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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:33:35 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:33:35 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/26998-h.zip b/26998-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c404209 --- /dev/null +++ b/26998-h.zip diff --git a/26998-h/26998-h.htm b/26998-h/26998-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aba0a8e --- /dev/null +++ b/26998-h/26998-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3885 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, by J. M. Barrie +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + font-size: medium; + background: White; + margin-right: 15%; + margin-left: 15%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.salutation {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.closing {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.index {font-size: small ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-top: 0% ; + margin-bottom: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.dedication {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 15%; + text-align: justify } + +P.published {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 15% } + +P.quote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report2 {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +H3.h3left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H3.h3right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H3.h3center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgleft { float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 0%; + margin-right: 0%; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgright {float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 0%; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 0%; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 0%; + margin-right: auto; } + +.pagenum { position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: 95%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + +.sidenote { left: 0%; + font-size: 65%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0%; + width: 17%; + float: left; + clear: left; + padding-left: 0%; + padding-right: 2%; + padding-top: 2%; + padding-bottom: 2%; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + + + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, by J. M. Barrie + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens + +Author: J. M. Barrie + +Illustrator: Arthur Rackham + +Release Date: October 24, 2008 [EBook #26998] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PETER PAN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h4>There are several editions of this ebook in the Project Gutenberg collection. Various characteristics of each ebook are listed to aid in selecting the preferred file.<br />Click on any of the filenumbers below to quickly view each ebook. +</h4> + + +<table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto" cellpadding="4" border="3"> + +<tr><td> + <b><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1332/1332-h/1332-h.htm"> +1332</a> </b> </td><td>(Plain HTML) +</td></tr> + +<tr><td> + <b><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26998/26998-h/26998-h.htm"> +26998</a></b></td><td>(1910, Illustrated in Color by Rackham, and with TOC) +</td></tr> + +<tr><td> + <b><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26999/26999-h/26999-h.htm"> +26999</a></b> </td><td>(1906, Illustrated in Color by Rackham, and with TOC) +</td></tr> + + +</table> + + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-cover"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-cover.jpg" ALT="Cover art" BORDER="2" WIDTH="599" HEIGHT="833"> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-frontt"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-front.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-frontt.jpg" ALT="_The Kensington Gardens are in London, where the King lives_." BORDER="2" WIDTH="478" HEIGHT="690"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>The Kensington Gardens are in London, where the King lives</I>. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +PETER PAN +<BR> +IN KENSINGTON GARDENS +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +J. M. BARRIE +</H2> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +(<I>From 'The Little White Bird'</I>) +</H5> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +WITH DRAWINGS BY +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ARTHUR RACKHAM +</H3> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-title"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-title.jpg" ALT="Title page art" BORDER="0" WIDTH="236" HEIGHT="182"> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NEW YORK +<BR> +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS +<BR> +1910 +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Copyright, 1902, 1906, +<BR> +BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE GRAND TOUR OF THE GARDENS</A> +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#chap02">PETER PAN</A> +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE THRUSH'S NEST</A> +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#chap04">LOCK-OUT TIME</A> +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE LITTLE HOUSE</A> +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#chap06">PETER'S GOAT</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H4> +1. <A HREF="#img-frontt">'The Kensington Gardens are in London, where the King +lives'</A> . . . . . . . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</H4> + +<H4> +2. <A HREF="#img-003t">'The lady with the balloons, who sits just outside'</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +3. <A HREF="#img-016t">'Old Mr. Salford was a crab-apple of an old gentleman +who wandered all day in the Gardens'</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +4. <A HREF="#img-024t">'When he heard Peter's voice he popped in alarm behind a tulip'</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +5. <A HREF="#img-028t">'Put his strange case before old Solomon Caw'</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +6. <A HREF="#img-036t">'After this the birds said that they would help him no more +in his mad enterprise'</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +7. <A HREF="#img-040t">'For years he had been quietly filling his stocking'</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +8. <A HREF="#img-050t">'Fairies are all more or less in hiding until dusk'</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +9. <A HREF="#img-060t">'These tricky fairies sometimes slyly change the board on +a ball night'</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +10. <A HREF="#img-064t">'When her Majesty wants to know the time'</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +11. <A HREF="#img-066t">'Peter Pan is the fairies' orchestra'</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +12. <A HREF="#img-088t">'A chrysanthemum heard her, and said pointedly, "Hoity-toity, +what is this?"'</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +13. <A HREF="#img-090t">'Shook his bald head and murmured, "Cold, quite cold."'</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +14. <A HREF="#img-094t">'Fairies never say, "We feel happy"; what they say is, +"We feel <I>dancey</I>."'</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +15. <A HREF="#img-098t">'Looking very undancey indeed'</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +16. <A HREF="#img-104t">'Building the house for Maimie'</A> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +PETER PAN +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IN KENSINGTON GARDENS +</H3> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-001t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-001.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-001t.jpg" ALT="Map of Peter Pan's Kensington Gardens" BORDER="2" WIDTH="779" HEIGHT="535"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 779px"> +Map of Peter Pan's Kensington Gardens +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GRAND TOUR OF THE GARDENS +</H3> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="img-001b"></A> +<IMG CLASS="imgright" SRC="images/img-001b.jpg" ALT="David" BORDER="0" WIDTH="144" HEIGHT="268"> + +<P> +You must see for yourselves that it will be difficult to follow Peter +Pan's adventures unless you are familiar with the Kensington Gardens. +They are in London, where the King lives, and I used to take David +there nearly every day unless he was looking decidedly flushed. No +child has ever been in the whole of the Gardens, because it is so soon +time to turn back. The reason it is soon time to turn back is that, if +you are as small as David, you sleep from twelve to one. If your +mother was not so sure that you sleep from twelve to one, you could +most likely see the whole of them. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-002"></A> +<IMG CLASS="imgleft" SRC="images/img-002.jpg" ALT="Nurse" BORDER="" WIDTH="91" HEIGHT="259"> + +<P> +The Gardens are bounded on one side by a never-ending line of +omnibuses, over which your nurse has such authority that if she holds +up her finger to any one of them it stops immediately. She then +crosses with you in safety to the other side. There are more gates to +the Gardens than one gate, but that is the one you go in at, and before +you go in you speak to the lady with the balloons, who sits just +outside. This is as near to being inside as she may venture, because, +if she were to let go her hold of the railings for one moment, the +balloons would lift her up, and she would be flown away. She sits very +squat, for the balloons are always tugging at her, and the strain has +given her quite a red face. Once she was a new one, because the old +one had let go, and David was very sorry for the old one, but as she +did let go, he wished he had been there to see. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-003t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-003.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-003t.jpg" ALT="_The lady with the balloons, who sits just outside._" BORDER="2" WIDTH="487" HEIGHT="691"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>The lady with the balloons, who sits just outside.</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The Gardens are a tremendous big place, with millions and hundreds of +trees; and first you come to the Figs, but you scorn to loiter there, +for the Figs is the resort of superior little persons, who are +forbidden to mix with the commonalty, and is so named, according to +legend, because they dress in full fig. These dainty ones are +themselves contemptuously called Figs by David and other heroes, and +you have a key to the manners and customs of this dandiacal section of +the Gardens when I tell you that cricket is called crickets here. +Occasionally a rebel Fig climbs over the fence into the world, and such +a one was Miss Mabel Grey, of whom I shall tell you when we come to +Miss Mabel Grey's gate. She was the only really celebrated Fig. +</P> + +<P> +We are now in the Broad Walk, and it is as much bigger than the other +walks as your father is bigger than you. David wondered if it began +little, and grew and grew, until it was quite grown up, and whether the +other walks are its babies, and he drew a picture, which diverted him +very much, of the Broad Walk giving a tiny walk an airing in a +perambulator. In the Broad Walk you meet all the people who are worth +knowing, and there is usually a grown-up with them to prevent them +going on the damp grass, and to make them stand disgraced at the corner +of a seat if they have been mad-dog or Mary-Annish. To be Mary-Annish +is to behave like a girl, whimpering because nurse won't carry you, or +simpering with your thumb in your mouth, and it is a hateful quality; +but to be mad-dog is to kick out at everything, and there is some +satisfaction in that. +</P> + +<P> +If I were to point out all the notable places as we pass up the Broad +Walk, it would be time to turn back before we reach them, and I simply +wave my stick at Cecco Hewlett's Tree, that memorable spot where a boy +called Cecco lost his penny, and, looking for it, found twopence. +There has been a good deal of excavation going on there ever since. +Farther up the walk is the little wooden house in which Marmaduke Perry +hid. There is no more awful story of the Gardens than this of +Marmaduke Perry, who had been Mary-Annish three days in succession, and +was sentenced to appear in the Broad Walk dressed in his sister's +clothes. He hid in the little wooden house, and refused to emerge +until they brought him knickerbockers with pockets. +</P> + +<P> +You now try to go to the Round Pond, but nurses hate it, because they +are not really manly, and they make you look the other way, at the Big +Penny and the Baby's Palace. She was the most celebrated baby of the +Gardens, and lived in the palace all alone, with ever so many dolls, so +people rang the bell, and up she got out of her bed, though it was past +six o'clock, and she lighted a candle and opened the door in her +nighty, and then they all cried with great rejoicings, 'Hail, Queen of +England!' What puzzled David most was how she knew where the matches +were kept. The Big Penny is a statue about her. +</P> + +<P> +Next we come to the Hump, which is the part of the Broad Walk where all +the big races are run; and even though you had no intention of running +you do run when you come to the Hump, it is such a fascinating, +slide-down kind of place. Often you stop when you have run about +half-way down it, and then you are lost; but there is another little +wooden house near here, called the Lost House, and so you tell the man +that you are lost and then he finds you. It is glorious fun racing +down the Hump, but you can't do it on windy days because then you are +not there, but the fallen leaves do it instead of you. There is almost +nothing that has such a keen sense of fun as a fallen leaf. +</P> + +<P> +From the Hump we can see the gate that is called after Miss Mabel Grey, +the Fig I promised to tell you about. There were always two nurses +with her, or else one mother and one nurse, and for a long time she was +a pattern-child who always coughed off the table and said, 'How do you +do?' to the other Figs, and the only game she played at was flinging a +ball gracefully and letting the nurse bring it back to her. Then one +day she tired of it all and went mad-dog, and, first, to show that she +really was mad-dog, she unloosened both her boot-laces and put out her +tongue east, west, north, and south. She then flung her sash into a +puddle and danced on it till dirty water was squirted over her frock, +after which she climbed the fence and had a series of incredible +adventures, one of the least of which was that she kicked off both her +boots. At last she came to the gate that is now called after her, out +of which she ran into streets David and I have never been in though we +have heard them roaring, and still she ran on and would never again +have been heard of had not her mother jumped into a 'bus and thus +overtaken her. It all happened, I should say, long ago, and this is +not the Mabel Grey whom David knows. +</P> + +<P> +Returning up the Broad Walk we have on our right the Baby Walk, which +is so full of perambulators that you could cross from side to side +stepping on babies, but the nurses won't let you do it. From this walk +a passage called Bunting's Thumb, because it is that length, leads into +Picnic Street, where there are real kettles, and chestnut-blossom falls +into your mug as you are drinking. Quite common children picnic here +also, and the blossom falls into their mugs just the same. +</P> + +<P> +Next comes St. Govor's Well, which was full of water when Malcolm the +Bold fell into it. He was his mother's favourite, and he let her put +her arm round his neck in public because she was a widow; but he was +also partial to adventures, and liked to play with a chimney-sweep who +had killed a good many bears. The sweep's name was Sooty, and one day, +when they were playing near the well, Malcolm fell in and would have +been drowned had not Sooty dived in and rescued him; and the water had +washed Sooty clean, and he now stood revealed as Malcolm's long-lost +father. So Malcolm would not let his mother put her arm round his neck +any more. +</P> + +<P> +Between the well and the Round Pond are the cricket pitches, and +frequently the choosing of sides exhausts so much time that there is +scarcely any cricket. Everybody wants to bat first, and as soon as he +is out he bowls unless you are the better wrestler, and while you are +wrestling with him the fielders have scattered to play at something +else. The Gardens are noted for two kinds of cricket: boy cricket, +which is real cricket with a bat, and girl cricket, which is with a +racquet and the governess. Girls can't really play cricket, and when +you are watching their futile efforts you make funny sounds at them. +Nevertheless, there was a very disagreeable incident one day when some +forward girls challenged David's team, and a disturbing creature called +Angela Clare sent down so many yorkers that—However, instead of +telling you the result of that regrettable match I shall pass on +hurriedly to the Round Pond, which is the wheel that keeps all the +Gardens going. +</P> + +<P> +It is round because it is in the very middle of the Gardens, and when +you are come to it you never want to go any farther. You can't be good +all the time at the Round Pond, however much you try. You can be good +in the Broad Walk all the time, but not at the Round Pond, and the +reason is that you forget, and, when you remember, you are so wet that +you may as well be wetter. There are men who sail boats on the Round +Pond, such big boats that they bring them in barrows, and sometimes in +perambulators, and then the baby has to walk. The bow-legged children +in the Gardens are those who had to walk too soon because their father +needed the perambulator. +</P> + +<P> +You always want to have a yacht to sail on the Round Pond, and in the +end your uncle gives you one; and to carry it to the pond the first day +is splendid, also to talk about it to boys who have no uncle is +splendid, but soon you like to leave it at home. For the sweetest +craft that slips her moorings in the Round Pond is what is called a +stick-boat, because she is rather like a stick until she is in the +water and you are holding the string. Then as you walk round, pulling +her, you see little men running about her deck, and sails rise +magically and catch the breeze, and you put in on dirty nights at snug +harbours which are unknown to the lordly yachts. Night passes in a +twink, and again your rakish craft noses for the wind, whales spout, +you glide over buried cities, and have brushes with pirates, and cast +anchor on coral isles. You are a solitary boy while all this is taking +place, for two boys together cannot adventure far upon the Round Pond, +and though you may talk to yourself throughout the voyage, giving +orders and executing them with despatch, you know not, when it is time +to go home, where you have been or what swelled your sails; your +treasure-trove is all locked away in your hold, so to speak, which will +be opened, perhaps, by another little boy many years afterwards. +</P> + +<P> +But those yachts have nothing in their hold. Does any one return to +this haunt of his youth because of the yachts that used to sail it? Oh +no. It is the stick-boat that is freighted with memories. The yachts +are toys, their owner a fresh-water mariner; they can cross and recross +a pond only while the stick-boat goes to sea. You yachtsmen with your +wands, who think we are all there to gaze on you, your ships are only +accidents of this place, and were they all to be boarded and sunk by +the ducks, the real business of the Round Pond would be carried on as +usual. +</P> + +<P> +Paths from everywhere crowd like children to the pond. Some of them +are ordinary paths, which have a rail on each side, and are made by men +with their coats off, but others are vagrants, wide at one spot, and at +another so narrow that you can stand astride them. They are called +Paths that have Made Themselves, and David did wish he could see them +doing it. But, like all the most wonderful things that happen in the +Gardens, it is done, we concluded, at night after the gates are closed. +We have also decided that the paths make themselves because it is their +only chance of getting to the Round Pond. +</P> + +<P> +One of these gypsy paths comes from the place where the sheep get their +hair cut. When David shed his curls at the hair-dressers, I am told, +he said good-bye to them without a tremor, though his mother has never +been quite the same bright creature since; so he despises the sheep as +they run from their shearer, and calls out tauntingly, 'Cowardy, +cowardy custard!' But when the man grips them between his legs David +shakes a fist at him for using such big scissors. Another startling +moment is when the man turns back the grimy wool from the sheeps' +shoulders and they look suddenly like ladies in the stalls of a +theatre. The sheep are so frightened by the shearing that it makes +them quite white and thin, and as soon as they are set free they begin +to nibble the grass at once, quite anxiously, as if they feared that +they would never be worth eating. David wonders whether they know each +other, now that they are so different, and if it makes them fight with +the wrong ones. They are great fighters, and thus so unlike country +sheep that every year they give my St. Bernard dog, Porthos, a shock. +He can make a field of country sheep fly by merely announcing his +approach, but these town sheep come toward him with no promise of +gentle entertainment, and then a light from last year breaks upon +Porthos. He cannot with dignity retreat, but he stops and looks about +him as if lost in admiration of the scenery, and presently he strolls +away with a fine indifference and a glint at me from the corner of his +eye. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-014"></A> +<IMG CLASS="imgleft" SRC="images/img-014.jpg" ALT="Porthos" BORDER="0" WIDTH="237" HEIGHT="199"> + +<P> +The Serpentine begins near here. It is a lovely lake, and there is a +drowned forest at the bottom of it. If you peer over the edge you can +see the trees all growing upside down, and they say that at night there +are also drowned stars in it. If so, Peter Pan sees them when he is +sailing across the lake in the Thrush's Nest. A small part only of the +Serpentine is in the Gardens, for soon it passes beneath a bridge to +far away where the island is on which all the birds are born that +become baby boys and girls. No one who is human, except Peter Pan (and +he is only half human), can land on the island, but you may write what +you want (boy or girl, dark or fair) on a piece of paper, and then +twist it into the shape of a boat and slip it into the water, and it +reaches Peter Pan's island after dark. +</P> + +<P> +We are on the way home now, though of course, it is all pretence that +we can go to so many of the places in one day. I should have had to be +carrying David long ago, and resting on every seat like old Mr. +Salford. That was what we called him, because he always talked to us +of a lovely place called Salford where he had been born. He was a +crab-apple of an old gentleman who wandered all day in the Gardens from +seat to seat trying to fall in with somebody who was acquainted with +the town of Salford, and when we had known him for a year or more we +actually did meet another aged solitary who had once spent Saturday to +Monday in Salford. He was meek and timid, and carried his address +inside his hat, and whatever part of London he was in search of he +always went to Westminster Abbey first as a starting-point. Him we +carried in triumph to our other friend, with the story of that Saturday +to Monday, and never shall I forget the gloating joy with which Mr. +Salford leapt at him. They have been cronies ever since, and I noticed +that Mr. Salford, who naturally does most of the talking, keeps tight +grip of the other old man's coat. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-016t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-016.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-016t.jpg" ALT="_Old Mr. Salford was a crab-apple of an old gentleman who wandered all day in the Gardens._" BORDER="2" WIDTH="483" HEIGHT="701"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>Old Mr. Salford was a crab-apple of an old gentleman who wandered all day in the Gardens.</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The two last places before you come to our gate are the Dog's Cemetery +and the chaffinches nest, but we pretend not to know what the Dog's +Cemetery is, as Porthos is always with us. The nest is very sad. It +is quite white, and the way we found it was wonderful. We were having +another look among the bushes for David's lost worsted ball, and +instead of the ball we found a lovely nest made of the worsted, and +containing four eggs, with scratches on them very like David's +handwriting, so we think they must have been the mother's love-letters +to the little ones inside. Every day we were in the Gardens we paid a +call at the nest, taking care that no cruel boy should see us, and we +dropped crumbs, and soon the bird knew us as friends, and sat in the +nest looking at us kindly with her shoulders hunched up. But one day +when we went there were only two eggs in the nest, and the next time +there were none. The saddest part of it was that the poor little +chaffinch fluttered about the bushes, looking so reproachfully at us +that we knew she thought we had done it; and though David tried to +explain to her, it was so long since he had spoken the bird language +that I fear she did not understand. He and I left the Gardens that day +with our knuckles in our eyes. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%" SIZE="5" NOSHADE> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PETER PAN +</H3> + +<P> +If you ask your mother whether she knew about Peter Pan when she was a +little girl, she will say, 'Why, of course I did, child'; and if you +ask her whether he rode on a goat in those days, she will say, 'What a +foolish question to ask; certainly he did.' Then if you ask your +grandmother whether she knew about Peter Pan when she was a girl, she +also says, 'Why, of course I did, child,' but if you ask her whether he +rode on a goat in those days, she says she never heard of his having a +goat. Perhaps she has forgotten, just as she sometimes forgets your +name and calls you Mildred, which is your mother's name. Still, she +could hardly forget such an important thing as the goat. Therefore +there was no goat when your grandmother was a little girl. This shows +that, in telling the story of Peter Pan, to begin with the goat (as +most people do) is as silly as to put on your jacket before your vest. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, it also shows that Peter is ever so old, but he is really +always the same age, so that does not matter in the least. His age is +one week, and though he was born so long ago he has never had a +birthday, nor is there the slightest chance of his ever having one. +The reason is that he escaped from being a human when he was seven days +old; he escaped by the window and flew back to the Kensington Gardens. +</P> + +<P> +If you think he was the only baby who ever wanted to escape, it shows +how completely you have forgotten your own young days. When David +heard this story first he was quite certain that he had never tried to +escape, but I told him to think back hard, pressing his hands to his +temples, and when he had done this hard, and even harder, he distinctly +remembered a youthful desire to return to the tree-tops, and with that +memory came others, as that he had lain in bed planning to escape as +soon as his mother was asleep, and how she had once caught him half-way +up the chimney. All children could have such recollections if they +would press their hands hard to their temples, for, having been birds +before they were human, they are naturally a little wild during the +first few weeks, and very itchy at the shoulders, where their wings +used to be. So David tells me. +</P> + +<P> +I ought to mention here that the following is our way with a story: +First I tell it to him, and then he tells it to me, the understanding +being that it is quite a different story; and then I retell it with his +additions, and so we go on until no one could say whether it is more +his story or mine. In this story of Peter Pan, for instance, the bald +narrative and most of the moral reflections are mine, though not all, +for this boy can be a stern moralist; but the interesting bits about +the ways and customs of babies in the bird-stage are mostly +reminiscences of David's, recalled by pressing his hands to his temples +and thinking hard. +</P> + +<P> +Well, Peter Pan got out by the window, which had no bars. Standing on +the ledge he could see trees far away, which were doubtless the +Kensington Gardens, and the moment he saw them he entirely forgot that +he was now a little boy in a nightgown, and away he flew, right over +the houses to the Gardens. It is wonderful that he could fly without +wings, but the place itched tremendously, and—and—perhaps we could +all fly if we were as dead-confident-sure of our capacity to do it as +was bold Peter Pan that evening. +</P> + +<P> +He alighted gaily on the open sward, between the Baby's Palace and the +Serpentine, and the first thing he did was to lie on his back and kick. +He was quite unaware already that he had ever been human, and thought +he was a bird, even in appearance, just the same as in his early days, +and when he tried to catch a fly he did not understand that the reason +he missed it was because he had attempted to seize it with his hand, +which, of course, a bird never does. He saw, however, that it must be +past Lock-out Time, for there were a good many fairies about, all too +busy to notice him; they were getting breakfast ready, milking their +cows, drawing water, and so on, and the sight of the water-pails made +him thirsty, so he flew over to the Round Pond to have a drink. He +stooped and dipped his beak in the pond; he thought it was his beak, +but, of course, it was only his nose, and therefore, very little water +came up, and that not so refreshing as usual, so next he tried a +puddle, and he fell flop into it. When a real bird falls in flop, he +spreads out his feathers and pecks them dry, but Peter could not +remember what was the thing to do, and he decided rather sulkily to go +to sleep on the weeping-beech in the Baby Walk. +</P> + +<P> +At first he found some difficulty in balancing himself on a branch, but +presently he remembered the way, and fell asleep. He awoke long before +morning, shivering, and saying to himself, 'I never was out on such a +cold night'; he had really been out on colder nights when he was a +bird, but, of course, as everybody knows, what seems a warm night to a +bird is a cold night to a boy in a nightgown. Peter also felt +strangely uncomfortable, as if his head was stuffy; he heard loud +noises that made him look round sharply, though they were really +himself sneezing. There was something he wanted very much, but, though +he knew he wanted it, he could not think what it was. What he wanted +so much was his mother to blow his nose, but that never struck him, so +he decided to appeal to the fairies for enlightenment. They are +reputed to know a good deal. +</P> + +<P> +There were two of them strolling along the Baby Walk, with their arms +round each other's waists, and he hopped down to address them. The +fairies have their tiffs with the birds, but they usually give a civil +answer to a civil question, and he was quite angry when these two ran +away the moment they saw him. Another was lolling on a garden chair, +reading a postage-stamp which some human had let fall, and when he +heard Peter's voice he popped in alarm behind a tulip. