

was flying wit h t h em , and in h er light they could distingu i sh

each other Unfortunately she could not fly s o s lowly as they ,
.

and so she had to go round and round them i n a c ircle in wh i ch

they moved as i n a halo Wendy quite liked it until Peter .
,

pointed out the d r awbac k .

‘ ’ ‘
She tell s me he said , that the pirates sighted us before
,
’
the darkness came and got Long To rn out , .

’
The big gun ?
50
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
I n the black topp er the l i ght was completely hidden and ,

they flew on in silence It wa s the stille s t silence they had

.

ever known broken once by a di s tant lap p i ng which Peter

, ,

explained wa s the wild beasts drinking at the ford and again ,

by a ra s p i ng s ound that might have been the branches of trees

rubbing together , but he said i t wa s the redskins sharpening
their knives .

Even these noi s es ceased To M i c h ael the lonel i ne s s was

.

‘
d readfu l
. I f on l y something would make a sound he cried .

As if i n answer to h i s request , the air wa s rent by th e most

tremendous crash he had ever heard The pirates had fired .

Long Tom at them .

The roar of it echoed through the mounta i ns and the ,

‘
echoes seemed to cry savagely Where are they where are , ,
’
they where are they ?
,

Thus sharply did the terr i fied three learn the di fference
between an is l and of make bel i eve and the same i sland come
-

true.

When at last the heavens were s teady again J ohn and ,

M ichae l found t h emselve s a l one in th e darknes s John was .

treading the a i r mechanica ll y and M ichael without know i ng

,

how to float was float i ng .

‘ ’
Are you s hot ? John whi s pered tremulously .

’ ’
I haven t tr i ed yet M i chae l wh i spered back
, .

W e know now that no one had been hit Peter however .

, ,

h ad been carried by the w i nd of the s h ot far out to sea , whi l e

Wendy wa s blown upwards w i th no compan i on but T i nker Bell .

I t wou l d have been well for Wendy i f at that moment she

had dropped the hat .

’
I don t know w h ether the i dea came sudden l y to Tink or ,

whet he r she had planned it on the way but she at once popped ,

out of the hat and began to l ure Wendy to her destruct i on .

52
 T H E FLI G HT
Tink wa s not all bad or rather , she wa s all bad j ust now
, ,

but on t h e other hand , sometimes s he was al l good Fa i ries

, .

have to be one thing or the other , because being so s ma l l th e y

unfortunate l y have room for one fee l ing only at a t i me Th ey .

are h owever allowed to change only i t mu s t be a complete

, , ,

c h ange At present she wa s full of j ealousy of Wendy What

. .

she s aid in her lovely tinkle Wendy cou l d not of cou r se under
s tand and I believe some of it wa s bad word s but i t sounded
, ,
‘
kind , and she flew back and forward plainly meaning Follow
,
’
me and al l will be wel l
, .

W h at else could poor Wendy do ? S h e ca ll ed to Peter and

John and M i chael and got on l y mock i ng echo e s i n rep l y S h e
, .

d i d not yet know that T i nk hate d h er wit h t h e fierc e h atred of

a very woman And so , bewi l dered and now s tagge ring
.
, her
flight s he fol lowed Tink to her doom
, .

53
 A nd w h en pi r a t
es a nd lostboys meett
hey merely bi l e t
hei r t
h umb sa te ch ot
a her .

C HAPTE R V T HE I S LA N D CO M E TRU E

FEEL I NG that Peter was on h i s w ay back the Neverland had ,

aga i n wok e i nto l i fe We ought to us e the pluperfect and

.

say wakened but woke is better and wa s always used by

,

Peter.

I n his absenc e th i ngs are usua l ly quiet on the i s l and The .

fairies take an hour l onger i n the morn i ng t h e beasts attend ,

to the i r young the redsk i ns feed hea vily for six days and nights
, ,

and when pirate s and l ost boys mee tthey merely bite their
thumbs at each other But with the coming of Peter who hates
.

l ethargy they are all under way again ! i f you put your ear to
,

the ground now you would hear the whole i s land seeth i n g
,

with life .

On this evening the chief force s of the island were disposed

as follows The lost boys were out look i ng for Peter the
.
,

SS
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
pirates were out lookin g for the l ost boys , the redskins w e re
out looking for the p irates , and the beasts were out looking
for the redskins They were going round and round the
.

island , but they did not meet becau s e all were going at the
same rate .

All wanted blood except t h e boy s , who liked it as a rule ,

but to night were out to greet t h eir captain The boys on t he

-

island vary, of course , i n number s ac cording as they get k il led

,

and s o on ! and when they seem to be growing up , which i s

against the rules Peter thi ns t h em out ! but at this tim e t h ere
,

were s ix of them , counting the tw i ns as two Let us pretend .

to li e h e re among the suga r cane and watch them as th e y s teal

-

by i n si ngle fi le each with h i s h and on h i s dagger

, .

T he y are forbidden by Peter to l ook in the least like him ,

and th ey wear the skins of bear s s la i n by themselves in wh i ch ,

t h ey are so round and furry t h at w h en they fall they roll T h ey .

have therefore become very s ure footed -

.

The first to pass is Tootles not the least brave but the mo s t
,

unfortunate of al l that gal l ant band H e had been in fewe r

.

adventures than any of th e m because the big things consta nt l y

,

happened j ust when he had s tepp e d round the corner ! al l wou l d

be quiet , he would take the opportun i ty of going off to gather a
few s t i cks for firewood , and t h en w h en he returned th e others
wou l d be sweeping up the b l oo d This ill luck had g i ve n a
.
-

gentle melancholy to his countenance but instead of sour i ng hi s

,

nature had sweetened it so t h at he was qu i te the humblest of

,

t h e boys Poor kind Toot l e s th e re i s danger in the ai r for you

. ,

to night Take c are lest an adventure is now o ffered you w hi ch ,

-
. ,

if accepted , will plunge you i n deepest woe Tootles , the fairy

.

Tink who is bent on mischief th i s n i ght is looking for a too l ,

’
an d she thinks you the most easi l y tricked of the boys Ware .

Tinker Bell .

56
 TH E I S LAN D CO M E T RU E
Would that he could hear us , but we are not really on the
island , and he passes by , biting his knuckles .

Next comes Nibs , the gay and debonair followed by S l ight l y , ,

who c uts whistles out of the trees and dances ecstatical l y to hi s

own tunes . S l i ghtly is the most conceited of the boys He .

th i nks he remembers the days before h e wa s lost , wit h th e ir

manners and customs and this has given his nose an Offens i ve
,

tilt Curly is fourth ! he is a p i ck l e and so Often has he had

.
,
‘
to del i ver up h i s person when Peter sa i d sternly Stand forth ,
’
t h e one who did thi s thing , that now at the command he sta nds
forth automatically whether he ha s done it or not Last come .

the Twins who cannot be described because we should be s u r e

,

to be describing the wrong one Peter never quite knew w h at

.

twins were , and his band were not allowed to know anything he
did not know so these two were always vague about them s elves ,
,

and d id their best to give s atisfac tion by keeping close together

in an apo l ogetic sort of wa y .

The boys vanish i n the gloom and after a pause but not a
, ,

l ong pause for things go briskly on the island , come the pirates
,

on their track We hear them before they are seen , and it i s

.

always the same dreadful song !

‘
A va st bel a y yo ho hea v e t
, ,o ,

A p i ra t i ng w e go
-

,
‘
A nd i f we re p a rt e d b y a sho t
W e re su re t
’
o m ee t b el ow !
’

A more vil lainous looking lot never hung in a row on

-

Exe c ution dock H ere , a little in advance ever and again with
.
,

his head to the ground listening , his great arms bare pieces of ,

eight in his ears as ornaments , is the handsome Italian Cecco ,

who c ut his name in letters of blood on the back of the governor
of the prison at Gao That gigantic black behind him has had
.

57
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
many names since he drop ped the one with which dusky mothers
still terrify their children on the banks of the G uadj o— mo H ere .

is Bill J ukes every inch of him tattooed the same Bill J ukes
, ,

who got six dozen on the W a lr us from F li nt before he would

drop the bag of mo i dores ! and Cookson said to be Blac k ,
’
M urphy s brother (but this was never proved ) ! and Gentleman
Starkey once an usher i n a publ i c school and sti l l dainty
,

i n hi s ways Of kill ing ! and Skyl i ghts ( Morgan s Skylights ) ! ’

’
and the I ri s h bo s un S mee an oddly genial man who stabbed
, ,

so to speak without Offence and wa s th e on l y Noncon

, ,

formi sti n Hook s crew ! and N

’
oodler whose hands were ,

fixed on backwards ! and Robt M u l li ns and Alf Mason and .

many another ruffia n long known and feared on the Span i sh

Ma i n .

I n t h e m i dst of them the b l acke s t and large s t j ewe l i n

,

that dark setting , r ecl i ned Jame s Hook or as h e wrote hi m s e l f , ,

Jas H ook of w h om i t i s s a i d he wa s the on l y man that t h e

.
,

Sea Cook feared H e lay at hi s eas e i n a rough c h ar i ot drawn

-
.

and prope ll ed by hi s m e n and i nstead of a ri ght hand h e had

,

the iron hook with which ever and anon h e e ncouraged them
to i ncrease t hei r pace A s dogs t his t e rr i b l e man treated and
.

addressed them and as dog s t h ey ob eyed h i m I n per s on h e

, .

wa s cadave r ous and bla ckav i zed and h is h air was d res s ed i n
,

long cur l s w hi ch at a li tt l e d i stance l ooked l i ke b l ack cand l e s

, ,

and gave a s i ngularly threaten i ng expre ss i on to h i s hand s ome

countenance H i s eye s were of t h e b l ue of the fo rget me not
.
- -

and Of a profound me l ancho l y s ave w h en he w a s p l ung i ng hi s

,

hook i nto you at wh ich t i m e two r e d s pot s appeared i n t h em

,

and li t them up horr i b l y I n manne r somet h i ng of the grand

.
,

se i gneur sti ll c l ung to him so that he even r i pped you up w i t h

,

an a i r and I have been told that he w a s a ra cont

, eur of reput e .

He wa s never more sinister than when he was most polite ,

58
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
She is the most beautiful of dusky Dianas and the belle of
the Piccaninnies coquettish cold and amorous by turn s !
, ,

there is not a brave who wou l d not have the wayward th i ng

to wife , but she staves off the altar w i th a h atc h et Observe .

h ow they pass over fallen twigs without making the s light

est noise The only sound to be heard i s t h eir somew h at
.

heavy breat h i ng Th e fact is t h at they are al l a l i ttle fat

.

j ust now aft e r the h eavy gorg i ng but i n time th ey w i l l work ,

this off F o r t h e moment however it const i tutes their chief

.
, ,

danger .

The red s k i ns di s app e ar a s they h ave come l i ke s hadow s ,

and s oon th ei r p l ac e i s taken by t h e bea s t s a great and motl ey ,

proc essi on ! lion s t i gers bear s and the i nnumerab l e sma ll er

, , ,

s avage t hi ngs that fl e e from t h em for e v e ry k i nd of beast and , , ,

more part i cu l ar l y a ll t he man eater s l ive ch ee k by jowl on the

,
-

favoured i s l and The i r tongues a re hanging out they are

.
,

h ungry to n i ght -
.

W he n t he y h av e pa ss ed come s the l ast figu r e of a l l a gigant i c

, ,

crocod i l e We s ha l l se e for whom sh e i s l ook i ng presently

. .

The crocod i le pass e s but soon t h e boy s appea r aga i n , for

,

the proce s sion must cont i nue indefin i te l y unt i l one of t h e part ie s
stop s o r changes i ts pace T h en qu i ckly they wi ll be on top of
.

each other .

A l l a re keep i ng a s h arp l ook out i n fr ont but none suspects

-

that t h e danger may be creeping up from behind Th is shows .

h ow r e a l t h e i s l and wa s .

T h e first to fall out of the moving c i rc l e was the boys .

They flung themselves down on the sward , close to their under

groun d h ome .

‘ ’
I do w i sh Peter would come ba c k , every one of them sa i d
nervously though i n height and s til l mo r e in breadth they we re
,

a ll l arger than t h e i r captain .

60
 TH E I S LAN D CO M E T RU E
’
I am the only one who is not afraid of the pirates , Slightly
said , in the tone that prevented his being a general favourite !
but perhaps some distant sound disturbed him for he added ,
‘
hasti ly but I wish he would come back and tell us whether he
, ,
’
has heard anything more about Ci nderella .

They talked of Cinderella and Tootles wa s c onfident that

,

his mother must have been very l i ke her .

’
I t was only in Peter s ab s ence that they cou ld speak of
mothers the subj e ct be i ng forbidden by hi m a s si l ly
, .

‘ ‘ ’
All I rem e mber about my mother Nibs told them is that , ,

she often said to father Oh how I w i s h I had a chequ e book

,
!
,
-

’
of my own I don t know what a cheque book is but I should
.
-

,
’
j ust love to give my mother one .

While they talked they heard a distant sound You or I .

,

not being wild th i ngs of the woods would have heard nothing , ,

but they heard it , and it was the grim song !

Y O h o, yo ho, t he p i ra t e l ife,
‘

T he fla g 0 skull a nd b o nes,
’

A m erry h o u r, a he m p en rop e,
A nd hey for Da v y Jones
’
.

At on c e the lost boys —but where are they ? They are

no longer there Rabbits coul d not have disappeared more
.

quickly .

I will tell you where they are With th e exception of Nibs .

,

who has darted away to reconno i tre th e y are already in their ,

home under the ground a ve ry delightful residence of which we

,

shall see a good deal presently But how have they reached it ?
.

for there i s no entrance to be seen not so much as a pile of ,

brushwood , which if removed would dis c lose the mouth of a

cave . Look closely however and you may note that there
, ,

are here seven large trees each having in its hollow trun k
,

61
P ETE R PAN AN D WE NDY
a hole as large as a boy These are the seven entrances
.

to the home under the ground , for which Hook has been
searching i n vain these many moo ns Wi ll he find it to .

night ?
As the pirates advanced the quick eye of Starkey ,

sighted N i b s d i s appearing thro ugh the wood , and at once

h i s pistol flashed out But an iron claw gripped h i s
.

shoulder .

‘ ’
Capta i n l et go he cried writhing
, , , .

Now for the first t i me we hear the voice of Hook It .

wa s a bla c k vo i ce
‘
Put back that pistol fi rstit said threaten
.
’

i ngly .

I twa s one Of those boys you hate . I could have shot him
’
dead .

‘ ’
A y, and
the sound would have brought Tiger Lily s red
’
skins upon us Do you want to l ose your sca l p ?
.

‘ ’
S h a ll I after h i m captain a s ked pathetic Smee and tickle
, , ,
’
him with Johnny Corkscrew ? Smee had pleasant names for
everything and his cut l ass was Johnny Corkscrew , bec ause he
,

wrigg l ed i t i n t h e wound One cou l d mention many lovab l e

.

traits in Smee For i nstance after killing i t was hi s spectacles

.
, ,

he w i ped instead of his weapon .

‘ ’
Johnny s a s ilent fe llow he reminded Hook
’

, .

‘ ’ ‘
Not now, Smee , Hook s a i d dark l y He i s only one , .

and I want to m is chief a ll the se ven Scatter and look for

.

’
th e m .

T h e pirates d i sappeared among the trees , and i n a

moment their captain and Smee were alone Hook heaved .

a heavy si g h ! and I know not w h y i t was perhaps it was ,

because O f the soft beauty of the even i ng but there came ,

’
over h i m a desire to con fide to his faithful bo s un the story
of his life He spoke long and earnest l y but what it wa s
. ,

62
 TH E I S LA N D CO M E TRU E
all about S mee , who wa s rather stupid , did not know i n the
least.

Anon he c aught the word Peter .

‘ ’ ‘
Most of all , H ook was saying passionately I want their ,
’ ’
captain , Peter Pan Twas he c ut o ff my arm . H e brandished .

‘ ’
the hook threaten ingly I ve waited long to shake his hand .

’ ’
with this Oh I ll tear him
.
, .

‘ ’
And yet , said S mee I have often heard you say that hook ,

was worth a score of hands for c ombing the hair and other ,
’
homely uses .

‘ ’ ‘
A y, the captai n answered , if I was a mother I would pray
’
to have my children born with this instead of that and he cast ,

a look of pride upon h i s i ron hand and one of scorn upon th e

ot her Then again he frowned
. .

‘ ’ ‘
Peter flung my arm , he said , wincing to a cro codile that ,
’
happened to be passing by .

‘ ‘ ’
I have Often sa i d S mee noti c ed your strange dread of
, ,
’
crocodiles .

‘ ‘ ’
Not of crocodiles Hook corrected h i m , but of t h at one ,
’ ‘
crocodile H e lowered h i s vo i ce
. It liked my arm so .

much S mee that it has followed me ever s i nce , from sea

, ,

to sea and from land to l and l icking it s lips for the rest ,
’
of me .

‘ ‘ ’ ’
I n a way , said Smee , it s a sort Of compliment
’
.

‘ ’
I want no such comp l i ments , Hook barked petulant l y .

‘
I want Peter Pan who first gave the brute its taste ,
’
for me .

H e sat down on a large mushroom and now there was a ,

‘ ‘ ’
quiver i n his voice Smee he said hu s kily that crocodile
.
, ,

would have had me before this but by a lucky chance it swallowed ,

a clock whi c h goes tick tick i nside i t and so before i t can reach ,
’
me I hear the tick and bolt H e laughed but in a hollow way .
, .

63
P ETE R PAN AN D WE NDY
’
‘
Some day , said Smee the c lock will run down , and then ,
’ ’
he ll get you .

‘ ‘ ’ ’
H ook wetted his dry lips A y he said that s the fear .
, ,
’
that haunts me .

‘ ’
Since sittin g down h e had fe l t curiously warm Smee , he .

‘ ’
said this seat is hot He j umped up Odds bobs , hammer
!

, . .

’ ’
and tongs I m burning .

They examined the mu s hroom , which was of a size and

solidity unknown on the ma i nland ! they tried to p ull it
up and it came away at once in their hands , for it had
,

no root Stranger stil l smoke b egan at once to as c end

.
, .

‘ ’
The pirates looked at e ach other A c himney ! they both .

ex cl aimed .

They had i ndeed d i scovered the chimney of the home

under the ground I t wa s the custom of the boys to
.

stop it with a mushroom when enemies were in the ne i gh

b ourh ood .

’
Not only smoke came out of i t There came also children s .

voi c es , for so safe did the boy s feel in their hiding pla c e that -

they were gaily c hattering The pirates l istened grimly, and .

then replaced the mushroom They looked around them and .

noted the holes i n the seven trees .

’ ’
Did you hear them say Peter Pan 5 from home ? Smee
whispered fidget i ng with Johnny Corkscrew
, .

H ook nodded He stood for a l ong time lost in thought

.
,

and at last a curdl ing sm i l e li t up his swarthy fac e S mee had .

‘ ’
been waiting for it U n ri p your plan captain , he c ried
.
,

eagerly .

‘ ’
To return to the sh i p Hook replied slowly through his ,
‘
teeth and c ook a large r i ch cak e of a j olly thickness with green
,

s ugar on it There can be but one room below , for the re is

.

but one c himney The silly moles had not the sense to see
.

64
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
Save me save me ! cried Nibs fall i ng on the ground
, , .

But what can we do , what can we do ? ’

I t was a high compliment to Peter that at that dire moment

thei r thoughts turned to him .

‘ ’
What wou l d P e ter do ? they cri e d si multaneous l y .

‘
Almo s t i n the same breat h they added Peter wou l d look ,
’
at them through his leg s .

A st
h b y s dv
e o a a nce d up on te hi s t i bl t
h min t tit
ude
er r e a ,

’
And t h en L e t us do what P et e r wou l d do
, .

I t i s qu i te t h e mo s t successfu l way of defy i ng wolve s and ,

a s on e boy they bent and l ooked through the i r legs The next .

mom e nt i s t h e long one ! but victory came quick l y for a s the ,

boy s advanc e d upon t h em i n t hi s t er r i b l e att i tude the wolve s ,

dropped thei r tai l s and fled .

Now N i b s r o s e from the ground and the ot h ers thought ,

that h i s s tar i ng eyes s t ill saw the wo l ve s But i t wa s not wolve s

.

he s aw .

’
I have seen a wonderfu ll er th i ng h e cried a s they gath e red
, ,
‘
round him eager l y . A great wh i te b i rd I t i s fly i ng t h i s .

way .

‘ ’
What kind of a bird do you think ?
,

66
 T H E I SLAN D CO M E TRU E
’ ’
I don t know Nibs said awestruck but it l ooks so weary,
, ,

and as it flies i t moans Poor Wendy ,

!
.

’
Poor Wendy ?
’ ‘
I rem e mber said Sl i ght l y instantly there are b i rd s ca l led
, ,
’
Wendi es .

‘ ’
See it comes cr i ed Curly , point i ng to Wendy i n t h e
, ,

heavens .

t
h w ol s d
e ve ope
ro h i ti ls
dt e r a a nd
fled
.

W e ndy wa s now a l mo s t over h ead and t he y cou l d h e a r h er ,

p l a i nt i v e cry But mo re d i s t i nct came th e shri ll vo i c e of T i nker

.

Be l l The jealou s fa i ry h ad now cast off a ll d i sgu i se of fr i end

.

s h i p and wa s darting at her vict i m from eve ry dire ct i on p i nc hi ng

, ,

s avage l y each tim e s he touched .

’
H ullo T i nk cr i ed the wond e r i ng boy s
, , .