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-024t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-024.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-024t.jpg" ALT="_When he heard Peter's voice he popped in alarm behind a tulip._" BORDER="2" WIDTH="466" HEIGHT="699"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>When he heard Peter's voice he popped in alarm behind a tulip.</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +To Peter's bewilderment he discovered that every fairy he met fled from +him. A band of workmen, who were sawing down a toadstool, rushed away, +leaving their tools behind them. A milkmaid turned her pail upside +down and hid in it. Soon the Gardens were in an uproar. Crowds of +fairies were running this way and that, asking each other stoutly who +was afraid; lights were extinguished, doors barricaded, and from the +grounds of Queen Mab's palace came the rub-a-dub of drums, showing that +the royal guard had been called out. A regiment of Lancers came +charging down the Broad Walk, armed with holly-leaves, with which they +jag the enemy horribly in passing. Peter heard the little people +crying everywhere that there was a human in the Gardens after Lock-out +Time, but he never thought for a moment that he was the human. He was +feeling stuffier and stuffier, and more and more wistful to learn what +he wanted done to his nose, but he pursued them with the vital question +in vain; the timid creatures ran from him, and even the Lancers, when +he approached them up the Hump, turned swiftly into a side-walk, on the +pretence that they saw him there. +</P> + +<P> +Despairing of the fairies, he resolved to consult the birds, but now he +remembered, as an odd thing, that all the birds on the weeping-beech +had flown away when he alighted on it, and though this had not troubled +him at the time, he saw its meaning now. Every living thing was +shunning him. Poor little Peter Pan! he sat down and cried, and even +then he did not know that, for a bird, he was sitting on his wrong +part. It is a blessing that he did not know, for otherwise he would +have lost faith in his power to fly, and the moment you doubt whether +you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it. The reason birds +can fly and we can't is simply that they have perfect faith, for to +have faith is to have wings. +</P> + +<P> +Now, except by flying, no one can reach the island in the Serpentine, +for the boats of humans are forbidden to land there, and there are +stakes round it, standing up in the water, on each of which a +bird-sentinel sits by day and night. It was to the island that Peter +now flew to put his strange case before old Solomon Caw, and he +alighted on it with relief, much heartened to find himself at last at +home, as the birds call the island. All of them were asleep, including +the sentinels, except Solomon, who was wide awake on one side, and he +listened quietly to Peter's adventures, and then told him their true +meaning. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-028t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-028.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-028t.jpg" ALT="_Put his strange case before old Solomon Caw._" BORDER="2" WIDTH="479" HEIGHT="686"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>Put his strange case before old Solomon Caw.</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +'Look at your nightgown, if you don't believe me,' Solomon said; and +with staring eyes Peter looked at his nightgown, and then at the +sleeping birds. Not one of them wore anything. +</P> + +<P> +'How many of your toes are thumbs?' said Solomon a little cruelly, and +Peter saw to his consternation, that all his toes were fingers. The +shock was so great that it drove away his cold. +</P> + +<P> +'Ruffle your feathers,' said that grim old Solomon, and Peter tried +most desperately hard to ruffle his feathers, but he had none. Then he +rose up, quaking, and for the first time since he stood on the window +ledge, he remembered a lady who had been very fond of him. +</P> + +<P> +'I think I shall go back to mother,' he said timidly. +</P> + +<P> +'Good-bye,' replied Solomon Caw with a queer look. +</P> + +<P> +But Peter hesitated. 'Why don't you go?' the old one asked politely. +</P> + +<P> +'I suppose,' said Peter huskily, 'I suppose I can still fly.' +</P> + +<P> +You see he had lost faith. +</P> + +<P> +'Poor little half-and-half!' said Solomon, who was not really +hard-hearted, 'you will never be able to fly again, not even on windy +days. You must live here on the island always.' +</P> + +<P> +'And never even go to the Kensington Gardens?' Peter asked tragically. +</P> + +<P> +'How could you get across?' said Solomon. He promised very kindly, +however, to teach Peter as many of the bird ways as could be learned by +one of such an awkward shape. +</P> + +<P> +'Then I shan't be exactly a human?' Peter asked. +</P> + +<P> +'No.' +</P> + +<P> +'Nor exactly a bird?' +</P> + +<P> +'No.' +</P> + +<P> +'What shall I be?' +</P> + +<P> +'You will be a Betwixt-and-Between,' Solomon said, and certainly he was +a wise old fellow, for that is exactly how it turned out. +</P> + +<P> +The birds on the island never got used to him. His oddities tickled +them every day, as if they were quite new, though it was really the +birds that were new. They came out of the eggs daily, and laughed at +him at once; then off they soon flew to be humans, and other birds came +out of other eggs; and so it went on for ever. The crafty +mother-birds, when they tired of sitting on their eggs, used to get the +young ones to break their shells a day before the right time by +whispering to them that now was their chance to see Peter washing or +drinking or eating. Thousands gathered round him daily to watch him do +these things, just as you watch the peacocks, and they screamed with +delight when he lifted the crusts they flung him with his hands instead +of in the usual way with the mouth. All his food was brought to him +from the Gardens at Solomon's orders by the birds. He would not eat +worms or insects (which they thought very silly of him), so they +brought him bread in their beaks. Thus, when you cry out, 'Greedy! +Greedy!' to the bird that flies away with the big crust, you know now +that you ought not to do this, for he is very likely taking it to Peter +Pan. +</P> + +<P> +Peter wore no nightgown now. You see, the birds were always begging +him for bits of it to line their nests with, and, being very +good-natured, he could not refuse, so by Solomon's advice he had hidden +what was left of it. But, though he was now quite naked, you must not +think that he was cold or unhappy. He was usually very happy and gay, +and the reason was that Solomon had kept his promise and taught him +many of the bird ways. To be easily pleased, for instance, and always +to be really doing something, and to think that whatever he was doing +was a thing of vast importance. Peter became very clever at helping +the birds to build their nests; soon he could build better than a +wood-pigeon, and nearly as well as a blackbird, though never did he +satisfy the finches, and he made nice little water-troughs near the +nests and dug up worms for the young ones with his fingers. He also +became very learned in bird-lore, and knew an east wind from a west +wind by its smell, and he could see the grass growing and hear the +insects walking about inside the tree-trunks. But the best thing +Solomon had done was to teach him to have a glad heart. All birds have +glad hearts unless you rob their nests, and so as they were the only +kind of heart Solomon knew about, it was easy to him to teach Peter how +to have one. +</P> + +<P> +Peter's heart was so glad that he felt he must sing all day long, just +as the birds sing for joy, but, being partly human, he needed an +instrument, so he made a pipe of reeds, and he used to sit by the shore +of the island of an evening, practising the sough of the wind and the +ripple of the water, and catching handfuls of the shine of the moon, +and he put them all in his pipe and played them so beautifully that +even the birds were deceived, and they would say to each other, 'Was +that a fish leaping in the water or was it Peter playing leaping fish +on his pipe?' And sometimes he played the birth of birds, and then the +mothers would turn round in their nests to see whether they had laid an +egg. If you are a child of the Gardens you must know the chestnut-tree +near the bridge, which comes out in flower first of all the chestnuts, +but perhaps you have not heard why this tree leads the way. It is +because Peter wearies for summer and plays that it has come, and the +chestnut being so near, hears him and is cheated. +</P> + +<P> +But as Peter sat by the shore tootling divinely on his pipe he +sometimes fell into sad thoughts, and then the music became sad also, +and the reason of all this sadness was that he could not reach the +Gardens, though he could see them through the arch of the bridge. He +knew he could never be a real human again, and scarcely wanted to be +one, but oh! how he longed to play as other children play, and of +course there is no such lovely place to play in as the Gardens. The +birds brought him news of how boys and girls play, and wistful tears +started in Peter's eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps you wonder why he did not swim across. The reason was that he +could not swim. He wanted to know how to swim, but no one on the +island knew the way except the ducks, and they are so stupid. They +were quite willing to teach him, but all they could say about it was, +'You sit down on the top of the water in this way, and then you kick +out like that.' Peter tried it often, but always before he could kick +out he sank. What he really needed to know was how you sit on the +water without sinking, and they said it was quite impossible to explain +such an easy thing as that. Occasionally swans touched on the island, +and he would give them all his day's food and then ask them how they +sat on the water, but as soon as he had no more to give them the +hateful things hissed at him and sailed away. +</P> + +<P> +Once he really thought he had discovered a way of reaching the Gardens. +A wonderful white thing, like a runaway newspaper, floated high over +the island and then tumbled, rolling over and over after the manner of +a bird that has broken its wing. Peter was so frightened that he hid, +but the birds told him it was only a kite, and what a kite is, and that +it must have tugged its string out of a boy's hand, and soared away. +After that they laughed at Peter for being so fond of the kite; he +loved it so much that he even slept with one hand on it, and I think +this was pathetic and pretty, for the reason he loved it was because it +had belonged to a real boy. +</P> + +<P> +To the birds this was a very poor reason, but the older ones felt +grateful to him at this time because he had nursed a number of +fledglings through the German measles, and they offered to show him how +birds fly a kite. So six of them took the end of the string in their +beaks and flew away with it; and to his amazement it flew after them +and went even higher than they. +</P> + +<P> +Peter screamed out, 'Do it again!' and with great good-nature they did +it several times, and always instead of thanking them he cried, 'Do it +again!' which shows that even now he had not quite forgotten what it +was to be a boy. +</P> + +<P> +At last, with a grand design burning within his brave heart, he begged +them to do it once more with him clinging to the tail, and now a +hundred flew off with the string, and Peter clung to the tail, meaning +to drop off when he was over the Gardens. But the kite broke to pieces +in the air, and he would have been drowned in the Serpentine had he not +caught hold of two indignant swans and made them carry him to the +island. After this the birds said that they would help him no more in +his mad enterprise. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-036t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-036.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-036t.jpg" ALT="_After this the birds said that they would help him no more in his mad enterprise._" BORDER="2" WIDTH="487" HEIGHT="691"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>After this the birds said that they would help him no more in his mad enterprise.</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Nevertheless, Peter did reach the Gardens at last by the help of +Shelley's boat, as I am now to tell you. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%" SIZE="5" NOSHADE> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE THRUSH'S NEST +</H3> + +<P> +Shelley was a young gentleman and as grown-up as he need ever expect to +be. He was a poet; and they are never exactly grown-up. They are +people who despise money except what you need for to-day, and he had +all that and five pounds over. So, when he was walking in the +Kensington Gardens, he made a paper boat of his bank-note, and sent it +sailing on the Serpentine. +</P> + +<P> +It reached the island at night; and the look-out brought it to Solomon +Caw, who thought at first that it was the usual thing, a message from a +lady, saying she would be obliged if he could let her have a good one. +They always ask for the best one he has, and if he likes the letter he +sends one from Class A, but if it ruffles him he sends very funny ones +indeed. Sometimes he sends none at all, and at another time he sends a +nestful; it all depends on the mood you catch him in. He likes you to +leave it all to him, and if you mention particularly that you hope he +will see his way to making it <I>a boy this time</I>, he is almost sure to +send another girl. And whether you are a lady or only a little boy who +wants a baby-sister, always take pains to write your address clearly. +You can't think what a lot of babies Solomon has sent to the wrong +house. +</P> + +<P> +Shelley's boat, when opened, completely puzzled Solomon, and he took +counsel of his assistants, who having walked over it twice, first with +their toes pointed out, and then with their toes pointed in, decided +that it came from some greedy person who wanted five. They thought +this because there was a large five printed on it. 'Preposterous!' +cried Solomon in a rage, and he presented it to Peter; anything useless +which drifted upon the island was usually given to Peter as a plaything. +</P> + +<P> +But he did not play with his precious bank-note, for he knew what it +was at once, having been very observant during the week when he was an +ordinary boy. With so much money, he reflected, he could surely at +last contrive to reach the Gardens, and he considered all the possible +ways, and decided (wisely, I think) to choose the best way. But, +first, he had to tell the birds of the value of Shelley's boat; and +though they were too honest to demand it back, he saw that they were +galled, and they cast such black looks at Solomon, who was rather vain +of his cleverness, that he flew away to the end of the island, and sat +there very depressed with his head buried in his wings. Now Peter knew +that unless Solomon was on your side, you never got anything done for +you in the island, so he followed him and tried to hearten him. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was this all that Peter did to gain the powerful old fellow's +good-will. You must know that Solomon had no intention of remaining in +office all his life. He looked forward to retiring by and by, and +devoting his green old age to a life of pleasure on a certain yew-stump +in the Figs which had taken his fancy, and for years he had been +quietly filling his stocking. It was a stocking belonging to some +bathing person which had been cast upon the island, and at the time I +speak of it contained a hundred and eighty crumbs, thirty-four nuts, +sixteen crusts, a pen-wiper, and a boot-lace. When his stocking was +full, Solomon calculated that he would be able to retire on a +competency. Peter now gave him a pound. He cut it off his bank-note +with a sharp stick. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-040t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-040.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-040t.jpg" ALT="_For years he had been quietly filling his stocking._" BORDER="2" WIDTH="490" HEIGHT="696"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>For years he had been quietly filling his stocking.</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +This made Solomon his friend for ever, and after the two had consulted +together they called a meeting of the thrushes. You will see presently +why thrushes only were invited. +</P> + +<P> +The scheme to be put before them was really Peter's, but Solomon did +most of the talking, because he soon became irritable if other people +talked. He began by saying that he had been much impressed by the +superior ingenuity shown by the thrushes in nest-building, and this put +them into good-humour at once, as it was meant to do; for all the +quarrels between birds are about the best way of building nests. Other +birds, said Solomon, omitted to line their nests with mud, and as a +result they did not hold water. Here he cocked his head as if he had +used an unanswerable argument; but, unfortunately, a Mrs. Finch had +come to the meeting uninvited, and she squeaked out, 'We don't build +nests to hold water, but to hold eggs,' and then the thrushes stopped +cheering, and Solomon was so perplexed that he took several sips of +water. +</P> + +<P> +'Consider,' he said at last, 'how warm the mud makes the nest.' +</P> + +<P> +'Consider,' cried Mrs. Finch, 'that when water gets into the nest it +remains there and your little ones are drowned.' +</P> + +<P> +The thrushes begged Solomon with a look to say something crushing in +reply to this, but again he was perplexed. +</P> + +<P> +'Try another drink,' suggested Mrs. Finch pertly. Kate was her name, +and all Kates are saucy. +</P> + +<P> +Solomon did try another drink, and it inspired him. 'If,' said he, 'a +finch's nest is placed on the Serpentine it fills and breaks to pieces, +but a thrush's nest is still as dry as the cup of a swan's back.' +</P> + +<P> +How the thrushes applauded! Now they knew why they lined their nests +with mud, and when Mrs. Finch called out, 'We don't place our nests on +the Serpentine,' they did what they should have done at first—chased +her from the meeting. After this it was most orderly. What they had +been brought together to hear, said Solomon, was this: their young +friend, Peter Pan, as they well knew, wanted very much to be able to +cross to the Gardens, and he now proposed, with their help, to build a +boat. +</P> + +<P> +At this the thrushes began to fidget, which made Peter tremble for his +scheme. +</P> + +<P> +Solomon explained hastily that what he meant was not one of the +cumbrous boats that humans use; the proposed boat was to be simply a +thrush's nest large enough to hold Peter. +</P> + +<P> +But still, to Peter's agony, the thrushes were sulky. 'We are very +busy people,' they grumbled, 'and this would be a big job.' +</P> + +<P> +'Quite so,' said Solomon, 'and, of course, Peter would not allow you to +work for nothing. You must remember that he is now in comfortable +circumstances, and he will pay you such wages as you have never been +paid before. Peter Pan authorises me to say that you shall all be paid +sixpence a day.' +</P> + +<P> +Then all the thrushes hopped for joy, and that very day was begun the +celebrated Building of the Boat. All their ordinary business fell into +arrears. It was the time of the year when they should have been +pairing, but not a thrush's nest was built except this big one, and so +Solomon soon ran short of thrushes with which to supply the demand from +the mainland. The stout, rather greedy children, who look so well in +perambulators but get puffed easily when they walk, were all young +thrushes once, and ladies often ask specially for them. What do you +think Solomon did? He sent over to the house-tops for a lot of +sparrows and ordered them to lay their eggs in old thrushes' nests, and +sent their young to the ladies and swore they were all thrushes! It +was known afterwards on the island as the Sparrow's Year; and so, when +you meet grown-up people in the Gardens who puff and blow as if they +thought themselves bigger than they are, very likely they belong to +that year. You ask them. +</P> + +<P> +Peter was a just master, and paid his workpeople every evening. They +stood in rows on the branches, waiting politely while he cut the paper +sixpences out of his bank-note, and presently he called the roll, and +then each bird, as the names were mentioned, flew down and got +sixpence. It must have been a fine sight. +</P> + +<P> +And at last, after months of labour, the boat was finished. O the +glory of Peter as he saw it growing more and more like a great thrushes +nest! From the very beginning of the building of it he slept by its +side, and often woke up to say sweet things to it, and after it was +lined with mud and the mud had dried he always slept in it. He sleeps +in his nest still, and has a fascinating way of curling round in it, +for it is just large enough to hold him comfortably when he curls round +like a kitten. It is brown inside, of course, but outside it is mostly +green, being woven of grass and twigs, and when these wither or snap +the walls are thatched afresh. There are also a few feathers here and +there, which came off the thrushes while they were building. +</P> + +<P> +The other birds were extremely jealous, and said that the boat would +not balance on the water, but it lay most beautifully steady; they said +the water would come into it, but no water came into it. Next they +said that Peter had no oars, and this caused the thrushes to look at +each other in dismay; but Peter replied that he had no need of oars, +for he had a sail, and with such a proud, happy face he produced a sail +which he had fashioned out of his nightgown, and though it was still +rather like a nightgown it made a lovely sail. And that night, the +moon being full, and all the birds asleep, he did enter his coracle (as +Master Francis Pretty would have said) and depart out of the island. +And first, he knew not why, he looked upward, with his hands clasped, +and from that moment his eyes were pinned to the west. +</P> + +<P> +He had promised the thrushes to begin by making short voyages, with +them as his guides, but far away he saw the Kensington Gardens +beckoning to him beneath the bridge, and he could not wait. His face +was flushed, but he never looked back; there was an exultation in his +little breast that drove out fear. Was Peter the least gallant of the +English mariners who have sailed westward to meet the Unknown? +</P> + +<P> +At first, his boat turned round and round, and he was driven back to +the place of his starting, whereupon he shortened sail, by removing one +of the sleeves, and was forthwith carried backwards by a contrary +breeze, to his no small peril. He now let go the sail, with the result +that he was drifted towards the far shore, where are black shadows he +knew not the dangers of, but suspected them, and so once more hoisted +his nightgown and went roomer of the shadows until he caught a +favouring wind, which bore him westward, but at so great a speed that +he was like to be broke against the bridge. Which, having avoided, he +passed under the bridge and came, to his great rejoicing, within full +sight of the delectable Gardens. But having tried to cast anchor, +which was a stone at the end of a piece of the kite-string, he found no +bottom, and was fain to hold off, seeking for moorage; and, feeling his +way, he buffeted against a sunken reef that cast him overboard by the +greatness of the shock, and he was near to being drowned, but clambered +back into the vessel. There now arose a mighty storm, accompanied by +roaring of waters, such as he had never heard the like, and he was +tossed this way and that, and his hands so numbed with the cold that he +could not close them. Having escaped the danger of which, he was +mercifully carried into a small bay, where his boat rode at peace. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, he was not yet in safety; for, on pretending to +disembark, he found a multitude of small people drawn up on the shore +to contest his landing, and shouting shrilly to him to be off, for it +was long past Lock-out Time. This, with much brandishing of their +holly-leaves, and also a company of them carried an arrow which some +boy had left in the Gardens, and this they were prepared to use as a +battering-ram. +</P> + +<P> +Then Peter, who knew them for the fairies, called out that he was not +an ordinary human and had no desire to do them displeasure, but to be +their friend; nevertheless, having found a jolly harbour, he was in no +temper to draw off therefrom, and he warned them if they sought to +mischief him to stand to their harms. +</P> + +<P> +So saying, he boldly leapt ashore, and they gathered around him with +intent to slay him, but there then arose a great cry among the women, +and it was because they had now observed that his sail was a baby's +nightgown. Whereupon, they straightway loved him, and grieved that +their laps were too small, the which I cannot explain, except by saying +that such is the way of women. The men-fairies now sheathed their +weapons on observing the behaviour of their women, on whose +intelligence they set great store, and they led him civilly to their +queen, who conferred upon him the courtesy of the Gardens after +Lock-out Time, and henceforth Peter could go whither he chose, and the +fairies had orders to put him in comfort. +</P> + +<P> +Such was his first voyage to the Gardens, and you may gather from the +antiquity of the language that it took place a long time ago. But +Peter never grows any older, and if we could be watching for him under +the bridge to-night (but, of course, we can't), I dare say we should +see him hoisting his nightgown and sailing or paddling towards us in +the Thrushes Nest. When he sails, he sits down, but he stands up to +paddle. I shall tell you presently how he got his paddle. +</P> + +<P> +Long before the time for the opening of the gates comes he steals back +to the island, for people must not see him (he is not so human as all +that), but this gives him hours for play, and he plays exactly as real +children play. At least he thinks so, and it is one of the pathetic +things about him that he often plays quite wrongly. +</P> + +<P> +You see, he had no one to tell him how children really play, for the +fairies are all more or less in hiding until dusk, and so know nothing, +and though the birds pretended that they could tell him a great deal, +when the time for telling came, it was wonderful how little they really +knew. They told him the truth about hide-and-seek, and he often plays +it by himself, but even the ducks on the Round Pond could not explain +to him what it is that makes the pond so fascinating to boys. Every +night the ducks have forgotten all the events of the day, except the +number of pieces of cake thrown to them. They are gloomy creatures, +and say that cake is not what it was in their young days. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-050t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-050.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-050t.jpg" ALT="_Fairies are all more or less in hiding until dusk._" BORDER="2" WIDTH="481" HEIGHT="690"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>Fairies are all more or less in hiding until dusk.</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +So Peter had to find out many things for himself. He often played +ships at the Round Pond, but his ship was only a hoop which he had +found on the grass. Of course, he had never seen a hoop, and he +wondered what you play at with them, and decided that you play at +pretending they are boats. This hoop always sank at once, but he waded +in for it, and sometimes he dragged it gleefully round the rim of the +pond, and he was quite proud to think that he had discovered what boys +do with hoops. +</P> + +<P> +Another time, when he found a child's pail, he thought it was for +sitting in, and he sat so hard in it that he could scarcely get out of +it. Also he found a balloon. It was bobbing about on the Hump, quite +as if it was having a game by itself, and he caught it after an +exciting chase. But he thought it was a ball, and Jenny Wren had told +him that boys kick balls, so he kicked it; and after that he could not +find it anywhere. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps the most surprising thing he found was a perambulator. It was +under a lime-tree, near the entrance to the Fairy Queen's Winter Palace +(which is within the circle of the seven Spanish chestnuts), and Peter +approached it warily, for the birds had never mentioned such things to +him. Lest it was alive, he addressed it politely; and then, as it gave +no answer, he went nearer and felt it cautiously. He gave it a little +push, and it ran from him, which made him think it must be alive after +all; but, as it had run from him, he was not afraid. So he stretched +out his hand to pull it to him, but this time it ran at him, and he was +so alarmed that he leapt the railing and scudded away to his boat. You +must not think, however, that he was a coward, for he came back next +night with a crust in one hand and a stick in the other, but the +perambulator had gone, and he never saw any other one. I have promised +to tell you also about his paddle. It was a child's spade which he had +found near St. Govor's Well, and he thought it was a paddle. +</P> + +<P> +Do you pity Peter Pan for making these mistakes? If so, I think it +rather silly of you. What I mean is that, of course, one must pity him +now and then, but to pity him all the time would be impertinence. He +thought he had the most splendid time in the Gardens, and to think you +have it is almost quite as good as really to have it. He played +without ceasing, while you often waste time by being mad-dog or +Mary-Annish. He could be neither of these things, for he had never +heard of them, but do you think he is to be pitied for that? +</P> + +<P> +Oh, he was merry! He was as much merrier than you, for instance, as +you are merrier than your father. Sometimes he fell, like a +spinning-top, and from sheer merriment. Have you seen a greyhound +leaping the fences of the Gardens? That is how Peter leaps them. +</P> + +<P> +And think of the music of his pipe. Gentlemen who walk home at night +write to the papers to say they heard a nightingale in the Gardens, but +it is really Peter's pipe they hear. Of course, he had no mother—at +least, what use was she to him! You can be sorry for him for that, but +don't be too sorry, for the next thing I mean to tell you is how he +revisited her. It was the fairies who gave him the chance. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%" SIZE="5" NOSHADE> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LOCK-OUT TIME +</H3> + +<P> +It is frightfully difficult to know much about the fairies, and almost +the only thing known for certain is that there are fairies wherever +there are children. Long ago children were forbidden the Gardens, and +at that time there was not a fairy in the place; then the children were +admitted, and the fairies came trooping in that very evening. They +can't resist following the children, but you seldom see them, partly +because they live in the daytime behind the railings, where you are not +allowed to go, and also partly because they are so cunning. They are +not a bit cunning after Lock-out, but until Lock-out, my word! +</P> + +<P> +When you were a bird you knew the fairies pretty well, and you remember +a good deal about them in your babyhood, which it is a great pity you +can't write down, for gradually you forget, and I have heard of +children who declared that they had never once seen a fairy. Very +likely if they said this in the Kensington Gardens, they were standing +looking at a fairy all the time. The reason they were cheated was that +she pretended to be something else. This is one of their best tricks. +They usually pretend to be flowers, because the court sits in the +Fairies' Basin, and there are so many flowers there, and all along the +Baby Walk, that a flower is the thing least likely to attract +attention. They dress exactly like flowers, and change with the +seasons, putting on white when lilies are in and blue for bluebells, +and so on. They like crocus and hyacinth time best of all, as they are +partial to a bit of colour, but tulips (except white ones, which are +the fairy cradles) they consider garish, and they sometimes put off +dressing like tulips for days, so that the beginning of the tulip weeks +is almost the best time to catch them. +</P> + +<P> +When they think you are not looking they skip along pretty lively, but +if you look, and they fear there is no time to hide, they stand quite +still pretending to be flowers. Then, after you have passed without +knowing that they were fairies, they rush home and tell their mothers +they have had such an adventure. The Fairy Basin, you remember, is all +covered with ground-ivy (from which they make their castor oil), with +flowers growing in it here and there. Most of them really are flowers, +but some of them are fairies. You never can be sure of them, but a +good plan is to walk by looking the other way, and then turn round +sharply. Another good plan, which David and I sometimes follow, is to +stare them down. After a long time they can't help winking, and then +you know for certain that they are fairies. +</P> + +<P> +There are also numbers of them along the Baby Walk, which is a famous +gentle place, as spots frequented by fairies are called. Once +twenty-four of them had an extraordinary adventure. They were a girls' +school out for a walk with the governess, and all wearing hyacinth +gowns, when she suddenly put her finger to her mouth, and then they all +stood still on an empty bed and pretended to be hyacinths. +Unfortunately what the governess had heard was two gardeners coming to +plant new flowers in that very bed. They were wheeling a hand-cart +with the flowers in it, and were quite surprised to find the bed +occupied. 'Pity to lift them hyacinths,' said the one man. 'Duke's +orders,' replied the other, and, having emptied the cart, they dug up +the boarding school and put the poor, terrified things in it in five +rows. Of course, neither the governess nor the girls dare let on that +they were fairies, so they were carted far away to a potting-shed, out +of which they escaped in the night without their shoes, but there was a +great row about it among the parents, and the school was ruined. +</P> + +<P> +As for their houses, it is no use looking for them, because they are +the exact opposite of our houses. You can see our houses by day but +you can't see them by dark. Well, you can see their houses by dark, +but you can't see them by day, for they are the colour of night, and I +never heard of any one yet who could see night in the daytime. This +does not mean that they are black, for night has its colours just as +day has, but ever so much brighter. Their blues and reds and greens +are like ours with a light behind them. The palace is entirely built +of many-coloured glasses, and it is quite the loveliest of all royal +residences, but the queen sometimes complains because the common people +will peep in to see what she is doing. They are very inquisitive folk, +and press quite hard against the glass, and that is why their noses are +mostly snubby. The streets are miles long and very twisty, and have +paths on each side made of bright worsted. The birds used to steal the +worsted for their nests, but a policeman has been appointed to hold on +at the other end. +</P> + +<P> +One of the great differences between the fairies and us is that they +never do anything useful. When the first baby laughed for the first +time, his laugh broke into a million pieces, and they all went skipping +about. That was the beginning of fairies. They look tremendously +busy, you know, as if they had not a moment to spare, but if you were +to ask them what they are doing, they could not tell you in the least. +They are frightfully ignorant, and everything they do is make-believe. +They have a postman, but he never calls except at Christmas with his +little box, and though they have beautiful schools, nothing is taught +in them; the youngest child being chief person is always elected +mistress, and when she has called the roll, they all go out for a walk +and never come back. It is a very noticeable thing that, in fairy +families, the youngest is always chief person, and usually becomes a +prince or princess; and children remember this, and think it must be so +among humans also; and that is why they are often made uneasy when they +come upon their mother furtively putting new frills on the basinette. +</P> + +<P> +You have probably observed that your baby-sister wants to do all sorts +of things that your mother and her nurse want her not to do—to stand +up at sitting-down time, and to sit down at stand-up time, for +instance, or to wake up when she should fall asleep, or to crawl on the +floor when she is wearing her best frock, and so on, and perhaps you +put this down to naughtiness. But it is not; it simply means that she +is doing as she has seen the fairies do; she begins by following their +ways, and it takes about two years to get her into the human ways. Her +fits of passion, which are awful to behold, and are usually called +teething, are no such thing; they are her natural exasperation, because +we don't understand her, though she is talking an intelligible +language. She is talking fairy. The reason mothers and nurses know +what her remarks mean, before other people know, as that 'Guch' means +'Give it to me at once,' while 'Wa' is 'Why do you wear such a funny +hat?' is because, mixing so much with babies, they have picked up a +little of the fairy language. +</P> + +<P> +Of late David has been thinking back hard about the fairy tongue, with +his hands clutching his temples, and he has remembered a number of +their phrases which I shall tell you some day if I don't forget. He +had heard them in the days when he was a thrush, and though I suggested +to him that perhaps it is really bird language he is remembering, he +says not, for these phrases are about fun and adventures, and the birds +talked of nothing but nest-building. He distinctly remembers that the +birds used to go from spot to spot like ladies at shop windows, looking +at the different nests and saying, 'Not my colour, my dear,' and 'How +would that do with a soft lining?' and 'But will it wear?' and 'What +hideous trimming!' and so on. +</P> + +<P> +The fairies are exquisite dancers, and that is why one of the first +things the baby does is to sign to you to dance to him and then to cry +when you do it. They hold their great balls in the open air, in what +is called a fairy ring. For weeks afterwards you can see the ring on +the grass. It is not there when they begin, but they make it by +waltzing round and round. Sometimes you will find mushrooms inside the +ring, and these are fairy chairs that the servants have forgotten to +clear away. The chairs and the rings are the only tell-tale marks +these little people leave behind them, and they would remove even these +were they not so fond of dancing that they toe it till the very moment +of the opening of the gates. David and I once found a fairy ring quite +warm. +</P> + +<P> +But there is also a way of finding out about the ball before it takes +place. You know the boards which tell at what time the Gardens are to +close to-day. Well, these tricky fairies sometimes slyly change the +board on a ball night, so that it says the Gardens are to close at +six-thirty, for instance, instead of at seven. This enables them to +get begun half an hour earlier. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-060t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-060.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-060t.jpg" ALT="_These tricky fairies sometimes change the board on a ball night._" BORDER="2" WIDTH="489" HEIGHT="702"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>These tricky fairies sometimes change the board on a ball night.</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +If on such a night we could remain behind in the Gardens, as the famous +Maimie Mannering did, we might see delicious sights; hundreds of lovely +fairies hastening to the ball, the married ones wearing their wedding +rings round their waists; the gentlemen, all in uniform, holding up the +ladies' trains, and linkmen running in front carrying winter cherries, +which are the fairy-lanterns; the cloakroom where they put on their +silver slippers and get a ticket for their wraps; the flowers streaming +up from the Baby Walk to look on, and always welcome because they can +lend a pin; the supper-table, with Queen Mab at the head of it, and +behind her chair the Lord Chamberlain, who carries a dandelion on which +he blows when her Majesty wants to know the time. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-064t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-064.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-064t.jpg" ALT="_When her Majesty wants to know the time._" BORDER="2" WIDTH="488" HEIGHT="694"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>When her Majesty wants to know the time.</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The table-cloth varies according to the seasons, and in May it is made +of chestnut blossom. The way the fairy servants do is this: The men, +scores of them, climb up the trees and shake the branches, and the +blossom falls like snow. Then the lady servants sweep it together by +whisking their skirts until it is exactly like a tablecloth, and that +is how they get their tablecloth. +</P> + +<P> +They have real glasses and real wine of three kinds, namely, blackthorn +wine, berberris wine, and cowslip wine, and the Queen pours out, but +the bottles are so heavy that she just pretends to pour out. There is +bread-and-butter to begin with, of the size of a threepenny bit; and +cakes to end with, and they are so small that they have no crumbs. The +fairies sit round on mushrooms, and at first they are well-behaved and +always cough off the table, and so on, but after a bit they are not so +well-behaved and stick their fingers into the butter, which is got from +the roots of old trees, and the really horrid ones crawl over the +tablecloth chasing sugar or other delicacies with their tongues. When +the Queen sees them doing this she signs to the servants to wash up and +put away, and then everybody adjourns to the dance, the Queen walking +in front while the Lord Chamberlain walks behind her, carrying two +little pots, one of which contains the juice of wallflower and the +other the juice of Solomon's seals. Wallflower juice is good for +reviving dancers who fall to the ground in a fit, and Solomon's seals +juice is for bruises. They bruise very easily, and when Peter plays +faster and faster they foot it till they fall down in fits. For, as +you know without my telling you, Peter Pan is the fairies' orchestra. +He sits in the middle of the ring, and they would never dream of having +a smart dance nowadays without him. 'P. P.' is written on the corner +of the invitation-cards sent out by all really good families. They are +grateful little people, too, and at the princesses coming-of-age ball +(they come of age on their second birthday and have a birthday every +month) they gave him the wish of his heart. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-066t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-066.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-066t.jpg" ALT="_Peter Pan is the fairies' orchestra._" BORDER="2" WIDTH="477" HEIGHT="689"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>Peter Pan is the fairies' orchestra.</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The way it was done was this. The Queen ordered him to kneel, and then +said that for playing so beautifully she would give him the wish of his +heart. Then they all gathered round Peter to hear what was the wish of +his heart, but for a long time he hesitated, not being certain what it +was himself. +</P> + +<P> +'If I chose to go back to mother,' he asked at last, 'could you give me +that wish?' +</P> + +<P> +Now this question vexed them, for were he to return to his mother they +should lose his music, so the Queen tilted her nose contemptuously and +said, 'Pooh! ask for a much bigger wish than that.' +</P> + +<P> +'Is that quite a little wish?' he inquired. +</P> + +<P> +'As little as this,' the Queen answered, putting her hands near each +other. +</P> + +<P> +'What size is a big wish?' he asked. +</P> + +<P> +She measured it off on her skirt and it was a very handsome length. +</P> + +<P> +Then Peter reflected and said, 'Well, then, I think I shall have two +little wishes instead of one big one.' +</P> + +<P> +Of course, the fairies had to agree, though his cleverness rather +shocked them, and he said that his first wish was to go to his mother, +but with the right to return to the Gardens if he found her +disappointing. His second wish he would hold in reserve. +</P> + +<P> +They tried to dissuade him, and even put obstacles in the way. +</P> + +<P> +'I can give you the power to fly to her house,' the Queen said, 'but I +can't open the door for you.' +</P> + +<P> +'The window I flew out at will be open,' Peter said confidently. +'Mother always keeps it open in the hope that I may fly back.' +</P> + +<P> +'How do you know?' they asked, quite surprised, and, really, Peter +could not explain how he knew. +</P> + +<P> +'I just do know,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +So as he persisted in his wish, they had to grant it. The way they +gave him power to fly was this: They all tickled him on the shoulder, +and soon he felt a funny itching in that part, and then up he rose +higher and higher, and flew away out of the Gardens and over the +housetops. +</P> + +<P> +It was so delicious that instead of flying straight to his own home he +skimmed away over St. Paul's to the Crystal Palace and back by the +river and Regent's Park, and by the time he reached his mother's window +he had quite made up his mind that his second wish should be to become +a bird. +</P> + +<P> +The window was wide open, just as he knew it would be, and in he +fluttered, and there was his mother lying asleep. Peter alighted +softly on the wooden rail at the foot of the bed and had a good look at +her. She lay with her head on her hand, and the hollow in the pillow +was like a nest lined with her brown wavy hair. He remembered, though +he had long forgotten it, that she always gave her hair a holiday at +night. How sweet the frills of her nightgown were! He was very glad +she was such a pretty mother. +</P> + +<P> +But she looked sad, and he knew why she looked sad. One of her arms +moved as if it wanted to go round something, and he knew what it wanted +to go round. +</P> + +<P> +'O mother!' said Peter to himself, 'if you just knew who is sitting on +the rail at the foot of the bed.' +</P> + +<P> +Very gently he patted the little mound that her feet made, and he could +see by her face that she liked it. He knew he had but to say 'Mother' +ever so softly, and she would wake up. They always wake up at once if +it is you that says their name. Then she would give such a joyous cry +and squeeze him tight. How nice that would be to him, but oh! how +exquisitely delicious it would be to her. That, I am afraid, is how +Peter regarded it. In returning to his mother he never doubted that he +was giving her the greatest treat a woman can have. Nothing can be +more splendid, he thought, than to have a little boy of your own. How +proud of him they are! and very right and proper, too. +</P> + +<P> +But why does Peter sit so long on the rail; why does he not tell his +mother that he has come back? +</P> + +<P> +I quite shrink from the truth, which is that he sat there in two minds. +Sometimes he looked longingly at his mother, and sometimes he looked +longingly at the window. Certainly it would be pleasant to be her boy +again, but on the other hand, what times those had been in the Gardens! +Was he so sure that he should enjoy wearing clothes again? He popped +off the bed and opened some drawers to have a look at his old garments. +They were still there, but he could not remember how you put them on. +The socks, for instance, were they worn on the hands or on the feet? +He was about to try one of them on his hand, when he had a great +adventure. Perhaps the drawer had creaked; at any rate, his mother +woke up, for he heard her say 'Peter,' as if it was the most lovely +word in the language. He remained sitting on the floor and held his +breath, wondering how she knew that he had come back. If she said +'Peter' again, he meant to cry 'Mother' and run to her. But she spoke +no more, she made little moans only, and when he next peeped at her she +was once more asleep, with tears on her face. +</P> + +<P> +It made Peter very miserable, and what do you think was the first thing +he did? Sitting on the rail at the foot of the bed, he played a +beautiful lullaby to his mother on his pipe. He had made it up himself +out of the way she said 'Peter,' and he never stopped playing until she +looked happy. +</P> + +<P> +He thought this so clever of him that he could scarcely resist wakening +her to hear her say, 'O Peter, how exquisitely you play!' However, as +she now seemed comfortable, he again cast looks at the window. You +must not think that he meditated flying away and never coming back. He +had quite decided to be his mother's boy, but hesitated about beginning +to-night. It was the second wish which troubled him. He no longer +meant to make it a wish to be a bird, but not to ask for a second wish +seemed wasteful, and, of course, he could not ask for it without +returning to the fairies. Also, if he put off asking for his wish too +long it might go bad. He asked himself if he had not been hard-hearted +to fly away without saying good-bye to Solomon. 'I should like awfully +to sail in my boat just once more,' he said wistfully to his sleeping +mother. He quite argued with her as if she could hear him. 'It would +be so splendid to tell the birds of this adventure,' he said coaxingly. +'I promise to come back,' he said solemnly, and meant it, too. +</P> + +<P> +And in the end, you know, he flew away. Twice he came back from the +window, wanting to kiss his mother, but he feared the delight of it +might waken her, so at last he played her a lovely kiss on his pipe, +and then he flew back to the Gardens. +</P> + +<P> +Many nights, and even months, passed before he asked the fairies for +his second wish; and I am not sure that I quite know why he delayed so +long. One reason was that he had so many good-byes to say, not only to +his particular friends, but to a hundred favourite spots. Then he had +his last sail, and his very last sail, and his last sail of all, and so +on. Again, a number of farewell feasts were given in his honour; and +another comfortable reason was that, after all, there was no hurry, for +his mother would never weary of waiting for him. This last reason +displeased old Solomon, for it was an encouragement to the birds to +procrastinate. Solomon had several excellent mottoes for keeping them +at their work, such as 'Never put off laying to-day because you can lay +to-morrow,' and 'In this world there are no second chances,' and yet +here was Peter gaily putting off and none the worse for it. The birds +pointed this out to each other, and fell into lazy habits. +</P> + +<P> +But, mind you, though Peter was so slow in going back to his mother, he +was quite decided to go back. The best proof of this was his caution +with the fairies. They were most anxious that he should remain in the +Gardens to play to them, and to bring this to pass they tried to trick +him into making such a remark as 'I wish the grass was not so wet,' and +some of them danced out of time in the hope that he might cry, 'I do +wish you would keep time!' Then they would have said that this was his +second wish. But he smoked their design, and though on occasions he +began, 'I wish——' he always stopped in time. So when at last he said +to them bravely, 'I wish now to go back to mother for ever and always,' +they had to tickle his shoulders and let him go. +</P> + +<P> +He went in a hurry in the end, because he had dreamt that his mother +was crying, and he knew what was the great thing she cried for, and +that a hug from her splendid Peter would quickly make her to smile. +Oh! he felt sure of it, and so eager was he to be nestling in her arms +that this time he flew straight to the window, which was always to be +open for him. +</P> + +<P> +But the window was closed, and there were iron bars on it, and peering +inside he saw his mother sleeping peacefully with her arm around +another little boy. +</P> + +<P> +Peter called, 'Mother! mother!' but she heard him not; in vain he beat +his little limbs against the iron bars. He had to fly back, sobbing, +to the Gardens, and he never saw his dear again. What a glorious boy +he had meant to be to her! Ah, Peter! we who have made the great +mistake, how differently we should all act at the second chance. But +Solomon was right—there is no second chance, not for most of us. When +we reach the window it is Lock-out Time. The iron bars are up for life. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%" SIZE="5" NOSHADE> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE LITTLE HOUSE +</H3> + +<P> +Everybody has heard of the Little House in the Kensington Gardens, +which is the only house in the whole world that the fairies have built +for humans. But no one has really seen it, except just three or four, +and they have not only seen it but slept in it, and unless you sleep in +it you never see it. This is because it is not there when you lie +down, but it is there when you wake up and step outside. +</P> + +<P> +In a kind of way every one may see it, but what you see is not really +it, but only the light in the windows. You see the light after +Lock-out Time. David, for instance, saw it quite distinctly far away +among the trees as we were going home from the pantomime, and Oliver +Bailey saw it the night he stayed so late at the Temple, which is the +name of his father's office. Angela Clare, who loves to have a tooth +extracted because then she is treated to tea in a shop, saw more than +one light, she saw hundreds of them all together; and this must have +been the fairies building the house, for they build it every night, and +always in a different part of the Gardens. She thought one of the +lights was bigger than the others, though she was not quite sure, for +they jumped about so, and it might have been another one that was +bigger. But if it was the same one, it was Peter Pan's light. Heaps +of children have seen the light, so that is nothing. But Maimie +Mannering was the famous one for whom the house was first built. +</P> + +<P> +Maimie was always rather a strange girl, and it was at night that she +was strange. She was four years of age, and in the daytime she was the +ordinary kind. She was pleased when her brother Tony, who was a +magnificent fellow of six, took notice of her, and she looked up to him +in the right way, and tried in vain to imitate him, and was flattered +rather than annoyed when he shoved her about. Also, when she was +batting, she would pause though the ball was in the air to point out to +you that she was wearing new shoes. She was quite the ordinary kind in +the daytime. +</P> + +<P> +But as the shades of night fell, Tony, the swaggerer, lost his contempt +for Maimie and eyed her fearfully; and no wonder, for with dark there +came into her face a look that I can describe only as a leary look. It +was also a serene look that contrasted grandly with Tony's uneasy +glances. Then he would make her presents of his favourite toys (which +he always took away from her next morning), and she accepted them with +a disturbing smile. The reason he was now become so wheedling and she +so mysterious was (in brief) that they knew they were about to be sent +to bed. It was then that Maimie was terrible. Tony entreated her not +to do it to-night, and the mother and their coloured nurse threatened +her, but Maimie merely smiled her agitating smile. And by and by when +they were alone with their night-light she would start up in bed crying +'Hsh! what was that?' Tony beseeches her, 'It was nothing—don't, +Maimie, don't' and pulls the sheet over his head. 'It is coming +nearer!' she cries. 