’
T i nk s reply rang out Pete r want s you to s h oot t h e W e ndy
’
.

It wa s not i n the i r nature to qu es t i on when Pet er ordered .

‘ ’
Let u s do w h at Pet er w i s h e s c ri ed t h e s i mple boy s Qu i ck
, .
,
’
bows and arrows .

A ll but Tootl es popped down the i r tree s H e had a bow .

and a r row w i th h im , and Tink noted it and r ubb e d her l i ttle ,

hands .

67
P ET E R PA NAN D WE N DY
‘
Quick Tootles quick , she screa med
,
’
Peter will be s o
.

’
pleased .

Outof the
‘
Tootle s exc itedly fitted the arrow to his bow .

’
wa y Tink he sho uted ! and then he fired and Wendy fl uttered
, , ,

to the grou nd with an arrow in her bre as t

.

68
C HAPT E R V I T HE L I TT L E H OU S E
’

FOOL I S H Tootles wa s s tanding l ike a conqueror over Wendy s

body when the other boys sprang armed from their t ree s , ,
.

‘
You are too late h e c ri ed proudly I have sh ot the
’

, ,
’
Wendy Peter wi ll be so p l ea s ed w i th me
. .

‘ ’
Overhead Tinker Be ll shouted S i l l y ass ! and da r ted into
hiding T h e others did not h e ar her They had crowd e d round
. .

Wendy and a s they l ooked a terrible si l e nce fe ll upon th e wood

, .

’
I f Wendy s heart h ad been b e at i ng they would a l l have h e a rd i t .

‘ ’
S l ightly was t h e first to s peak T hi s i s no bird h e s aid
.
,
’
in a scared voice I think i t mu s t be a l ady
. .

‘ ’
A lady ? s aid Tootles , and fell a trembl i ng -

’
And we have kill e d her N i bs sa i d hoarse ly , .

They all wh ipped off their caps .

‘ ’ ‘ ’
Now I see Curly sa i d ! Peter was br i nging her to us
, .

H e threw himself sorrowfu ll y on the ground .

‘ ’
A l ady to take care Of u s at l ast said one of the tw i ns , ,

‘ ’
and you have killed her .

They were sorry for him but sorr i er for themselves, and
,

when he took a step nearer them they turned from h i m .

’
Tootles face was very white but there wa s a dignity about ,

hi m now that had n e ver been there before .

‘ ’ ‘
I did it he said reflecting
, , When l adies used to come
.

to m e in dream s I s a i d , Pretty mother pretty mother

, But , .

’
when at last she really came I s hot her , .

H e moved s lowly away .

P ET E R PAN AN D WE NDY
’ ’
Don t go , they called in p i ty .

’ ‘ ’
I must he answered shaking ! I am s o afraid of Peter
, , .

I t was at this tragic moment t h at they h ea rd a sound w h ich

made the heart of every one of th e m ri s e to h i s mouth They .

heard P e ter crow .

Peter th e y cr i ed for it wa s a l ways thus that h e s ignalled

,

h i s return .

‘ ’
H i de her they whi s pered and gathered hast i ly around
, ,

Wendy But Tootles stood a l oof

. .

Again came that ring i ng crow and P e ter dropped i n fron t ,

‘ ’
of them Greet i ng , b oyS h e cried and mec h anically th e y
.
, ,

s a l uted and then aga i n wa s sil ence

, .

H e frown e d .

‘ ‘’ ’
I am back he s a i d hot l y w hy do you not ch ee r ?
, ,

They open e d t h eir mouth s but t h e cheers wou l d not ,

come He over l ooked i t i n hi s ha s te to te l l the g l or i ou s

.

t i d i ng s .

‘ ‘ ’
Great new s boy s he cr i ed I h ave brought at l ast a
, , ,
’
mot her for you a ll .

St ill no s ound exc e pt a l ittle thud from Tootle s a s he

,

dropped on hi s knees .

’
H ave you not se e n her ? asked Pete r b e com i ng troub l ed , .

S h e flew t hi s way .

‘ ’ ‘
Ah m e one vo i ce s a i d and anoth e r s a i d O h mournfu l
, , , ,

’ ‘
Toot les ro s e P e ter h e s a i d quietly I w i ll s how h e r to
.
, ,
’
you and when t h e other s wou l d s t i l l h ave hi dd e n h e r h e s a i d ,
’
Back tw i n s l et P e t e r s ee
, , .

S O t h ey a l l s tood back and l et him s e e and after h e had , ,

l ooked for a l i tt l e t i m e h e d i d not know wh at to do next .

‘ ’
Sh e i s dead he s aid uncomfortab l y , Perhap s s he i s .

’
fr i ght e n e d at be i ng d e ad .

70
 TH E LITTLE H OU S E
H e thought of hopping off in a comic sort of way til l he
wa s out of s ight of her , and then never going near the S pot any
more They would all have been glad to follow if he had
.

done this .

B ut there was the arrow He took it from her heart and .

faced his band .

’
Whose arrow ? he demanded sternly .

’
M i ne Pet e r , sa i d Tootles on his knees
, .

‘ ’
Oh dastard hand Peter s a i d and he raised the arrow to
, , ,

use it a s a dagger .

‘
Tootles did not fl i nch He bared his breast Strike . .
,
’ ’
Peter he said firmly , str i ke true
, .

Tw i ce di d Peter rai se the arrow , and tw i ce did his hand

‘ ’
fal l
. I cannot strike he sa i d w i th awe there is something
, ,
‘

’
stays my h and .

Al l looked at hi m i n wonder save N i bs who fortunately , ,

looked at Wendy .

’ ’
I t is s h e he cried the Wendy lady ! see her arm
, , , .

Wonderful to relate Wendy h ad ra i sed her arm Nibs ,

.

bent over her and listened reverently I th i nk s he said Poor .

!

h e whi s pered .

’
She lives , Peter said briefly .

‘ ’
S lightly crie d instantly The Wendy l ady l i ves , .

Then Peter knelt beside her and found h i s button You .

remember she had put it on a chain that s he wore round her

neck .

‘ ’ ‘
See he sa i d , the arrow struck against this It is the kiss
, .

’
I gave her I t has saved her life
. .

‘ ‘ ’
I remember kisses Slightly interposed qu ic kly l et me , ,
’
s e e it A y that s a kiss
.
,
’
.

Peter did not hear him H e was begging Wendy to get .

better quickly so that he could S how her the mermaids Of

, .

71
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
course s he could not answer yet , being still in a fr i ghtfu l fa i nt !
but from overhead came a wa il ing note .

‘ ‘ ’
Li s ten to Tink , said Curly , she i s c rying because the
’
Wendy lives .

Then they had to tell Pete r of T i nk s c r ime , and almo s t ’

never had they seen h i m look so st e rn .

‘ ’
Listen T i nker B e l l he cried
, I am your fr ie nd no more
, .

’
Begone from m e for ever .

She flew on to h i s sh ou l der and pl e aded but he bru s hed ,

h er off Not unt i l We ndy aga i n rais e d he r arm d i d h e relent

.

‘ ’
su ffici e ntly to s ay Wel l , not for e ver but for a w h o l e week
, , .

Do you t h ink T i nker Be ll wa s grateful to We ndy for ra i s i ng

h er a r m ? O h d e ar no neve r wanted to p i nc h h er so much, .

F a ir ie s indeed a re st r ange , and P e ter , w ho understood t h em

best O ft e n cu ffed them
, .

But what to do w i th Wendy i n h er present del i cate state

of healt h ?
’
Let u s carry h er down i nto the hou s e Cur l y s uggested , .

‘ ’ ‘ ’
A y s aid S l i gh t l y t h at i s what one does with ladie s
, , .

‘ ‘ ’
No no Peter sa i d you must not touch her I t would
, , , .

’
not b e suffici e ntly r es pectfu l .

‘ ‘’ ’
That s aid S li g h t l y i s what I wa s t hi nk i ng
, , .

‘ ’ ’
But i f she l ie s t here Toot les sa i d s h e w i ll d i e, , .

‘ ’‘
A y S he wil l d i e
, S li g h t l y adm i tt e d , but there i s no
,
’
way out .

‘ ‘ ’
Yes there i s c ri ed Peter
, Let us bu i l d a l ittle hou s e
, .

’
round h er .

‘ ’
Th ey were a l l de li ghted Qu i ck he ord e red them bring
.
, ,

me each of you the be s t of what we hav e G ut our hou s e Be . .

’
sharp .

I n a moment they wer e a s busy as tailor s the n i ght before

a wedding They skurr i ed this wa y and that down for bedd i ng ,
.
,

72
P ETE R PAN A ND WE N DY
And then John would rub his eyes and mutter It is true , ,
’
w e did fly .

You may b e s ure they were very relieved to find Peter .

’
H ullo Pete r , they s aid
, .

H u ll o rep l i e d Peter amicably , though he had quite forgotten

,
’

them H e wa s very busy at the moment m e as ur i ng We ndy w i th

.

h i s feet to s e e how l arge a house s h e would need Of cour se h e .

m e ant to l eave r oom for c h air s and a table John and Michael .

watc h ed hi m .

’
I s We ndy asleep ? they a s ked .

‘ ’
Ye s .

‘ ’ ‘
John M i chae l proposed l et u s wak e her and g e t h er to
, ,
’
mak e s upp er for u s ! but a s he s a i d i t s om e of t h e other boys
ru s h e d on carry i ng branc h e s for the bu i l ding of th e house .

’
Look at them I he cr ie d .

C u r ly s a i d Pet er i n h is most ca pt
‘ ’ ‘
, ain
y vo i ce see t h at .

’
the s e boy s hel p i n the bu il d i ng of the hou se .

‘ ’
A y a y si r
, , .

’
Bu i l d a h ouse ? exc l a i med Jo h n .

’
F or the W e ndy s a i d Cur l y , .

‘ ‘
Fo r We ndy ? John said aghast ’
W h y s he i s only a ,
.
,

‘ ’ ‘ ’
That exp l a i ned Cu rl y i s why we a re h er servant s
, ,
.

’
Y ou Wendy s s ervant s !
’ ’
Ye s , sa i d Peter and you a l so Away with them
, . .

Th e astound e d brothe rs were dragged away to h ack and

hew and car r y ‘
Cha i rs and a fender fi rst Peter ordered
.
’

,
.

’
Then we shall bu i ld th e hou s e round them .

‘ ’ ‘
A y sa i d S l ight l y
, that i s how a house i s built ! i t all
,
’
comes back to me .

‘ ‘ ’
Peter thought of everything Slight l y, he ordered , fetch .

’
a doctor .

74
 T H E L ITTLE H O U S E
‘ ’
A y, a y,
said Slightly at once , and disappeared , scratch i ng
h is head But he knew Peter must be obeyed , and he returned
.

i n a moment , wearing John s hat and looking solemn ’

.

‘ ’
‘ ’
Please s i r said Peter going to him are you a doctor ?
, , , ,

The di fference between him and the other boys at such

a time wa s that they knew it was make believe wh i le to h im -

make be l ieve and true w e re e xactly the same th i ng Thi s som e

-
.

time s troub l ed them as wh e n they h ad to make bel i eve that

,
-

they had had t h eir d i nner s .

I f they broke down i n their make be l ieve he rapped t h em -

on the knuckles .

‘ ’
Yes my little man anxious l y rep l i ed S light l y w h o had
, , ,

chapped knuckles .

’
Please sir Peter exp l a i ned a lady l ies ve ry i l l
, , , .
’

She was l ying at the i r feet but S lightly h ad t h e sense not ,

to see her .

‘ ‘ ’ ’
Tut , tut tut he s aid where does s he l i e ?
, , ,
’
I n yonder g l ade .

‘ ’
I wi ll put a glas s th i ng i n h er mouth s aid Sl i ghtly ! and ,

he made bel ie v e to do it whi l e Peter wa i t e d I t was an anx i ous

-

, .

moment when t h e glas s th i ng wa s w i thdrawn .

’
H ow i s s he ? inqu i r e d Peter .

‘ ‘’ ’
Tut , tut tut sa i d S l i ght l y , th i s h as cured her
, , .

’
I am glad Peter cr i ed , .

‘ ‘ ’
I will ca l l again i n the evening, Slightly said ! give her
’
beef tea out of a cup with a S pout to i t ! but after h e h ad
returned the hat to J ohn he blew b i g breath s wh i ch was h i s ,

habit on escaping from a di fficulty .

I n the meant i me the wood had been alive w i th the sound

of axes ! almost everyth i ng needed for a cosy dwelling already
’
lay at Wendy s fe et .

’ ‘
I f only we knew, sa i d one the kind of hou s e she l i kes b e st , .
’

75
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
’ ’
Peter shouted another , she is moving in her sleep
, .

‘ ’
H er mouth Open s cr i ed a third looking resp e ctful l y into
, ,
‘ ’
it
. Oh , lovely I
‘ ’
Perhaps she is going to sing in her sleep said Peter , .

’
Wendy S ing the kind of house you would l ike to h ave
, .

I mmediately without opening her eyes , Wendy began to

,

I w i sh I ha d a p rett y hou se,

T he l i ttl est v e r seen
e ,

W i t h fu nny l i ttl e red wa ll s

A nd roof of m ossy g reen
’
.

They gurg l ed w i th joy at t hi s for by the greatest good l uck

,

t h e branches they had brought were st i cky with red sap and all ,

the ground wa s carpeted wit h mo s s A s they rattled up the .

l i tt l e h ouse they broke i nto song themselve s

W e v e b u ilt t
’
he l i ttl e wa ll s a nd roof

A nd ma de a lov el y door ,

S o t e ll us m ot her W e ndy
, ,

W ha t a re you wa nt i ng m ore ?

To th i s s h e answered rathe r greedi l y !

Oh , rea ll y, nex t I t h ink I ll ha v e

‘ ’

G a y w indows a ll a bo ut ,
W i t h roses p eep i ng i n, you know ,
A nd b a b i es p eep ing out
’
.

With a blow of the i r fists th ey made window s and large ,

yellow l eaves were the bl i nds But roses

.

Ro ses cried ’

, Peter s t e rn l y .

Quick l y they made be l i eve to gr ow the lovelie st rose s up

-

the wal l s.

Bab i e s
76
 T H E LITTLE H O U S E
To prevent Peter ordering babies they h u r r ie d i nto song
agai n
‘
W e v e m a de t’
he ro ses p eep i ng out ,

T he b a b es a re a tt
h e door ,

W e ca nno t m a ke ou rselv es you know , ,

’
Cos we v e b een m a de b efore
’ ’
.

Peter seeing th i s to be a good i dea at once pretended that

, ,

it wa s h i s own The house wa s quite beaut i fu l and no doubt

.
,

Wendy wa s very co s y w i thin , though of cour s e they cou l d no

, ,

l onger s ee her Peter st rode up and down order i ng fin i sh i ng

.
,

touches Noth i ng e s cap e d his eagle eye Ju s t when it s eemed

. .

a bsolutely finished ,
‘ ’ ’
There s no knocker on th e door he s aid , .

They were very a s hamed but Tootle s gave t h e so l e of h i s

,

s hoe , and it made an excellent knocker .

Ab s olutely finish e d now they thoug h t , .

‘ ’ ’
Not a bit of i t T h e re 5 no c hi mney Peter s a i d ! we
.
,
‘

must h ave a chimney

’
.

‘
I t cert ’
ainly does n e ed a ch i mney s a i d John i mportant l y
, .

’
T hi s gave Peter an i dea H e s natch ed t h e h at off Jo h n s h ead
.
,

knocked out the bottom and put th e h at on the roof The l itt le
, .

house was so pleased to hav e s uch a capital ch i mney that a s i f to ,

sa y thank you smoke i mmed i ately began to come out of th e hat

, .

Now rea l ly and truly i t wa s fini s hed Noth i ng remain e d .

t o do but to knock .

‘
All look your be s t Peter warn e d them fi rstimpre ssi ons
’

,
‘

’
a re awfully i mportant .

H e wa s g l ad no on e asked h i m what first impre s sion s are !

they were all too busy looking their best .

H e knoc ked po l i t e ly ! and now the wood wa s as st il l a s

t he ch i ldren , not a s ound to b e hea r d except from T i nker Bell ,
who wa s watc hi ng from a branch and openly sneering .

77
P ET E R PAN AND WE NDY

What the boys wer e wonder i ng was , would any one answer
the knock ? I f a lady what wou l d S he be l i ke ? ,

Th e door opened and a l ady came out I t wa s Wendy . .

They all wh i pped Off their hats .

S he looked proper l y surpri s ed and thi s wa s j ust how t h ey ,

had hoped she would look .

‘
Wh e re am I ? she said ’
.

O f course S lightly wa s the fir s t to get h is word in Wendy .

’ ‘ ’
lady he sai d rapidly for you we bui l t t hi s house
, , .

’
Oh , say you re plea s ed cr ie d N i b s ’

, .

’
Love l y darl i ng h ou se Wendy said and they were the very
, , ,

words they h ad hoped she would say .

’
And w e are your ch i ldren cr i ed t he tw i ns , .

Then a ll went on the i r kn e es and holding out their arm s ,

cried 0 Wendy l ady be our mother , .

’

’ ’
Ought I ? Wendy sa i d al l sh i n i ng Of cour s e i t s fr i ght
, .

fully fasc i nati ng but you s ee I am on ly a l ittle girl I have no

, .

’
real exper ie nce .

‘ ’ ’
T h at doe s n t matt er s aid P e ter as i f he were the on l y
, ,

per s on pre s ent who knew a ll about it though he wa s rea ll y th e ,

‘
one w h o knew l ea s t What we need i s j u s t a n i ce motherl y
.

’
person .

‘ ’ ‘
Oh dear ! W e ndy sa i d you s ee I feel that i s exact l y ,
’
what I am .

‘ ’ ‘ ’
I t is it i s they al l cr i ed ! we s aw i t at once
, , .

‘ ‘
’
V e ry we l l s h e said , I w i l l do my be s t Come inside at
, .

onc e you naughty children ! I am s ure your fe et a re damp And

, .

before I put you to bed I have j u s t time to fin i s h t h e s tory of

’
C i nder e l l a .

’
I n they w e nt ! I don t know how there was room for them ,

but you can squeeze very t i ght in the Never l and And that wa s .

the first of the many j oyou s evenings t h ey had wit h Wendy .

78
 TH E LI T TLE H O U S E
By and by she tucked them up i n the great bed i n the home
under the tree s , but she her s elf s l ept that night i n the l i t tle
house and Peter k ept watch outside wit h drawn sword for t
, , he
p i rate s cou l d be heard carousing far away and the wo l ves were
on the prowl The l itt l e h ouse l ooked so cosy a nd safe i n t h e
.

darknes s with a bright l i ght show i ng t hr ough it s bl i nds and

, ,

t h e ch i mney s moking beautifu l ly a nd P e t e r stand i ng on guard

, .

After a time he fe l l as l eep and some un st

, eady fairi es had
to cl i mb over hi m on the i r way home fr om an orgy Any of the
.

other boy s obstruct i ng th e fa i ry path at n i ght th e y wou l d h av e

’
but they j ust tweak e d Peter s nose and passed

79
 P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
their home under the ground ! especia ll y Wendy I t consisted .

of one large room , as all houses should do , with a floor in w hi ch

you could dig if you wanted to go fi s hing , and in this floor grew
stout mushrooms of a charm i ng colour , which were used as
stools A Never tree tried hard to grow i n the centre of the
.

room but every morning they sawed the trunk through , level
,

with the floor By tea t i me i t was a l ways about two feet h i gh

.
-

and then they put a door on top of it th e who l e thu s becom i ng

,

a tab l e ! a s s oon as t h ey c l eared a way they sawed off the trunk

,

again and thus there was mo re r oom to p l ay There wa s an

, .

e normous fireplace wh i c h was i n a l most any part of the room

whe r e you care d to li ght i t and ac r os s th i s Wendy stretched
,

strings made of fibre from whic h she suspended h er wash i ng

, , .

The bed wa s ti l ted aga i n s t t h e wa ll by day, and let down at

when i t fi ll ed nea rl y hal f t h e r oom and al l the boys except
M i c h ae l s le pt i n it l y i ng li ke s a r d i n e s i n a t i n There wa s a
, .

str i ct r u l e again s t turn i ng round unt i l on e gave t he si gnal , when

a ll tu r ned at once Mic h ael sh ou l d have used i t a l so ! but
.

Wendy would h ave a baby, and he wa s t h e l i ttlest and you ,

k now what wom e n are and the sh ort and t h e l ong of i t is t h at

,

he wa s h ung up i n a bask e t .

It wa s roug h and s i mp l e and not u n li ke what baby bears

,

wou l d h ave made O f an underground h ous e i n the s ame c i rcum

s tances But the r e was one rece ss i n the wal l no l arger t h an
.
,

a b i rd cage w h ic h wa s the pr i vate apartment of T i nker Be ll

-

, .

I t could be s hut off from t h e rest of the home by a t i ny curta i n ,

which Tink w ho wa s most fa s tid i ou s a l way s kept drawn w h en

, ,

dres si ng or undressi ng No woman however large cou l d h ave

.
, ,

h ad a more exqui s ite boud oi r and bedc h amb e r comb i ned T h e .

couch a s she always ca ll ed it was a genu i ne Q ueen Mab , wi th

, ,

c lub legs ! and she var i ed the bed spread s acco rd i ng to what
-

fru i t b l ossom wa s in s eason Her mirror wa s a Puss i n boots

-

.
- -

82
 TH E HO M E U NDE R T H E G RO U N D
of which there are now only three unchipped , known to the ,

fa i ry dealers ! the wash stand wa s Pie crust and reversible , the

- -

chest of drawers an authentic Charming the S ixth , and the

c arpet and rugs of the be s t (the early) period of Margery and
Rob i n There was a chandelier from T i ddlywin ks for the look
.

of the thing but of course she l i t the residence herself Tink

, .

was very contemptuou s of the rest of the house as i ndeed was ,

perhaps inevitable ! and her chamber , though beautifu l l ooked ,

rather conceited having t h e appearance of a no s e permanent l y

,

turned up .