'Oh, look at it, Tony! It is feeling your bed +with its horns—it is boring for you, O Tony, oh!' and she desists not +until he rushes downstairs in his combinations, screeching. When they +came up to whip Maimie they usually found her sleeping tranquilly—not +shamming, you know, but really sleeping, and looking like the sweetest +little angel, which seems to me to make it almost worse. +</P> + +<P> +But of course it was daytime when they were in the Gardens, and then +Tony did most of the talking. You could gather from his talk that he +was a very brave boy, and no one was so proud of it as Maimie. She +would have loved to have a ticket on her saying that she was his +sister. And at no time did she admire him more than when he told her, +as he often did with splendid firmness, that one day he meant to remain +behind in the Gardens after the gates were closed. +</P> + +<P> +'O Tony,' she would say with awful respect, 'but the fairies will be so +angry!' +</P> + +<P> +'I dare say,' replied Tony carelessly. +</P> + +<P> +'Perhaps,' she said, thrilling, 'Peter Pan will give you a sail in his +boat!' +</P> + +<P> +'I shall make him,' replied Tony; no wonder she was proud of him. +</P> + +<P> +But they should not have talked so loudly, for one day they were +overheard by a fairy who had been gathering skeleton leaves, from which +the little people weave their summer curtains, and after that Tony was +a marked boy. They loosened the rails before he sat on them, so that +down he came on the back of his head; they tripped him up by catching +his bootlace, and bribed the ducks to sink his boat. Nearly all the +nasty accidents you meet with in the Gardens occur because the fairies +have taken an ill-will to you, and so it behoves you to be careful what +you say about them. +</P> + +<P> +Maimie was one of the kind who like to fix a day for doing things, but +Tony was not that kind, and when she asked him which day he was to +remain behind in the Gardens after Lock-out he merely replied, 'Just +some day'; he was quite vague about which day except when she asked, +'Will it be to-day?' and then he could always say for certain that it +would not be to-day. So she saw that he was waiting for a real good +chance. +</P> + +<P> +This brings us to an afternoon when the Gardens were white with snow, +and there was ice on the Round Pond; not thick enough to skate on, but +at least you could spoil it for to-morrow by flinging stones, and many +bright little boys and girls were doing that. +</P> + +<P> +When Tony and his sister arrived they wanted to go straight to the +pond, but their ayah said they must take a sharp walk first, and as she +said this she glanced at the time-board to see when the Gardens closed +that night. It read half-past five. Poor ayah! she is the one who +laughs continuously because there are so many white children in the +world, but she was not to laugh much more that day. +</P> + +<P> +Well, they went up the Baby Walk and back, and when they returned to +the time-board she was surprised to see that it now read five o'clock +for closing-time. But she was unacquainted with the tricky ways of the +fairies, and so did not see (as Maimie and Tony saw at once) that they +had changed the hour because there was to be a ball to-night. She said +there was only time now to walk to the top of the Hump and back, and as +they trotted along with her she little guessed what was thrilling their +little breasts. You see the chance had come of seeing a fairy ball. +Never, Tony felt, could he hope for a better chance. +</P> + +<P> +He had to feel this for Maimie so plainly felt it for him. Her eager +eyes asked the question, 'Is it to-day?' and he gasped and then nodded. +Maimie slipped her hand into Tony's, and hers was hot, but his was +cold. She did a very kind thing; she took off her scarf and gave it to +him. 'In case you should feel cold,' she whispered. Her face was +aglow, but Tony's was very gloomy. +</P> + +<P> +As they turned on the top of the Hump he whispered to her, 'I'm afraid +nurse would see me, so I shan't be able to do it.' +</P> + +<P> +Maimie admired him more than ever for being afraid of nothing but their +ayah, when there were so many unknown terrors to fear, and she said +aloud, 'Tony, I shall race you to the gate,' and in a whisper, 'Then +you can hide,' and off they ran. +</P> + +<P> +Tony could always outdistance her easily, but never had she known him +speed away so quickly as now, and she was sure he hurried that he might +have more time to hide. 'Brave, brave!' her doting eyes were crying +when she got a dreadful shock; instead of hiding, her hero had run out +at the gate! At this bitter sight Maimie stopped blankly, as if all +her lapful of darling treasures were suddenly spilled, and then for +very disdain she could not sob; in a swell of protest against all +puling cowards she ran to St. Govor's Well and hid in Tony's stead. +</P> + +<P> +When the ayah reached the gate and saw Tony far in front she thought +her other charge was with him and passed out. Twilight crept over the +Gardens, and hundreds of people passed out, including the last one, who +always has to run for it, but Maimie saw them not. She had shut her +eyes tight and glued them with passionate tears. When she opened them +something very cold ran up her legs and up her arms and dropped into +her heart. It was the stillness of the Gardens. Then she heard +<I>clang</I>, then from another part <I>clang</I>, then <I>clang, clang</I> far away. +It was the Closing of the Gates. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately the last clang had died away Maimie distinctly heard a +voice say, 'So that's all right.' It had a wooden sound and seemed to +come from above, and she looked up in time to see an elm-tree +stretching out its arms and yawning. +</P> + +<P> +She was about to say, 'I never knew you could speak!' when a metallic +voice that seemed to come from the ladle at the well remarked to the +elm, 'I suppose it is a bit coldish up there?' and the elm replied, +'Not particularly, but you do get numb standing so long on one leg,' +and he flapped his arms vigorously just as the cab-men do before they +drive off. Maimie was quite surprised to see that a number of other +tall trees were doing the same sort of thing, and she stole away to the +Baby Walk and crouched observantly under a Minorca holly which shrugged +its shoulders but did not seem to mind her. +</P> + +<P> +She was not in the least cold. She was wearing a russet-coloured +pelisse and had the hood over her head, so that nothing of her showed +except her dear little face and her curls. The rest of her real self +was hidden far away inside so many warm garments that in shape she +seemed rather like a ball. She was about forty round the waist. +</P> + +<P> +There was a good deal going on in the Baby Walk, where Maimie arrived +in time to see a magnolia and a Persian lilac step over the railing and +set off for a smart walk. They moved in a jerky sort of way certainly, +but that was because they used crutches. An elderberry hobbled across +the walk, and stood chatting with some young quinces, and they all had +crutches. The crutches were the sticks that are tied to young trees +and shrubs. They were quite familiar objects to Maimie, but she had +never known what they were for until to-night. +</P> + +<P> +She peeped up the walk and saw her first fairy. He was a street boy +fairy who was running up the walk closing the weeping trees. The way +he did it was this: he pressed a spring in the trunks and they shut +like umbrellas, deluging the little plants beneath with snow. 'O you +naughty, naughty child!' Maimie cried indignantly, for she knew what it +was to have a dripping umbrella about your ears. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately the mischievous fellow was out of earshot, but a +chrysanthemum heard her, and said so pointedly, 'Hoity-toity, what is +this?' that she had to come out and show herself. Then the whole +vegetable kingdom was rather puzzled what to do. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-088t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-088.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-088t.jpg" ALT="_A chrysanthemum heard her, and said pointedly, "Hoity-toity, what is this?"_" BORDER="2" WIDTH="494" HEIGHT="705"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>A chrysanthemum heard her, and said pointedly, "Hoity-toity, what is this?"</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +'Of course it is no affair of ours,' a spindle-tree said after they had +whispered together, 'but you know quite well you ought not to be here, +and perhaps our duty is to report you to the fairies; what do you think +yourself?' +</P> + +<P> +'I think you should not,' Maimie replied, which so perplexed them that +they said petulantly there was no arguing with her. 'I wouldn't ask it +of you,' she assured them, 'if I thought it was wrong,' and of course +after this they could not well carry tales. They then said, +'Well-a-day,' and 'Such is life,' for they can be frightfully +sarcastic; but she felt sorry for those of them who had no crutches, +and she said good-naturedly, 'Before I go to the fairies' ball, I +should like to take you for a walk one at a time; you can lean on me, +you know.' +</P> + +<P> +At this they clapped their hands, and she escorted them up the Baby +Walk and back again, one at a time, putting an arm or a finger round +the very frail, setting their leg right when it got too ridiculous, and +treating the foreign ones quite as courteously as the English, though +she could not understand a word they said. +</P> + +<P> +They behaved well on the whole, though some whimpered that she had not +taken them as far as she took Nancy or Grace or Dorothy, and others +jagged her, but it was quite unintentional, and she was too much of a +lady to cry out. So much walking tired her, and she was anxious to be +off to the ball, but she no longer felt afraid. The reason she felt no +more fear was that it was now night-time, and in the dark, you +remember, Maimie was always rather strange. +</P> + +<P> +They were now loth to let her go, for, 'If the fairies see you,' they +warned her, 'they will mischief you—stab you to death, or compel you +to nurse their children, or turn you into something tedious, like an +evergreen oak.' As they said this they looked with affected pity at an +evergreen oak, for in winter they are very envious of the evergreens. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, la!' replied the oak bitingly, 'how deliciously cosy it is to +stand here buttoned to the neck and watch you poor naked creatures +shivering.' +</P> + +<P> +This made them sulky, though they had really brought it on themselves, +and they drew for Maimie a very gloomy picture of the perils that would +face her if she insisted on going to the ball. +</P> + +<P> +She learned from a purple filbert that the court was not in its usual +good temper at present, the cause being the tantalising heart of the +Duke of Christmas Daisies. He was an Oriental fairy, very poorly of a +dreadful complaint, namely, inability to love, and though he had tried +many ladies in many lands he could not fall in love with one of them. +Queen Mab, who rules in the Gardens, had been confident that her girls +would bewitch him, but alas! his heart, the doctor said, remained cold. +This rather irritating doctor, who was his private physician, felt the +Duke's heart immediately after any lady was presented, and then always +shook his bald head and murmured, 'Cold, quite cold.' Naturally Queen +Mab felt disgraced, and first she tried the effect of ordering the +court into tears for nine minutes, and then she blamed the Cupids and +decreed that they should wear fools' caps until they thawed the Duke's +frozen heart. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-090t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-090.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-090t.jpg" ALT="_Shook his bald head and murmured, "Cold, quite cold."_" BORDER="2" WIDTH="501" HEIGHT="709"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>Shook his bald head and murmured, "Cold, quite cold."</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +'How I should love to see the Cupids in their dear little fools' caps!' +Maimie cried, and away she ran to look for them very recklessly, for +the Cupids hate to be laughed at. +</P> + +<P> +It is always easy to discover where a fairies' ball is being held, as +ribbons are stretched between it and all the populous parts of the +Gardens, on which those invited may walk to the dance without wetting +their pumps. This night the ribbons were red, and looked very pretty +on the snow. +</P> + +<P> +Maimie walked alongside one of them for some distance without meeting +anybody, but at last she saw a fairy cavalcade approaching. To her +surprise they seemed to be returning from the ball, and she had just +time to hide from them by bending her knees and holding out her arms +and pretending to be a garden chair. There were six horsemen in front +and six behind; in the middle walked a prim lady wearing a long train +held up by two pages, and on the train, as if it were a couch, reclined +a lovely girl, for in this way do aristocratic fairies travel about. +She was dressed in golden rain, but the most enviable part of her was +her neck, which was blue in colour and of a velvet texture, and of +course showed off her diamond necklace as no white throat could have +glorified it. The high-born fairies obtain this admired effect by +pricking their skin, which lets the blue blood come through and dye +them, and you cannot imagine anything so dazzling unless you have seen +the ladies' busts in the jewellers' windows. +</P> + +<P> +Maimie also noticed that the whole cavalcade seemed to be in a passion, +tilting their noses higher than it can be safe for even fairies to tilt +them, and she concluded that this must be another case in which the +doctor had said 'Cold, quite cold.' +</P> + +<P> +Well, she followed the ribbon to a place where it became a bridge over +a dry puddle into which another fairy had fallen and been unable to +climb out. At first this little damsel was afraid of Maimie, who most +kindly went to her aid, but soon she sat in her hand chatting gaily and +explaining that her name was Brownie, and that though only a poor +street singer she was on her way to the ball to see if the Duke would +have her. +</P> + +<P> +'Of course,' she said, 'I am rather plain,' and this made Maimie +uncomfortable, for indeed the simple little creature was almost quite +plain for a fairy. +</P> + +<P> +It was difficult to know what to reply. +</P> + +<P> +'I see you think I have no chance,' Brownie said falteringly. +</P> + +<P> +'I don't say that,' Maimie answered politely; 'of course your face is +just a tiny bit homely, but——' Really it was quite awkward for her. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately she remembered about her father and the bazaar. He had +gone to a fashionable bazaar where all the most beautiful ladies in +London were on view for half a crown the second day, but on his return +home, instead of being dissatisfied with Maimie's mother, he had said, +'You can't think, my dear, what a relief it is to see a homely face +again.' +</P> + +<P> +Maimie repeated this story, and it fortified Brownie tremendously, +indeed she had no longer the slightest doubt that the Duke would choose +her. So she scudded away up the ribbon, calling out to Maimie not to +follow lest the Queen should mischief her. +</P> + +<P> +But Maimie's curiosity tugged her forward, and presently at the seven +Spanish chestnuts she saw a wonderful light. She crept forward until +she was quite near it, and then she peeped from behind a tree. +</P> + +<P> +The light, which was as high as your head above the ground, was +composed of myriads of glow-worms all holding on to each other, and so +forming a dazzling canopy over the fairy ring. There were thousands of +little people looking on, but they were in shadow and drab in colour +compared to the glorious creatures within that luminous circle, who +were so bewilderingly bright that Maimie had to wink hard all the time +she looked at them. +</P> + +<P> +It was amazing and even irritating to her that the Duke of Christmas +Daisies should be able to keep out of love for a moment: yet out of +love his dusky grace still was: you could see it by the shamed looks of +the Queen and court (though they pretended not to care), by the way +darling ladies brought forward for his approval burst into tears as +they were told to pass on, and by his own most dreary face. +</P> + +<P> +Maimie could also see the pompous doctor feeling the Duke's heart and +hear him give utterance to his parrot cry, and she was particularly +sorry for the Cupids, who stood in their fools' caps in obscure places +and, every time they heard that 'Cold, quite cold,' bowed their +disgraced little heads. +</P> + +<P> +She was disappointed not to see Peter Pan, and I may as well tell you +now why he was so late that night. It was because his boat had got +wedged on the Serpentine between fields of floating ice, through which +he had to break a perilous passage with his trusty paddle. +</P> + +<P> +The fairies had as yet scarcely missed him, for they could not dance, +so heavy were their hearts. They forget all the steps when they are +sad, and remember them again when they are merry. David tells me that +fairies never say, 'We feel happy': what they say is, 'We feel +<I>dancey</I>.' +</P> + +<A NAME="img-094t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-094.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-094t.jpg" ALT="_Fairies never say, "We feel happy"; what they say is, "We feel_ dancey_."_" BORDER="2" WIDTH="490" HEIGHT="702"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>Fairies never say, "We feel happy"; what they say is, "We feel</I> dancey<I>."</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Well, they were looking very undancey indeed, when sudden laughter +broke out among the onlookers, caused by Brownie, who had just arrived +and was insisting on her right to be presented to the Duke. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-098t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-098.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-098t.jpg" ALT="_Looking very undancey indeed._" BORDER="2" WIDTH="484" HEIGHT="694"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>Looking very undancey indeed.</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Maimie craned forward eagerly to see how her friend fared, though she +had really no hope; no one seemed to have the least hope except Brownie +herself, who, however, was absolutely confident. She was led before +his grace, and the doctor putting a finger carelessly on the ducal +heart, which for convenience' sake was reached by a little trap-door in +his diamond shirt, had begun to say mechanically, 'Cold, qui—,' when +he stopped abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +'What's this,' he cried, and first he shook the heart like a watch, and +then he put his ear to it. +</P> + +<P> +'Bless my soul!' cried the doctor, and by this time of course the +excitement among the spectators was tremendous, fairies fainting right +and left. +</P> + +<P> +Everybody stared breathlessly at the Duke, who was very much startled, +and looked as if he would like to run away. 'Good gracious me!' the +doctor was heard muttering, and now the heart was evidently on fire, +for he had to jerk his fingers away from it and put them in his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +The suspense was awful. +</P> + +<P> +Then in a loud voice, and bowing low, 'My Lord Duke,' said the +physician elatedly, 'I have the honour to inform your excellency that +your grace is in love.' +</P> + +<P> +You can't conceive the effect of it. Brownie held out her arms to the +Duke and he flung himself into them, the Queen leapt into the arms of +the Lord Chamberlain, and the ladies of the court leapt into the arms +of her gentlemen, for it is etiquette to follow her example in +everything. Thus in a single moment about fifty marriages took place, +for if you leap into each other's arms it is a fairy wedding. Of +course a clergyman has to be present. +</P> + +<P> +How the crowd cheered and leapt! Trumpets brayed, the moon came out, +and immediately a thousand couples seized hold of its rays as if they +were ribbons in a May dance and waltzed in wild abandon round the fairy +ring. Most gladsome sight of all, the Cupids plucked the hated fools' +caps from their heads and cast them high in the air. And then Maimie +went and spoiled everything. +</P> + +<P> +She could n't help it. She was crazy with delight over her little +friend's good fortune, so she took several steps forward and cried in +an ecstasy, 'O Brownie, how splendid!' +</P> + +<P> +Everybody stood still, the music ceased, the lights went out, and all +in the time you may take to say, 'Oh dear!' An awful sense of her +peril came upon Maimie; too late she remembered that she was a lost +child in a place where no human must be between the locking and the +opening of the gates; she heard the murmur of an angry multitude; she +saw a thousand swords flashing for her blood, and she uttered a cry of +terror and fled. +</P> + +<P> +How she ran! and all the time her eyes were starting out of her head. +Many times she lay down, and then quickly jumped up and ran on again. +Her little mind was so entangled in terrors that she no longer knew she +was in the Gardens. The one thing she was sure of was that she must +never cease to run, and she thought she was still running long after +she had dropped in the Figs and gone to sleep. She thought the +snowflakes falling on her face were her mother kissing her good-night. +She thought her coverlet of snow was a warm blanket, and tried to pull +it over her head. And when she heard talking through her dreams she +thought it was mother bringing father to the nursery door to look at +her as she slept. But it was the fairies. +</P> + +<P> +I am very glad to be able to say that they no longer desired to +mischief her. When she rushed away they had rent the air with such +cries as 'Slay her!' 'Turn her into something extremely unpleasant!' +and so on, but the pursuit was delayed while they discussed who should +march in front, and this gave Duchess Brownie time to cast herself +before the Queen and demand a boon. +</P> + +<P> +Every bride has a right to a boon, and what she asked for was Maimie's +life. 'Anything except that,' replied Queen Mab sternly, and all the +fairies echoed, 'Anything except that.' But when they learned how +Maimie had befriended Brownie and so enabled her to attend the ball to +their great glory and renown, they gave three huzzas for the little +human, and set off, like an army, to thank her, the court advancing in +front and the canopy keeping step with it. They traced Maimie easily +by her footprints in the snow. +</P> + +<P> +But though they found her deep in snow in the Figs, it seemed +impossible to thank Maimie, for they could not waken her. They went +through the form of thanking her—that is to say, the new King stood on +her body and read her a long address of welcome, but she heard not a +word of it. They also cleared the snow off her, but soon she was +covered again, and they saw she was in danger of perishing of cold. +</P> + +<P> +'Turn her into something that does not mind the cold,' seemed a good +suggestion of the doctors, but the only thing they could think of that +does not mind cold was a snowflake. 'And it might melt,' the Queen +pointed out, so that idea had to be given up. +</P> + +<P> +A magnificent attempt was made to carry her to a sheltered spot, but +though there were so many of them she was too heavy. By this time all +the ladies were crying in their handkerchiefs, but presently the Cupids +had a lovely idea. 'Build a house round her,' they cried, and at once +everybody perceived that this was the thing to do; in a moment a +hundred fairy sawyers were among the branches, architects were running +round Maimie, measuring her; a bricklayer's yard sprang up at her feet, +seventy-five masons rushed up with the foundation-stone, and the Queen +laid it, overseers were appointed to keep the boys off, scaffoldings +were run up, the whole place rang with hammers and chisels and +turning-lathes, and by this time the roof was on and the glaziers were +putting in the windows. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-104t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-104.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-104t.jpg" ALT="_Building the house for Maimie._" BORDER="2" WIDTH="487" HEIGHT="695"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 535px"> +<I>Building the house for Maimie.</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The house was exactly the size of Maimie, and perfectly lovely. One of +her arms was extended, and this had bothered them for a second, but +they built a verandah round it leading to the front door. The windows +were the size of a coloured picture-book and the door rather smaller, +but it would be easy for her to get out by taking off the roof. The +fairies, as is their custom, clapped their hands with delight over +their cleverness, and they were so madly in love with the little house +that they could not bear to think they had finished it. So they gave +it ever so many little extra touches, and even then they added more +extra touches. +</P> + +<P> +For instance, two of them ran up a ladder and put on a chimney. +</P> + +<P> +'Now we fear it is quite finished,' they sighed. +</P> + +<P> +But no, for another two ran up the ladder, and tied some smoke to the +chimney. +</P> + +<P> +'That certainly finishes it,' they said reluctantly. +</P> + +<P> +'Not at all,' cried a glow-worm; 'if she were to wake without seeing a +night-light she might be frightened, so I shall be her night-light.' +</P> + +<P> +'Wait one moment,' said a china merchant, 'and I shall make you a +saucer.' +</P> + +<P> +Now, alas! it was absolutely finished. +</P> + +<P> +Oh, dear no! +</P> + +<P> +'Gracious me!' cried a brass manufacturer, 'there's no handle on the +door,' and he put one on. +</P> + +<P> +An ironmonger added a scraper, and an old lady ran up with a door-mat. +Carpenters arrived with a water-butt, and the painters insisted on +painting it. +</P> + +<P> +Finished at last! +</P> + +<P> +'Finished! How can it be finished,' the plumber demanded scornfully, +'before hot and cold are put in,' and he put in hot and cold. Then an +army of gardeners arrived with fairy carts and spades and seeds and +bulbs and forcing-houses, and soon they had a flower-garden to the +right of the verandah, and a vegetable garden to the left, and roses +and clematis on the walls of the house, and in less time than five +minutes all these dear things were in full bloom. +</P> + +<P> +Oh, how beautiful the little house was now! But it was at last +finished true as true, and they had to leave it and return to the +dance. They all kissed their hands to it as they went away, and the +last to go was Brownie. She stayed a moment behind the others to drop +a pleasant dream down the chimney. +</P> + +<P> +All through the night the exquisite little house stood there in the +Figs taking care of Maimie, and she never knew. She slept until the +dream was quite finished, and woke feeling deliciously cosy just as +morning was breaking from its egg, and then she almost fell asleep +again, and then she called out, 'Tony,' for she thought she was at home +in the nursery. As Tony made no answer she sat up, whereupon her head +hit the roof, and it opened like the lid of a box, and to her +bewilderment she saw all around her the Kensington Gardens lying deep +in snow. As she was not in the nursery she wondered whether this was +really herself, so she pinched her cheeks, and then she knew it was +herself, and this reminded her that she was in the middle of a great +adventure. She remembered now everything that had happened to her from +the closing of the gates up to her running away from the fairies, but +however, she asked herself, had she got into this funny place? She +stepped out by the roof, right over the garden, and then she saw the +dear house in which she had passed the night. It so entranced her that +she could think of nothing else. +</P> + +<P> +'O you darling! O you sweet! O you love!' she cried. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps a human voice frightened the little house, or maybe it now knew +that its work was done, for no sooner had Maimie spoken than it began +to grow smaller; it shrank so slowly that she could scarce believe it +was shrinking, yet she soon knew that it could not contain her now. It +always remained as complete as ever, but it became smaller and smaller, +and the garden dwindled at the same time, and the snow crept closer, +lapping house and garden up. Now the house was the size of a little +dog's kennel, and now of a Noah's Ark, but still you could see the +smoke and the door-handle and the roses on the wall, every one +complete. The glow-worm light was waning too, but it was still there. +'Darling, loveliest, don't go!' Maimie cried, falling on her knees, for +the little house was now the size of a reel of thread, but still quite +complete. But as she stretched out her arms imploringly the snow crept +up on all sides until it met itself, and where the little house had +been was now one unbroken expanse of snow. +</P> + +<P> +Maimie stamped her foot naughtily, and was putting her fingers to her +eyes, when she heard a kind voice say, 'Don't cry, pretty human, don't +cry,' and then she turned round and saw a beautiful little naked boy +regarding her wistfully. She knew at once that he must be Peter Pan. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%" SIZE="5" NOSHADE> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PETER'S GOAT +</H3> + +<P> +Maimie felt quite shy, but Peter knew not what shy was. +</P> + +<P> +'I hope you have had a good night,' he said earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +'Thank you,' she replied, 'I was so cosy and warm. But you'—and she +looked at his nakedness awkwardly—'don't you feel the least bit cold?' +</P> + +<P> +Now cold was another word Peter had forgotten, so he answered, 'I think +not, but I may be wrong: you see I am rather ignorant. I am not +exactly a boy; Solomon says I am a Betwixt-and-Between.' +</P> + +<P> +'So that is what it is called,' said Maimie thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +'That's not my name,' he explained, 'my name is Peter Pan.