I suppos e it wa s all especial l y entrancing to Wendy because ,

those rampagiou s boys of hers gave her so much to do Rea l ly .

there were whole weeks when except perhap s with a stocking in

,

the evening she was never above ground The cooking, I can
, .

tel l you kept her nose to the pot Their chief food wa s roasted
, .

bread fruit yams , cocoa nuts baked p i g , mamme e—

-

,
-

, apples tappa ,

rolls and bananas , wa s hed down w i th cal abashes of poe poe ! but -

you never exactly knew whether there wou l d be a rea l meal or

’
j ust a make believe it al l depended upon Peter s whi m
-

, He .

could eat , really eat i f i t wa s part of a game but h e cou l d not

, ,

stodge j ust to feel stodgy which is what most children li ke better

,

than anything else ! the next best thing be i ng to ta l k about it .

Make be l ieve was so real to him that during a meal of i t you

-

could see him getting rounder Of cour s e i t wa s try i ng but

.
,

you simply had to follow his lead and if you could prove to him ,

that you were getting loose for your tree he let you stodge .

’
Wendy s favourite time for sewing and darning wa s after
they had all gone to bed Then , as she expressed it she had a
.
,

breathing time for h erself ! and s he o cc u p ied it in making new

things for them and putting double pieces on the knees for they
, ,

were all most frightfully hard on their knees .

When she sat down to a basketful of their stockings eve ry ,

83
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
heel with a ho l e i n it s he would fl i ng up her arms and exc l aim
,
‘
Oh d e ar , I am s ure I s ometimes think spi ns ter s are to be env i ed .

Her face beamed wh e n s he e xc l ai m e d th i s .

You rem e mber about her pet wolf We l l i t very s oon .

,

d i scovered that s he had come to the i sland and i t found he r

’
out and they j ust ran into eac h ot h er s arms Aft e r that i t
, .

fol l owed h er about eve rywhere .

A s time wore on d i d sh e t hi nk muc h about th e b el oved

parents S he h ad l eft be hi nd her ? Th i s i s a d i fficu l t qu e stion ,
b e caus e i t i s qu i te i mpo s s i b le to s ay h ow t i m e does w e a r on i n
the N e ver l and wh e r e i t i s calcu l at e d by moon s and sun s and
, ,

there are ev e r s o man y more of th e m than on t he ma i n l and .

But I am afra i d t h at We ndy d i d not re a ll y worry about h e r

fath er and mother ! she w a s ab s o l ut el y confid e nt that they wou l d
a lway s keep t he w i ndow O p e n for h er to fly back by and t his ,

gave he r comp l et e e a se of m i nd W h at d i d d is turb her at t i me s

.

w a s that Jo h n r e membered h i s parents vague l y only a s p e op le ,

h e h ad once known w hi le M i c h ae l wa s qu i t e w il li ng to be lieve

,

t h at S h e wa s r e a ll y hi s mot he r T hese t hi ngs s cared h e r a l i ttl e

.
,

and nob l y anx i ous to do her duty she tri e d to fix t h e Old li fe i n

,

t hei r m i nd s by s ett i ng t h em exam i nat i on pape rs on i t a s li k e as ,

po s s i bl e to t he on e s she u se d to do at s c h oo l T h e other boys .

t h ought th i s awfu ll y i nter es t i ng and i n si sted on j o i n i ng and

, ,

t hey mad e sl at es for t he m se lves and s at round th e tab le wr i t i ng

, ,

and t hi nk i ng h a r d about th e qu es t i on s she h ad wr i tt e n on anoth er

s lat e and passed round T h ey we r e t he mo s t o r d i na ry que s t i on s
—‘W h at wa s t he co l our of Mot he r s eyes ? Wh i ch wa s talle r
.

F ath e r or Mot h e r ? Wa s Mot he r b l ond e or brun e tte ? An sw e r

’‘
a ll t hr ee qu es t i on s i f po ssi b l e
.
(A ) Wr i t e an ess ay of not les s
than 40 word s on How I s pent my l a s t Ho li day s o r The ,

C a ra ct ers of Fat he r and Mother compar e d On l y on e of the s e

.

’
to be attempted .
’
Or De s cr i be Mot h er s l aug h ( 2) D es c ri be
84
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY

He often went out alone , and when he c ame back you were
never absolutely c ertain whether he had had an adventure or not .

He might have forgotten it so c ompletely that he said noth i ng

about it ! and then when you went out you found the body ! and ,

on the other hand , he might say a great deal about it and yet ,

you could not find the body Sometimes he came home with.

h i s head bandaged and then Wendy cooed over him and bathed
,

i t in lukewarm water wh i l e he told a dazzling tale But she

, .

was never quite sure you know There were , however many
, .
,

adventures which she knew to be true because she was in them

herse l f and there were s till more that were at least partly true
, ,

for the other boys were in them and s aid they were whol l y true .

To descr i be them a ll would requ i re a book as l arge as an English

Latin Latin Engli s h Dictionary and the most we can do is to
,
-

give one as a specimen of an average hour on the island The .

di fficu l ty i s which one to choose Should we take the brush

.

w i th th e redsk i ns at S l ight l y Gu l c h ? I t was a sanguinary affair ,

’
and e s p e cia l ly i nterest i ng as show i ng one of Peter s peculiar i ties ,

which wa s that i n the midd l e of a fight he would suddenly change

sides At the Gulch when victory w a s st i ll in the bal an c e s ome
.
, ,

t i mes leani ng th i s wa y and s ometimes that he cal l ed out , I m ‘ ’

red s kin to day ! what are you Tootle s

-
And Toot l e s answered
, ,

Redskin what are you N i bs and Nibs sa i d Redskin ! what

, ,

a re you Twin ? and so on ! and they were al l redskin ! and

,
’

of course thi s would have ended the fig h t had not the real
’
redsk i n s fascinated by Peter s methods agreed to be l ost boys
, ,

for that once , and so at it they a ll went again more fiercely ,

than ever
The extraordinary upshot of this adve nture was—but we
.

have not decided yet that thi s is the ad v enture we are to narrate .

Perhaps a better one would be the night attack by the redskins

on the house under the ground when several of them stuck in,

86
 TH E H OM E U ND E R T H E G ROU N D
t h e ho l low trees and had to be p ulled out like corks Or we .

’ ’
m i ght tell how Peter saved Tiger Lily s l ife in the Mermaids
Lagoon , and so made her h i s al ly .

Or we could tell of that c ake the pirates cooked so that the

boys might eat it and perish ! and how they placed it in one
cunni ng spot after another ! but alway s Wendy snatched i t from
the hands of her children so that in time i t lost its succulen c e
, ,

and became as hard as a stone , and was used as a mi s sile and ,

H ook fe l l over it in the dark .

’
Or suppose we tell of the birds that were Peter s friends ,
particularly of the Never bird that built i n a tree overhanging
the lagoon and how the nest fell into the water and st i l l the
, ,

bird sat on her eggs , and Peter gave orders that she was not
to be disturbed That is a pretty story , and the e nd show s how
.

grateful a b i rd can be ! but if we tell it we must also tel l the

whole adventure of the lagoon which would of course be tell i ng
,

two adventures rather than j ust one A shorter adventure and

.
,
’
quite as ex c iting , was Tinker Bell s attempt with th e help of ,

some street fairies , to have the sleepi ng Wendy conveyed on a

great floating l eaf to the mainland Fortunately the l eaf gave
.

way and Wendy woke , thinking it was bath time and swam -

,
’
back Or again , we m i ght choose Peter s defiance of t h e l ion s ,
.

when he drew a circle round him on the ground with an arrow

and defied them to cross it ! and though he waited for hours ,

with the other boys and Wendy looking on breathlessly from

trees , not one of them dared to accept hi s challenge .

Whi c h of these adventures sha l l we choose ? The best way

wi ll be to toss for it
.

I have tossed , and the lagoon has won This almost makes.

’
one wish that the gulch or the cake or Tink s leaf had won Of .

course I could do i t again and make it best out of three ! how

,

ever , perhaps fairest to stick to the lagoon .

87
 ’
C HAPTE R V III T HE M ERM A ID S LA G OON

IF you shut your eyes and are a lucky one , you may see at times
a shap eless pool of lovely pa l e co l our s s u s pended in the darkness !
then if you squeeze your eyes tighte r , the pool begins to take
s hape , and the colours be c ome s o v i vid t h at with another squeeze
they must go on fire But j u s t b e fore th ey go on fire you see the
.

lagoon This is the nearest you ever ge t to it on the mainland

.
,

j ust one heavenly moment ! if there cou l d be t wo moments you

m i ght see the surf and hear the mermaid s singing .

The children often spent l ong summer days on this lagoon ,

swimming or floating mo s t of t h e t i me , playing the merma i d

games in the water and so forth You mus t not think from th i s
.

that the mermaids were on friend l y terms with them ! on the

’
contrary , it was among Wendy s last i ng regrets that all the time
she was on the island she never h ad a civil word from on e of
them When she stole soft l y to the edge of the l agoon she might
.

see them by the s c ore , especia l ly on the Marooners Rock , where

’

they loved to bask , c ombing out the i r hair in a lazy way that
quite irritated her ! or she might even swim on tiptoe as it
t
,

were , to withi n a yard of them , but hen they saw her and
dived , probably s p lashing her w i th their tails not by acc ident
, ,

but intentionally .

They treated all the boys in the same way, except of c ourse
'
Peter , who c hatted with them on Marooners Roc k by the hour ,

and sat on their tails when they got cheeky He gave Wendy
.

one of their c ombs .

L 89
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY

The most haunting time at which to see them is at the

turn of the moon when they utter strange wai l ing cr i es ! but
,

the lagoon is dangerous for mo r ta l s then and unt i l the even i ng

,

of which we have to tell Wendy had never s een

, lagoon

5 he nev er ha d a ci v i l wor df rom one of t

hem
.

by moonl i ght , less from fear for of cour s e Peter wou l d have
,

accompanied h er than because sh e had s tr i ct rules about every

,

one being in bed by seven She wa s of ten at t h e lagoon how

.
,

ever on sunny days after rain when the mermaids come up in

, ,

90
P ETE R PA NAN D WE N DY
always hitherto been su c h a laughin g plac e seemed formidable
and unfriendly .

I t wa s not S he knew , that night had come but something

, ,

as dark as n ight had c ome No worse than that It had not

.
, .

c o me but it had sent that shiver through the sea to say that it
,

was c oming What was it

.

There crowded upon he r al l the stories she had been told of

Marooners Rock , so called because evil ca p tain s put sailors on
’

i t and leave them there to drown They drown when the tide .

rises , for then it i s submerged .

Of cour s e she should have roused the childre n at once ! not

merely becau s e of the unknown that was stalking toward them ,

but be c aus e i t was no longer good for them to sleep on a rock

g rown chil l y But she was a young mother and s he did not
.

know thi s ! she thought you s i mply must st i ck to your rule

about half an hour after the midday meal 5 0 t h ough fear was .
,

u p on her and she longed to hea r male voi c es , sh e would not

,

waken them Even when S he h e ard the sound of mu ffled oars ,

.

though her heart was i n her mouth , she did n ot waken them .

She stood over them to let t h em have their S leep out Was it .

not brave of Wendy ?

I t wa s we ll for those boys then that there wa s one among
them who could sni ff danger even in his sleep Peter sprang .

erect , as wide awake at once as a dog , and with one warning cry
he roused th e others .

H e stood motionless , one hand to his ear .

‘ ’
Pirates ! he cried Th e others c ame clo s er to him A
. .

strange sm i le was playing about h is fa ce , and Wendy saw it

and shuddered While that s mile was on his face no one dared
.

address him ! all they c ould do wa s to stand ready to obey The .

order c ame sharp and i n c isive .

‘
Dive
92
 TH E M E RMAI DS LAGOO N
’

There was a gleam of legs and instantly the lagoon seemed ,

deserted Marooners Rock stood alone i n the forbidding wat e rs ,

.
’

as if it were itself marooned .

The boat drew neare r I t wa s the pirate d i nghy with three

.
,

figures in her S mee an d Starkey and the third a captive no

, , ,

other than Tiger Li l y Her hands and ank l es were t i ed and

.
,

she knew what was to be her fate She wa s to be l eft on the .

rock to perish an end to one of her race more t e rr i ble t h an death

,

by fire or torture , for is i t not w ri tten i n the book of t h e trib e

that there i s no path through water to the h appy hunting ground ? -

Yet her face wa s impassive S he wa s th e daughter of a ch i ef she ,

’
mu s t d ie as a chi e f s daug hter it i s enoug h , .

They had caught her boarding the p i rate sh i p w i th a kn i fe i n

her mouth NO watch wa s kept on th e ship i t be i ng Hook s
’
.
,

boast that the wind of h i s name guard e d the s h i p for a m i l e

around Now her fate would h e lp to guard it a l so One more
. .

wail wou l d go the round i n that w i nd by n i ght .

I n the g l oom t h at they brought w i th them the two pirates

did not see the rock till they crash e d i nto i t .

’ ’
Lu ff, you lubber cried an I rish voice that wa s Smee s
,
‘ ’
here 5 the rock Now then what we have to do i s to hoi s t
.
, ,
’
the redskin on to i t , and leave her there to drown .

I t wa s the work of one bruta l mom e nt to land the beautiful

girl on the rock ! she w a s too proud to o ffer a vain res i s tanc e .

Quite near the rock but out of s ight , t

, w o head s were bobbing
’ ’
up and down , Peter s and Wendy s Wendy wa s c ry i ng for i t .
,

was the first tragedy s he ha d seen Peter had s een many .

tragedies , but he had forg otten them all H e was less sorry .

than Wendy for Tiger Lily ! i t wa s two against one that angered
him , and he meant to save her An easy way would have been .

to wait unt i l the pirates had gone but he was neve r one to choose ,

the easy way .

93
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY

There was almost nothing he could not do and he now ,

I mitated the voice of Hook .

‘ ’
Ahoy there , you lubbers he cal l ed I t was a marvellous , .

imitation .

‘ ’
The captain said the pirates , star i ng at each other i n
,

surpr i se .

’
He must be swimm i ng out to u s Starkey said when they , ,

had l ooked for him i n vain .

‘ ’
We are putt i ng t h e redskin on the rock Smee called out , .

’
Set her free came the a s ton i shing answer
, .

‘
Fr e e
‘ ’
Y e s cut h e r bond s and let he r go
, .

But captain ,

A t
‘ ’ ‘ ’ ’
onc e d ye h ear c ri ed Peter or I l l plunge my h ook
, , ,
’
i n you .

‘ ’
T hi s i s queer Sme e gasped , .

’
Bett e r do what the capta i n ord e r s s aid Starkey n e rvously , .

‘ ’ ’
A y a y Smee s aid and h e cut T i ge r L il y s cords
, , , At .

’
onc e li ke an ee l s he s lid b e tween Sta rkey s l eg s i nto t h e wat e r .

’
Of cour se Wendy w a s very e l at e d over Peter s cleve rne ss !
but s h e kn e w t h at he wou l d be e l ated also and very l i kely crow
and thu s betray h i m sel f s o at once h er h and went out to cover
,
‘
h i s mout h B ut i t wa s s tayed even in the act for Boat ahoy
.
,
’
rang over the lagoon i n Hook s vo i ce and t hi s t i me i t wa s not ,

P e ter w ho h ad s poken .

Peter may have be e n about to crow but h i s face puckered ,

i n a w h i s tle of s urpr i se i n s tead .

Boat ahoy ! aga i n cam e the cry .

Now Wendy unde r stood The rea l Hook was a l so i n t h e .

water .

He was swimm i ng to t h e boat , and as h i s men s h owed a

l ig h t to guide h im he had soon reac h ed them I n the l ight of .

94
P ETE R PAN A N D WE N DY
moth er What a lesson The nest must have fallen into the
. .

water but would the mother desert her eggs ? No

, .
’

There wa s a break in his voi c e as if for a moment he re c alled

i nnocent clays when —but he brushed away this weakness with
,

his hook .

S mee mu c h i mpressed gazed at the bird as the nest was

, ,
‘
borne past but the more suspi c ious Starkey said I f she i s a
, ,
’
mother perhaps she is hanging about here to help Peter
, .

‘ ‘ ’
H ook w i nced A y he said that i s the fear that
.
, ,
’
h aunts me .

’
He wa s roused from this deje c tion by Smee s eager voice .

‘ ’‘
Captain said Smee cou l d we not kidnap these boys
, ,
’

’
mother and make her our mother ?
‘ ’
I t i s a princely scheme cr i ed Hook and at once it took , ,

practical shape i n his great brain ‘

W e will seize the ch i ldren .

an d carry them to the boat ! the boy s we will make walk the
’
plank and Wendy shall be our mother
, .

Again Wendy forgot herself .

Neve r ! she cried and bobbed , .

‘
What wa s that ? ’

But they could see not h ing They thought it must have .

‘ ’
been but a leaf in the wind Do you ag ree my bullies ? .
,

asked Hook .

‘ ’
There is my hand on it they both said , .

‘ ’
And there is my hook Swear . .

They all swore By this time they were on the ro c k , and

.

sudden ly H ook remembered Tiger Li l y .

‘
Where is the redskin he demanded abruptly .

H e had a playful humour at moments and they thought ,

this wa s one of the moments .

‘ ’
That i s all right , captain Smee answered complac ently ! ,
’
‘
we let her go .

96
P ET E R PAN AN D WE NDY
though he had become , he scarcely heeded them Against such .

fearful eviden c e it was not their belief in him t h at he needed , it

’
was his own H e felt his ego slipping from hi m
. Don t .

’
desert me , bul ly , he whispered hoarsely to it .

I n his dark nature there was a touch of the feminine as i n ,

all the great pirates , and it sometimes gave him intuitions .

Suddenly he tried the guessing game .

’ ’
H ook , he called have you another voice ?
,

Now Peter could never res i st a game he answered ,

’
blithely in his own voice , I have .

‘ ’
And another name ?
‘ ’
A y, a y .

‘ ’
V egetable ? asked H ook .

Man
’
No I This answer rang out scornfully .

Boy

‘
Ordinary boy ?
’

No I
‘ ? ’
Wonderful boy
To Wendy s pain the answer that rang out this time wa s Yes
’
.

Are you in England

‘ ’
Are you here ?
‘ ’
Yes .

‘
Hook was completely puzzled You a s k h i m some .

q uestions he
,
sai
’
d to the others wi ping his damp brow , .

98
 ’
T H E M E RMAI D S LAGOO N
‘ ’ ’
S mee refle c ted I can t thi nk of a thing, he said
.

regretfully .

’ ' ’
Can t guess , can t guess , crowed Peter Do you give it u p .

Of course in his pride he was carrying the game too far ,

and the miscreants saw their chance .

‘ ’
Yes , yes they answered eagerly
, .

‘ ’ ‘
Well , then he cried , I am Peter Pan
, .
’

Pan !
I n a moment Hook was himself again , and Smee and
Starkey were his fait h ful henchmen .

‘ ‘ ’
Now we have him Hook shouted I nto the water
, .
,

Smee Starkey , mind the boat Take hi m dead or alive

. . .
’

He leaped as he spoke and S imultaneously came the gay ,

voice of Peter .

‘
Are you ready boys ? ,
’

‘ ’
A y a y from various parts of the lagoon
, , .

‘ ’
Then lam i nto the pirates .

The fight wa s short and sharp First to draw blood was .

John w h o gallantly cl imbed into the boat and held Starkey

, .

There wa s a fierce struggle , in w hi ch the cutlass wa s torn from

’
the pirate s grasp He wriggled overboard and John leapt after
.

him The dinghy drifted away

. .

Here and there a head bobbed up in the water a nd there ,

was a fl ash of steel followed by a c ry or a w h oop I n the .

confus i on some struck at their own side The corkscrew of .

Smee got Tootles in the fourth rib but he was himself pinked ,

i n turn by Cu rly Farther from the rock Starkey was pressing

.

Slightly and the twins hard .

Where all this time was Peter ? He was seeking bigger

game .

The others were all brave boys , and they must not be
blamed for backing from the pirate capta i n H is iron c law .

99
 PETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
made a c irc l e of dead water round him , from wh i ch they fled
like affri g hted fishes .

But there was one who did not fear him ! there was one
prepared to enter that circ le .

Strangely it wa s not i n the water that they met Hook

, .

rose to the rock to breathe , and at the s ame moment Peter

s c aled it on the opposite side The rock wa s s li ppery as a ball
.
,

and they had to crawl rather than c l imb Neither knew that .

’
the other was coming Eac h feel i ng for a gr i p met t h e other s
.

arm i n surprise they raised their heads their faces were a l most
touching ! so they met .

Some of the greatest heroes have confe ss ed that j u s t before

they fel l to t h ey had a s inking Had i t been so with Peter at
.

that moment I would adm i t i t After a ll , th i s was the only man

.

that the Sea C ook h ad feared But Peter had no s i nk i ng h e

-
.
,

had one feeling only gladness and h e gnashed h i s pretty te e th

,

with joy Quick as thought h e snatched a kn i fe from Hook s

.
’

belt and was about to dr i ve it home , when he s aw that he was

higher up the rock than h i s foe I t would not have been fighting
.

fair He gave the pirate a hand to h e l p h i m up

. .