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, of course,' she said, 'I know, everybody knows.' +</P> + +<P> +You can't think how pleased Peter was to learn that all the people +outside the gates knew about him. He begged Maimie to tell him what +they knew and what they said, and she did so. They were sitting by +this time on a fallen tree; Peter had cleared off the snow for Maimie, +but he sat on a snowy bit himself. +</P> + +<P> +'Squeeze closer,' Maimie said. +</P> + +<P> +'What is that?' he asked, and she showed him, and then he did it. They +talked together and he found that people knew a great deal about him, +but not everything, not that he had gone back to his mother and been +barred out, for instance, and he said nothing of this to Maimie, for it +still humiliated him. +</P> + +<P> +'Do they know that I play games exactly like real boys?' he asked very +proudly. 'O Maimie, please tell them!' But when he revealed how he +played, by sailing his hoop on the Round Pond, and so on, she was +simply horrified. +</P> + +<P> +'All your ways of playing,' she said with her big eyes on him, 'are +quite, quite wrong, and not in the least like how boys play.' +</P> + +<P> +Poor Peter uttered a little moan at this, and he cried for the first +time for I know not how long. Maimie was extremely sorry for him, and +lent him her handkerchief, but he didn't know in the least what to do +with it, so she showed him, that is to say, she wiped her eyes, and +then gave it back to him, saying, 'Now you do it,' but instead of +wiping his own eyes he wiped hers, and she thought it best to pretend +that this was what she had meant. +</P> + +<P> +She said out of pity for him, 'I shall give you a kiss if you like,' +but though he once knew, he had long forgotten what kisses are, and he +replied, 'Thank you,' and held out his hand, thinking she had offered +to put something into it. This was a great shock to her, but she felt +she could not explain without shaming him, so with charming delicacy +she gave Peter a thimble which happened to be in her pocket, and +pretended that it was a kiss. Poor little boy! he quite believed her, +and to this day he wears it on his finger, though there can be scarcely +any one who needs a thimble so little. You see, though still a tiny +child, it was really years and years since he had seen his mother, and +I dare say the baby who had supplanted him was now a man with whiskers. +</P> + +<P> +But you must not think that Peter Pan was a boy to pity rather than to +admire; if Maimie began by thinking this, she soon found she was very +much mistaken. Her eyes glistened with admiration when he told her of +his adventures, especially of how he went to and fro between the island +and the Gardens in the Thrush's Nest: +</P> + +<P> +'How romantic!' Maimie exclaimed, but this was another unknown word, +and he hung his head thinking she was despising him. +</P> + +<P> +'I suppose Tony would not have done that?' he said very humbly. +</P> + +<P> +'Never, never!' she answered with conviction, 'he would have been +afraid.' +</P> + +<P> +'What is afraid?' asked Peter longingly. He thought it must be some +splendid thing. 'I do wish you would teach me how to be afraid, +Maimie,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +'I believe no one could teach that to you,' she answered adoringly, but +Peter thought she meant that he was stupid. She had told him about +Tony and of the wicked thing she did in the dark to frighten him (she +knew quite well that it was wicked), but Peter misunderstood her +meaning and said, 'Oh, how I wish I was as brave as Tony!' +</P> + +<P> +It quite irritated her. 'You are twenty thousand times braver than +Tony,' she said; 'you are ever so much the bravest boy I ever knew.' +</P> + +<P> +He could scarcely believe she meant it, but when he did believe he +screamed with joy. +</P> + +<P> +'And if you want very much to give me a kiss,' Maimie said, 'you can do +it.' +</P> + +<P> +Very reluctantly Peter began to take the thimble off his finger. He +thought she wanted it back. +</P> + +<P> +'I don't mean a kiss,' she said hurriedly, 'I mean a thimble.' +</P> + +<P> +'What's that?' Peter asked. +</P> + +<P> +'It's like this,' she said, and kissed him. +</P> + +<P> +'I should love to give you a thimble,' Peter said gravely, so he gave +her one. He gave her quite a number of thimbles, and then a delightful +idea came into his head. 'Maimie,' he said, 'will you marry me?' +</P> + +<P> +Now, strange to tell, the same idea had come at exactly the same time +into Maimie's head. 'I should like to,' she answered, 'but will there +be room in your boat for two?' +</P> + +<P> +'If you squeeze close,' he said eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +'Perhaps the birds would be angry?' +</P> + +<P> +He assured her that the birds would love to have her, though I am not +so certain of it myself. Also that there were very few birds in +winter. 'Of course they might want your clothes,' he had to admit +rather falteringly. +</P> + +<P> +She was somewhat indignant at this. +</P> + +<P> +'They are always thinking of their nests,' he said apologetically, 'and +there are some bits of you'—he stroked the fur on her pelisse—'that +would excite them very much.' +</P> + +<P> +'They shan't have my fur,' she said sharply. +</P> + +<P> +'No,' he said, still fondling it, however, 'no. O Maimie,' he said +rapturously, 'do you know why I love you? It is because you are like a +beautiful nest.' +</P> + +<P> +Somehow this made her uneasy. 'I think you are speaking more like a +bird than a boy now,' she said, holding back, and indeed he was even +looking rather like a bird. 'After all,' she said, 'you are only a +Betwixt-and-Between.' But it hurt him so much that she immediately +added, 'It must be a delicious thing to be.' +</P> + +<P> +'Come and be one, then, dear Maimie,' he implored her, and they set off +for the boat, for it was now very near Open-Gate time. 'And you are +not a bit like a nest,' he whispered to please her. +</P> + +<P> +'But I think it is rather nice to be like one,' she said in a woman's +contradictory way. 'And, Peter, dear, though I can't give them my fur, +I wouldn't mind their building in it. Fancy a nest in my neck with +little spotty eggs in it! O Peter, how perfectly lovely!' +</P> + +<P> +But as they drew near the Serpentine, she shivered a little, and said, +'Of course I shall go and see mother often, quite often. It is not as +if I was saying good-bye for ever to mother, it is not in the least +like that.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh no,' answered Peter, but in his heart he knew it was very like +that, and he would have told her so had he not been in a quaking fear +of losing her. He was so fond of her, he felt he could not live +without her. 'She will forget her mother in time, and be happy with +me,' he kept saying to himself, and he hurried her on, giving her +thimbles by the way. +</P> + +<P> +But even when she had seen the boat and exclaimed ecstatically over its +loveliness, she still talked tremblingly about her mother. 'You know +quite well, Peter, don't you,' she said, 'that I wouldn't come unless I +knew for certain I could go back to mother whenever I want to? Peter, +say it.' +</P> + +<P> +He said it, but he could no longer look her in the face. +</P> + +<P> +'If you are sure your mother will always want you,' he added rather +sourly. +</P> + +<P> +'The idea of mother's not always wanting me!' Maimie cried, and her +face glistened. +</P> + +<P> +'If she doesn't bar you out,' said Peter huskily. +</P> + +<P> +'The door,' replied Maimie, 'will always, always be open, and mother +will always be waiting at it for me.' +</P> + +<P> +'Then,' said Peter, not without grimness, 'step in, if you feel so sure +of her,' and he helped Maimie into the Thrush's Nest. +</P> + +<P> +'But why don't you look at me?' she asked, taking him by the arm. +</P> + +<P> +Peter tried hard not to look, he tried to push off, then he gave a +great gulp and jumped ashore and sat down miserably in the snow. +</P> + +<P> +She went to him. 'What is it, dear, dear Peter?' she said, wondering. +</P> + +<P> +'O Maimie,' he cried, 'it isn't fair to take you with me if you think +you can go back! Your mother'—he gulped again—'you don't know them +as well as I do.' +</P> + +<P> +And then he told her the woeful story of how he had been barred out, +and she gasped all the time. 'But my mother,' she said, '<I>my</I> +mother——' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, she would,' said Peter, 'they are all the same. I dare say she +is looking for another one already.' +</P> + +<P> +Maimie said aghast, 'I can't believe it. You see, when you went away +your mother had none, but my mother has Tony, and surely they are +satisfied when they have one.' +</P> + +<P> +Peter replied bitterly, 'You should see the letters Solomon gets from +ladies who have six.' +</P> + +<P> +Just then they heard a grating creak, followed by <I>creak, creak</I>, all +round the Gardens. It was the Opening of the Gates, and Peter jumped +nervously into his boat. He knew Maimie would not come with him now, +and he was trying bravely not to cry. But Maimie was sobbing painfully. +</P> + +<P> +'If I should be too late,' she said in agony, 'O Peter, if she has got +another one already!' +</P> + +<P> +Again he sprang ashore as if she had called him back. 'I shall come +and look for you to-night,' he said, squeezing close, 'but if you hurry +away I think you will be in time.' +</P> + +<P> +Then he pressed a last thimble on her sweet little mouth, and covered +his face with his hands so that he might not see her go. +</P> + +<P> +'Dear Peter!' she cried. +</P> + +<P> +'Dear Maimie!' cried the tragic boy. +</P> + +<P> +She leapt into his arms, so that it was a sort of fairy wedding, and +then she hurried away. Oh, how she hastened to the gates! Peter, you +may be sure, was back in the Gardens that night as soon as Lock-out +sounded, but he found no Maimie, and so he knew she had been in time. +For long he hoped that some night she would come back to him; often he +thought he saw her waiting for him by the shore of the Serpentine as +his bark drew to land, but Maimie never went back. She wanted to, but +she was afraid that if she saw her dear Betwixt-and-Between again she +would linger with him too long, and besides the ayah now kept a sharp +eye on her. But she often talked lovingly of Peter, and she knitted a +kettle-holder for him, and one day when she was wondering what Easter +present he would like, her mother made a suggestion. +</P> + +<P> +'Nothing,' she said thoughtfully, 'would be so useful to him as a goat.' +</P> + +<P> +'He could ride on it,' cried Maimie, 'and play on his pipe at the same +time.' +</P> + +<P> +'Then,' her mother asked, 'won't you give him your goat, the one you +frighten Tony with at night?' +</P> + +<P> +'But it isn't a real goat,' Maimie said. +</P> + +<P> +'It seems very real to Tony,' replied her mother. +</P> + +<P> +'It seems frightfully real to me too,' Maimie admitted, 'but how could +I give it to Peter?' +</P> + +<P> +Her mother knew a way, and next day, accompanied by Tony (who was +really quite a nice boy, though of course he could not compare), they +went to the Gardens, and Maimie stood alone within a fairy ring, and +then her mother, who was a rather gifted lady, said— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<I>'My daughter, tell me, if you can,<BR> +What have you got for Peter Pan?'</I><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +To which Maimie replied— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<I>'I have a goat for him to ride,<BR> +Observe me cast it far and wide.'</I><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +She then flung her arms about as if she were sowing seed, and turned +round three times. +</P> + +<P> +Next Tony said— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<I>'If P. doth find it waiting here,<BR> +Wilt ne'er again make me to fear?'</I><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +And Maimie answered— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<I>'By dark or light I fondly swear<BR> +Never to see goats anywhere.'</I><BR> +</P> + +<P> +She also left a letter to Peter in a likely place, explaining what she +had done, and begging him to ask the fairies to turn the goat into one +convenient for riding on. Well, it all happened just as she hoped, for +Peter found the letter, and of course nothing could be easier for the +fairies than to turn the goat into a real one, and so that is how Peter +got the goat on which he now rides round the Gardens every night +playing sublimely on his pipe. And Maimie kept her promise, and never +frightened Tony with a goat again, though I have heard that she created +another animal. Until she was quite a big girl she continued to leave +presents for Peter in the Gardens (with letters explaining how humans +play with them), and she is not the only one who has done this. David +does it, for instance, and he and I know the likeliest place for +leaving them in, and we shall tell you if you like, but for mercy's +sake don't ask us before Porthos, for he is so fond of toys that, were +he to find out the place, he would take every one of them. +</P> + +<P> +Though Peter still remembers Maimie he is become as gay as ever, and +often in sheer happiness he jumps off his goat and lies kicking merrily +on the grass. Oh, he has a joyful time! But he has still a vague +memory that he was a human once, and it makes him especially kind to +the house-swallows when they visit the island, for house-swallows are +the spirits of little children who have died. They always build in the +eaves of the houses where they lived when they were humans, and +sometimes they try to fly in at a nursery window, and perhaps that is +why Peter loves them best of all the birds. +</P> + +<P> +And the little house? Every lawful night (that is to say, every night +except ball nights) the fairies now build the little house lest there +should be a human child lost in the Gardens, and Peter rides the +marches looking for lost ones, and if he finds them he carries them on +his goat to the little house, and when they wake up they are in it, and +when they step out they see it. The fairies build the house merely +because it is so pretty, but Peter rides round in memory of Maimie, and +because he still loves to do just as he believes real boys would do. +</P> + +<P> +But you must not think that, because somewhere among the trees the +little house is twinkling, it is a safe thing to remain in the Gardens +after Lock-out time. If the bad ones among the fairies happen to be +out that night they will certainly mischief you, and even though they +are not, you may perish of cold and dark before Peter Pan comes round. +He has been too late several times, and when he sees he is too late he +runs back to the Thrush's Nest for his paddle, of which Maimie had told +him the true use, and he digs a grave for the child and erects a little +tombstone, and carves the poor thing's initials on it. He does this at +once because he thinks it is what real boys would do, and you must have +noticed the little stones, and that there are always two together. He +puts them in twos because they seem less lonely. I think that quite +the most touching sight in the Gardens is the two tombstones of Walter +Stephen Matthews and Phoebe Phelps. They stand together at the spot +where the parish of Westminster St. Mary's is said to meet the Parish +of Paddington. Here Peter found the two babes, who had fallen +unnoticed from their perambulators, Phoebe aged thirteen months and +Walter probably still younger, for Peter seems to have felt a delicacy +about putting any age on his stone. They lie side by side, and the +simple inscriptions read +</P> + +<A NAME="img-126"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-126.jpg" ALT="Grave inscriptions" BORDER="0" WIDTH="236" HEIGHT="110"> +</CENTER> + +<P> +David sometimes places white flowers on these two innocent graves. +</P> + +<P> +But how strange for parents, when they hurry into the Gardens at the +opening of the gates looking for their lost one, to find the sweetest +little tombstone instead. I do hope that Peter is not too ready with +his spade. It is all rather sad. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-rear"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-rear.jpg" ALT="Rear cover art" BORDER="2" WIDTH="535" HEIGHT="779"> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, by J. M. 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M. Barrie + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens + +Author: J. M. Barrie + +Illustrator: Arthur Rackham + +Release Date: October 24, 2008 [EBook #26998] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PETER PAN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + + + + +[Frontispiece: _The Kensington Gardens are in London, where the King +lives_.] + + + + + + +PETER PAN + +IN KENSINGTON GARDENS + + +BY + +J. M. BARRIE + +(_From 'The Little White Bird'_) + + + +WITH DRAWINGS BY + +ARTHUR RACKHAM + + +[Illustration: Title page art] + + +NEW YORK + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +1910 + + + + +Copyright, 1902, 1906, + +BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +THE GRAND TOUR OF THE GARDENS + + +CHAPTER II + +PETER PAN + + +CHAPTER III + +THE THRUSH'S NEST + + +CHAPTER IV + +LOCK-OUT TIME + + +CHAPTER V + +THE LITTLE HOUSE + + +CHAPTER VI + +PETER'S GOAT + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +1. 'The Kensington Gardens are in London, where the King + lives' . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +2. 'The lady with the balloons, who sits just outside' + +3. 'Old Mr. Salford was a crab-apple of an old gentleman + who wandered all day in the Gardens' + +4. 'When he heard Peter's voice he popped in alarm behind a tulip' + +5. 'Put his strange case before old Solomon Caw' + +6. 'After this the birds said that they would help him no more + in his mad enterprise' + +7. 'For years he had been quietly filling his stocking' + +8. 'Fairies are all more or less in hiding until dusk' + +9. 'These tricky fairies sometimes slyly change the board on + a ball night' + +10. 'When her Majesty wants to know the time' + +11. 'Peter Pan is the fairies' orchestra' + +12. 'A chrysanthemum heard her, and said pointedly, "Hoity-toity, + what is this?"' + +13. 'Shook his bald head and murmured, "Cold, quite cold."' + +14. 'Fairies never say, "We feel happy"; what they say is, + "We feel _dancey_."' + +15. 'Looking very undancey indeed' + +16. 'Building the house for Maimie' + + + + +PETER PAN + +IN KENSINGTON GARDENS + + +[Illustration: Map of Peter Pan's Kensington Gardens] + + +I + +THE GRAND TOUR OF THE GARDENS + +[Illustration: David] + +You must see for yourselves that it will be difficult to follow Peter +Pan's adventures unless you are familiar with the Kensington Gardens. +They are in London, where the King lives, and I used to take David +there nearly every day unless he was looking decidedly flushed. No +child has ever been in the whole of the Gardens, because it is so soon +time to turn back. The reason it is soon time to turn back is that, if +you are as small as David, you sleep from twelve to one. If your +mother was not so sure that you sleep from twelve to one, you could +most likely see the whole of them. + +[Illustration: Nurse] + +The Gardens are bounded on one side by a never-ending line of +omnibuses, over which your nurse has such authority that if she holds +up her finger to any one of them it stops immediately. She then +crosses with you in safety to the other side. There are more gates to +the Gardens than one gate, but that is the one you go in at, and before +you go in you speak to the lady with the balloons, who sits just +outside. This is as near to being inside as she may venture, because, +if she were to let go her hold of the railings for one moment, the +balloons would lift her up, and she would be flown away. She sits very +squat, for the balloons are always tugging at her, and the strain has +given her quite a red face. Once she was a new one, because the old +one had let go, and David was very sorry for the old one, but as she +did let go, he wished he had been there to see. + +[Illustration: _The lady with the balloons, who sits just outside._] + +The Gardens are a tremendous big place, with millions and hundreds of +trees; and first you come to the Figs, but you scorn to loiter there, +for the Figs is the resort of superior little persons, who are +forbidden to mix with the commonalty, and is so named, according to +legend, because they dress in full fig. These dainty ones are +themselves contemptuously called Figs by David and other heroes, and +you have a key to the manners and customs of this dandiacal section of +the Gardens when I tell you that cricket is called crickets here. +Occasionally a rebel Fig climbs over the fence into the world, and such +a one was Miss Mabel Grey, of whom I shall tell you when we come to +Miss Mabel Grey's gate. She was the only really celebrated Fig. + +We are now in the Broad Walk, and it is as much bigger than the other +walks as your father is bigger than you. David wondered if it began +little, and grew and grew, until it was quite grown up, and whether the +other walks are its babies, and he drew a picture, which diverted him +very much, of the Broad Walk giving a tiny walk an airing in a +perambulator. In the Broad Walk you meet all the people who are worth +knowing, and there is usually a grown-up with them to prevent them +going on the damp grass, and to make them stand disgraced at the corner +of a seat if they have been mad-dog or Mary-Annish. To be Mary-Annish +is to behave like a girl, whimpering because nurse won't carry you, or +simpering with your thumb in your mouth, and it is a hateful quality; +but to be mad-dog is to kick out at everything, and there is some +satisfaction in that. + +If I were to point out all the notable places as we pass up the Broad +Walk, it would be time to turn back before we reach them, and I simply +wave my stick at Cecco Hewlett's Tree, that memorable spot where a boy +called Cecco lost his penny, and, looking for it, found twopence. +There has been a good deal of excavation going on there ever since. +Farther up the walk is the little wooden house in which Marmaduke Perry +hid. There is no more awful story of the Gardens than this of +Marmaduke Perry, who had been Mary-Annish three days in succession, and +was sentenced to appear in the Broad Walk dressed in his sister's +clothes. He hid in the little wooden house, and refused to emerge +until they brought him knickerbockers with pockets. + +You now try to go to the Round Pond, but nurses hate it, because they +are not really manly, and they make you look the other way, at the Big +Penny and the Baby's Palace. She was the most celebrated baby of the +Gardens, and lived in the palace all alone, with ever so many dolls, so +people rang the bell, and up she got out of her bed, though it was past +six o'clock, and she lighted a candle and opened the door in her +nighty, and then they all cried with great rejoicings, 'Hail, Queen of +England!' What puzzled David most was how she knew where the matches +were kept. The Big Penny is a statue about her. + +Next we come to the Hump, which is the part of the Broad Walk where all +the big races are run; and even though you had no intention of running +you do run when you come to the Hump, it is such a fascinating, +slide-down kind of place. Often you stop when you have run about +half-way down it, and then you are lost; but there is another little +wooden house near here, called the Lost House, and so you tell the man +that you are lost and then he finds you. It is glorious fun racing +down the Hump, but you can't do it on windy days because then you are +not there, but the fallen leaves do it instead of you. There is almost +nothing that has such a keen sense of fun as a fallen leaf. + +From the Hump we can see the gate that is called after Miss Mabel Grey, +the Fig I promised to tell you about. There were always two nurses +with her, or else one mother and one nurse, and for a long time she was +a pattern-child who always coughed off the table and said, 'How do you +do?' to the other Figs, and the only game she played at was flinging a +ball gracefully and letting the nurse bring it back to her. Then one +day she tired of it all and went mad-dog, and, first, to show that she +really was mad-dog, she unloosened both her boot-laces and put out her +tongue east, west, north, and south. She then flung her sash into a +puddle and danced on it till dirty water was squirted over her frock, +after which she climbed the fence and had a series of incredible +adventures, one of the least of which was that she kicked off both her +boots. At last she came to the gate that is now called after her, out +of which she ran into streets David and I have never been in though we +have heard them roaring, and still she ran on and would never again +have been heard of had not her mother jumped into a 'bus and thus +overtaken her. It all happened, I should say, long ago, and this is +not the Mabel Grey whom David knows. + +Returning up the Broad Walk we have on our right the Baby Walk, which +is so full of perambulators that you could cross from side to side +stepping on babies, but the nurses won't let you do it. From this walk +a passage called Bunting's Thumb, because it is that length, leads into +Picnic Street, where there are real kettles, and chestnut-blossom falls +into your mug as you are drinking. Quite common children picnic here +also, and the blossom falls into their mugs just the same. + +Next comes St. Govor's Well, which was full of water when Malcolm the +Bold fell into it. He was his mother's favourite, and he let her put +her arm round his neck in public because she was a widow; but he was +also partial to adventures, and liked to play with a chimney-sweep who +had killed a good many bears. The sweep's name was Sooty, and one day, +when they were playing near the well, Malcolm fell in and would have +been drowned had not Sooty dived in and rescued him; and the water had +washed Sooty clean, and he now stood revealed as Malcolm's long-lost +father. So Malcolm would not let his mother put her arm round his neck +any more. + +Between the well and the Round Pond are the cricket pitches, and +frequently the choosing of sides exhausts so much time that there is +scarcely any cricket. Everybody wants to bat first, and as soon as he +is out he bowls unless you are the better wrestler, and while you are +wrestling with him the fielders have scattered to play at something +else. The Gardens are noted for two kinds of cricket: boy cricket, +which is real cricket with a bat, and girl cricket, which is with a +racquet and the governess. Girls can't really play cricket, and when +you are watching their futile efforts you make funny sounds at them. +Nevertheless, there was a very disagreeable incident one day when some +forward girls challenged David's team, and a disturbing creature called +Angela Clare sent down so many yorkers that--However, instead of +telling you the result of that regrettable match I shall pass on +hurriedly to the Round Pond, which is the wheel that keeps all the +Gardens going. + +It is round because it is in the very middle of the Gardens, and when +you are come to it you never want to go any farther. You can't be good +all the time at the Round Pond, however much you try. You can be good +in the Broad Walk all the time, but not at the Round Pond, and the +reason is that you forget, and, when you remember, you are so wet that +you may as well be wetter. There are men who sail boats on the Round +Pond, such big boats that they bring them in barrows, and sometimes in +perambulators, and then the baby has to walk. The bow-legged children +in the Gardens are those who had to walk too soon because their father +needed the perambulator. + +You always want to have a yacht to sail on the Round Pond, and in the +end your uncle gives you one; and to carry it to the pond the first day +is splendid, also to talk about it to boys who have no uncle is +splendid, but soon you like to leave it at home. For the sweetest +craft that slips her moorings in the Round Pond is what is called a +stick-boat, because she is rather like a stick until she is in the +water and you are holding the string. Then as you walk round, pulling +her, you see little men running about her deck, and sails rise +magically and catch the breeze, and you put in on dirty nights at snug +harbours which are unknown to the lordly yachts. Night passes in a +twink, and again your rakish craft noses for the wind, whales spout, +you glide over buried cities, and have brushes with pirates, and cast +anchor on coral isles. You are a solitary boy while all this is taking +place, for two boys together cannot adventure far upon the Round Pond, +and though you may talk to yourself throughout the voyage, giving +orders and executing them with despatch, you know not, when it is time +to go home, where you have been or what swelled your sails; your +treasure-trove is all locked away in your hold, so to speak, which will +be opened, perhaps, by another little boy many years afterwards. + +But those yachts have nothing in their hold. Does any one return to +this haunt of his youth because of the yachts that used to sail it? Oh +no. It is the stick-boat that is freighted with memories. The yachts +are toys, their owner a fresh-water mariner; they can cross and recross +a pond only while the stick-boat goes to sea. You yachtsmen with your +wands, who think we are all there to gaze on you, your ships are only +accidents of this place, and were they all to be boarded and sunk by +the ducks, the real business of the Round Pond would be carried on as +usual. + +Paths from everywhere crowd like children to the pond. Some of them +are ordinary paths, which have a rail on each side, and are made by