It wa s t h en that Hook bit him .

Not the pain of thi s but its unfairne ss was what dazed Peter .

I t made h i m qu i te he l p le ss He cou l d only stare horr i fied

.
, .

Every child is a ffected thus the first t i me he i s treated unfa i r l y .

All he thinks he has a right to when h e com es to you to be your s

is fairness After you have been unfair to h i m h e wi l l love you
.

again , but he w i l l never afterwards be qu i te the same boy .

/ No one ever gets over the first unfa i rnes s ! no one except Peter .

e Often met i t but he always forgot i t I suppose that was

,
.

e real d i fference between h i m and a l l t h e re s t .

So when he met i t now i t wa s l i ke the first t i me ! and

he c ould j ust stare , helpless Twice the iron hand clawed him
. .

1 00
P ET E R PAN AND WE N DY
‘
Do you think you c ould swim or fly as far as the island ,
’
Wendy, without my hel p ?
She had to admit that she was too tired .

H e moaned .

‘
What is it ? she asked , anxious about h im at once
’
.

’
I can t hel p you , Wendy .

Hook wounded me I can neither .

’
fly nor swim .

‘
Do you mean we s h al l both
’
be drowned ?
‘
Look how the water is ris

They p ut their hands over

their eyes to shut out the S ight .

They thought they would soon be

no more As they sat thus some
.

th i ng brushed against Peter as

l i ght as a kiss , and stayed there,
‘
as if saying timidly, Can I be of
’
any use ?
I t was the tail of a kite whi ch ,

Michael had made some days b e

fore I thad torn itself out of his
.

hand and floated away .

‘ ’ ’
Mi c hael s kite Peter said ,

w i thout interest but next moment ,

he had seized the tail , and was pull

ing the kite toward him .

‘
I t lifted M i c hael off the
’ ‘
ground , he cried ! why s hould it
’
not carry you ?
I n a f ew es she w a s borne out
mi nut
Both of us I ’

1 02
 ’
T H E M E RMAI DS LAGOO N

‘
I t can t l ift two ! M i c hael and Cu rly tried
’
.
’

‘ ’
Let us draw lots , Wendy said bravely .

‘ ’
And you a lady ! never Already he had tied the tail
.

round her She c lung to him ! she refused to go without him !

.

‘ ’
but with a Good bye , Wendy he pushed her from the ro c k !
-

and in a few minutes she was borne out of his sight Peter was .

alone on the lagoon .

The ro c k was very small now ! soon it would be submerged .

Pale rays of light t ip toed across the waters and by and by there
wa s to be heard a sound at on c e the most mus i cal and the most
melanc h oly in the world the mermaids calling to the moon .

Peter was not quite l ike other boys ! but he was afraid at
last A tremor ran through him l i ke a shudder passing over
.
,

the sea ! but on the s ea one shudder follows another till there
are hundreds of them and Peter felt j ust the one Next moment
, .

he was standing erect on the rock again with that smile on his
,
‘
face and a drum beating within him I t wa s saying To die
.
,
’
wi ll be an awfu l ly big adventure .

I o3
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
She called out to him what S he had come for and he called ,

out to her what was she doing there ! but of course neither of
the m understood the other s language I n fan c iful s tories peop le
’
.

can talk to the birds free l y and I wish for the moment I could
,

pretend that this was such a story , and say that Peter replied
intelligently to the Never bird ! but truth i s best and I want ,

to tell on l y what really happened Well not only could they

.
,

not understand each other but they forgot the i r manners

I want—you —to —get—into —the—nest the bird called
, .

‘ —
,

speaki ng as slow l y and dist i nctly as possible and —then—you

—can—dr i ft—ashore but—I —a m—too — tired —to—bri ng—i t
,

any—nearer—so—you —must—try—to—swim—to—it
,
’
.

‘ ? ‘ ’
What are you quacking about Peter answered Why .

’
don t you let the nest drift as usual
I —want—you the bird said and repeated it all over
, .

Then Peter tried slow and di s tinct

What—are—you—q uac king—about
.

‘
and so on .

The Never bird became irritated ! they have very short

tempers .

‘ ’‘ ’
You dunderheaded little jay she screamed why don t
,
!

,
’
you do as I tell you ?
Peter felt that she was calling h i m names and at a venture ,

he retorted hotly !
‘
So are you
Then rather curious l y they both snapped out the same
remark
‘
t
S h u up l
’

Shut up
Nevertheless the bird was determined to save him if she
could , and by one last mighty e ffort she propelled the nest
against the rock Then up she flew ! deserting her e ggs so as
. ,

to make her meaning clear .

I o6
 T H E N E V E R B I RD
Then at last he understood , and clutched the nest and waved
his thanks to the bird as she fluttered overhead I t was not .

to receive his thanks however , that she hung there in the sky !
,

it was not even to wat c h hi m get i nto the nest ! i t was to see
what he did with her eggs .

T h ere were two l arge white eggs and Peter l ifted them up
,

and refle c ted The bird covered her face with her wings , so as
.

not to see the last of her eggs ! but she could not help peeping
between the feather s.

I forget whet h er I have told you that there was a stave on

the rock driven into it by some buccaneers of l ong ago to mark
,

t h e s i te of buried treasure The chi l dren had discovered the

.

g li ttering hoard , and when in mischievous mood used to fling

showers of moidores , diamonds , pearls and piece s of eight to the
gull s who pounced upon them for food , and then flew away
, ,

raging at the s curvy trick that had been p l ayed upon them The .

stave was sti l l there and on i t Starkey h ad hung hi s hat a deep

, ,

tarpau l in , watertight with a broad br i m Peter put the eggs

, .

into this hat and set it on the lagoon I t floated beaut i ful l y
. .

The Never bird saw at once what he wa s up to and ,

sc reamed her adm i ration of him ! and , alas Peter crowed h i s

,

agreement w i th her Then he got into the nest reared the

.
,

stave in it as a mast and hung up h is shirt for a sail At the

, .

same moment the bird fluttered down upon the hat and once
more sat snugly on her eggs Sh e drifted in one direct i on and
.
,

he was borne off i n another , both cheering .

Of course when Peter l anded he beached hi s barque in a

place where the bird would easily find it ! but the hat was such
a great suc c ess that she abandoned the nest I t drifted about .

til l it went to pieces , and often Starkey came to the shore of the
l agoon , and with many bitter feelings , watched the bird sitting
on his hat A S we shall not see her again , it may be worth
.

1 07
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
mentioning here that all Never birds now build in that shape of
nest , with a broad brim on which the youngsters take an airing .

Great were the rej oicings when Peter reached the home
under the ground almost as s oon as Wendy , who had been
c arried hither and thither by the kite Eve ry boy had adventures
.

to tell ! but perhaps the biggest adventure of all was that they
were several hours late for bed This so inflated them that
.

they did various dodgy things to get staying up still longer , such
as demanding bandages ! but Wendy , though glorying in having
them al l home again safe and sound was scandalised by the
,
’
lateness of the hour and c ried , To bed to bed , i n a voi c e that
, ,

had to be obeyed Next day however S he was awfully tender

.
, , ,

an d gave out bandages to eve ry one ! and they played till bed
time at li mping about and c arrying their arms i n S lings
.

1 08
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
Secretly Wendy sympathised with them a l i ttle but s he ,

wa s far too loyal a hou s ewife to l i s t e n to any complaint s aga i nst

‘ ’
father .
Father know s be s t she a l way s sai d whatever her
, ,

private Op i nion must be Her private O pinion was t h at the

.

redsk i n s shou l d not call h er a squaw .

We have now reached t h e even i ng that was to be known

among them as t h e N ight of N i ghts because of its adventures ,

and t h e i r up s hot The day a s if qu i et l y gathering i ts forces ,

.
,

h ad b ee n a l most unev e ntfu l and now the red s ki ns i n t h eir

,

b l ank e t s were at the i r posts above w hil e b el ow, t h e chi l dren , ,

were h av i ng t hei r even i ng m e a l ! a ll except Peter who had gone ,

out to get the t i me The wa y you got t h e tim e on t h e i sl and

.

wa s to find the c r ocodi l e and then s tay n e ar hi m t i ll the c l ock

,

s truck .

T hi s m e a l h appened to be a make be li eve tea and they sat -

round t he boa rd guzz l i ng i n t h e i r greed ! and rea ll y what wit h

, ,

th ei r c h atter and recri gi na t ions th e no i s e as Wendy s a i d w as

, , ,

positiv el y deafen i ng To be sure sh e d i d not m i nd no i s e , but

.
,

s he si mp l y wou l d not h ave them g rabb i ng th i ngs and th e n ,

excu si ng t h emse l ve s by s ay i ng t h at Tootle s had pu s hed thei r

e l bow Th e re wa s a fixed ru l e t h at t h ey must n e ve r h i t back
.

at mea l s but s hou l d refer the matter of d is pute to Wendy by

,
‘
rais i ng th e r i ght arm po l i te l y and s ay i ng I compla i n of so and ,
-

s o ! but what u s ua ll y happened wa s t h at they forgot to do th i s

’

or d i d i t too much .

‘
S i le nce cried Wendy when fo r t he twentiet h time she had
’

,
‘
to l d t h em that t h ey we r e not a ll to s peak at once I s your .

’
calabas h empty S l ig h t l y dar li ng ?
,
’
Not qu i te empty mummy S li ght l y said after l ook i ng into
, , ,

an i mag i nary mug .

’ ’
H e h asn t even begun to dr i nk hi s milk Nibs interposed , .

T hi s was te ll ing and Sl i g h t l y se i zed h i s chance

,
.

I IO
 T H E HAPPY H O M E
‘ ’
I compla i n of N i b s he cried promptly ,
.

John howeve r h ad he l d up h i s h and fir s t

, ,
.

‘ ’
We ll J o h n ? ,
’ ’
May I si t i n Peter s cha i r a s he i s not h e re ? ,
‘
S i t i n fat h er s cha i r Jo h n ! Wendy wa s scandal i sed
’

,
.

‘ ’
Certa i n l y not .

‘ ‘ ’
H e i s not real l y ou r fathe r John an s we red He d i dn t , .
’

’
even know h ow a fath e r does t ill I s how e d hi m .

‘ ’
Th i s was grumbl i ng We comp l ain of John cr i ed the .
,

twins .

Tootles he l d up h i s h and He w a s s o much the h umblest .

of th e m , i ndeed h e wa s the on l y h umb le on e that Wendy wa s ,

spec i al ly gentle w i t h hi m .

‘
I don t s uppo s e Tootle s said di ffi dent
’ ‘
,
’
ly that I cou l d be ,
’
father .

’
No Tootles , .

Once Tootles began w h ich wa s not very often he h ad a , ,

s il ly way of going on .

‘ ’ ‘ ’
As I can t be fat he r h e s a i d heavil y I don t suppo se , ,
’

,
’
M i chae l , you wou l d l et me be baby ?
’ ’
No , I won t M i chael rapped out H e wa s a l ready i n hi s
, .

basket .

‘ ’ ’
As I can t be baby Toot l e s sa i d getting h eav i e r and , ,
‘ ’
heavier , do you th i nk I could be a tw i n ?
‘ ’ ‘ ’
No indeed repl i ed the twi ns ! i t s awful l y d i fficult to be
, ,
’
a twin .

‘ ’ ‘ ’
As I can t be anyth i ng i mportant sa i d Tootl e s would , ,
’
any of you l ike to see me do a trick ?
‘ ’
No , they all replied .

‘ ’
Then at last he stopped I hadn t really any hOpe he .
’

The hateful telling broke out agai n .

! I
PETE R PA NA ND WE NDY
’
Sli g htly is coughin g on the table
—
.

’
The twins began with mammee ap ples .

‘ ’
Curly is taking both ta p pa rolls and yams .

’
Nibs is speakin g with his mouth full .

‘ ’
I c omplain of the twins .

‘ ’
I complain of Curly .

‘ ’
I c omplain of N ibs .

‘ ’
‘ ’
Oh dear oh dear , c ried Wendy, I m sure I sometimes
,
’
think that children are more trouble than they are worth .

She told t h em to c lear away, and sat down to her work

basket ! a heavy load of sto c kings and every knee with a hole in
i t as usual
.

‘
Wendy, remonstrated M i chael , I m too big for a c radle
’ ’
.
’

‘ ’
I must have somebody in a cradle , she said a l most tartly ,
‘
and you are the l ittlest A cradle is su c h a nice homely thing
.

’
to have about a house .

While she sewed they played around her ! su c h a group of

happy fac es and dan c ing limbs l i t up by that romanti c fire It .

had be c ome a very familiar scene this i n the home under the
ground , but we are looking on i t for the last time .

There was a step above , and Wendy , you may be sure , wa s

the first to recognise it .

‘ ’
Children , I hear your father s step He likes you to meet .

’
him at the door .

A bove , the redskins c rouc h ed before Peter .

‘ ’
Wat c h well , braves I h ave s poken
. .

And then as so often before , the gay chi l dren dragged him
,

from his tree As so often before but never again

.
, .

He had brought nuts for t h e boys as wel l as the c orre c t time

for Wendy .

’
Peter , you j ust spoil them you know, Wendy simpered , .

‘ ’
A y, old lady said Peter hanging up his gun
, , .

1 1 2
 TH E HAPPY H O M E
‘
I twas me told him mothers are called old lady M ichael ’

wh i s pered to Cu rl y .

‘
I comp l a i n of M i chael s aid Curly i nstant l y ,
’
.

T h e fir s t tw i n came to Pete r Fat h e r we want to danc e .

,
.

‘
Dance away my l i ttle man , s aid Peter w ho wa s i n hi g h
,
’

good h umour .

’
But we want you to dance .

P e t e r wa s real l y t h e best dancer among them but he ,

prete nded to be s canda l i s ed .

Me ! My o l d bone s would ratt l e .

‘ ’
And mummy too .

‘ ’ ‘
W h at cr i ed Wendy t h e mother of suc h an armfu l
, , ,

dance
But on a Saturday n i g h t S li g h tly i n si nuated ,
’
.

It w a s not real l y Saturday n i ght at l e a s t i t may h ave b een , ,

for they h ad long l ost count of the day s ! but a l way s i f th e y

wanted to do anyt hi ng spec i a l t h ey sa i d t hi s wa s Saturday night ,

and t h en t h ey d i d it .

‘ ’
Of cour s e i t i s Saturday n i g h t Peter Wendy s aid , , ,

relent i ng .

’
Peop l e of our figure , Wendy .

’
But i t i s on l y among our own progeny .

‘ ’
True true , .

So t he y were told th ey cou l d dance , but they must p uton

their nightie s first .

‘ ’
A h O ld l ady Peter sa i d as i de to Wendy warming h i m s elf
!
, , ,

by the fi r e and l ooking down at her as sh e s at tu r n i ng a h e el ,

‘
there i s noth i ng more p l easant of an even i ng fo r you and me
’
when the day s toi l is over t h an to rest by the fire w i th t h e l ittle
ones near by
‘ ’ ’
It is sweet Peter isn t it ? , Wendy said frightfully
, ,
‘ ’
gratified .Peter I think Curly has your nose
, .

0 1 1 3
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
’
M i c hael takes after you .

She went to hi mand put her hand on his shoulder .

’‘
Dear Peter , S he said , with such a large family, of c ourse,
’
I have now p assed my best , but you don t want to c hange me ,
’
do you ?
N 0, Wendy .
’

Certainly he did not want a chan ge , but he looked at her

uncomfortably ! blinking you know like one not sure whether
, ,

he wa s awake or asleep .

’
Peter , what is it ?
‘ ‘ ’
I was j ust thinking , he said , a little s c ared It is on l y .

’ ’
make believe , isn t it , that I am their father ?
-

’
Oh yes , Wendy sa i d prim l y .

‘
You see , he c ontinued apologetically , it would make me
‘
’

’
seem s o old to be their real fat h er .

’
But they are ours , Peter yours and mine , .

’
But not really, Wendy ? he asked anxiously .

‘ ' ’
Not if you don t wish i t , s he replied ! and she distinctly
‘ ’
heard his sigh of relief Peter she asked , trying to speak
.
,
’
firmly what are your exact feelings for me ?
,
’
Those of a devoted son Wendy , .

‘ ’
I thought so, she said , and went and sat by herself at the
extr e me end of the room .

’
You are so queer , he said , frankly pu zzled , and Tiger Lily
is j ust the same There is something she wants to be to me,
.

’
but she says it i s not my mother .

’
No, indeed ,it is not , Wendy replied with frightful empha s is .

Now we know why she was prejudiced against the redskins .

‘ ’
Then what is it ?
’ ’
I t isn t for a lady to tel l .

’
Oh very well , Peter s aid , a little nettled
, Perhaps .

’
T i nker Bell will tell me .

I I4
P ETE R PAN AND WE NDY
to be their last hour on the island , l et us rej oice that there were
sixty glad minutes in it They sang and danced i n t h eir night
.

gowns .
S uch a del i ciously creepy song i t wa s, i n which they
pretended to be frightened at their own S hadows ! l itt l e w i tting
that so soon shadows would clo s e in upon th e m , from whom they
would shrink i n rea l fear So uproar i ous l y gay was the dance ,
.

and how they bu ffeted each other on the bed and out of it !
I t was a pillow fight rather than a dance , and w h en i t was
finished , the pillows in s i sted on one bout more , like partners
W ho know that they may never meet aga i n The s to r i es they .

’
to l d before i t wa s tim e for Wendy s good n i ght story ! Even
,
-

S l i g h t l y tr i ed to te l l a s tory that n i ght but the beg i nn i ng

,

w a s so fearfully dul l that i t appalled e ven himse l f and he s a i d

,

gloomily !
‘
Ye s i t i s a dul l beginning I s ay l et u s pretend t h at i t
, .
,
’
is the end .

’
And then at l a s t they a ll got into bed for Wendy s s tory t he ,

story they l oved b es t t h e s tory Peter hated U s ua ll y w he n s he

, .

b egan to te l l this story h e le ft t h e room o r put his h ands ove r

hi s ear s ! and po s s i b l y i f h e h ad don e ei t he r of tho s e th i ng s th i s
t i me they m i g h t a ll s til l be on th e i s land But to nigh t h e
.
-

remained on hi s stoo l and we S h a ll see w h at h appened .

1 1 6
C HAPTE R X I
’
W END Y S S TO RY
‘ ’
L I S T E N t h en sai d Wendy s ett l i ng down to h e r s tory w i t h
, , , ,
‘
M i c h a el at her fe e t and seve n boy s i n t h e b e d Th e re wa s onc e .

a gent l eman
I h ad r at he r he had been a l ady C u rl y s a i d
’

, .

I w i sh he h ad b e en a w hi t e r at s a i d N i b s
’

, .

’ ‘
Qu ie t t h e i r moth e r admo nishe d t he m
, T her e w a s a .

l ady a ls o and
,

O mummy c ri ed t h e first tw i n you mean t hat t he r e i s a

’

, ,
‘

’
l ady a ls o , don t you ? S h e i s not dead i s sh e ? ,
’

’
O h no
.

‘ ‘
I am awfu ll y g l ad s h e i s n t dead sa i d Tootles A re
’

, .

g l ad
, Jo h n
Of cours e I am .
’

‘
A re you g la d N i b s ,
‘
Rather .
’

‘
Are you glad Tw i ns ,
’
We ar e j u s t g l ad .

’
Oh dea r s i g he d Wendy
, .

‘ ’
Litt l e l e s s no is e t h ere Peter ca lle d out determ i n e d t h at
, ,

s he S hou l d h ave fa i r p l ay h oweve r beast l y a story i t m i ght be

,

in h i s op i nion .

‘ ’ ’ ‘
The gentleman s name We ndy continu e d wa s M r Dar li ng
, , .
,
’
and her name was M rs Da rl i ng . .

’
I knew th e m Jo h n said to annoy the ot h er s
, , .

1 1 7
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
’
I think I knew them said M ichael rather doubtfully , .

‘ ‘ ’
They were married you know , explained Wendy and , ,

what do you think they had

‘ ’
White rats cried Nibs , inspired
, .

’
No .

‘ ’ ’
It s awfully puzzling said Tootles who knew the sto ry , ,

by heart .

‘ ’
Quiet Tootles They had three des cendants
, . .

‘ ’
What is descendants ?
‘ ’
Wel l , you are one Twin , .

’
Do you hear that John ? I am a des c endant , .

‘ ’
Descendants are only children said John , .

‘ ‘ ’
Oh dear oh dear s i ghe d Wendy
, Now these three
, .

c hildren had a faithful nurse c alled Nana ! but Mr Darling was .

angry with her and cha i ned her up i n the yard ! and so a ll the
’
children flew away .

It
’ ’
s an awfully good story said N ibs , .

‘ ’ ‘
They flew away , Wendy continued to the Neverland , ,
’
where the lost ch i ldren are .

’ ’
I j ust thought t h ey did Cur l y broke i n excitedly I don t , .

’
know how it i s but I j ust t h ough t they did
, .

‘ ’ ‘
0 Wendy cr i ed Tootles , wa s one of t h e l ost children ,

called Toot l e s
’
Yes , h e was .

‘
I am in a story H urrah I am i n a sto ry Nibs .
, , .
’

‘
H ush Now I want you to cons i der the fee l ings of the
.

’
unhappy parent s w i th a ll their children flown away .

’
‘
Oo l t h ey all moaned t h ough th e y were not really con ,

s i deri n
g the fee li ngs of the unhappy parent s one j ot .

Th i nk of the empty beds

‘
Oo
I ts awful l y s ad the first twin said cheerfully
’ ’
, .

1 1 8
PET E R PAN AN D WE N DY

That was the story and they were as pleased with it as t

, he
fair narrator herself Everything j ust as it s hou l d be you see
.
, .

O ff we skip like the most heartl e s s things in the world wh i ch i s ,

W hat ch i ldren are but s o attractiv e ! and we have an entirely

,

selfish time ! and then when we have need of special attention

we nobly return for it , confident that we shall be embraced
instead of smacked .

So great indeed wa s their fa i t h in a mother s love that they ’

felt they could afford to be ca ll ou s for a bit l onger .

But t h ere was one there who knew better ! and when Wendy
finish e d h e uttered a hollow groan .

‘
What i s i t Peter ? she cried running to him thinking he
,
’

, ,

wa s i l l
. She felt him sol i citou sl y lower down than his chest , .

‘
Where i s i t Peter ,
’ ’
I t is n t that kind of pa i n Peter repl i ed dark l y , .

‘ ’
T h en what k i nd i s it ?
‘ ’
Wendy you are wrong about mothers
, .

T h ey a ll gath e red round hi m in affright so alarming was ,

h i s ag i tation ! and w i th a fine c andour he told them what h e

had h itherto conceal ed .

‘ ‘
Long ago he s a i d I thoug h t li ke you that my mother
’

, ,

would a l way s keep the Wi ndow open fo r me ! so I s tayed

away for moons and moon s and moons and then flew ,

back ! but t h e w i ndow wa s barred for mother had forgotten ,

a l l about m e and th e re wa s another li tt le boy s l eeping in

,
’
my bed .

I am not sure that th i s was true but Peter thought i t wa s ,

true ! and it s cared them .

‘Are you sure mother s are l ike that ?

’

‘ ’
Ye s .

So this wa s the truth about mothers The toads .

St ill it is best to be c areful ! and no one knows so quick l y

1 20
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
‘
A y, c hai n
’
her u p .

I n her extremity an i nstinct told her to whi c h of them

to turn .

‘ ‘ ’ ’
Tootles she c ried , I appeal to you
, .

Was it notstrange ? she ap pealed to Tootles , quite the

silliest one .

Grandly however, did Tootles res p ond

, For that one .

moment he d ro p ped his sillin e s s and spoke with d i gnity .

‘ ’
I am j ust Tootles , he said and nobody minds me But ,
‘
.

the first who does not behave to Wendy l ike an English gentle
man I wil l b l ood him severely .

H e drew his hanger ! and for that instant h i s sun was a t

noon The others held back uneasily
. Then Peter returned , .

and they saw at on ce that they would get no s upport from him .

H e would keep no girl i n the Neverland again s t her will .

‘ ’ ‘
Wendy he said , striding up and down I have asked
, ,

the redskins to guide you through the wood as flying tires ,

’
you so .

‘ ’
Thank you , Peter .

’
Then he c ontin ued in the short sharp vo i ce of one a ccus
, ,

tomed to be obeyed , Tinker Bell will take you across the sea
‘
.

’
Wake her, N ibs .

N ibs had to kno c k twice before he got an answer , though

Tink had rea ll y been sitting up in bed listening fo r some time .

’
Who are you ? How dare you ? Go away s h e cried , .

You ar e to get up Tink Nibs c alled , and take W endy on

,
’
,
’
a journey .

Of cour s e Tink had been delighted to hear that Wendy wa s

goin g ! but s he was j olly w ell determined not to be her courier ,

and she said so in still more o ffensive language Then she pre .

tended to be asleep again .

‘ ’ ’
She says she won t Nibs ex c laimed , ag h ast at such ,

1 22
 ’
WE N DY S STO RY
i nsubord i nat i on whereupon Peter went stern l y toward t h e
,

young l ady s c h amber

’
.

‘ ’ ‘
T i nk , h e rapped out i f you don t g e t up and d re ss at once
,
’

I w ill open the curta i ns and t h en we s h a ll a ll see you i n your

,

n
‘ ’
T hi s made h er l eap to t h e floor ! V h o s a i d I wa s n t gett i ng
.

’
up ? S h e c rie d .

I n th e m e ant i m e t he boys were gaz i ng ve ry fo rl orn l y at

Wendy now e qu i pp e d wi t h J o h n and M i c h ael fo r th e jou r n ey
,
.

By t hi s t i me t h ey w ere d eject e d not merel y b e cau se t h ey were

,

about to l os e her but a ls o becau s e t he y fe lt t h at she was go i ng

,

o ff to s om e t h i ng n i ce to w hi c h t he y h ad not b e en i nv i t e d Nove lty .

wa s beckon i ng to t he m as u s ua l .

C re d i t i ng t he m wi t h a nob l er fe e li ng Wendy m el ted .

‘ ’‘
D ear on es she s a i d i f you w il l a l l com e w i t h m e I fe el
, ,
’
a l mo s t s u re I can ge t my fath e r and mot her to adopt you .

Th e i nv i tat i on was m e ant s pec i a ll y fo r P e t er ! but e ac h of

t h e boy s wa s t hi nking exc l u si vel y of hi m s e l f and at onc e t h ey ,

j umped w i t h joy .

‘ ’
But won t t h ey t hi nk u s rat h er a h an dfu l N i b s a s ked i n
t h e m i dd l e of h i s j ump .

‘ ’ ‘
Oh no said We ndy rap i d l y t hi nk i ng i t out i t w ill on l y
, , ,

mean h avi ng a few beds i n t he draw i ng room t hey can b e h i dden -

’
be hi nd s cre ens on fir s t Thursdays .

’
Peter can we go ? th ey all c ri ed i mp l o ri ng l y T h ey took
, .

i t for grant e d that i f t h ey w e nt he wou l d go a ls o but r e a ll y t h ey ,

s carce l y cared . Thu s c h i l d r en are eve r r e ady w h en nove l ty ,

knock s to d esert t h e i r dear e st ones

, .

‘ ’
A ll r i g h t Peter rep l ie d w i t h a b i tter s m ile and i mmed i ately
,

they rushed to get their t hi ngs .

‘ ’
And now Peter Wendy s a i d think i ng s h e had put every
, , ,
‘
th i ng right , I am going to g i v e you your med i c i ne before you
1 2
3
P ETE R PAN AN D WE NDY
’

go.
She loved to give them medicine , and undoubtedly gave
them too much Of c ourse i t was only water , but i t wa s out of
.

a calabash and she always shook the calabash and counted the
,

drops whi c h gave it a certain medicin al quality On t h i s occas i on

, .
,

however , she did not give Peter h i s draught for just a s sh e had ,

prepared it she saw a look on his face that mad e her heart sink
, .

‘ ’
Get your things Peter, she cried shak i ng , , .

’
‘
No he answered pretending indi ffe rence I am not go i ng
, , ,

with you , Wendy .

’

‘ ’
Yes Peter .

N0 .

To show that her departure would leave h i m unmoved he ,

sk i pped up and down the room p l aying gai l y on h i s h eart l ess ,

p ipes She had to run about after him , though it was rathe r
.

undigni fi ed .

’
To find your mother, she coaxed .

Now, if Peter had ever quite had a mother he no longer ,

missed her He c ould do very well w i thout one He had tho ught
. .

them out and remembered only t h e i r bad points

, .

‘ ’ ‘
No , no he to l d Wendy decisively ! perhap s she wou l d
,

say I wa s old and I j ust want always to be a l i ttle boy and t

,
o
’
have fun .

‘
But Peter
’
No .

And so the others had to be told .

’ ’
Peter i sn t coming .

Peter not coming ! They gazed b l ankly at h im the i r s t i cks ,

over their backs , and on each s tick a bund l e The i r first thoug h t .

w a s that if Peter wa s not going he had probably c h anged hi s

mind about lett i ng them go .

‘
But he was far too proud for that If you find your .

mother s he sa i d darkly I hope you will l ike them

’
’
.
, ,

1 24
C HAPT E R XII T HE C HI L D REN A RE CA RRI ED O FF

T HE pirate attack had been a complete s urprise ! a sure proof

t h at the unscrupulous H ook had c onducted it i mproperly for to ,

surprise redskins fairly is beyond the wi t of the whit e man .

By all the unwritten l aws of s avage warfare it is always the

redsk i n who attacks , and wit h the wiliness of h i s race h e does i t
j u s t before the dawn at wh i c h t i me he knows the courage of the
,

wh i te s to be at i ts lowe s t ebb The white men have i n t h e mean

.

t i me made a rude stockade on the summit of yonder undulating

ground at the foot of which a stream run s ! for it i s destruction
,

to be too far from water The re t h ey await the on s l aught the

.
,

ine xperienced ones clutching the i r revolvers and tread i ng on

twigs , but the old hands s l eep i ng tranqu i l l y unt il j u s t before t he
dawn Through the long black night th e s avage s couts w r iggle ,
.

snake like among the grass w i thout s tirr i ng a blade

-

, The .

b r u s hwood closes beh i nd them as s i lent l y a s s and i nto which a

mol e has dive d Not a sound i s to be h eard save when they
.
,

g i ve vent to a wonderfu l i mitation of the lonely ca l l of th e coyote .

The cry is answered by o t her braves ! and some of them do it

even better than the coyotes who ar e not very good at i t So
, .

t he ch ill hours wear on and the long s u s pen s e i s horr i b l y trying

,

to the paleface who h as to liv e through i t for the first tim e but
to the tra i ned h and t h ose ghast l y cal l s and sti ll gha s t li er s i l ence s
are but an i nt i mation of how the n i ght is march i ng .

That this wa s the usual proc e dure wa s so we l l known to

Hook that i n disregarding it he cannot be excused on the ple a
of ignorance .

I 27
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
The Pi c caninnies , on their part , trusted imp lic itly to his
honour , and their whole ac tion of the night stands out in mark e d
c ontrast to his They left noth i ng undone that was consistent
.

with the reputation of their trib e With that al ertness of the

.

senses which i s at once the marvel and despa i r of c ivilised

peo p les , they knew that the pirates were on th e island from th e
moment one of them trod on a dry stick ! and i n an in c redibly
short space of time the coyote cries began Every foot of ground
.

between the spot where Hook had landed hi s forces and the
h ome under the trees was stealthily examined by braves wearing
their moc c asin s with the heels in front They found only one
.

hillock with a stream at its ba s e S O that Hook h ad no choice !

,

here he must estab l ish himself and wait for j ust before the dawn .

Everything be i ng thus mapped out with a l most diabolical

cunning , the ma i n body of the redskins fold e d t h eir blankets
around them , and in the phlegmati c manner t h at is to them
’
the pearl of manhood squatted above the c hi ldren s home ,

awaiting the cold moment when they should dea l pale death .

Here dream i ng , though wide awake , of the exquisite torture s

-

to whi c h they were to put him at break of day, those confi di ng

savages were found by the treac herous Hook . From the
acc ounts afterwards supplied by su c h of the scouts as es caped
the carnage , he does not seem even to have pau s ed at the ris i ng
ground , thoug h i t is certain that i n that grey l ight he must have
seen it ! no thought of wait i ng to be attacked appears from
first to last to have visited his subtle mind ! he would not
even hold off t i l l the night was nearly spent ! on he pounded
with no pol i cy but to fall to . What c ou l d t h e bewi l dered
scouts do , masters as they were of every wa r l i ke artifi c e save
this one, but trot helplessly after him , exposing themselve s
fatally to view the wh i le they gave pathet i c utterance to the
,

coyote cry .

1 28
P ETE R PA N AN D WE NDY

ele ment of surprise , would have made his strategy of no avail ,

so that the whole question is beset with di ffi c ulties One cannot
.

at least withhold a reluctant admiration for the wit that had

con c eived so bold a scheme , and the fell genius with whi c h it
was c arried out .

What were his own feelings about himself at that

triumphant moment ? Fain would his dogs have known as ,

breathing heavily and w i ping their c utlasses, they gathered at

a dis c reet distan c e from h i s book and squinted through their
,

ferret eyes at this extraord i nary man Elation must have been
.

in his heart , but his face did not refle c t it ! ever a dark and
solitary enigma, he stood a l oof from his followers in spirit as in
substan c e .

’
The night s work was not yet over , for it was not t h e
redskins he had c ome out to destroy ! they were but the bees
to be smoked , so that he should get at the honey It .

was Pan he wanted , Pan and Wendy and their band , but
chiefly Pan .

Peter was su c h a smal l boy that one tends to wonder at

’ ’
the man s hatred of him True he had flung Hook s arm to
.

the c roc odile ! but even th i s and the i ncreased insecurity of

life to whi c h it led , owing to the croco dile s pertinacity, hardly
’

accoun t for a vindi c tivenes s so re l entle s s and malignant The .

truth is that there was a somet hi ng about Peter which goaded

the pirate captain to fren zy . I t wa s not his courage , it was
not his engag ing appearance , it wa s not There is no beating
about the bush , for we know quite well what it was, and have
’
got to tel l I t was Peter s cock i n es s
. .

This had got on H ook s n e rves ! it made his iron claw

’

twitc h , and at night i t d i sturbed hi m like an insect Whi le .

Peter lived , the tortured man felt that he was a lion in a cage
into which a sparrow had come .

1 30
 T H E C H I LD RE N ARE CA RRI E D O F F
The question now was how to get down the trees or how ,

to get hi s dog s down He ran hi s greedy e ye s over them

.
,

searc hi ng for the th i nnest ones T h ey wriggled uncomfortab l y

.
,

for they knew t h at h e would not scruple to ram th e m down

w i th poles .

I n the meanti me , what of the boys ? We have seen them

at the first clang of weapons turned as i t were i nto ston e figures
, ,

O p e n mouthed
-
all appea l ing w i th out s tretched arm s to Peter !
,

and we return to them as their mouths close , and thei r arm s

fa l l to their s i des The pandemon i um above ha s cea s ed
.

al mo s t a s suddenly as it arose passed l i ke a fierce gust of,

w i nd ! but they know that i n the passing i t ha s det e rm i ned

the i r fate .

Which side had won ?

Th e p i rates , listen i ng avidly at the mouth s of the trees ,

h e ard the question put by every boy and alas they also h eard , ,
’
Peter s answer .

‘ ’
I f t h e redsk i ns have won, he sa i d they will bea t the
tom tom ! i t is a l ways the i r S i gn of victory
-
.

N ow Smee had found the tom tom and was at that moment -

,
‘ ’
sitt i ng on it You w i l l never hear t h e tom tom aga i n he
.
-

muttered , but i naudibly of cour s e for str i ct si l ence had been ,

e nj o i ned . To h i s amazement H ook signed to hi m to beat the

tom tom ! and slowly there came to Sm e e an understanding of
-

the drea dful w i ckedness of the order Never probab l y had t hi s .

, ,

simple man adm i red Hook s o m uc h .

Tw i ce Smee beat upon the i n s trument and then s topped to ,

l i sten gleefully .

‘ ’ ‘
The tom tom the m i s creants h eard Peter cry ! an I nd i an
-

,
’
vi ctory !
T h e doomed children answered with a cheer that wa s music
to the b l ack hearts above and almost immediately they repeated
,

13 I
and ru bbed their ha nds . Rapi dl y and silently H ook gave his
orders ! one man to each tree, and the others to the m
selves

1 3 2
P ETE R PAN AND WE NDY
them the black pirate had cut a rope i nto nine equal pie ces .

All went well u nti l S light ly s turn ca me when he was found

’

to be l ike th ose irritating parce ls that u s e up a l l the s tring in

going round and leave no tags with wh i ch to t i e a knot The .

pirates kicked hi m i n their rage j ust as you k i ck th e parcel

,

(though in fa i rn es s you should kick the string) ! and strange

to say it wa s Hook who told them to belay their v i o l ence H i s .

l ip wa s curled w i t h ma l i ciou s triumph Wh i l e h i s dogs were

.

merely sweat i ng because every time they tried to pack the

’
unhappy l ad t i ght i n one part he bulged out i n another Hook s ,

master mind h ad gone far beneat h S light ly s surface probing

’
,

not for e ffect s but fo r cause s ! and h i s exu l tat i on s h owed t h at

he had found them S li g h t l y Wh i te to t h e g il ls kn ew t h at Hook
.
, ,

had s u r pr i sed h i s s ecre t which wa s t his that no boy so blown

, ,

out could use a tree wherein an average man n e ed s t i ck Poor .

S l i ght l y mo s t wretched of a ll the ch il dren now fo r h e wa s in a

, ,

pan i c about Peter b i tter l y r egretted what h e had done Madly

, .

add i cted t o the d ri nk i ng of water wh e n he wa s hot he h ad ,

s w ell ed i n consequence to hi s pre s ent girth and instead of ,

reduc i ng hi m s elf to fit h i s t re e h e had unknown to t h e other s

, ,

whitt l ed his tr e e to make it fit h i m .

S ufli ci ent of th i s H ook guessed to persuade hi m that Pe ter

at l a s t l ay at h i s me rcy ! but no word of t he dark de si gn that
-

now formed i n t h e subt e rran e an cavern s of hi s m i nd cro s sed his

l i p s he mere l y si gned that t he capt i ve s we re to be conveyed to
the s h i p and that he wou l d be a l on e
, .

H ow to convey them ? Hunc h ed up i n th ei r rope s they

might indeed be ro l l ed down h i ll li ke barrels but most of the ,
’

w a y l ay through a mora s s . Aga i n Hook s gen i u s surmounted

d i fficu l t i es He i nd i ca ted that th e li ttle hou s e must be used as
.

a conveya nce . T h e chi l d ren were flung i nto i t fou r s tout ,

pirates raised i t on the i r shoulder s t he other s fel l i n beh i nd

, ,

I 34
 DO YOU B E LI E V R
E I N FAI I E S ?

and s i nging the hateful pirate c h orus the s trange procession set
off t h rough the wood
’
I don t know w h ether any of the ch i ldren
.

were cry i ng ! if so the s i ng i ng drowned the sound ! but a s t h e

,

l itt l e house disappeared in the fore s t a brave t h ough t i ny jet of

,

smoke issued from i ts ch i mney a s if defying Hook .

Hook saw i t and i t did Peter a bad s ervice I t dried up

, .

’
any trick l e of pity for him that may have rema i ned i n the p i rate s
infuriated br ea s t .

The fi r st thing he d i d on find i ng h ims el f alone in the fa s t

fal l ing n i ght was to tiptoe to S ligh t ly s tree and make s ure that
’

it prov i ded hi m with a pass ag e Then for l ong he rema i ned

.

brood i ng ! hi s hat of i l l omen on t h e sward , so that a gent le

breeze which h ad ar is en m i ght play refre shi ng l y t h rough his
hair Dark as were hi s thoughts his b l ue eyes were a s soft a s
.

the periw i nkle I ntent l y h e li s tened for any s ound from t he

.

nether world but a l l wa s as si le nt below a s above ! the house

,

under the ground s e e med to be but one more empty tenement

i n the void Was t h at boy as l eep or d i d he s tand waiting at
.
,

the foot of S light ’

ly s tree w i th h is dagge r i n h i s hand ?
,

There was no wa y of know i ng save by go i ng down Hook, .

let his cloak slip s oft l y to the g r ound , and then b i t i ng h i s l ips
t i l l a lewd b l ood stood on them h e st e pped i nto the tree H e
,
.

wa s a brave man ! but for a moment h e had to stop there and

wipe h i s brow which was dr i pp i ng l i ke a cand l e T h en s i l e nt l y
, .

he let himself go into the unknown .

He arrived unmo l ested at th e foot of the s h aft and s tood ,

still again biting at hi s breat h whic h had a l most l eft hi m As

, , .

h is eyes became accustomed to the dim l i ght var i ou s obj e cts i n

the home und e r the tree s took s hape ! but the on l y on e on wh i c h
h i s greedy gaze re s ted l ong soug h t for and found at last wa s
, ,

the great bed On the bed lay Peter fa s t asl e ep

. .

U naware of the tragedy bei ng enacted above Peter had ,

I 3S
P ET E R PAN AN D WE NDY
continued for a little time after the children left to play gaily
, ,

on his pipes ! no doubt rather a forlorn attempt to prove to

himself that he did not care Then he de c id e d not to take his
.

medicine so as to grieve Wendy Then he lay down on the

, .
‘

bed outside the coverlet to ve x her still more ! for she had
,

always tucked them in s ide i t be c ause you never know that you
,

may not grow c h ill y at t h e turn of the night Then he nearly .

cr i ed ! but it struck him how i nd i gnant she would be if he

laughed i nstead ! so he l aughed a haughty laugh and fell asleep
i n t h e middle of it .

Somet i m e s , thoug h not often he had dream s , and they were

,

more pa i nful t h an the dreams of ot h er boys For h ours he .

could not be separated from these dream s t h ough h e wailed ,

piteously i n them T hey h ad to do I t hi nk wi th the riddle

.
, ,
’
of hi s existence At such times it had been Wendy s custom
.

to take h i m out of bed and sit with h i m on her lap soothing ,

h i m in dear ways of her own i nvent i on and when he grew ca lmer

,

to put h i m back to bed before h e qu i te woke up , so t h at he

should not know of the ind i gnity to wh i ch she had subjected
him . B ut on th i s occasion he had fallen at once i nto
a dreamless sleep . On e arm dropped over the edge of
t h e bed , one leg wa s arched and the unfin i s hed part of his
,

laugh wa s stranded on hi s mouth wh i ch was open showing the

, ,

l i tt l e pearls .