men +with their coats off, but others are vagrants, wide at one spot, and at +another so narrow that you can stand astride them. They are called +Paths that have Made Themselves, and David did wish he could see them +doing it. But, like all the most wonderful things that happen in the +Gardens, it is done, we concluded, at night after the gates are closed. +We have also decided that the paths make themselves because it is their +only chance of getting to the Round Pond. + +One of these gypsy paths comes from the place where the sheep get their +hair cut. When David shed his curls at the hair-dressers, I am told, +he said good-bye to them without a tremor, though his mother has never +been quite the same bright creature since; so he despises the sheep as +they run from their shearer, and calls out tauntingly, 'Cowardy, +cowardy custard!' But when the man grips them between his legs David +shakes a fist at him for using such big scissors. Another startling +moment is when the man turns back the grimy wool from the sheeps' +shoulders and they look suddenly like ladies in the stalls of a +theatre. The sheep are so frightened by the shearing that it makes +them quite white and thin, and as soon as they are set free they begin +to nibble the grass at once, quite anxiously, as if they feared that +they would never be worth eating. David wonders whether they know each +other, now that they are so different, and if it makes them fight with +the wrong ones. They are great fighters, and thus so unlike country +sheep that every year they give my St. Bernard dog, Porthos, a shock. +He can make a field of country sheep fly by merely announcing his +approach, but these town sheep come toward him with no promise of +gentle entertainment, and then a light from last year breaks upon +Porthos. He cannot with dignity retreat, but he stops and looks about +him as if lost in admiration of the scenery, and presently he strolls +away with a fine indifference and a glint at me from the corner of his +eye. + +[Illustration: Porthos] + +The Serpentine begins near here. It is a lovely lake, and there is a +drowned forest at the bottom of it. If you peer over the edge you can +see the trees all growing upside down, and they say that at night there +are also drowned stars in it. If so, Peter Pan sees them when he is +sailing across the lake in the Thrush's Nest. A small part only of the +Serpentine is in the Gardens, for soon it passes beneath a bridge to +far away where the island is on which all the birds are born that +become baby boys and girls. No one who is human, except Peter Pan (and +he is only half human), can land on the island, but you may write what +you want (boy or girl, dark or fair) on a piece of paper, and then +twist it into the shape of a boat and slip it into the water, and it +reaches Peter Pan's island after dark. + +We are on the way home now, though of course, it is all pretence that +we can go to so many of the places in one day. I should have had to be +carrying David long ago, and resting on every seat like old Mr. +Salford. That was what we called him, because he always talked to us +of a lovely place called Salford where he had been born. He was a +crab-apple of an old gentleman who wandered all day in the Gardens from +seat to seat trying to fall in with somebody who was acquainted with +the town of Salford, and when we had known him for a year or more we +actually did meet another aged solitary who had once spent Saturday to +Monday in Salford. He was meek and timid, and carried his address +inside his hat, and whatever part of London he was in search of he +always went to Westminster Abbey first as a starting-point. Him we +carried in triumph to our other friend, with the story of that Saturday +to Monday, and never shall I forget the gloating joy with which Mr. +Salford leapt at him. They have been cronies ever since, and I noticed +that Mr. Salford, who naturally does most of the talking, keeps tight +grip of the other old man's coat. + +[Illustration: _Old Mr. Salford was a crab-apple of an old gentleman +who wandered all day in the Gardens._] + +The two last places before you come to our gate are the Dog's Cemetery +and the chaffinches nest, but we pretend not to know what the Dog's +Cemetery is, as Porthos is always with us. The nest is very sad. It +is quite white, and the way we found it was wonderful. We were having +another look among the bushes for David's lost worsted ball, and +instead of the ball we found a lovely nest made of the worsted, and +containing four eggs, with scratches on them very like David's +handwriting, so we think they must have been the mother's love-letters +to the little ones inside. Every day we were in the Gardens we paid a +call at the nest, taking care that no cruel boy should see us, and we +dropped crumbs, and soon the bird knew us as friends, and sat in the +nest looking at us kindly with her shoulders hunched up. But one day +when we went there were only two eggs in the nest, and the next time +there were none. The saddest part of it was that the poor little +chaffinch fluttered about the bushes, looking so reproachfully at us +that we knew she thought we had done it; and though David tried to +explain to her, it was so long since he had spoken the bird language +that I fear she did not understand. He and I left the Gardens that day +with our knuckles in our eyes. + + + + +II + +PETER PAN + +If you ask your mother whether she knew about Peter Pan when she was a +little girl, she will say, 'Why, of course I did, child'; and if you +ask her whether he rode on a goat in those days, she will say, 'What a +foolish question to ask; certainly he did.' Then if you ask your +grandmother whether she knew about Peter Pan when she was a girl, she +also says, 'Why, of course I did, child,' but if you ask her whether he +rode on a goat in those days, she says she never heard of his having a +goat. Perhaps she has forgotten, just as she sometimes forgets your +name and calls you Mildred, which is your mother's name. Still, she +could hardly forget such an important thing as the goat. Therefore +there was no goat when your grandmother was a little girl. This shows +that, in telling the story of Peter Pan, to begin with the goat (as +most people do) is as silly as to put on your jacket before your vest. + +Of course, it also shows that Peter is ever so old, but he is really +always the same age, so that does not matter in the least. His age is +one week, and though he was born so long ago he has never had a +birthday, nor is there the slightest chance of his ever having one. +The reason is that he escaped from being a human when he was seven days +old; he escaped by the window and flew back to the Kensington Gardens. + +If you think he was the only baby who ever wanted to escape, it shows +how completely you have forgotten your own young days. When David +heard this story first he was quite certain that he had never tried to +escape, but I told him to think back hard, pressing his hands to his +temples, and when he had done this hard, and even harder, he distinctly +remembered a youthful desire to return to the tree-tops, and with that +memory came others, as that he had lain in bed planning to escape as +soon as his mother was asleep, and how she had once caught him half-way +up the chimney. All children could have such recollections if they +would press their hands hard to their temples, for, having been birds +before they were human, they are naturally a little wild during the +first few weeks, and very itchy at the shoulders, where their wings +used to be. So David tells me. + +I ought to mention here that the following is our way with a story: +First I tell it to him, and then he tells it to me, the understanding +being that it is quite a different story; and then I retell it with his +additions, and so we go on until no one could say whether it is more +his story or mine. In this story of Peter Pan, for instance, the bald +narrative and most of the moral reflections are mine, though not all, +for this boy can be a stern moralist; but the interesting bits about +the ways and customs of babies in the bird-stage are mostly +reminiscences of David's, recalled by pressing his hands to his temples +and thinking hard. + +Well, Peter Pan got out by the window, which had no bars. Standing on +the ledge he could see trees far away, which were doubtless the +Kensington Gardens, and the moment he saw them he entirely forgot that +he was now a little boy in a nightgown, and away he flew, right over +the houses to the Gardens. It is wonderful that he could fly without +wings, but the place itched tremendously, and--and--perhaps we could +all fly if we were as dead-confident-sure of our capacity to do it as +was bold Peter Pan that evening. + +He alighted gaily on the open sward, between the Baby's Palace and the +Serpentine, and the first thing he did was to lie on his back and kick. +He was quite unaware already that he had ever been human, and thought +he was a bird, even in appearance, just the same as in his early days, +and when he tried to catch a fly he did not understand that the reason +he missed it was because he had attempted to seize it with his hand, +which, of course, a bird never does. He saw, however, that it must be +past Lock-out Time, for there were a good many fairies about, all too +busy to notice him; they were getting breakfast ready, milking their +cows, drawing water, and so on, and the sight of the water-pails made +him thirsty, so he flew over to the Round Pond to have a drink. He +stooped and dipped his beak in the pond; he thought it was his beak, +but, of course, it was only his nose, and therefore, very little water +came up, and that not so refreshing as usual, so next he tried a +puddle, and he fell flop into it. When a real bird falls in flop, he +spreads out his feathers and pecks them dry, but Peter could not +remember what was the thing to do, and he decided rather sulkily to go +to sleep on the weeping-beech in the Baby Walk. + +At first he found some difficulty in balancing himself on a branch, but +presently he remembered the way, and fell asleep. He awoke long before +morning, shivering, and saying to himself, 'I never was out on such a +cold night'; he had really been out on colder nights when he was a +bird, but, of course, as everybody knows, what seems a warm night to a +bird is a cold night to a boy in a nightgown. Peter also felt +strangely uncomfortable, as if his head was stuffy; he heard loud +noises that made him look round sharply, though they were really +himself sneezing. There was something he wanted very much, but, though +he knew he wanted it, he could not think what it was. What he wanted +so much was his mother to blow his nose, but that never struck him, so +he decided to appeal to the fairies for enlightenment. They are +reputed to know a good deal. + +There were two of them strolling along the Baby Walk, with their arms +round each other's waists, and he hopped down to address them. The +fairies have their tiffs with the birds, but they usually give a civil +answer to a civil question, and he was quite angry when these two ran +away the moment they saw him. Another was lolling on a garden chair, +reading a postage-stamp which some human had let fall, and when he +heard Peter's voice he popped in alarm behind a tulip. + +[Illustration: _When he heard Peter's voice he popped in alarm behind a +tulip._] + +To Peter's bewilderment he discovered that every fairy he met fled from +him. A band of workmen, who were sawing down a toadstool, rushed away, +leaving their tools behind them. A milkmaid turned her pail upside +down and hid in it. Soon the Gardens were in an uproar. Crowds of +fairies were running this way and that, asking each other stoutly who +was afraid; lights were extinguished, doors barricaded, and from the +grounds of Queen Mab's palace came the rub-a-dub of drums, showing that +the royal guard had been called out. A regiment of Lancers came +charging down the Broad Walk, armed with holly-leaves, with which they +jag the enemy horribly in passing. Peter heard the little people +crying everywhere that there was a human in the Gardens after Lock-out +Time, but he never thought for a moment that he was the human. He was +feeling stuffier and stuffier, and more and more wistful to learn what +he wanted done to his nose, but he pursued them with the vital question +in vain; the timid creatures ran from him, and even the Lancers, when +he approached them up the Hump, turned swiftly into a side-walk, on the +pretence that they saw him there. + +Despairing of the fairies, he resolved to consult the birds, but now he +remembered, as an odd thing, that all the birds on the weeping-beech +had flown away when he alighted on it, and though this had not troubled +him at the time, he saw its meaning now. Every living thing was +shunning him. Poor little Peter Pan! he sat down and cried, and even +then he did not know that, for a bird, he was sitting on his wrong +part. It is a blessing that he did not know, for otherwise he would +have lost faith in his power to fly, and the moment you doubt whether +you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it. The reason birds +can fly and we can't is simply that they have perfect faith, for to +have faith is to have wings. + +Now, except by flying, no one can reach the island in the Serpentine, +for the boats of humans are forbidden to land there, and there are +stakes round it, standing up in the water, on each of which a +bird-sentinel sits by day and night. It was to the island that Peter +now flew to put his strange case before old Solomon Caw, and he +alighted on it with relief, much heartened to find himself at last at +home, as the birds call the island. All of them were asleep, including +the sentinels, except Solomon, who was wide awake on one side, and he +listened quietly to Peter's adventures, and then told him their true +meaning. + +[Illustration: _Put his strange case before old Solomon Caw._] + +'Look at your nightgown, if you don't believe me,' Solomon said; and +with staring eyes Peter looked at his nightgown, and then at the +sleeping birds. Not one of them wore anything. + +'How many of your toes are thumbs?' said Solomon a little cruelly, and +Peter saw to his consternation, that all his toes were fingers. The +shock was so great that it drove away his cold. + +'Ruffle your feathers,' said that grim old Solomon, and Peter tried +most desperately hard to ruffle his feathers, but he had none. Then he +rose up, quaking, and for the first time since he stood on the window +ledge, he remembered a lady who had been very fond of him. + +'I think I shall go back to mother,' he said timidly. + +'Good-bye,' replied Solomon Caw with a queer look. + +But Peter hesitated. 'Why don't you go?' the old one asked politely. + +'I suppose,' said Peter huskily, 'I suppose I can still fly.' + +You see he had lost faith. + +'Poor little half-and-half!' said Solomon, who was not really +hard-hearted, 'you will never be able to fly again, not even on windy +days. You must live here on the island always.' + +'And never even go to the Kensington Gardens?' Peter asked tragically. + +'How could you get across?' said Solomon. He promised very kindly, +however, to teach Peter as many of the bird ways as could be learned by +one of such an awkward shape. + +'Then I shan't be exactly a human?' Peter asked. + +'No.' + +'Nor exactly a bird?' + +'No.' + +'What shall I be?' + +'You will be a Betwixt-and-Between,' Solomon said, and certainly he was +a wise old fellow, for that is exactly how it turned out. + +The birds on the island never got used to him. His oddities tickled +them every day, as if they were quite new, though it was really the +birds that were new. They came out of the eggs daily, and laughed at +him at once; then off they soon flew to be humans, and other birds came +out of other eggs; and so it went on for ever. The crafty +mother-birds, when they tired of sitting on their eggs, used to get the +young ones to break their shells a day before the right time by +whispering to them that now was their chance to see Peter washing or +drinking or eating. Thousands gathered round him daily to watch him do +these things, just as you watch the peacocks, and they screamed with +delight when he lifted the crusts they flung him with his hands instead +of in the usual way with the mouth. All his food was brought to him +from the Gardens at Solomon's orders by the birds. He would not eat +worms or insects (which they thought very silly of him), so they +brought him bread in their beaks. Thus, when you cry out, 'Greedy! +Greedy!' to the bird that flies away with the big crust, you know now +that you ought not to do this, for he is very likely taking it to Peter +Pan. + +Peter wore no nightgown now. You see, the birds were always begging +him for bits of it to line their nests with, and, being very +good-natured, he could not refuse, so by Solomon's advice he had hidden +what was left of it. But, though he was now quite naked, you must not +think that he was cold or unhappy. He was usually very happy and gay, +and the reason was that Solomon had kept his promise and taught him +many of the bird ways. To be easily pleased, for instance, and always +to be really doing something, and to think that whatever he was doing +was a thing of vast importance. Peter became very clever at helping +the birds to build their nests; soon he could build better than a +wood-pigeon, and nearly as well as a blackbird, though never did he +satisfy the finches, and he made nice little water-troughs near the +nests and dug up worms for the young ones with his fingers. He also +became very learned in bird-lore, and knew an east wind from a west +wind by its smell, and he could see the grass growing and hear the +insects walking about inside the tree-trunks. But the best thing +Solomon had done was to teach him to have a glad heart. All birds have +glad hearts unless you rob their nests, and so as they were the only +kind of heart Solomon knew about, it was easy to him to teach Peter how +to have one. + +Peter's heart was so glad that he felt he must sing all day long, just +as the birds sing for joy, but, being partly human, he needed an +instrument, so he made a pipe of reeds, and he used to sit by the shore +of the island of an evening, practising the sough of the wind and the +ripple of the water, and catching handfuls of the shine of the moon, +and he put them all in his pipe and played them so beautifully that +even the birds were deceived, and they would say to each other, 'Was +that a fish leaping in the water or was it Peter playing leaping fish +on his pipe?' And sometimes he played the birth of birds, and then the +mothers would turn round in their nests to see whether they had laid an +egg. If you are a child of the Gardens you must know the chestnut-tree +near the bridge, which comes out in flower first of all the chestnuts, +but perhaps you have not heard why this tree leads the way. It is +because Peter wearies for summer and plays that it has come, and the +chestnut being so near, hears him and is cheated. + +But as Peter sat by the shore tootling divinely on his pipe he +sometimes fell into sad thoughts, and then the music became sad also, +and the reason of all this sadness was that he could not reach the +Gardens, though he could see them through the arch of the bridge. He +knew he could never be a real human again, and scarcely wanted to be +one, but oh! how he longed to play as other children play, and of +course there is no such lovely place to play in as the Gardens. The +birds brought him news of how boys and girls play, and wistful tears +started in Peter's eyes. + +Perhaps you wonder why he did not swim across. The reason was that he +could not swim. He wanted to know how to swim, but no one on the +island knew the way except the ducks, and they are so stupid. They +were quite willing to teach him, but all they could say about it was, +'You sit down on the top of the water in this way, and then you kick +out like that.' Peter tried it often, but always before he could kick +out he sank. What he really needed to know was how you sit on the +water without sinking, and they said it was quite impossible to explain +such an easy thing as that. Occasionally swans touched on the island, +and he would give them all his day's food and then ask them how they +sat on the water, but as soon as he had no more to give them the +hateful things hissed at him and sailed away. + +Once he really thought he had discovered a way of reaching the Gardens. +A wonderful white thing, like a runaway newspaper, floated high over +the island and then tumbled, rolling over and over after the manner of +a bird that has broken its wing. Peter was so frightened that he hid, +but the birds told him it was only a kite, and what a kite is, and that +it must have tugged its string out of a boy's hand, and soared away. +After that they laughed at Peter for being so fond of the kite; he +loved it so much that he even slept with one hand on it, and I think +this was pathetic and pretty, for the reason he loved it was because it +had belonged to a real boy. + +To the birds this was a very poor reason, but the older ones felt +grateful to him at this time because he had nursed a number of +fledglings through the German measles, and they offered to show him how +birds fly a kite. So six of them took the end of the string in their +beaks and flew away with it; and to his amazement it flew after them +and went even higher than they. + +Peter screamed out, 'Do it again!' and with great good-nature they did +it several times, and always instead of thanking them he cried, 'Do it +again!' which shows that even now he had not quite forgotten what it +was to be a boy. + +At last, with a grand design burning within his brave heart, he begged +them to do it once more with him clinging to the tail, and now a +hundred flew off with the string, and Peter clung to the tail, meaning +to drop off when he was over the Gardens. But the kite broke to pieces +in the air, and he would have been drowned in the Serpentine had he not +caught hold of two indignant swans and made them carry him to the +island. After this the birds said that they would help him no more in +his mad enterprise. + +[Illustration: _After this the birds said that they would help him no +more in his mad enterprise._] + +Nevertheless, Peter did reach the Gardens at last by the help of +Shelley's boat, as I am now to tell you. + + + + +III + +THE THRUSH'S NEST + +Shelley was a young gentleman and as grown-up as he need ever expect to +be. He was a poet; and they are never exactly grown-up. They are +people who despise money except what you need for to-day, and he had +all that and five pounds over. So, when he was walking in the +Kensington Gardens, he made a paper boat of his bank-note, and sent it +sailing on the Serpentine. + +It reached the island at night; and the look-out brought it to Solomon +Caw, who thought at first that it was the usual thing, a message from a +lady, saying she would be obliged if he could let her have a good one. +They always ask for the best one he has, and if he likes the letter he +sends one from Class A, but if it ruffles him he sends very funny ones +indeed. Sometimes he sends none at all, and at another time he sends a +nestful; it all depends on the mood you catch him in. He likes you to +leave it all to him, and if you mention particularly that you hope he +will see his way to making it _a boy this time_, he is almost sure to +send another girl. And whether you are a lady or only a little boy who +wants a baby-sister, always take pains to write your address clearly. +You can't think what a lot of babies Solomon has sent to the wrong +house. + +Shelley's boat, when opened, completely puzzled Solomon, and he took +counsel of his assistants, who having walked over it twice, first with +their toes pointed out, and then with their toes pointed in, decided +that it came from some greedy person who wanted five. They thought +this because there was a large five printed on it. 'Preposterous!' +cried Solomon in a rage, and he presented it to Peter; anything useless +which drifted upon the island was usually given to Peter as a plaything. + +But he did not play with his precious bank-note, for he knew what it +was at once, having been very observant during the week when he was an +ordinary boy. With so much money, he reflected, he could surely at +last contrive to reach the Gardens, and he considered all the possible +ways, and decided (wisely, I think) to choose the best way. But, +first, he had to tell the birds of the value of Shelley's boat; and +though they were too honest to demand it back, he saw that they were +galled, and they cast such black looks at Solomon, who was rather vain +of his cleverness, that he flew away to the end of the island, and sat +there very depressed with his head buried in his wings. Now Peter knew +that unless Solomon was on your side, you never got anything done for +you in the island, so he followed him and tried to hearten him. + +Nor was this all that Peter did to gain the powerful old fellow's +good-will. You must know that Solomon had no intention of remaining in +office all his life. He looked forward to retiring by and by, and +devoting his green old age to a life of pleasure on a certain yew-stump +in the Figs which had taken his fancy, and for years he had been +quietly filling his stocking. It was a stocking belonging to some +bathing person which had been cast upon the island, and at the time I +speak of it contained a hundred and eighty crumbs, thirty-four nuts, +sixteen crusts, a pen-wiper, and a boot-lace. When his stocking was +full, Solomon calculated that he would be able to retire on a +competency. Peter now gave him a pound. He cut it off his bank-note +with a sharp stick. + +[Illustration: _For years he had been quietly filling his stocking._] + +This made Solomon his friend for ever, and after the two had consulted +together they called a meeting of the thrushes. You will see presently +why thrushes only were invited. + +The scheme to be put before them was really Peter's, but Solomon did +most of the talking, because he soon became irritable if other people +talked. He began by saying that he had been much impressed by the +superior ingenuity shown by the thrushes in nest-building, and this put +them into good-humour at once, as it was meant to do; for all the +quarrels between birds are about the best way of building nests. Other +birds, said Solomon, omitted to line their nests with mud, and as a +result they did not hold water. Here he cocked his head as if he had +used an unanswerable argument; but, unfortunately, a Mrs. Finch had +come to the meeting uninvited, and she squeaked out, 'We don't build +nests to hold water, but to hold eggs,' and then the thrushes stopped +cheering, and Solomon was so perplexed that he took several sips of +water. + +'Consider,' he said at last, 'how warm the mud makes the nest.' + +'Consider,' cried Mrs. Finch, 'that when water gets into the nest it +remains there and your little ones are drowned.' + +The thrushes begged Solomon with a look to say something crushing in +reply to this, but again he was perplexed. + +'Try another drink,' suggested Mrs. Finch pertly. Kate was her name, +and all Kates are saucy. + +Solomon did try another drink, and it inspired him. 'If,' said he, 'a +finch's nest is placed on the Serpentine it fills and breaks to pieces, +but a thrush's nest is still as dry as the cup of a swan's back.' + +How the thrushes applauded! Now they knew why they lined their nests +with mud, and when Mrs. Finch called out, 'We don't place our nests on +the Serpentine,' they did what they should have done at first--chased +her from the meeting. After this it was most orderly. What they had +been brought together to hear, said Solomon, was this: their young +friend, Peter Pan, as they well knew, wanted very much to be able to +cross to the Gardens, and he now proposed, with their help, to build a +boat. + +At this the thrushes began to fidget, which made Peter tremble for his +scheme. + +Solomon explained hastily that what he meant was not one of the +cumbrous boats that humans use; the proposed boat was to be simply a +thrush's nest large enough to hold Peter. + +But still, to Peter's agony, the thrushes were sulky. 