T h us defenc e le s s Hook found h i m He stood silent at t h e

.

foot of t he tr ee l ook i ng across the c h amber at h i s enemy Did .

no feel i ng of compass i on di s turb h i s s ombre breast ? The man

w a s not who l ly ev i l ! h e loved flowers ( I have been told ) and
sweet music (he w a s h i mself no mean performer on the ha rpsi
chord ) ! and let i t be frankly adm i tted the idyl li c nature of t h e
,

s c e ne st i rred hi m profound l y Ma s tered by his bett e r self h e

.

would have returned reluctantly up the tree , but for one thing .

1 36
 DO YO U B E L I E V E I N FAI RI ES ?
’
What stayed him was Peter s i mpertinent appearance as he
s l ept The open mouth the drooping arm the arched knee
.
, ,
'

they were such a p e r s on ificatio n of cockine ss as tak e n together , ,

wi l l never aga i n one may hope be presented to eye s s o s e ns i tive

’
to the i r offensivene s s They steeled H ook s h eart I f his rage
. .

had broken him i nto a hundred pieces every one of them would
have d is regarded t h e incident , and l eapt at the s l eeper .

Thoug h a light from the one l amp s hone d i m l y on the bed

Hook s tood i n darknes s him se lf a nd at the fir s t stea l thy step
,

forward he discove red a n obstacle the door of S light, ly s tree

’
.

I tdid not e nti rely fi ll the aperture and he had been looking
,

ove r i t Fe eli ng for the catch he found to his fury that it was
.
,

l ow down beyond hi s reach To h i s d i s ord e red bra i n i t seemed

, .

t h en that t ’
he i rritating quality in Peter s face and figure vi si b l y
increa s ed and he rattl e d the door and flung himse l f aga i nst i t
, .

Was h is enemy to escape hi m after al l .

But W hat was that ? The red in h i s eye had caught S ight
’
of Pet er s med i c i ne s tanding on a l edge w i th i n e asy reach H e .

fathomed what i t wa s straig h tway , an d im mediate l y he knew

that t h e sl eep e r was i n his power .

Lest h e S hould be taken alive H ook always carr i ed about

,

h is per s on a d re adfu l drug blended by h imself of all the death

,

dea li ng ring s that had come i nto his posse s sion These he had .

boi l ed do wn i nto a ye l low l i quid qu i te unknown to sc i en ce ,

wh i c h was probably the most virulent poi s on in ex i st e nce .

’
Five drop s of this he now added to Peter s cup H is hand .

S hook but i t was in exultation rather than in shame As he

,
.

d i d i t b e avoided glancing at the sleeper , but not lest pity

should unnerve h im ! mer e ly to avoid s pilling T hen one long .

gloating l ook he cast upon hi s victim and turn i ng wormed , ,

his way with di fficulty up the tree As he emerged at the top

.

he l ooked the ve ry spi rit of ev i l breaking from its hole .

R I 37
P ET E R PAN AN D WE NDY
Donning his hat at its most rakish angle , he wound his c loak
around him , holding one end in front as if to conceal his
person from the night , of which it was the blackest part , and
muttering strangely to hi mself stole away through the trees .

Peter slept on The light guttered and went out , leaving

.

the tenement i n darkness ! but still he slept It must have .

’
been not less than ten o clo c k by the c rocodile , when he
suddenly sat up in his bed , wakened by he knew not what .

I t was a soft cau tious tapping on the door of his tree .

Soft and cautious , but in that stillness it was S inister .

Peter felt for his dagger till his hand gripped it Then he .

spoke .

‘ ’
Who is that ?
For long there was no answer then again the knock .

‘ ’
Who are you ?
N 0 answer .

H e was thrilled , and he l oved being thrilled I n two .

strides he reached h i s door U nlike S light ly s door i t filled

.
’

the aperture so that he cou l d not s ee beyond it , nor could

,

the one knocking S ee him .

‘ ’ ’
I won t open unless you s peak , Peter cried .

Then at last the visitor s poke , in a lovely bell like voice -

.

’
Let me i n Peter , .

I t was Tin k and quick l y h e unbarred to h e r She flew

,
.

in excitedly, her face flushed and h er dress stained wi th mud .

’
What is it ?
‘ ’
Oh you cou l d never guess she c r i ed and o ffered him
, , ,

three guesses ‘
Out w i th it ! he shouted ! and in one um
.
’

grammatical sentence , as l ong a s the ribbons conj urers pu l l

from t h eir mouths , she told of the capture of Wendy and
the boys .

Peter s heart bobbed up and down as he listened Wendy

’
.

1 38
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
H er win gs would s ca rcely carry her now , but in reply
she alighted on hi s shou l der and gave h is c hin a lov i ng b i te .

‘ ’
She whispered in h is ear You si l ly ass ! and then , tottering
to her chamber , lay down on the bed .

H is head almost filled the fourth wall of her l ittle room

as he knelt near her in di s tress Every moment her light .

was growing fainter and he knew that if it went out she wou l d
be no more She liked hi s t e ars so much that she put out
.

her beautiful finger and let them r un over it .

Her voi c e was so low that at first he c ould not make out
what she said Then he made i t out She was saying that
. .

she thought she could get we ll again if children be lieve d i n

fai ri es
.

Peter flung out h i s arm s There were no children there

.
,

and it was night ti me ! but he a ddressed all who m i ght be

-

dreaming of the Neverland and who were therefore neare r to

,

him than you thin k ! boys and g i r l s in their nighties , and nak e d
papoose s in their baskets hung from trees .

’
Do you believe ? he c ri ed .

T i nk sat up in bed al most br is k l y to listen to her fate .

S h e fancied she heard an s wer s i n the affi rmative , and then

’
again sh e wasn t sure .

What do you think ? she asked Peter ’

.

‘ ’ ‘
I f you believe , he shouted to them , c lap your hand s !
’
don t let Ti nk die
’
.

Many c lapped .

’
Some didn t .

A few little beasts his s ed .

The c lap p ing sto p ped sudden l y ! as if countless mothers

had rushed to their nurserie s to s ee W hat on ea rth wa s
h appening ! but already Tink was s aved First her voice grew .

strong ! then she p opped out of bed ! then she was flash i ng
1 40
 DO YO U B E L I E V E I N FAI RI E S ?

through the room more merry and impuden t than ever She .

never thought of thank i ng those who bel i eved but S he would ,

have l iked to get at the ones who had hissed .

‘ ’
And now to rescue Wendy .

The moon was riding in a c loudy heaven when Peter rose

from h is tree begirt wi th wea pon s and wear i ng l i ttle e l se to
, ,

set out upon his perilous quest I t was not such a n i ght as he
.

would h ave chosen H e had h oped to fly keeping not far from

.
,

t h e ground so that noth i ng unwonted shou l d escape hi s eyes !

but i n that fi t ful li ght to have flown low would h ave mea nt
t r ailing h is shadow through the trees thus disturbing the b i rds
,

and acqua i nting a watchful foe that h e wa s ast i r .

H e regretted now that h e had given the b i rds of th e is land

suc h strange names that they are very wild and d i fficu l t of
approac h .

There was no other cour s e but to press forward i n redskin

fashion at which happ i ly he was an adept
, But i n what
.

direct i on for he cou l d not be sur e that the chi l dren had been
,

taken to the sh i p ? A sl i ght fall of snow had ob l i terated a l l

footmarks ! and a deathly silence pervaded the i s l and a s i f for ,

a s pace Nature stood s ti l l i n horror of the recent carnage .

He had ta ught the chi ldren s omething of the forest l ore

that he had himself learned from T i ger Lily and Tinker Bel l ,

and knew that in thei r dire hour they were not l ike l y to forget
it Slightly i f he had an opportun i ty would b l aze the trees ,
.
, ,

for instance , Curly would drop seeds , and Wendy wou l d l eave
her handkerchief at some importa nt place But morn i ng
.

was needed to sea rch for such guidance , and h e could not
wait . The upper world had ca lled hi m but would give no
,

help .

The cro c odile passed hi m , but not another living thing ,

not a sound , not a movement ! and yet he knew well that
1 41
PET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
was his hour of triumph . Peter had been removed for ever
from his path , and all the other boys were on the brig, about
to wal k the plank I t was his grimmest deed sinc e t h e days
.

when he had brought Barbecue to hee l ! and knowing as we

do how vain a tabernacle is man could we be surprised had ,

he now paced the deck unsteadi l y, be l lied out by the winds of

his success ?
B ut there wa s no e l at i on in hi s gait , which kept pace with
the action of his sombre mind H ook was profound l y dejected
. .

He was often thus when communing with himself on board

S h i p i n the quietude of the night I t was because he wa s s o
.

terribly alon e This i nscrutable man never fe l t more alone th an

.

when surrounded by hi s dogs They were soc i a ll y so i nfer i or

.

to him .

Hook wa s not hi s true name To revea l who he rea ll y

.

was would even at th is date s et the country i n a b l aze ! but as

those who read between the l ine s mu s t already have gue ss ed ,

he had be e n at a famou s publ i c sc h oo l ! and i t s tradition s sti ll

clung to h i m li ke garments with which indeed t h ey ar e largely
,

concerned Thus it was o ffensi ve to him even now to board

.

a ship in the s ame dress i n which h e grappled h e r ! and he

’
st i ll adhered in hi s wa l k to the s chool s dist i ngui s hed s louch .

B ut above all he retained the pa s sion for good form .

Good form ! Howeve r much he may have degenerated , h e

still knew that thi s is al l that rea l ly matters .

From far w i thin him he heard a creaking as of rusty porta l s ,

and through them came a stern tap tap tap l ike hammering i n - -

,
‘
the night when one ca nnot s l e e p H ave you been good form
.

to day ? wa s thei r eternal que s t i on

-
’
.

’
F ame , fame , that glittering bauble , i t i s m i ne he cried , .

’
I s i t quit e good form to b e dist i nguished at anything ? t h e
tap tap from hi s s chool replied
-
.

1 44
 TH E PI RAT E S H I P
’
I am the only man whom Barbecue feared he urged and ,
’
F l i nt h i mse l f feared Barbecue
Barbecue Fl i nt—what house ? came the cutting retort
.

’
.
,

Mo s t d isqui e ting reflection of all was i t not bad form to ,

think about good form ?

H is vitals we r e tortured by th i s problem It wa s a claw .

w i thin him s harper than the iron one ! and as it tore him , the
perspiration d r i pped down hi s ta l low countenance and streaked
h i s doublet .Ofttim es h e drew h is S l eeve across h is face , but
the re was no damm i ng that tr i ckle .

Ah envy not Hook

, .

There came to him a presentiment of his early d iss olution .

’
It was as if Peter s terribl e oath had boarded the sh i p Hook .

felt a g l oomy de s ire to make his dying s peech lest p resent ly , v

x

there should be no time for i t .

‘ ’ ‘ ’
Better for H ook he cr i ed if he had had l ess ambition
, ,
.

I t was in h i s darkest hou rs on l y that he referred to h i m sel f i n

the t h ird person .

’
No little children love me .

Strange that he s hould think of t h is which h ad never ,

troub l ed h i m before ! perhaps the s ew i ng mach i ne brought i t

to his m i nd For long he muttered to hims e lf s tar i ng at Smee ,
.
,

who wa s henf mi ng placidly under t h e convict i on that a l l chi l dren

,

feared him .

Feared hi m ! Feared Smee ! T h ere wa s not a c hi ld on

board the br i g that night who did not already l ove h i m He .

had said horrid th ings to them and hit them w i t h the pa l m

of hi s han d because he could not hit with h i s fist ! but they
,

had only c l ung to him the more Michae l had tried on his .

spectacles .

To tell poor Smee that they thought him lovable ! Hook

itched to do it , but it seemed too brutal I nst ead he revolved .
,

1 4s
P ETE R PAN AN D WE NDY
this mystery in his mind ! why do they find S mee lovable ? He
pursued the problem like the sleuth hound that he was If .

S mee was lovable , what was it that made him so ? A terrible

’
answer sud den l y presented itself ! Good form ?
’
H ad the bo sun good form without knowin g it which is the ,

best form Of all ?

’
He remembered that you have to prove you don t know
you have it b e fore you are eligible for Pop .

’
With a cry of rage he raised his iron han d over Smee s
head ! but he did not tear What arrested him wa s this
.

reflection !
‘
To c l aw a man because he is good form what would ,
’
that be ?
’
Bad form I
The unhappy Hook was as impotent a s he was damp , and
he fell forward like a cut flower .

H i s dog s th i nking h i m out of the way for a time d i sc i pl i ne ,

instantly re l axed ! and they broke into a bacchanal i an dance ,

wh i c h brought h i m to h is feet at once ! all traces of human

weakness gon e , as if a bucket of water had passed over him .

‘ ’ ‘ ’ ’
Quiet , you s cug s h e c r ied or I ll cast anc h or i n you !
, ,
‘
and at once the din was hushed Are all the ch i ldren cha i ned
.
,
’
so they cannot fly away ?
‘ ’
A y, a y.

’
T h en hoi s t them up .

The wretched prisoners were dragged from the hold , all

except Wendy, and ranged in l i ne in front Of him For a tim e .

he se e med unconsciou s of their presenc e He lolled at his ease

.
,

humm i ng , not unmelodiously snatches of a rude song and

, ,

fi ngering a pack of cards Ever and anon the light from his
.

c igar gave a touch of colour to his face .

‘ ’ ‘
Now then , bullies he sa i d briskly , six of you walk the
,

1 46
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
’
J ohn ? He wanted John to decide , and John wanted him to
decide .

‘ ’
Shall we still be respectful s ubjects of the King ? John
i nquired .

’ ‘
Through Hook s teeth came the answer ! You would have
to swear Down with the King
, .

Perhaps J ohn had not behaved very well so far but he ,

sho ne out now .

‘ ’
Then I refuse h e cried banging the barrel i n front of
, ,

Hook .

‘ ’
And I refuse , cried M i c h ae l .

Ru l e Britann ia squeak e d Curly .

The infur i ated pirate s bu ffe ted t h em i n the mouth ! and

‘
H ook roared out , That s eals your doo m Bring up their .

’
mother Get the plank ready
. .

They we re only boy s and they went white a s they saw

,

J ukes and C ecco preparing the fata l p l ank But they tried .

to l ook brave when Wendy wa s brought up .

No words of m i ne can te ll you how Wendy de s pi s ed those

pirates To the boys ther e wa s at l east s ome g l amour in the
.

pirate ca l ling , but all that s he saw wa s that the sh i p had not
been scrubbed for years There was not a port— . hol e on the ,

grimy glass of whic h you mig h t not have wr i tten w i t h your

‘ ’
finger Dirty pig ! and she h ad a l rea dy wr i tten i t on several .

’
But a s the boys gathered round her s he h ad no t h ought f

of course , save for them .

‘ ’ ‘
So , my beauty said Hook a s if he spoke in syrup you
, , ,
’
are to see your children wa l k the p l ank .

F ine gent l eman though he wa s the i ntensity of his ,

communings h ad soiled his ru ff and s uddenly he knew that ,

she was gazing at i t W i th a hasty ge s ture he tried to hide

.

it but he wa s too late

, .

1 48
 TH E P I RATE S H I P
‘ ’
Are they to d i e ? asked Wendy , with a look of such
frightful contempt that he nearly fainted .

‘ ’ ‘
They are , he snarled Si l ence all he called gloatingly
.
,
’
for a mother s la s t words to her children .

‘
At this moment Wendy was grand The s e are my las t .

’ ‘
word s dear boys , s he said firm l y
, I feel that I have a
.

message to you from your real mothers and it is this ! We ,

!

!
hope our sons w i l l die l i ke E ngl i s h gent l emen .

Even the p i rates were aw e d ! and Tootl e s cried out

‘
hysterically I am go i ng to do w h at my mother hopes What
, .

are you to do , N i b s
What my moth e r h ope s What are you to do Twin
.
,
‘
W h at my moth e r hope s Jo h n w hat are .
,

B ut H ook h ad found hi s vo i ce aga i n .

’
T i e her up he s h outed
, .

‘
I t wa s S mee who tied h er to the mast See here h o ney .
,
’

he wh is p e red I ll save you if you promise to be my mother

,
’
.
’

But not even for Smee would she mak e such a prom i s e .

‘ ’
I would al mo s t rat h er have no c h ildren at all she said ,

disda i nful l y
.

I t i s sad to know t h at not a boy wa s looking at her as

S mee tied her to the mast ! the eye s of a ll were on the
plank ! that l a s t l i ttle walk they w e r e about to take T he y .

were no longer abl e to hOpe that t h ey would walk it manfu l l y ,

for the capac i ty to th i nk had gone from them ! they could stare
and shiver only .

H ook sm iled on t h em w i th h is teeth closed and took ,

a step toward Wendy H is i ntent i on wa s to turn her face

.

so that she S hould s e e the boys walk i ng the plank one by

one. But he never reached her h e never heard the cry of ,

anguish he hoped to wr i ng from her He heard something .

else instead .

I 49
P ETE R PAN A ND WE N DY
I t was the terrible tick tick of the cro c odi le
—pirates , boys , Wendy ! and i mmediately
-
.

They all heard i t

every head was blown i n one dire c t i on not to the water whence
the sound proceeded , but toward Hook All knew that what
.

was about to happen concerned him a l one , and that from being
actors they were suddenly become spe c tators .

V ery frightful was it to see the change that c ame over him .

I t was as if he had been clipped at every j oint H e fel l in a .

l i ttle heap .

T h e sound c ame steadi l y nearer ! and i n advan c e of it

‘
came thi s ghastly thought The crocodile is about to board
,
’
the s hip .

Even the iron claw hung i nactive ! as if knowing that it

wa s no intr i nsic part of what the attack i ng forc e wanted Left .

s o fearfully a l one , any other man would have lain w i th hi s eyes

shut where he fel l ! b utthe gigant i c bra i n of Hook was s t i ll
working and under i ts guidance he crawled on his knees along
,

the deck as far from the sound as he could go The pirates .

respectfu ll y c leared a passage for him , and it was only when he

brought up against the bulwa r ks that h e spoke .

’
H ide me he cr i ed hoar se ly
, .

They gathered round him ! al l eyes averted from the

thing that wa s c oming aboard They had no thought of
.

fighting i t I t was Fate

. .

On ly when Hook was hidden from them did curiosity

loosen the limbs of t h e boys so that they could rush to the
s hip s side to see the crocod i le climbi ng it
’
Then they got
.

t h e strangest surprise of th i s N i g h t of N i ght s ! for it wa s

no crocodile that wa s coming to their a i d I t was Peter
. .

He si gned to th e m not to g i ve vent to any cry of

adm i ration that might rouse suspic i on . Then he went on
tick i ng
.

1 50
PETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
from la nd t o water but no other human of whom I know
, As .

’
he swam he had but one thought Hook or me this time He .

had ticked so long that he now wen t on t i cking without knowing

that he was doing it Had he known he would have stopped ,
.

for to board the br i g by the help of the tick though an ingen i ous ,

idea , had not occurred to him .

On the contrary , h e thought he had scaled h e r s ide as

no i seless as a mou s e ! and he wa s amazed to se e t h e p i rates
cower i ng from h i m w i t h Hook i n the i r mid s t a s abject a s i f
,

he had h e ar d th e crocod i l e .

The crocod i le ! No soon e r d i d Peter remember i t than

h e h eard t h e tick i ng At first he thought th e sound did
.

come from t h e crocodile , and he l ooked behind him swift l y .

T h en he rea l i sed that he wa s do i ng i t h i ms el f and i n a flash ,

‘ ’
he understood t he s i tuat i on H ow c l eve r of me he t h oug h t
.
,

at once and signed to the boys not to bur s t in to app l ause

, .

It wa s at t hi s moment that Ed T eynt e t h e quartermaster

emerged from the forecastle and came along t h e deck Now .

,

r eade r t i m e what happened by your watc h P e ter struck true

,
.

’
and d e ep .John c l apped hi s h ands on the i ll fated p i rate s -

mouth to s t i fl e the dy i ng groan He fel l forward Four . .

boys caught h i m to prevent th e thud Peter gave the s i gna l .

,

and the carrion wa s cast overboard T h ere was a spla sh .

,

and then s i lence H ow long ha s i t taken ?

'

( Sl i ght l y had begun to count )

‘
One l .

None too s oon Peter every inch of h i m on t i ptoe vanished

, , ,

i nto t h e cab i n ! for more than one pirate wa s screw i ng up h i s

’
courage to look round They could hear each other s d i stre ss ed
.

breathing now whi c h showed them that the more terrible sound
,

had pa ss ed .

‘ ’ ’
It s gon e , captain , Smee said wiping his spectacles , .

‘ ’ ’
All s sti l l again .

1 52
PET E R PA NA ND WE NDY
’
What was that ? c ried Hook .

’
Two said Slightly solemnly
, .

The Italian Cecc o hesitated for a moment and then swung

into the cabin H e tottered out , haggard
. .

‘ ’ ’
What s the matter with Bi ll J ukes , you dog ? hissed
H ook , towering over him .

‘ ’
The matt er wi him i s he s dead stabbed repl ied Cecco in ’

, ,
’

a hollow voice .

‘ ’
Bill J ukes dead I cr i ed t h e startled pirates .

’ ’
The cabin s as black as a pit , Cecco sa i d al most g i bbering, ,
‘
b ut there i s something terrible in there ! the thing you heard
crow mg .
’

The exultation of the boys the lowering looks of the ,

p i rates both were se e n by Hook

, .