'We are very +busy people,' they grumbled, 'and this would be a big job.' + +'Quite so,' said Solomon, 'and, of course, Peter would not allow you to +work for nothing. You must remember that he is now in comfortable +circumstances, and he will pay you such wages as you have never been +paid before. Peter Pan authorises me to say that you shall all be paid +sixpence a day.' + +Then all the thrushes hopped for joy, and that very day was begun the +celebrated Building of the Boat. All their ordinary business fell into +arrears. It was the time of the year when they should have been +pairing, but not a thrush's nest was built except this big one, and so +Solomon soon ran short of thrushes with which to supply the demand from +the mainland. The stout, rather greedy children, who look so well in +perambulators but get puffed easily when they walk, were all young +thrushes once, and ladies often ask specially for them. What do you +think Solomon did? He sent over to the house-tops for a lot of +sparrows and ordered them to lay their eggs in old thrushes' nests, and +sent their young to the ladies and swore they were all thrushes! It +was known afterwards on the island as the Sparrow's Year; and so, when +you meet grown-up people in the Gardens who puff and blow as if they +thought themselves bigger than they are, very likely they belong to +that year. You ask them. + +Peter was a just master, and paid his workpeople every evening. They +stood in rows on the branches, waiting politely while he cut the paper +sixpences out of his bank-note, and presently he called the roll, and +then each bird, as the names were mentioned, flew down and got +sixpence. It must have been a fine sight. + +And at last, after months of labour, the boat was finished. O the +glory of Peter as he saw it growing more and more like a great thrushes +nest! From the very beginning of the building of it he slept by its +side, and often woke up to say sweet things to it, and after it was +lined with mud and the mud had dried he always slept in it. He sleeps +in his nest still, and has a fascinating way of curling round in it, +for it is just large enough to hold him comfortably when he curls round +like a kitten. It is brown inside, of course, but outside it is mostly +green, being woven of grass and twigs, and when these wither or snap +the walls are thatched afresh. There are also a few feathers here and +there, which came off the thrushes while they were building. + +The other birds were extremely jealous, and said that the boat would +not balance on the water, but it lay most beautifully steady; they said +the water would come into it, but no water came into it. Next they +said that Peter had no oars, and this caused the thrushes to look at +each other in dismay; but Peter replied that he had no need of oars, +for he had a sail, and with such a proud, happy face he produced a sail +which he had fashioned out of his nightgown, and though it was still +rather like a nightgown it made a lovely sail. And that night, the +moon being full, and all the birds asleep, he did enter his coracle (as +Master Francis Pretty would have said) and depart out of the island. +And first, he knew not why, he looked upward, with his hands clasped, +and from that moment his eyes were pinned to the west. + +He had promised the thrushes to begin by making short voyages, with +them as his guides, but far away he saw the Kensington Gardens +beckoning to him beneath the bridge, and he could not wait. His face +was flushed, but he never looked back; there was an exultation in his +little breast that drove out fear. Was Peter the least gallant of the +English mariners who have sailed westward to meet the Unknown? + +At first, his boat turned round and round, and he was driven back to +the place of his starting, whereupon he shortened sail, by removing one +of the sleeves, and was forthwith carried backwards by a contrary +breeze, to his no small peril. He now let go the sail, with the result +that he was drifted towards the far shore, where are black shadows he +knew not the dangers of, but suspected them, and so once more hoisted +his nightgown and went roomer of the shadows until he caught a +favouring wind, which bore him westward, but at so great a speed that +he was like to be broke against the bridge. Which, having avoided, he +passed under the bridge and came, to his great rejoicing, within full +sight of the delectable Gardens. But having tried to cast anchor, +which was a stone at the end of a piece of the kite-string, he found no +bottom, and was fain to hold off, seeking for moorage; and, feeling his +way, he buffeted against a sunken reef that cast him overboard by the +greatness of the shock, and he was near to being drowned, but clambered +back into the vessel. There now arose a mighty storm, accompanied by +roaring of waters, such as he had never heard the like, and he was +tossed this way and that, and his hands so numbed with the cold that he +could not close them. Having escaped the danger of which, he was +mercifully carried into a small bay, where his boat rode at peace. + +Nevertheless, he was not yet in safety; for, on pretending to +disembark, he found a multitude of small people drawn up on the shore +to contest his landing, and shouting shrilly to him to be off, for it +was long past Lock-out Time. This, with much brandishing of their +holly-leaves, and also a company of them carried an arrow which some +boy had left in the Gardens, and this they were prepared to use as a +battering-ram. + +Then Peter, who knew them for the fairies, called out that he was not +an ordinary human and had no desire to do them displeasure, but to be +their friend; nevertheless, having found a jolly harbour, he was in no +temper to draw off therefrom, and he warned them if they sought to +mischief him to stand to their harms. + +So saying, he boldly leapt ashore, and they gathered around him with +intent to slay him, but there then arose a great cry among the women, +and it was because they had now observed that his sail was a baby's +nightgown. Whereupon, they straightway loved him, and grieved that +their laps were too small, the which I cannot explain, except by saying +that such is the way of women. The men-fairies now sheathed their +weapons on observing the behaviour of their women, on whose +intelligence they set great store, and they led him civilly to their +queen, who conferred upon him the courtesy of the Gardens after +Lock-out Time, and henceforth Peter could go whither he chose, and the +fairies had orders to put him in comfort. + +Such was his first voyage to the Gardens, and you may gather from the +antiquity of the language that it took place a long time ago. But +Peter never grows any older, and if we could be watching for him under +the bridge to-night (but, of course, we can't), I dare say we should +see him hoisting his nightgown and sailing or paddling towards us in +the Thrushes Nest. When he sails, he sits down, but he stands up to +paddle. I shall tell you presently how he got his paddle. + +Long before the time for the opening of the gates comes he steals back +to the island, for people must not see him (he is not so human as all +that), but this gives him hours for play, and he plays exactly as real +children play. At least he thinks so, and it is one of the pathetic +things about him that he often plays quite wrongly. + +You see, he had no one to tell him how children really play, for the +fairies are all more or less in hiding until dusk, and so know nothing, +and though the birds pretended that they could tell him a great deal, +when the time for telling came, it was wonderful how little they really +knew. They told him the truth about hide-and-seek, and he often plays +it by himself, but even the ducks on the Round Pond could not explain +to him what it is that makes the pond so fascinating to boys. Every +night the ducks have forgotten all the events of the day, except the +number of pieces of cake thrown to them. They are gloomy creatures, +and say that cake is not what it was in their young days. + +[Illustration: _Fairies are all more or less in hiding until dusk._] + +So Peter had to find out many things for himself. He often played +ships at the Round Pond, but his ship was only a hoop which he had +found on the grass. Of course, he had never seen a hoop, and he +wondered what you play at with them, and decided that you play at +pretending they are boats. This hoop always sank at once, but he waded +in for it, and sometimes he dragged it gleefully round the rim of the +pond, and he was quite proud to think that he had discovered what boys +do with hoops. + +Another time, when he found a child's pail, he thought it was for +sitting in, and he sat so hard in it that he could scarcely get out of +it. Also he found a balloon. It was bobbing about on the Hump, quite +as if it was having a game by itself, and he caught it after an +exciting chase. But he thought it was a ball, and Jenny Wren had told +him that boys kick balls, so he kicked it; and after that he could not +find it anywhere. + +Perhaps the most surprising thing he found was a perambulator. It was +under a lime-tree, near the entrance to the Fairy Queen's Winter Palace +(which is within the circle of the seven Spanish chestnuts), and Peter +approached it warily, for the birds had never mentioned such things to +him. Lest it was alive, he addressed it politely; and then, as it gave +no answer, he went nearer and felt it cautiously. He gave it a little +push, and it ran from him, which made him think it must be alive after +all; but, as it had run from him, he was not afraid. So he stretched +out his hand to pull it to him, but this time it ran at him, and he was +so alarmed that he leapt the railing and scudded away to his boat. You +must not think, however, that he was a coward, for he came back next +night with a crust in one hand and a stick in the other, but the +perambulator had gone, and he never saw any other one. I have promised +to tell you also about his paddle. It was a child's spade which he had +found near St. Govor's Well, and he thought it was a paddle. + +Do you pity Peter Pan for making these mistakes? If so, I think it +rather silly of you. What I mean is that, of course, one must pity him +now and then, but to pity him all the time would be impertinence. He +thought he had the most splendid time in the Gardens, and to think you +have it is almost quite as good as really to have it. He played +without ceasing, while you often waste time by being mad-dog or +Mary-Annish. He could be neither of these things, for he had never +heard of them, but do you think he is to be pitied for that? + +Oh, he was merry! He was as much merrier than you, for instance, as +you are merrier than your father. Sometimes he fell, like a +spinning-top, and from sheer merriment. Have you seen a greyhound +leaping the fences of the Gardens? That is how Peter leaps them. + +And think of the music of his pipe. Gentlemen who walk home at night +write to the papers to say they heard a nightingale in the Gardens, but +it is really Peter's pipe they hear. Of course, he had no mother--at +least, what use was she to him! You can be sorry for him for that, but +don't be too sorry, for the next thing I mean to tell you is how he +revisited her. It was the fairies who gave him the chance. + + + + +IV + +LOCK-OUT TIME + +It is frightfully difficult to know much about the fairies, and almost +the only thing known for certain is that there are fairies wherever +there are children. Long ago children were forbidden the Gardens, and +at that time there was not a fairy in the place; then the children were +admitted, and the fairies came trooping in that very evening. They +can't resist following the children, but you seldom see them, partly +because they live in the daytime behind the railings, where you are not +allowed to go, and also partly because they are so cunning. They are +not a bit cunning after Lock-out, but until Lock-out, my word! + +When you were a bird you knew the fairies pretty well, and you remember +a good deal about them in your babyhood, which it is a great pity you +can't write down, for gradually you forget, and I have heard of +children who declared that they had never once seen a fairy. Very +likely if they said this in the Kensington Gardens, they were standing +looking at a fairy all the time. The reason they were cheated was that +she pretended to be something else. This is one of their best tricks. +They usually pretend to be flowers, because the court sits in the +Fairies' Basin, and there are so many flowers there, and all along the +Baby Walk, that a flower is the thing least likely to attract +attention. They dress exactly like flowers, and change with the +seasons, putting on white when lilies are in and blue for bluebells, +and so on. They like crocus and hyacinth time best of all, as they are +partial to a bit of colour, but tulips (except white ones, which are +the fairy cradles) they consider garish, and they sometimes put off +dressing like tulips for days, so that the beginning of the tulip weeks +is almost the best time to catch them. + +When they think you are not looking they skip along pretty lively, but +if you look, and they fear there is no time to hide, they stand quite +still pretending to be flowers. Then, after you have passed without +knowing that they were fairies, they rush home and tell their mothers +they have had such an adventure. The Fairy Basin, you remember, is all +covered with ground-ivy (from which they make their castor oil), with +flowers growing in it here and there. Most of them really are flowers, +but some of them are fairies. You never can be sure of them, but a +good plan is to walk by looking the other way, and then turn round +sharply. Another good plan, which David and I sometimes follow, is to +stare them down. After a long time they can't help winking, and then +you know for certain that they are fairies. + +There are also numbers of them along the Baby Walk, which is a famous +gentle place, as spots frequented by fairies are called. Once +twenty-four of them had an extraordinary adventure. They were a girls' +school out for a walk with the governess, and all wearing hyacinth +gowns, when she suddenly put her finger to her mouth, and then they all +stood still on an empty bed and pretended to be hyacinths. +Unfortunately what the governess had heard was two gardeners coming to +plant new flowers in that very bed. They were wheeling a hand-cart +with the flowers in it, and were quite surprised to find the bed +occupied. 'Pity to lift them hyacinths,' said the one man. 'Duke's +orders,' replied the other, and, having emptied the cart, they dug up +the boarding school and put the poor, terrified things in it in five +rows. Of course, neither the governess nor the girls dare let on that +they were fairies, so they were carted far away to a potting-shed, out +of which they escaped in the night without their shoes, but there was a +great row about it among the parents, and the school was ruined. + +As for their houses, it is no use looking for them, because they are +the exact opposite of our houses. You can see our houses by day but +you can't see them by dark. Well, you can see their houses by dark, +but you can't see them by day, for they are the colour of night, and I +never heard of any one yet who could see night in the daytime. This +does not mean that they are black, for night has its colours just as +day has, but ever so much brighter. Their blues and reds and greens +are like ours with a light behind them. The palace is entirely built +of many-coloured glasses, and it is quite the loveliest of all royal +residences, but the queen sometimes complains because the common people +will peep in to see what she is doing. They are very inquisitive folk, +and press quite hard against the glass, and that is why their noses are +mostly snubby. The streets are miles long and very twisty, and have +paths on each side made of bright worsted. The birds used to steal the +worsted for their nests, but a policeman has been appointed to hold on +at the other end. + +One of the great differences between the fairies and us is that they +never do anything useful. When the first baby laughed for the first +time, his laugh broke into a million pieces, and they all went skipping +about. That was the beginning of fairies. They look tremendously +busy, you know, as if they had not a moment to spare, but if you were +to ask them what they are doing, they could not tell you in the least. +They are frightfully ignorant, and everything they do is make-believe. +They have a postman, but he never calls except at Christmas with his +little box, and though they have beautiful schools, nothing is taught +in them; the youngest child being chief person is always elected +mistress, and when she has called the roll, they all go out for a walk +and never come back. It is a very noticeable thing that, in fairy +families, the youngest is always chief person, and usually becomes a +prince or princess; and children remember this, and think it must be so +among humans also; and that is why they are often made uneasy when they +come upon their mother furtively putting new frills on the basinette. + +You have probably observed that your baby-sister wants to do all sorts +of things that your mother and her nurse want her not to do--to stand +up at sitting-down time, and to sit down at stand-up time, for +instance, or to wake up when she should fall asleep, or to crawl on the +floor when she is wearing her best frock, and so on, and perhaps you +put this down to naughtiness. But it is not; it simply means that she +is doing as she has seen the fairies do; she begins by following their +ways, and it takes about two years to get her into the human ways. Her +fits of passion, which are awful to behold, and are usually called +teething, are no such thing; they are her natural exasperation, because +we don't understand her, though she is talking an intelligible +language. She is talking fairy. The reason mothers and nurses know +what her remarks mean, before other people know, as that 'Guch' means +'Give it to me at once,' while 'Wa' is 'Why do you wear such a funny +hat?' is because, mixing so much with babies, they have picked up a +little of the fairy language. + +Of late David has been thinking back hard about the fairy tongue, with +his hands clutching his temples, and he has remembered a number of +their phrases which I shall tell you some day if I don't forget. He +had heard them in the days when he was a thrush, and though I suggested +to him that perhaps it is really bird language he is remembering, he +says not, for these phrases are about fun and adventures, and the birds +talked of nothing but nest-building. He distinctly remembers that the +birds used to go from spot to spot like ladies at shop windows, looking +at the different nests and saying, 'Not my colour, my dear,' and 'How +would that do with a soft lining?' and 'But will it wear?' and 'What +hideous trimming!' and so on. + +The fairies are exquisite dancers, and that is why one of the first +things the baby does is to sign to you to dance to him and then to cry +when you do it. They hold their great balls in the open air, in what +is called a fairy ring. For weeks afterwards you can see the ring on +the grass. It is not there when they begin, but they make it by +waltzing round and round. Sometimes you will find mushrooms inside the +ring, and these are fairy chairs that the servants have forgotten to +clear away. The chairs and the rings are the only tell-tale marks +these little people leave behind them, and they would remove even these +were they not so fond of dancing that they toe it till the very moment +of the opening of the gates. David and I once found a fairy ring quite +warm. + +But there is also a way of finding out about the ball before it takes +place. You know the boards which tell at what time the Gardens are to +close to-day. Well, these tricky fairies sometimes slyly change the +board on a ball night, so that it says the Gardens are to close at +six-thirty, for instance, instead of at seven. This enables them to +get begun half an hour earlier. + +[Illustration: _These tricky fairies sometimes change the board on a +ball night._] + +If on such a night we could remain behind in the Gardens, as the famous +Maimie Mannering did, we might see delicious sights; hundreds of lovely +fairies hastening to the ball, the married ones wearing their wedding +rings round their waists; the gentlemen, all in uniform, holding up the +ladies' trains, and linkmen running in front carrying winter cherries, +which are the fairy-lanterns; the cloakroom where they put on their +silver slippers and get a ticket for their wraps; the flowers streaming +up from the Baby Walk to look on, and always welcome because they can +lend a pin; the supper-table, with Queen Mab at the head of it, and +behind her chair the Lord Chamberlain, who carries a dandelion on which +he blows when her Majesty wants to know the time. + +[Illustration: _When her Majesty wants to know the time._] + +The table-cloth varies according to the seasons, and in May it is made +of chestnut blossom. The way the fairy servants do is this: The men, +scores of them, climb up the trees and shake the branches, and the +blossom falls like snow. Then the lady servants sweep it together by +whisking their skirts until it is exactly like a tablecloth, and that +is how they get their tablecloth. + +They have real glasses and real wine of three kinds, namely, blackthorn +wine, berberris wine, and cowslip wine, and the Queen pours out, but +the bottles are so heavy that she just pretends to pour out. There is +bread-and-butter to begin with, of the size of a threepenny bit; and +cakes to end with, and they are so small that they have no crumbs. The +fairies sit round on mushrooms, and at first they are well-behaved and +always cough off the table, and so on, but after a bit they are not so +well-behaved and stick their fingers into the butter, which is got from +the roots of old trees, and the really horrid ones crawl over the +tablecloth chasing sugar or other delicacies with their tongues. When +the Queen sees them doing this she signs to the servants to wash up and +put away, and then everybody adjourns to the dance, the Queen walking +in front while the Lord Chamberlain walks behind her, carrying two +little pots, one of which contains the juice of wallflower and the +other the juice of Solomon's seals. Wallflower juice is good for +reviving dancers who fall to the ground in a fit, and Solomon's seals +juice is for bruises. They bruise very easily, and when Peter plays +faster and faster they foot it till they fall down in fits. For, as +you know without my telling you, Peter Pan is the fairies' orchestra. +He sits in the middle of the ring, and they would never dream of having +a smart dance nowadays without him. 'P. P.' is written on the corner +of the invitation-cards sent out by all really good families. They are +grateful little people, too, and at the princesses coming-of-age ball +(they come of age on their second birthday and have a birthday every +month) they gave him the wish of his heart. + +[Illustration: _Peter Pan is the fairies' orchestra._] + +The way it was done was this. The Queen ordered him to kneel, and then +said that for playing so beautifully she would give him the wish of his +heart. Then they all gathered round Peter to hear what was the wish of +his heart, but for a long time he hesitated, not being certain what it +was himself. + +'If I chose to go back to mother,' he asked at last, 'could you give me +that wish?' + +Now this question vexed them, for were he to return to his mother they +should lose his music, so the Queen tilted her nose contemptuously and +said, 'Pooh! ask for a much bigger wish than that.' + +'Is that quite a little wish?' he inquired. + +'As little as this,' the Queen answered, putting her hands near each +other. + +'What size is a big wish?' he asked. + +She measured it off on her skirt and it was a very handsome length. + +Then Peter reflected and said, 'Well, then, I think I shall have two +little wishes instead of one big one.' + +Of course, the fairies had to agree, though his cleverness rather +shocked them, and he said that his first wish was to go to his mother, +but with the right to return to the Gardens if he found her +disappointing. His second wish he would hold in reserve. + +They tried to dissuade him, and even put obstacles in the way. + +'I can give you the power to fly to her house,' the Queen said, 'but I +can't open the door for you.' + +'The window I flew out at will be open,' Peter said confidently. +'Mother always keeps it open in the hope that I may fly back.' + +'How do you know?' they asked, quite surprised, and, really, Peter +could not explain how he knew. + +'I just do know,' he said. + +So as he persisted in his wish, they had to grant it. The way they +gave him power to fly was this: They all tickled him on the shoulder, +and soon he felt a funny itching in that part, and then up he rose +higher and higher, and flew away out of the Gardens and over the +housetops. + +It was so delicious that instead of flying straight to his own home he +skimmed away over St. Paul's to the Crystal Palace and back by the +river and Regent's Park, and by the time he reached his mother's window +he had quite made up his mind that his second wish should be to become +a bird. + +The window was wide open, just as he knew it would be, and in he +fluttered, and there was his mother lying asleep. Peter alighted +softly on the wooden rail at the foot of the bed and had a good look at +her. She lay with her head on her hand, and the hollow in the pillow +was like a nest lined with her brown wavy hair. He remembered, though +he had long forgotten it, that she always gave her hair a holiday at +night. How sweet the frills of her nightgown were! He was very glad +she was such a pretty mother. + +But she looked sad, and he knew why she looked sad. One of her arms +moved as if it wanted to go round something, and he knew what it wanted +to go round. + +'O mother!' said Peter to himself, 'if you just knew who is sitting on +the rail at the foot of the bed.' + +Very gently he patted the little mound that her feet made, and he could +see by her face that she liked it. He knew he had but to say 'Mother' +ever so softly, and she would wake up. They always wake up at once if +it is you that says their name. Then she would give such a joyous cry +and squeeze him tight. How nice that would be to him, but oh! how +exquisitely delicious it would be to her. That, I am afraid, is how +Peter regarded it. In returning to his mother he never doubted that he +was giving her the greatest treat a woman can have. Nothing can be +more splendid, he thought, than to have a little boy of your own. How +proud of him they are! and very right and proper, too. + +But why does Peter sit so long on the rail; why does he not tell his +mother that he has come back? + +I quite shrink from the truth, which is that he sat there in two minds. +Sometimes he looked longingly at his mother, and sometimes he looked +longingly at the window. Certainly it would be pleasant to be her boy +again, but on the other hand, what times those had been in the Gardens! +Was he so sure that he should enjoy wearing clothes again? He popped +off the bed and opened some drawers to have a look at his old garments. +They were still there, but he could not remember how you put them on. +The socks, for instance, were they worn on the hands or on the feet? +He was about to try one of them on his hand, when he had a great +adventure. Perhaps the drawer had creaked; at any rate, his mother +woke up, for he heard her say 'Peter,' as if it was the most lovely +word in the language. He remained sitting on the floor and held his +breath, wondering how she knew that he had come back. If she said +'Peter' again, he meant to cry 'Mother' and run to her. But she spoke +no more, she made little moans only, and when he next peeped at her she +was once more asleep, with tears on her face. + +It made Peter very miserable, and what do you think was the first thing +he did? Sitting on the rail at the foot of the bed, he played a +beautiful lullaby to his mother on his pipe. He had made it up himself +out of the way she said 'Peter,' and he never stopped playing until she +looked happy. + +He thought this so clever of him that he could scarcely resist wakening +her to hear her say, 'O Peter, how exquisitely you play!' However, as +she now seemed comfortable, he again cast looks at the window. You +must not think that he meditated flying away and never coming back. He +had quite decided to be his mother's boy, but hesitated about beginning +to-night. It was the second wish which troubled him. He no longer +meant to make it a wish to be a bird, but not to ask for a second wish +seemed wasteful, and, of course, he could not ask for it without +returning to the fairies. Also, if he put off asking for his wish too +long it might go bad. He asked himself if he had not been hard-hearted +to fly away without saying good-bye to Solomon. 'I should like awfully +to sail in my boat just once more,' he said wistfully to his sleeping +mother. He quite argued with her as if she could hear him. 