’ ‘
Cecco he s aid i n hi s most steely voice go ba c k and fetch
, ,
’
me out that doodle doo -
.

Cecco bravest of the brave cowered before h i s captain

, , ,
’
crying N 0 no but Hook was purring to h is claw
, .

’
Did you s ay you would go Cecco ? he s a i d mu s ingly , .

Cecco went first flinging up h i s arms despairingly There

, .

was no more s i nging a ll l istened now ! and aga i n came a death

,

s creech and aga i n a crow .

’
N 0 one spoke except S li g h tly Three he said .
, .

’
Hook ra l l i ed h i s dog s w i th a gestu r e S deat h and .

’ ‘
odds fis h he t h undered who i s to bring me t h at dood l e
, ,
’
doo ?
‘ ’
Wait t il l Cecco comes out grow l ed Starkey and the , ,

ot h er s took up the cry .

‘ ’
I th i nk I heard you volunteer Starkey said Hook purr i n g , , ,

N by thunder l Starkey cr i ed
O, .

’
My hook th i nks you did , s aid Hook , crossing to h i m . I
1 54
 ‘ ’
HOO K O R M E TH I S T I M E
wonder if it would not be advi sable Starkey , to humour the ,
’
hook ?
‘ ’ ’
I ll swing before I go i n th e re re p l ied Starkey dogged l y , ,

and again he had the support of the crew .

‘ ’
I s it mutiny ? asked Hook more pleasant l y than eve r .

’ ’
Starkey s ring l eader .

‘
Captai n , mercy Starkey whi mpered a l l of a tremb l e now
,
’
, .

‘ ’
Shake hands Starkey sa i d Hook , proffer i ng h i s claw
, ,

Starkey looked round for he l p but a l l deserte d h i m A s ,

.

he backed Hook advan c ed , and now the red spark was i n his
eye . With a despa i ring s cream t he pirate leapt upon Long
Tom and prec i pitated h i mse l f into the s ea .

’
F ou r sa i d S l ightly
, .

‘
And now Hook asked cou rt
’
, eous l y ‘
d i d any ot h er ,
’
gentleman s ay mutiny ? Se i zing a l ante r n and ra isi ng his
‘ ’
c l aw w i th a menacing gesture , I l l br i ng out t h at doodl e doo -

’
mys el f h e s a i d , and sped i nto the cab i n
, .

’
F ive . H ow S l ig h tly longed to say it He wetted hi s .

l ip s to be ready but H ook came stagger i ng out , w i thout his

,

lantern .

’
Something blew out the l i ght h e said a little un s tead i ly ,
.

Something echoed M u ll i n s .

‘
What of Cecco ? demanded N ’
oodler .

’ ’
He s a s dead as J ukes s a i d Hook s hort l y , .

H is reluc t a nce to return to the cab i n i mpres s ed them a ll

unfavourably , and the mutinous s ound s again broke fort h A l l .

‘
p irates are superstitious ! and Cookson cr i ed T h ey do sa
y ,

the surest sign a s h ip s accurst is w h en there s one on b oard

’ ’

’
more than ca n be accounted for .

‘ ’ ’ ‘
I ve heard , muttered M ul l i n s , he always boards the pirate
’
craft at last H ad he a ta i l captain ?
.
,
‘ ’ ‘
They say , sa i d another looking viciously at H ook that, ,

I SS
P ET E R PAN AN D WE NDY
’
when he comes it s in the likeness of the wickedest man
’
aboard .

‘ ’
H ad he a hook , capta i n ? asked Cookson insolently ! and
‘ ’
one after another took up the cry The sh i p s doomed At ,
’
.

this the children coul d not resist raising a cheer Hook had .

wellnigh forgotten his prisoners , but as he swung round on

them now his face l i t up aga i n .

‘ ’
‘ ’
Lads , he cried to his crew here s a notion Open the , .

cab i n door and drive them in Let them fight t h e doodle doo
.
-

’
for their l ives I f they kill him we re so much the better ! i f
.
,
’ ’
he ki l ls them , we re none the wor s e .

For the last t i me h i s dogs adm i red H ook and devotedly ,

they di d his b i dd i ng The boys pretend i ng to struggle we re

.
, ,

pushed into the cab in and the door wa s clo s ed on them .

‘ ’
Now , listen cr i ed Hook and a l l li stened But not one
, , .

dared to face the door Ye s one Wendy w h o all thi s ti me had

.
, , ,

been bound to the ma s t It wa s fo r ne i ther a scream nor a

.

crow that s he was watching ! i t was for the reap pearanc e of

Peter .

She had not long to wa i t I n t h e cab i n he had found the

.

th i ng for wh i ch he had gone i n search ! the key that would free

th e ch i ldre n Of their manacles ! and now th ey all stole fort h ,

armed w i th s uc h weapon s a s they could find Fir s t si gn i ng .

’
to th e m to hi de Peter cut Wendy s bonds and then nothing
, ,

cou l d have been eas i er than for them a l l to fly off together but
one t hi ng barred the way an oath Hook or me thi s t
, , i me So .

wh e n he had freed Wendy , he whi s pered to her to concea l

herself w i t h the other s , and him s elf took her p l ace by the mast ,

her cloak around hi m s o that he s hould pass for her Then h e .

took a great breat h and crowe d .

To the p i rate s i t wa s a voice crying that all the boys l ay

slain i n the cabin ! and they were pan i c str i cken Hook tried -
.

1 56
PETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
only , which enabled the boys to hunt in pairs and choose their
quarry Some of the miscreants leapt into the sea ! others hid
.

i n dark recesses where they were found by Slightly who did

, ,

not fight , but ran about with a lantern which he flashed in their
fac es , so that they were half b li nded and fe ll an easy prey to the
reeki ng swords of the other boys There wa s l itt l e sound to .

be heard but the c l ang of wea pons , an occasio na l screech or

splash , and Slightly monotonously counting— five—six—seven
eight—n i ne— ten—el e ven .

I think all were gone when a group of savage boys

surrounded Hook , who seemed to have a charmed l i fe , as he
kept them at bay in that c i rc l e of fire They had done for .

his dog s but t hi s man alone seemed to be a match for them

,

a ll
. Again and aga i n th e y closed upon him and aga i n and ,

aga i n he hewed a c l ear space He had l i fted up one boy wit h

.

his hook , and wa s u si ng him as a buckl e r , when another w ho ,

had j ust passed his sword through Mu lli ns , sprang i nto the fray .

‘ ‘ ’
Put up your s words , boys cr i ed the newcomer , t h i s man
,
’
is m i ne .

Thus sudden l y H ook found h i mse l f face to face w i t h Peter .

The others drew back and formed a ring round them .

F or l ong the two e n e mies l ooked at one another ! Hook

shuddering s l i g h t l y , and Peter w i t h the s trange smile upon hi s
face .

’ ‘ ’
So Pan , said Hook at l a s t this is all your doing
, , .

‘ ’ ‘
A y James Hook came the s tern answer , it is a ll my
, ,

‘ ’ ‘
Proud and insolent youth s aid Hook prepare to meet , ,

thy doom .
’

‘ ’ ’
Dark and sin i ster man Peter an swered h ave at thee
, , .

Wit h out more word s they fe l l to and for a space there ,

w a s no advantage to either b l ade Peter was a superb .

1 58
 ‘ ’

H OO K O R M E TH I S T I M E
swordsman and parr i ed w i th dazzl i ng rap i dity ! ever and anon
,
’

he fol l owed up a feint with a lunge that got pa s t h i s foe s

defence , but h i s shorter reach stood h im in i ll stead and he ,

could not drive the stee l home Hook scarcely h i s inferior

.
,

i n brillian cy , but not quite so n i mble in wrist play forced ,

h i m back by t h e weight of h i s onset hOp i ng s udden l y to end ,

a ll with a favourite thru s t taught him long ago by Barbecu e

,

at Rio ! but to hi s astonishment he found this thru s t turned

aside again and again T h en he sought to c l ose and g i ve
.

the quietus w i th h is iron hook which al l thi s time had b ee n ,

pawing the air ! but Peter doubled under it and lung i ng fierce l y , ,

pierced h i m i n the ribs At sight Of his own blood who s e

.
,

p e culiar colour , you remember was Offens i ve to him the sword, ,

’ ’
fe ll from H ook s hand and he was at Peter s mercy
, .

‘ ’
Now l cried all the boys ! but with a magn i ficent gesture
Peter invited his O pponent to p i ck up hi s s word H ook d i d .

s o i nstant l y but w i th a tragic fee li ng that Peter was s how i ng

,

good form .

H i therto he had thought it was some fiend fig h ting h i m ,

but darker suspicions assai l ed h i m now .

’
Pan who and what art thou ? he cr i ed h usk il y
,
.

I m youth I m j oy Peter answered at a venture , I m a

‘ ’ ’ ’ ‘ ’

, ,
’
l ittle b i rd that has broken out of the egg .

Thi s , of course wa s non s ense ! but it was proof to t h e

,

unhappy H ook that Peter did not know i n t h e l east who o r

what he wa s which i s t h e very pinnac l e of good form
,
.

‘
To t ’ ’
aga i n he cried de s pair i ng l y
, .

H e fought now like a human fla i l and every sweep of that ,

terrib l e sword would have s evered i n twai n any man or boy

w ho obstructed it ! but Peter fluttered round hi m a s i f the ve r y
wi nd it made blew h i m out of the danger zone And aga i n .

and agai n he darted in and pricked .

I 59
P ET E R PAN AN D WE NDY
Hook was fighting now without hope That passionate .

breast no longer asked for life ! but for one boon it c raved ! to
see Peter bad form before it w as co l d for ever .

Abandoning the fight he rushed in to the powder magazine

a nd fired it .

‘ ‘ ’
I n two minutes , he cried , the ship will be blown to
’
pieces .

Now now , he thought , true form wi l l S how

, .

But Peter i ss ued from the powder magazine with the she l l
i n h i s h and s and cal mly flung i t overboard
, .

What s ort of form wa s Hook him s elf showing ? M i sguided

man though h e was we may be g l ad , without s ympathi si ng
,

w i th h i m that in the end he wa s true to the traditions of hi s

,

race. The other boys were flying around him now , flouting ,

scornful ! and as he staggered about the deck str i king up at

them impotently , his mind was no longer with them ! it was
slouch i ng in the p l ay i ng fie l ds of long ago or being sent up ,

fo r good , or watching the wall game from a famous wa l l And

-
.

h is shoes were right , and h i s waistcoat was r i ght , and his t i e

was right and his so c ks were right
,
.

Jame s H ook , thou not who l ly un h eroic figure , farewel l .

F or we h ave come to h i s l ast moment .

Seeing Peter S lowl y advancing upo n h i m through the air

w i t h dagger poi sed , he sprang upon the bu l warks to cast
h i mse l f into the sea He d i d not know t h at the crocodile was
.

wa i t i ng for him ! for we purpose l y stopped the c lock that

t h i s know l edge might be spared hi m ! a l ittle mark of respect
from u s at the end .

He h ad one l ast triump h , whi c h I th i nk we ne ed not grudge

h i m As h e stood on the bulwark l ook i ng over h is shoulder
.

at Peter g l id i ng through the a i r, he inv i ted h im with a gesture

to use h is foot It made Peter kick instead of stab
. .

1 60
C HAPTE R XV I T HE RET U RN H OM E

BY two be l l s t h at morning th ey were al l s t i rr i ng t h e i r s tump s !

’
for there was a b i g s ea runn i ng ! and Tootl es th e bo s un wa s , ,
’
among them w i th a rope s end i n his h and and chew i ng tobacco
, .

They a ll don ned p i rate c l othe s cut off at the kn ee sh ave d ,

smartly and tumb le d up w i th the tru e naut i ca l ro l l and

, ,

h i tc hi ng t h e i r trou s er s.

I t need not be sa i d w ho wa s t h e captain N i b s and John.

wer e fir s t and s econd mat e Th e re w a s a woman aboard The

. .

’ ’
rest we re tar s before th e ma s t and l i v e d i n th e fo c sle Peter
, .

h ad a l re ady lashed h i m sel f to th e wheel ! but h e p i p e d a l l

hand s and de l i ve re d a sh ort addre s s to th e m ! sa i d he h oped
they wou l d do t hei r d uty l i k e ga l l ant heart ie s but that h e ,

knew they wer e t h e s cum of Ri o and t he G o l d Coa s t and i f ,

t he y s napp e d at h i m he wou l d t e ar them H i s b l u ff s t ri d e nt

.

word s s truck t h e not e s a il o rs und e r s tand and th e y c h ee re d

,

h i m l ust il y Then a few s harp o r d ers w e r e g i v e n and t h ey

.
,

turned the s h ip round and no s ed h e r for the ma i n l and

, .

’
Captain Pan ca l cu l ated aft e r consu l t i ng t he shi p s cha r t
, ,

t h at i f this w e ather l ast e d they s hou l d st ri k e t he Azores about

the 2 1 5 t O f J une after whic h i t wou l d s av e time to fly
,
.

Som e of t he m want e d i t to b e an hone s t s h i p and oth ers

were i n favour of keep i ng i t a p i rat e ! but th e capta i n tre at e d
them as dog s and they dared not e xpr e s s t h eir w i shes to hi m
,

even in a round rob i n I n s tant obed i e nc e w a s t he only s afe

.

t hi ng S li g h tly got a dozen for look i ng perp l ex e d when to l d

.

to take s oundin gs T he genera l fee ling wa s that Peter wa s

.

1 63
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
hon e st j u s t now to lull Wendy s suspicion s but that there
’
,

might be a change when the new su i t was ready wh i c h against , ,

’
h er will she was making for him out of some of Hook s
,

wickedest garments It was afterwards wh i spere d among them

.

that on the first night he wore this suit he sat long i n the cab i n
’
with H ook s cigar holder in h i s mouth and one hand clenched ,
-

al l but the forefi nger which he bent and held threaten ingly aloft
,

l ike a hook .

I nst e ad of watching the shi p however we must now return

, ,

to that de s olate home fr om which three of our charact e rs had

taken heartless flight so l ong ago It seems a sha me to have .

neglected No 1 4 al l th i s t i me ! and yet we may be sure that

.

M rs Darl i ng does not blame us I f we h ad return e d sooner

. .

to look with sorrowfu l sympathy at h er , she would probably

‘ ’
have cried , Don t b e s i lly ! what do I matter ? Do go back
’
and keep an eye on th e chi l dren So long as mothers are
.

l ike this t h eir chi ldren wi l l take advantage of them ! and they
may lay to t h at .

Even now we venture i nto that fami li ar nursery only

because it s lawful occupant s are on t h eir way hom e ! we are
merely h urrying on i n advanc e of them to s e e that t h e i r b e ds
are properly aired and that Mr and M rs Darling do not go
. .

out for the evening We are no more than s ervan ts W h y

. .

on eart h s hould the i r bed s be properly a i red , seeing t h at th e y

l eft them in such a thankless hurry ? Would i t not se rve t h em
j o l l y well r i ght i f they cam e back and foun d that t h e i r parents
were spendi ng t h e week— e nd in t h e country ? I t would be the
moral l esson t h ey have been in need of ever si nce we met
th e m ! but i f we contr i ved th i ngs i n th is way Mrs Darl ing .

would n e ve r forgive us .

One thing I shou l d l i ke to do i mmen s e l y and that is to

,

tel l her , i n the way authors have that the c hi l dren ar e com ing
,

1 64
P ETE R PAN AND WE NDY
children flew away M r Darl ing felt in his bones that al l the
, .

blam e was his for having chained Nana up and that from first ,

to last S he had been wiser than he Of cour s e , as we have

.

seen , he was quite a s imple man i ndeed he might have passed

for a boy again i f he had been ab l e to take his ba l dness off !
but he had also a nob l e s e n s e of ju s t i c e and a lion courage
to do what seemed r i ght to him ! and having thought the
matter out with anxiou s care after the fl i ght of the children ,
he w e nt down on all four s and crawled into the k e nnel To .

’
all M rs Dar li ng s dear i nv i tat i on s to h i m to come out he r e plied
.

s adly but firmly !

’
No, my own one , this i s th e plac e for me .

I n the bitt e rne ss of hi s remor s e he s wore that he wou l d

never leave the kennel unt il hi s c hi ldren came back Of course .

t h i s wa s a pity ! but whateve r Mr Darl i ng d i d he had to do

.

i n e xce s s ! otherwi se h e soon gave up do i ng i t And the re .

nev e r wa s a more humb le man t h an the once proud George

!

Darl i ng , a s h e s at i n the kennel of an e vening ta l k i ng w i t h hi s

wife of their children and all t h e i r pretty way s .

V ery touc hi ng wa s h i s defer e nce to Nana He would not

.

let h er come i nto th e kenn e l but on all other matter s h e

,

followed h e r wi s hes i mpl i citly

.

Every morn i ng the kennel wa s car r i e d with M r Da rl i ng .

in it to a cab which conveyed him to h i s o ffice and he r e turned

, ,

home in the s ame way at si x Something of the s trength of

.

charact e r of t he man will b e seen i f we remember how sensitive

h e wa s to t he opinion of ne i ghbours ! this man whose every
movemen t now attracted surpri s ed attention I nwardly he must
.

hav e suffere d torture ! but he pres erved a calm exterior even

when the young crit i cised h i s li ttle hom e , and he always
l ifted h i s hat courteously to any lady who l ooked i n si de .

I t may have been qu i xot i c but i t was magn i ficent Soon

, .

1 66
 T HE RETU RN H O M E
th e i nward meaning of it l eaked out and th e great heart of ,

the public wa s touch e d Crowd s followed the cab chee ri ng i t

.
,

l usti l y ! charm i ng gir l s sca l ed i t to get h i s autograph ! i nt e rvi ew s

appeared i n the better clas s of papers and s oc i ety i nv i t e d him ,

to d i nn e r and added DO come i n the kennel

, .
’

t
t t f h i s remo se h e sw o e t
erness o
I n he bi r ha the w ould nev er le v e
r a

the kenn l unt i l hi s chi ldren c me b ch

e a a .

On that eventfu l Thursday week M r s Darl i ng was i n the .

’
night nursery awa i ting G eorge s r eturn hom e ! a very s ad eyed
- -

woman Now that we l ook at her Cl ose l y and rememb e r the

.

gaiety of her i n the o l d days all gone now j u s t becau se s he ha s

,
’
l o s t h e r bab es I find I won t be ab l e to s ay na s ty t hi ngs about
,

her after all I f s h e w a s too fond of he r rubbis h y ch i ldre n s h e

.

’
couldn t hel p it Look at her in he r cha i r wh e re she has fa ll en
.
,

asleep . The corn e r of her mouth whe re one l ook s fir s t i s , ,

al most w ith e red up Her hand m ove s re s tles s ly on h e r breast

.

as if she h ad a pa i n ther e Some l i ke Peter be s t and s om e

.

1 67
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
like Wendy be s t ,but I l i ke h e r best Suppose , to make her happy
.
,

we whisper to her i n her sleep that the brats are coming back .

They are really within two miles of the window now and flying ,
’
strong ,but all we need w h isper is that they are on the way Let s . .

I t i s a pity we did it , for she ha s started up calling their ,

name s ! and there is no one i n the room but Nana .

‘ ’
O Nana, I dreamt my dear ones had come back .

Nana had filmy e yes , but all s h e cou l d do was to put her
’
paw gently on her mistre s s s lap ! and they were s itting togeth e r
thus when the kennel was brought back A s Mr Dar l i ng puts . .

his head out at i t to k i s s h i s w i fe we s ee that his fac e is more

,

worn than of yore , but has a softer expre s s ion .

H e gave his hat to Liza, who took it s cornfully ! for she

had no imagination , and was quit e incapable of understanding
the mot i ves of such a man Out si de th e crowd who had
.
,

accompani e d the cab home were st i l l cheering and h e was ,

natura l ly not unmoved .

’ ’
Li s ten to them , he s aid it i s ve ry gratify i ng .

’
Lot of l ittle boy s s n e ered L i za
, .

‘ ’
Th e re were s everal adults to day he as s ured her with a -

faint flush ! but w h en she to s sed h er head he h ad not a word

of reproof for her Soc i a l succes s had not spoilt h i m ! i t had
.

made hi m sweeter For s ome time he sat half out of t h e

.

kennel talk i ng with Mr s Dar l ing of th i s su c ces s , and press i ng

, .

h e r hand reassuringly when she said S he hoped his head would

not b e turned by i t .

‘ ‘ ’
But if I had been a weak man he s aid Good heavens ,
, .

’
if I had been a weak man I
‘ ’ ‘
And George , she said timidly, you are as ful l of remorse
,
’ ’
as ever aren t you ?
,
‘
Ful l of remorse as ever , dearest ! See my punishment !
’
l iving in a kennel .

1 68
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
Of course he kne w noth ing whatev e r about his mother ! b ut
he sometimes bragged about her .

H e did not know the tune , which was Home , Swee t

‘

’
‘
H ome but he knew it was saying Come back Wendy ,
, , ,
’
‘
Wendy, Wendy ! an d he cried exultantly, You wi l l never see
’
Wendy again , lady , for the window is barred .

H e peeped i n agai n to see why the music had stopped ! and

now he saw that Mrs Darl ing had laid her head on the box , and
.

that two tears were s itting on her eyes .

‘ ‘ ’
She wants me to unbar t h e window thought Peter but , ,
’ ’
I won t , not I .

H e peeped again , and the tears were still there , or another

two had taken their place .

‘ ’ ’
She s awfully fond of Wendy he sa i d to himself He wa s , .

angry with her now for not s eeing why she could not hav e
Wendy .

The reason w a s s o simple ! I m fond of her too

‘
We ’
.

’ ’
can t both have her , lady .

But the lady would not make the best of it , and he was
u nhappy H e ceased to l ook at her, but even then she would not
.

let go of h i m H e skipped about and made funny faces , but when

.

he stopped i t was j ust as if she were i nside him , kno c king .

‘ ’
Oh , a l l right , he said at last , and gulped Then he .

‘ ’
u nbarred the window Come on T i nk , he cried , with a fright
.
,
‘ ’
ful sneer at the laws of nature ! we don t want any s illy
’
mothers and he flew away .

Thus Wendy and J ohn and Michael found the window open
for them after all , which of course was more than they deserved .

They alighted on the floor, quite unashamed of themselves ! and

the youngest one had already forgotten his home .

‘
J ohn , he said , looking around him doubtfu
’
l l y I thin k ,

I have been here before .

1 70
 TH E RETU RN H O M E
‘
Of course you have , you sil l y . There i s your old
‘ ’
So it i s, M ic h ae l said but not with much conv i ct i on
, .

’ ‘
I say cr ie d Jo h n the kennel an d he dashed acro s s to
, ,

l ook into it .

‘ ’
Perhaps Nana i s i n si d e it Wendy sa i d , .

‘ ’ ‘ ’
But John whist l ed H u l lo , he sa i d , there s a man
.

’
inside i t.

’
I t S fath e r exc l a i med We ndy .

‘ ’
Let me see father Mic h ael begged eagerly and h e took a
, ,
’
good look .H e is not so b i g a s the p i rate I ki l l ed he sa i d wit h ,

suc h fr ank d i s appo i ntment t h at I am g l ad M r Darling was .

asleep ! i t would have b ee n s ad i f t h ose had been the fir s t words

h e heard hi s l i tt l e M i cha el say .

Wendy and J ohn had been taken aback somewhat at find i ng

their father in t h e kenn el .

‘ ’
Surely said John l i ke one w ho h ad l ost faith i n h i s
, ,
’
memo ry h e used not to S l eep i n the ken ne l ?
,
‘ ’ '
John , Wendy s a i d fa l t e ringly perhaps we don t rem e mber ,
’
the o l d li fe as we l l as w e thoug h t w e d i d .

A ch i ll fell upon them ! and se r ve t h em ri ght .

‘ ’
I t is very care l es s of mother s a i d that young s coundrel ,
’
J ohn not to be h e r e when we come back
, .

I t wa s then that M rs Darl i ng b egan play i ng again

. .

’ ’
It S mother I c r i e d Wendy p e eping , .

‘
So i t i s said John .

‘ ’
Then are you not r e a l ly our mot he r We ndy ? a s ked ,

M ic h ael who wa s sure l y sl eepy

, .

‘ ’
Oh dear ! exc l a i med Wendy wi t h her first rea l tw i nge of ,

‘ ’
remorse i t i s qu i te t i me w e came back
, ’
.

‘ ’ ‘
Let us creep i n John s ugg es ted and put our hands over
, ,
’
h e r eyes.

1 71
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
But Wendy who saw that they must break the joyous news
,

more gently , had a better plan .

Let us all sl i p into our beds , and be there when she come s
’
i n , j ust as if we had never been away .

And so when Mrs Darling went back to the night nursery

.
-

to see if her husband was asleep , all the beds were occu p ied .

The children waited for her cry of joy but it did not come She , .

saw them, but she d id not believe they were there You see .
,

she saw them in thei r beds so often in her dre ams that S he
thought this was j ust the dream hanging around her still .

She s at down in the chair by the fire , where i n the old day s
s he had nur s ed them .

T h ey c ould not und e rstand this and a cold fear fel l upon ,

al l the three of them .

’
Mother I Wendy cr i ed .

‘ ’ ’
That S Wendy S he said , but still she wa s sure it was the
,

dream .

‘Mother ! ’

’ ’
That s John sh e s aid
, .

Mother ! cried M ichael H e knew her now . .

‘ ’
That s M ichael S he s a i d and s h e s tretched out her arm s
’

, ,

for t h e three li tt l e s elfish c h ildren they would never envelop

aga i n Ye s , they did , they went round We ndy and John and
.

M ichael , who had s l ipped out of bed and run to her .

’
George George , she cried when she could speak ! and Mr
,
.

Darling woke to share h er bliss , and Nana came rushing in .

There could not h ave been a lovel i er sight ! but there w a s none
to see i t except a strange boy who wa s staring i n at the window .

H e had ecstasie s innumerable that other children can never

know ! but he was looking through the window at the one j oy
from which he must be for ever barred .

1 72
P ET E R PA NAN D WE N DY
Then he burst into tears , and the truth came out H e was .

a s glad to have them as S he was he said but he thought they

, ,

should have asked his c onsent as well as hers , instead of treating

him as a cypher in his own house .

’ ’

I don t think he is a cypher Tootles cried instantly Do , .

’
you thi nk he is a cypher , Curly ?
NO, I don t Do you t h ink he i s a cypher, Slightly ?
’
.
’

Rather not Twi n what do you think ?

.
,
’

I t turned out that not one of them thought him a cypher !

and he was absurdly grat i fied and said he would find s pace for ,

them al l i n the draw i ng room if th e y fitted in -

.

‘ ’ ’
We 11 fit in , sir they assured hi m , .

‘ ’ ‘
Then fo l low the leader h e cri e d gai l y M ind you , I am
, .

not sure that we have a drawing room , but we pretend we have , -

a nd it s a ll the s ame
’
Hoop la .

He we nt off dancing through t h e house and they al l cried ,

’
Hoop la ! and danced after h i m , searching for the drawing
room ! and I forget whether they found it , but at any rate they
found corner s and they a l l fitted i n
, .

As for Peter h e saw Wendy once again before he flew away

, .

H e did not exactly come to the window , but he bru s hed against
it in pa ss ing , so that she could open it if she l i ked and call to
h i m That wa s what she d i d
. .

’
H ullo , Wendy , good bye he said -

, .

‘ ’
Oh d e ar are you go i ng away ?
,
‘ ’
Yes .

‘ ’ ‘ ’
You don t feel , Peter , she sa i d fa l tering l y , that you would
’
l i ke to s ay anything to my parent s about a ve ry sweet subj e c t ?
’
No.

‘ ’
About me , Peter ?
’
No.

Mrs Dar l ing came to the window, for at present s he was

.

1 74
 WH E N WE N DY G REW U P
keeping a sharp eye on Wendy She told Peter that she had .

adopted all the other boys , and would like to adopt h i m also .

’
Would you send me to s c hoo l ? he inquired c raft i ly .

’
Yes .

And then to an o ffi ce
‘ ’
I su p po s e so .

’
Soon I s hould be a man ?
’
V ery soon .

‘ ’
I don t want to go to school
’
and learn solem n th i ngs, he told
‘ ’
her p assionate l y I don t want to
.

’
be a man 0 Wendy s mother if
.
,

I wa s to wake up and feel there was

a beard
’
Peter , said We ndy the com
fort
‘ ’
er, I shou l d love you in a beard
and M rs Da r ling stretched out her
.

arms to him but he repulsed her

, .

Keep back , lady no one is ,

going to c atch me and make m e a

’
man .

But where ar e you going to

’
l ive ?
‘
With Tink in the hou s e we
bu i l t for Wendy The fairies are to
.

put it high up among the tre e tops

’
where they sleep at nights .

‘ ’
H ow lovely, cr i ed Wendy so
longingly that M rs Dar l ing tightened .
T h ey li e i n n st h t
s nt p f ts v e o e o so ree

her gri p .

’
I thought all the fairies were dead , Mrs Darl i ng said . .

‘ ’
There are always a lot of young ones , ex p lained Wendy ,

I 7S
P ET E R PAN AN D WE N DY
‘
who was now quite an authority , be c ause you see when a new
baby laughs for the first time a new fairy i s born and as there ,

are always new bab ies there are always new fairies They live .

i n nests o n the to p s of trees and the mauve ones are boys and
the white ones are girls , and the blue ones are j ust little sillies
’
who are not sure what they are .

‘ ’
I shall have s u c h fun said Peter , with one eye on ,

Wendy .

‘ ‘ ’
I t wil l be rather lonely i n the even ing , she said , sittin g
’
by the fi re .

’
I shall have Tink .

‘ ’ ’
Tink can t go a twentieth part of t he way round , she
reminded h im a little tartly .

‘ ’
Sneaky tell ta l e ! Tink c alled out from somewhere round
-

the corner .

‘ ’ ’
I t doesn t matter , Peter sa i d .

‘ ’
0 Peter you know it matters
, .

‘ ’
Wel l t h en come with me to the little house
, , .

’
May I , mummy ?
Certain l y not I have got you home aga i n and I mean to
.
,
’
keep you .

’
But he doe s s o need a mother .

‘ ’
So do you my love , .

‘ ’
Oh al l right , Peter said , as i f h e had asked her from
,

po l itene ss mere l y ! but M r s Darling s aw his mouth twitch , and

.

she made this handsome o ffer ! to let Wendy go to hi m for a

week every year to do hi s spring cleaning Wendy would have .

preferre d a more perman e nt ar rangement ! and it seemed to h e r

that s p ri ng would be long i n coming ! but this prom i s e sent
Peter away quite gay aga i n He had no sense of ti me and was .
,

so full of adve ntures that all I have told you about hi m is only
a ha l fpenny worth of them I suppose i t wa s because Wendy
-
.

1 76
 WH E N WE N DY G REW U P
knew this that her last wo rds to h im were these rather plaintive
on es !
‘ ’
You won t forget me Peter will you , before spr i ng c l eaning
, ,
-

’
time comes ?
Of course Peter promi s ed ! and then he flew away He took .

’
Mrs Darling s kiss with h i m The kiss that had been for no
. .

one else Peter took quite ea s i l y Funny But s h e se e med

. .

satisfied .

Of course al l the boys went to s chool and most of t he m got

in to C l a s s b ut Sl ightly wa s put first into Clas s I V and then .

into Cla s s v Class 1 is the top class Before they had att e nded
. . .

schoo l a week they saw wh at goats they had been not to r e main
on t h e is l and ! but it wa s too l at e now and soon th ey se ttled ,

d own to being as ordinary a s you or me or Jenkin s m i nor I t .

is s ad to have to say that the power to fly gradua ll y le ft them .

At first Nana tied their feet to th e bed posts so that th ey S h ould -

not fly away in the night ! and on e of their divers i on s by day

’
wa s to pret e nd to fall off buse s ! but by and by they cea s ed to
tug at th ei r bonds in bed and found that they hurt t h em s e l v e s
,

when t he y l e t go of the bu s I n time they could not e ven fly

’
.

afte r t hei r hats Want of pract i c e they called it ! but what it

.
,

rea ll y m eant was that they no l onge r believed .

M i c h ael believed l ong e r than the other boys , t h ough t hey

j eered at him ! so he wa s w i t h We ndy when Peter came for
her at the end of the first ye ar She flew away wit h P e t er in
.

the frock she had woven from l eaves and berr ies i n the
Neverland and her one fear wa s t h at he m ight not i c e h ow
,

short i t had be c ome ! but he n ever noticed he had s o much ,

to say about himsel f .

She had looked forward to th r ill ing talk s with h i m about

old time s but new adventure s had c rowded the old one s from
,

his mind .

x 1 77
P ETE R PAN AN D WE N DY
‘
Who is Captain H ook ? he asked with i ntere s t when S he
’

spoke of the arch enemy .

‘ ’ ’ ‘
Don t you remember she asked amazed , how you killed
, ,

him and saved all our lives ? ’

‘
I forget them after I k i ll them he replied carelessly,
’
.

When S he expre s sed a doubtful hope that T i nker Bel l

‘ ’
would be glad to see her he s a i d , Who i s Tinker Bel l ?
’
0 Peter sh e said shocked ! but even when she explained
, ,

he cou l d not remember .

‘ ‘ ’
There are such a lot of them h e s aid I expect she i s
, .

’
no more .

I expect he was right , for fairie s don t l ive long , but they ’

are s o l ittle that a S hort ti me se e ms a good wh i l e to

them .

Wendy was pain e d too to find that the past year wa s b ut

a s yesterday to Peter ! it had se emed suc h a long year of
waiting to her But h e was exactly as fasc i nating as ever
.
,

and they had a lovely spring clean i ng in the l ittle h ouse On the
tree top s .

Next year he did not come for her She waited in a new .

frock becaus e t h e old one S imply would not m e et ! but he never

came .

‘ ’
Perhaps he i s i l l , M i chael said .

‘ ’
You know h e is never i ll .

M ichael cam e close to her and wh i sper e d w i th a shiver , ,

‘ ’
Perhap s t h ere i s no such person We ndy ! and then Wendy ,

would have cr i ed i f M ichae l had not be e n crying .

Peter cam e next spring c le aning ! and the strange thing was
that he never kne w he had mi s sed a year .

That wa s the la s t t i me the g i r l Wendy ever saw him For .

a little long e r S he tried for hi s s ake not to have grow i ng pain s

and she fe l t s he wa s untrue to hi m when S he got a prize for
1 78
P ETE R PAN A ND WE N DY
d i fficult to get on with ! being very firmly convinced that no one
knew how to look after children except herself .

’
Once a week Jane s nurse had her evening off and then it
’
was Wendy s part to put Jane to bed That was the ti me for .

’
stories I t was J ane s invention to rai s e the sheet over her
.

’
mother s head and her own , thus mak i ng a tent and i n the awful ,

darkne s s to whisper !
‘ ’
What do we see now ?
’ ’
I don t think I see anything to n i ght s ays Wendy with a -

, ,

feel ing that if Nana were here she would object to further con
versation .

‘ ’
Yes , you do says Jane , you see w hen you were a l i ttle
,

‘ ’ ‘
That is a long time ago , sweetheart says Wendy Ah , .

me , how time fli e s
‘ ’ ‘
Does it fly , asks the artful ch i ld , the way you flew when
you were a l i ttle
‘
The way I flew Do you know Jane I s ometime s wonder , ,
’
whether I ever did really fly .

‘ ’
Ye s you di d
, .

‘ ’
The dear Old days when I cou l d fly I
‘ ’ ’
Why can t you fly now , mother ?
‘
Because I am grown up , dearest When people grow up .

’
they forget the way .

‘
Why do they forget the way
Because they are no l onger gay and innocent and heartless .

’
I t is only the gay and innocent and heartless who can fly .

What is gay and innocent and heartles s ? I do wish I was

’
gay and i nnocent and heartless .

Or perhap s Wendy admits that She does see something .

’ ‘ ’
I do be l ieve she says that it i s th i s nursery
, , .

’ ’
I do believe it is , says Jane Go on . .

1 80
 WH E N WE NDY G REW U P
They are now embarked on the great adventure of the night
when Peter flew i n looking for h i s s h adow .

‘ ‘
The fooli s h fe ll ow says Wendy tr i ed to s t i ck i t on with
’

, ,

soap and when he cou l d not h e cr i ed and that woke me and I

, , ,
’
sewe d i t on for h i m .

‘ ’
You have m i ssed a b i t i nterrupts Jan e who now k now s
, ,
‘
the story better than h e r mother When you saw h i m si tt i ng .

on the floor cry i ng w h at did you say ? ’

I sat up i n bed and I sa i d Boy w hy are you crying ? , ,

’
Yes that was it s ay s Jane with a big bre at h
, , , .

‘
And then he flew us al l away to t h e Neve rland and the
’
fairies and the pirate s and th e redsk i ns and the mermaids lagoon ,
’
and the home under the ground and th e litt l e house , .

‘ ’
Y es l which did you l i ke best of al l ?
’
I think I l iked the hom e under t h e ground best of a l l .

‘
Yes , so do I What wa s the l ast thing Pete r ever s aid to
.

‘
The last thi ng he ever sa i d to me wa s J ust a l way s be ,

wait i ng for me and t hen some nig h t you will h ear m e crow i ng
,
.

‘ ’
Y es .

‘ ’
But ala s he forgot a l l about me
, , Wendy s aid i t with a .

s mile S h e was a s grown up a s that

. .

‘ ’
What d i d h i s crow sound lik e ? J ane ask e d on e even i ng .

It
’ ’
wa s li ke th i s , Wendy s aid trying to i mitat e Pet e r s c row,
.

’ ‘ ’
No i t wasn t Jane sa i d gravely i t wa s l i ke thi s and s he
,
’

, ,

d id it eve r so much better than h er mother .

Wendy was a l i tt l e startled My darling how can you .

,

know ?
’

‘ ’
I O ften hear i t when I am s leeping , Jane s aid .

‘
Ah yes , many g i r ls hear i t when they are sleep i ng, b utI
’
was the only one who heard it awake .

’
Lucky you sa i d Jane, .

1 81
P ETE R PAN AN D V JE NDY
And then one night came the tragedy I t was the spring .

o f the year and the story had been to l d for the night and Jane
, ,

wa s now asleep in h er bed Wendy wa s sitting on the floor very

.
,

close to the fire so as to s ee to darn for there was no other light

, ,

in the nurse ry ! and while she sat darn i ng she heard a crow .

Then the window blew open a s of old , and Peter dropped on the
floor .

He was exactly the same a s ever , and Wendy s aw at once

that he still had al l h i s fi rst teeth .

He wa s a litt l e boy , and S he wa s grown up She huddled .

by the fire not daring to move , helples s and guilty, a big woman .

’
H ullo Wendy he s aid not notic i ng any di fference for he
, , , ,

w a s t hi nking chiefly of himself ! and i n th e dim light her white

dre s s might have been the nightgown i n w h ich he had seen h er
first.

’
H ullo , Peter s he replied faint l y, s queezing herself a s small
,

as po s sible Someth i ng i nside her wa s c ry i ng Woman woman ,

.
,
’
l et go of me .

‘
H ul l o where i s J ohn ? he asked , s uddenly missing the
,
’

th i rd bed .

‘ ’
John i s not her e now , she gasped .

‘ ’
I s M ichae l a sl eep ? he asked , w i th a careles s glance at
‘ ’
Y e s , s he a ns we re d ! and now she fe l t that she was untrue
to J ane as wel l as to Peter .

‘ ’
That i s not M i c h ael , s he said quickly , l est a j udgment
shou l d fa l l on h er .

’
Peter looked H u ll o, is it a new one ?
.

‘ ’
Boy or g i rl ?
‘ ’
G i rl .

Now sure l y he wou l d understand ! but not a bit of it .

1 82
PETE R PAN AN D WE NDY
But he supposed she wa s ! and he took a ste p towards the
sleeping c h ild with his dagger upraised Of course he did not .

strike H e sat down on the floor instead and sobbed ! and

.

Wendy did not know how to comfort him , though she could have
done it so easily once She was only a woman now, and she ran
.

out of the room to t ry to think .

Peter continued to cry and s oon his sobs woke Jane She , .

sat up i n bed , and wa s i nterested at once .

’
Boy s h e sa i d why are you crying ?
, ,
’

Peter rose and bowed to her , and she bowed to him from the
’
H ullo , he s a i d .

’
H ullo s aid Jane
, .

’
My name i s Peter Pan he told her , .

‘ ’
Yes , I know .

‘ ‘ ’
I came back for my mother he exp l a i ned to take her to , ,
’
the Never l and .

‘ ‘ ’ ’
Ye s I know Jane said I been wa i t i ng for you
, , , .

Wh en We ndy retu r ned di ffident ly s he found Peter s itting

on t h e bed po s t crowing g l orious l y wh i le Jan e in her n i ghty was
-

fly i ng round th e room i n s olemn ecsta s y .

‘ ’
Sh e i s my mot h er Pet e r expla i ned ! and Jane descended ,

and stood by his s ide with the l ook on h e r face that he l i ked to
,

s ee on ladi e s when they gazed at hi m .

’
He does s o need a mother Jane s a i d , .

‘ ’ ‘
Y es I know Wendy adm i tted rather forlornly ! no one
, ,
’
know s it so we ll as I .

‘ ’
Good bye , s aid Peter to Wendy ! and he rose in the air ,
-

and the S hamel e s s Jan e rose with hi m it was already her easiest
w a y of moving about .

Wendy rushed to the window .

’
No , no S he cried , .

1 84
 WH E N WE N DY G REW U P
‘ ’ ‘
I t i s j ust for s pring clean i ng t i me , Jane said ! he wan ts
-

’
me always to do h i s spring c l ean i ng .

’
I f only I could go wit h you Wendy s ighed , .

‘ ’ ’
You see you can t fly s aid J ane
, .

Of course i n the end Wendy let them fly away together .

Our last gl i mps e of h e r shows h er at the Wi ndow watch i ng them ,

recedin g i nto the sky unt i l they were a s s ma l l as s tars .

A s you look at Wen dy you may s ee her h a i r becom i ng

w h it e and her figure li tt l e aga i n for a ll t hi s happened l ong ago
, , .

J ane i s now a common g rown up , w i th a daughter ca ll ed

-

Margaret ! and e ve ry s pring c l ean i ng t i me , e xcept when h e

-

forg e ts P e ter come s fo r M argaret and take s h e r to t h e N ever

,

lan d w h ere she te l l s hi m sto ri es about h i m s e l f, to wh i ch h e

,

l isten s eager l y When Margaret grow s up s he w ill have a

.

’
daughter who is to be Peter s mother i n turn ! and t h u s it w ill
,

go on so long as children are gay and innocent and h eartle s s

,
.

E ND

1 85
T ext
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Rep int ed 111 t

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