'It would +be so splendid to tell the birds of this adventure,' he said coaxingly. +'I promise to come back,' he said solemnly, and meant it, too. + +And in the end, you know, he flew away. Twice he came back from the +window, wanting to kiss his mother, but he feared the delight of it +might waken her, so at last he played her a lovely kiss on his pipe, +and then he flew back to the Gardens. + +Many nights, and even months, passed before he asked the fairies for +his second wish; and I am not sure that I quite know why he delayed so +long. One reason was that he had so many good-byes to say, not only to +his particular friends, but to a hundred favourite spots. Then he had +his last sail, and his very last sail, and his last sail of all, and so +on. Again, a number of farewell feasts were given in his honour; and +another comfortable reason was that, after all, there was no hurry, for +his mother would never weary of waiting for him. This last reason +displeased old Solomon, for it was an encouragement to the birds to +procrastinate. Solomon had several excellent mottoes for keeping them +at their work, such as 'Never put off laying to-day because you can lay +to-morrow,' and 'In this world there are no second chances,' and yet +here was Peter gaily putting off and none the worse for it. The birds +pointed this out to each other, and fell into lazy habits. + +But, mind you, though Peter was so slow in going back to his mother, he +was quite decided to go back. The best proof of this was his caution +with the fairies. They were most anxious that he should remain in the +Gardens to play to them, and to bring this to pass they tried to trick +him into making such a remark as 'I wish the grass was not so wet,' and +some of them danced out of time in the hope that he might cry, 'I do +wish you would keep time!' Then they would have said that this was his +second wish. But he smoked their design, and though on occasions he +began, 'I wish----' he always stopped in time. So when at last he said +to them bravely, 'I wish now to go back to mother for ever and always,' +they had to tickle his shoulders and let him go. + +He went in a hurry in the end, because he had dreamt that his mother +was crying, and he knew what was the great thing she cried for, and +that a hug from her splendid Peter would quickly make her to smile. +Oh! he felt sure of it, and so eager was he to be nestling in her arms +that this time he flew straight to the window, which was always to be +open for him. + +But the window was closed, and there were iron bars on it, and peering +inside he saw his mother sleeping peacefully with her arm around +another little boy. + +Peter called, 'Mother! mother!' but she heard him not; in vain he beat +his little limbs against the iron bars. He had to fly back, sobbing, +to the Gardens, and he never saw his dear again. What a glorious boy +he had meant to be to her! Ah, Peter! we who have made the great +mistake, how differently we should all act at the second chance. But +Solomon was right--there is no second chance, not for most of us. When +we reach the window it is Lock-out Time. The iron bars are up for life. + + + + +V + +THE LITTLE HOUSE + +Everybody has heard of the Little House in the Kensington Gardens, +which is the only house in the whole world that the fairies have built +for humans. But no one has really seen it, except just three or four, +and they have not only seen it but slept in it, and unless you sleep in +it you never see it. This is because it is not there when you lie +down, but it is there when you wake up and step outside. + +In a kind of way every one may see it, but what you see is not really +it, but only the light in the windows. You see the light after +Lock-out Time. David, for instance, saw it quite distinctly far away +among the trees as we were going home from the pantomime, and Oliver +Bailey saw it the night he stayed so late at the Temple, which is the +name of his father's office. Angela Clare, who loves to have a tooth +extracted because then she is treated to tea in a shop, saw more than +one light, she saw hundreds of them all together; and this must have +been the fairies building the house, for they build it every night, and +always in a different part of the Gardens. She thought one of the +lights was bigger than the others, though she was not quite sure, for +they jumped about so, and it might have been another one that was +bigger. But if it was the same one, it was Peter Pan's light. Heaps +of children have seen the light, so that is nothing. But Maimie +Mannering was the famous one for whom the house was first built. + +Maimie was always rather a strange girl, and it was at night that she +was strange. She was four years of age, and in the daytime she was the +ordinary kind. She was pleased when her brother Tony, who was a +magnificent fellow of six, took notice of her, and she looked up to him +in the right way, and tried in vain to imitate him, and was flattered +rather than annoyed when he shoved her about. Also, when she was +batting, she would pause though the ball was in the air to point out to +you that she was wearing new shoes. She was quite the ordinary kind in +the daytime. + +But as the shades of night fell, Tony, the swaggerer, lost his contempt +for Maimie and eyed her fearfully; and no wonder, for with dark there +came into her face a look that I can describe only as a leary look. It +was also a serene look that contrasted grandly with Tony's uneasy +glances. Then he would make her presents of his favourite toys (which +he always took away from her next morning), and she accepted them with +a disturbing smile. The reason he was now become so wheedling and she +so mysterious was (in brief) that they knew they were about to be sent +to bed. It was then that Maimie was terrible. Tony entreated her not +to do it to-night, and the mother and their coloured nurse threatened +her, but Maimie merely smiled her agitating smile. And by and by when +they were alone with their night-light she would start up in bed crying +'Hsh! what was that?' Tony beseeches her, 'It was nothing--don't, +Maimie, don't' and pulls the sheet over his head. 'It is coming +nearer!' she cries. 'Oh, look at it, Tony! It is feeling your bed +with its horns--it is boring for you, O Tony, oh!' and she desists not +until he rushes downstairs in his combinations, screeching. When they +came up to whip Maimie they usually found her sleeping tranquilly--not +shamming, you know, but really sleeping, and looking like the sweetest +little angel, which seems to me to make it almost worse. + +But of course it was daytime when they were in the Gardens, and then +Tony did most of the talking. You could gather from his talk that he +was a very brave boy, and no one was so proud of it as Maimie. She +would have loved to have a ticket on her saying that she was his +sister. And at no time did she admire him more than when he told her, +as he often did with splendid firmness, that one day he meant to remain +behind in the Gardens after the gates were closed. + +'O Tony,' she would say with awful respect, 'but the fairies will be so +angry!' + +'I dare say,' replied Tony carelessly. + +'Perhaps,' she said, thrilling, 'Peter Pan will give you a sail in his +boat!' + +'I shall make him,' replied Tony; no wonder she was proud of him. + +But they should not have talked so loudly, for one day they were +overheard by a fairy who had been gathering skeleton leaves, from which +the little people weave their summer curtains, and after that Tony was +a marked boy. They loosened the rails before he sat on them, so that +down he came on the back of his head; they tripped him up by catching +his bootlace, and bribed the ducks to sink his boat. Nearly all the +nasty accidents you meet with in the Gardens occur because the fairies +have taken an ill-will to you, and so it behoves you to be careful what +you say about them. + +Maimie was one of the kind who like to fix a day for doing things, but +Tony was not that kind, and when she asked him which day he was to +remain behind in the Gardens after Lock-out he merely replied, 'Just +some day'; he was quite vague about which day except when she asked, +'Will it be to-day?' and then he could always say for certain that it +would not be to-day. So she saw that he was waiting for a real good +chance. + +This brings us to an afternoon when the Gardens were white with snow, +and there was ice on the Round Pond; not thick enough to skate on, but +at least you could spoil it for to-morrow by flinging stones, and many +bright little boys and girls were doing that. + +When Tony and his sister arrived they wanted to go straight to the +pond, but their ayah said they must take a sharp walk first, and as she +said this she glanced at the time-board to see when the Gardens closed +that night. It read half-past five. Poor ayah! she is the one who +laughs continuously because there are so many white children in the +world, but she was not to laugh much more that day. + +Well, they went up the Baby Walk and back, and when they returned to +the time-board she was surprised to see that it now read five o'clock +for closing-time. But she was unacquainted with the tricky ways of the +fairies, and so did not see (as Maimie and Tony saw at once) that they +had changed the hour because there was to be a ball to-night. She said +there was only time now to walk to the top of the Hump and back, and as +they trotted along with her she little guessed what was thrilling their +little breasts. You see the chance had come of seeing a fairy ball. +Never, Tony felt, could he hope for a better chance. + +He had to feel this for Maimie so plainly felt it for him. Her eager +eyes asked the question, 'Is it to-day?' and he gasped and then nodded. +Maimie slipped her hand into Tony's, and hers was hot, but his was +cold. She did a very kind thing; she took off her scarf and gave it to +him. 'In case you should feel cold,' she whispered. Her face was +aglow, but Tony's was very gloomy. + +As they turned on the top of the Hump he whispered to her, 'I'm afraid +nurse would see me, so I shan't be able to do it.' + +Maimie admired him more than ever for being afraid of nothing but their +ayah, when there were so many unknown terrors to fear, and she said +aloud, 'Tony, I shall race you to the gate,' and in a whisper, 'Then +you can hide,' and off they ran. + +Tony could always outdistance her easily, but never had she known him +speed away so quickly as now, and she was sure he hurried that he might +have more time to hide. 'Brave, brave!' her doting eyes were crying +when she got a dreadful shock; instead of hiding, her hero had run out +at the gate! At this bitter sight Maimie stopped blankly, as if all +her lapful of darling treasures were suddenly spilled, and then for +very disdain she could not sob; in a swell of protest against all +puling cowards she ran to St. Govor's Well and hid in Tony's stead. + +When the ayah reached the gate and saw Tony far in front she thought +her other charge was with him and passed out. Twilight crept over the +Gardens, and hundreds of people passed out, including the last one, who +always has to run for it, but Maimie saw them not. She had shut her +eyes tight and glued them with passionate tears. When she opened them +something very cold ran up her legs and up her arms and dropped into +her heart. It was the stillness of the Gardens. Then she heard +_clang_, then from another part _clang_, then _clang, clang_ far away. +It was the Closing of the Gates. + +Immediately the last clang had died away Maimie distinctly heard a +voice say, 'So that's all right.' It had a wooden sound and seemed to +come from above, and she looked up in time to see an elm-tree +stretching out its arms and yawning. + +She was about to say, 'I never knew you could speak!' when a metallic +voice that seemed to come from the ladle at the well remarked to the +elm, 'I suppose it is a bit coldish up there?' and the elm replied, +'Not particularly, but you do get numb standing so long on one leg,' +and he flapped his arms vigorously just as the cab-men do before they +drive off. Maimie was quite surprised to see that a number of other +tall trees were doing the same sort of thing, and she stole away to the +Baby Walk and crouched observantly under a Minorca holly which shrugged +its shoulders but did not seem to mind her. + +She was not in the least cold. She was wearing a russet-coloured +pelisse and had the hood over her head, so that nothing of her showed +except her dear little face and her curls. The rest of her real self +was hidden far away inside so many warm garments that in shape she +seemed rather like a ball. She was about forty round the waist. + +There was a good deal going on in the Baby Walk, where Maimie arrived +in time to see a magnolia and a Persian lilac step over the railing and +set off for a smart walk. They moved in a jerky sort of way certainly, +but that was because they used crutches. An elderberry hobbled across +the walk, and stood chatting with some young quinces, and they all had +crutches. The crutches were the sticks that are tied to young trees +and shrubs. They were quite familiar objects to Maimie, but she had +never known what they were for until to-night. + +She peeped up the walk and saw her first fairy. He was a street boy +fairy who was running up the walk closing the weeping trees. The way +he did it was this: he pressed a spring in the trunks and they shut +like umbrellas, deluging the little plants beneath with snow. 'O you +naughty, naughty child!' Maimie cried indignantly, for she knew what it +was to have a dripping umbrella about your ears. + +Fortunately the mischievous fellow was out of earshot, but a +chrysanthemum heard her, and said so pointedly, 'Hoity-toity, what is +this?' that she had to come out and show herself. Then the whole +vegetable kingdom was rather puzzled what to do. + +[Illustration: _A chrysanthemum heard her, and said pointedly, +"Hoity-toity, what is this?"_] + +'Of course it is no affair of ours,' a spindle-tree said after they had +whispered together, 'but you know quite well you ought not to be here, +and perhaps our duty is to report you to the fairies; what do you think +yourself?' + +'I think you should not,' Maimie replied, which so perplexed them that +they said petulantly there was no arguing with her. 'I wouldn't ask it +of you,' she assured them, 'if I thought it was wrong,' and of course +after this they could not well carry tales. They then said, +'Well-a-day,' and 'Such is life,' for they can be frightfully +sarcastic; but she felt sorry for those of them who had no crutches, +and she said good-naturedly, 'Before I go to the fairies' ball, I +should like to take you for a walk one at a time; you can lean on me, +you know.' + +At this they clapped their hands, and she escorted them up the Baby +Walk and back again, one at a time, putting an arm or a finger round +the very frail, setting their leg right when it got too ridiculous, and +treating the foreign ones quite as courteously as the English, though +she could not understand a word they said. + +They behaved well on the whole, though some whimpered that she had not +taken them as far as she took Nancy or Grace or Dorothy, and others +jagged her, but it was quite unintentional, and she was too much of a +lady to cry out. So much walking tired her, and she was anxious to be +off to the ball, but she no longer felt afraid. The reason she felt no +more fear was that it was now night-time, and in the dark, you +remember, Maimie was always rather strange. + +They were now loth to let her go, for, 'If the fairies see you,' they +warned her, 'they will mischief you--stab you to death, or compel you +to nurse their children, or turn you into something tedious, like an +evergreen oak.' As they said this they looked with affected pity at an +evergreen oak, for in winter they are very envious of the evergreens. + +'Oh, la!' replied the oak bitingly, 'how deliciously cosy it is to +stand here buttoned to the neck and watch you poor naked creatures +shivering.' + +This made them sulky, though they had really brought it on themselves, +and they drew for Maimie a very gloomy picture of the perils that would +face her if she insisted on going to the ball. + +She learned from a purple filbert that the court was not in its usual +good temper at present, the cause being the tantalising heart of the +Duke of Christmas Daisies. He was an Oriental fairy, very poorly of a +dreadful complaint, namely, inability to love, and though he had tried +many ladies in many lands he could not fall in love with one of them. +Queen Mab, who rules in the Gardens, had been confident that her girls +would bewitch him, but alas! his heart, the doctor said, remained cold. +This rather irritating doctor, who was his private physician, felt the +Duke's heart immediately after any lady was presented, and then always +shook his bald head and murmured, 'Cold, quite cold.' Naturally Queen +Mab felt disgraced, and first she tried the effect of ordering the +court into tears for nine minutes, and then she blamed the Cupids and +decreed that they should wear fools' caps until they thawed the Duke's +frozen heart. + +[Illustration: _Shook his bald head and murmured, "Cold, quite cold."_] + +'How I should love to see the Cupids in their dear little fools' caps!' +Maimie cried, and away she ran to look for them very recklessly, for +the Cupids hate to be laughed at. + +It is always easy to discover where a fairies' ball is being held, as +ribbons are stretched between it and all the populous parts of the +Gardens, on which those invited may walk to the dance without wetting +their pumps. This night the ribbons were red, and looked very pretty +on the snow. + +Maimie walked alongside one of them for some distance without meeting +anybody, but at last she saw a fairy cavalcade approaching. To her +surprise they seemed to be returning from the ball, and she had just +time to hide from them by bending her knees and holding out her arms +and pretending to be a garden chair. There were six horsemen in front +and six behind; in the middle walked a prim lady wearing a long train +held up by two pages, and on the train, as if it were a couch, reclined +a lovely girl, for in this way do aristocratic fairies travel about. +She was dressed in golden rain, but the most enviable part of her was +her neck, which was blue in colour and of a velvet texture, and of +course showed off her diamond necklace as no white throat could have +glorified it. The high-born fairies obtain this admired effect by +pricking their skin, which lets the blue blood come through and dye +them, and you cannot imagine anything so dazzling unless you have seen +the ladies' busts in the jewellers' windows. + +Maimie also noticed that the whole cavalcade seemed to be in a passion, +tilting their noses higher than it can be safe for even fairies to tilt +them, and she concluded that this must be another case in which the +doctor had said 'Cold, quite cold.' + +Well, she followed the ribbon to a place where it became a bridge over +a dry puddle into which another fairy had fallen and been unable to +climb out. At first this little damsel was afraid of Maimie, who most +kindly went to her aid, but soon she sat in her hand chatting gaily and +explaining that her name was Brownie, and that though only a poor +street singer she was on her way to the ball to see if the Duke would +have her. + +'Of course,' she said, 'I am rather plain,' and this made Maimie +uncomfortable, for indeed the simple little creature was almost quite +plain for a fairy. + +It was difficult to know what to reply. + +'I see you think I have no chance,' Brownie said falteringly. + +'I don't say that,' Maimie answered politely; 'of course your face is +just a tiny bit homely, but----' Really it was quite awkward for her. + +Fortunately she remembered about her father and the bazaar. He had +gone to a fashionable bazaar where all the most beautiful ladies in +London were on view for half a crown the second day, but on his return +home, instead of being dissatisfied with Maimie's mother, he had said, +'You can't think, my dear, what a relief it is to see a homely face +again.' + +Maimie repeated this story, and it fortified Brownie tremendously, +indeed she had no longer the slightest doubt that the Duke would choose +her. So she scudded away up the ribbon, calling out to Maimie not to +follow lest the Queen should mischief her. + +But Maimie's curiosity tugged her forward, and presently at the seven +Spanish chestnuts she saw a wonderful light. She crept forward until +she was quite near it, and then she peeped from behind a tree. + +The light, which was as high as your head above the ground, was +composed of myriads of glow-worms all holding on to each other, and so +forming a dazzling canopy over the fairy ring. There were thousands of +little people looking on, but they were in shadow and drab in colour +compared to the glorious creatures within that luminous circle, who +were so bewilderingly bright that Maimie had to wink hard all the time +she looked at them. + +It was amazing and even irritating to her that the Duke of Christmas +Daisies should be able to keep out of love for a moment: yet out of +love his dusky grace still was: you could see it by the shamed looks of +the Queen and court (though they pretended not to care), by the way +darling ladies brought forward for his approval burst into tears as +they were told to pass on, and by his own most dreary face. + +Maimie could also see the pompous doctor feeling the Duke's heart and +hear him give utterance to his parrot cry, and she was particularly +sorry for the Cupids, who stood in their fools' caps in obscure places +and, every time they heard that 'Cold, quite cold,' bowed their +disgraced little heads. + +She was disappointed not to see Peter Pan, and I may as well tell you +now why he was so late that night. It was because his boat had got +wedged on the Serpentine between fields of floating ice, through which +he had to break a perilous passage with his trusty paddle. + +The fairies had as yet scarcely missed him, for they could not dance, +so heavy were their hearts. They forget all the steps when they are +sad, and remember them again when they are merry. David tells me that +fairies never say, 'We feel happy': what they say is, 'We feel +_dancey_.' + +[Illustration: _Fairies never say, "We feel happy"; what they say is, +"We feel_ dancey_."_] + +Well, they were looking very undancey indeed, when sudden laughter +broke out among the onlookers, caused by Brownie, who had just arrived +and was insisting on her right to be presented to the Duke. + +[Illustration: _Looking very undancey indeed._] + +Maimie craned forward eagerly to see how her friend fared, though she +had really no hope; no one seemed to have the least hope except Brownie +herself, who, however, was absolutely confident. She was led before +his grace, and the doctor putting a finger carelessly on the ducal +heart, which for convenience' sake was reached by a little trap-door in +his diamond shirt, had begun to say mechanically, 'Cold, qui--,' when +he stopped abruptly. + +'What's this,' he cried, and first he shook the heart like a watch, and +then he put his ear to it. + +'Bless my soul!' cried the doctor, and by this time of course the +excitement among the spectators was tremendous, fairies fainting right +and left. + +Everybody stared breathlessly at the Duke, who was very much startled, +and looked as if he would like to run away. 'Good gracious me!' the +doctor was heard muttering, and now the heart was evidently on fire, +for he had to jerk his fingers away from it and put them in his mouth. + +The suspense was awful. + +Then in a loud voice, and bowing low, 'My Lord Duke,' said the +physician elatedly, 'I have the honour to inform your excellency that +your grace is in love.' + +You can't conceive the effect of it. Brownie held out her arms to the +Duke and he flung himself into them, the Queen leapt into the arms of +the Lord Chamberlain, and the ladies of the court leapt into the arms +of her gentlemen, for it is etiquette to follow her example in +everything. Thus in a single moment about fifty marriages took place, +for if you leap into each other's arms it is a fairy wedding. Of +course a clergyman has to be present. + +How the crowd cheered and leapt! Trumpets brayed, the moon came out, +and immediately a thousand couples seized hold of its rays as if they +were ribbons in a May dance and waltzed in wild abandon round the fairy +ring. Most gladsome sight of all, the Cupids plucked the hated fools' +caps from their heads and cast them high in the air. And then Maimie +went and spoiled everything. + +She could n't help it. She was crazy with delight over her little +friend's good fortune, so she took several steps forward and cried in +an ecstasy, 'O Brownie, how splendid!' + +Everybody stood still, the music ceased, the lights went out, and all +in the time you may take to say, 'Oh dear!' An awful sense of her +peril came upon Maimie; too late she remembered that she was a lost +child in a place where no human must be between the locking and the +opening of the gates; she heard the murmur of an angry multitude; she +saw a thousand swords flashing for her blood, and she uttered a cry of +terror and fled. + +How she ran! and all the time her eyes were starting out of her head. +Many times she lay down, and then quickly jumped up and ran on again. +Her little mind was so entangled in terrors that she no longer knew she +was in the Gardens. The one thing she was sure of was that she must +never cease to run, and she thought she was still running long after +she had dropped in the Figs and gone to sleep. She thought the +snowflakes falling on her face were her mother kissing her good-night. +She thought her coverlet of snow was a warm blanket, and tried to pull +it over her head. And when she heard talking through her dreams she +thought it was mother bringing father to the nursery door to look at +her as she slept. But it was the fairies. + +I am very glad to be able to say that they no longer desired to +mischief her. When she rushed away they had rent the air with such +cries as 'Slay her!' 'Turn her into something extremely unpleasant!' +and so on, but the pursuit was delayed while they discussed who should +march in front, and this gave Duchess Brownie time to cast herself +before the Queen and demand a boon. + +Every bride has a right to a boon, and what she asked for was Maimie's +life. 'Anything except that,' replied Queen Mab sternly, and all the +fairies echoed, 'Anything except that.' But when they learned how +Maimie had befriended Brownie and so enabled her to attend the ball to +their great glory and renown, they gave three huzzas for the little +human, and set off, like an army, to thank her, the court advancing in +front and the canopy keeping step with it. They traced Maimie easily +by her footprints in the snow. + +But though they found her deep in snow in the Figs, it seemed +impossible to thank Maimie, for they could not waken her. They went +through the form of thanking her--that is to say, the new King stood on +her body and read her a long address of welcome, but she heard not a +word of it. They also cleared the snow off her, but soon she was +covered again, and they saw she was in danger of perishing of cold. + +'Turn her into something that does not mind the cold,' seemed a good +suggestion of the doctors, but the only thing they could think of that +does not mind cold was a snowflake. 'And it might melt,' the Queen +pointed out, so that idea had to be given up. + +A magnificent attempt was made to carry her to a sheltered spot, but +though there were so many of them she was too heavy. By this time all +the ladies were crying in their handkerchiefs, but presently the Cupids +had a lovely idea. 'Build a house round her,' they cried, and at once +everybody perceived that this was the thing to do; in a moment a +hundred fairy sawyers were among the branches, architects were running +round Maimie, measuring her; a bricklayer's yard sprang up at her feet, +seventy-five masons rushed up with the foundation-stone, and the Queen +laid it, overseers were appointed to keep the boys off, scaffoldings +were run up, the whole place rang with hammers and chisels and +turning-lathes, and by this time the roof was on and the glaziers were +putting in the windows. + +[Illustration: _Building the house for Maimie._] + +The house was exactly the size of Maimie, and perfectly lovely. One of +her arms was extended, and this had bothered them for a second, but +they built a verandah round it leading to the front door. The windows +were the size of a coloured picture-book and the door rather smaller, +but it would be easy for her to get out by taking off the roof. The +fairies, as is their custom, clapped their hands with delight over +their cleverness, and they were so madly in love with the little house +that they could not bear to think they had finished it. So they gave +it ever so many little extra touches, and even then they added more +extra touches. + +For instance, two of them ran up a ladder and put on a chimney. + +'Now we fear it is quite finished,' they sighed. + +But no, for another two ran up the ladder, and tied some smoke to the +chimney. + +'That certainly finishes it,' they said reluctantly. + +'Not at all,' cried a glow-worm; 'if she were to wake without seeing a +night-light she might be frightened, so I shall be her night-light.' + +'Wait one moment,' said a china merchant, 'and I shall make you a +saucer.' + +Now, alas! it was absolutely finished. + +Oh, dear no! + +'Gracious me!' cried a brass manufacturer, 'there's no handle on the +door,' and he put one on. + +An ironmonger added a scraper, and an old lady ran up with a door-mat. +Carpenters arrived with a water-butt, and the painters insisted on +painting it. + +Finished at last! + +'Finished! How can it be finished,' the plumber demanded scornfully, +'before hot and cold are put in,' and he put in hot and cold. Then an +army of gardeners arrived with fairy carts and spades and seeds and +bulbs and forcing-houses, and soon they had a flower-garden to the +right of the verandah, and a vegetable garden to the left, and roses +and clematis on the walls of the house, and in less time than five +minutes all these dear things were in full bloom. + +Oh, how beautiful the little house was now! But it was at last +finished true as true, and they had to leave it and return to the +dance. They all kissed their hands to it as they went away, and the +last to go was Brownie. She stayed a moment behind the others to drop +a pleasant dream down the chimney. + +All through the night the exquisite little house stood there in the +Figs taking care of Maimie, and she never knew. She slept until the +dream was quite finished, and woke feeling deliciously cosy just as +morning was breaking from its egg, and then she almost fell asleep +again, and then she called out, 'Tony,' for she thought she was at home +in the nursery. As Tony made no answer she sat up, whereupon her head +hit the roof, and it opened like the lid of a box, and to her +bewilderment she saw all around her the Kensington Gardens lying deep +in snow. As she was not in the nursery she wondered whether this was +really herself, so she pinched her cheeks, and then she knew it was +herself, and this reminded her that she was in the middle of a great +adventure. She remembered now everything that had happened to her from +the closing of the gates up to her running away from the fairies, but +however, she asked herself, had she got into this funny place? She +stepped out by the roof, right over the garden, and then she saw the +dear house in which she had passed the night. It so entranced her that +she could think of nothing else. + +'O you darling! O you sweet! O you love!' she cried. + +Perhaps a human voice frightened the little house, or maybe it now knew +that its work was done, for no sooner had Maimie spoken than it began +to grow smaller; it shrank so slowly that she could scarce believe it +was shrinking, yet she soon knew that it could not contain her now. It +always remained as complete as ever, but it became smaller and smaller, +and the garden dwindled at the same time, and the snow crept closer, +lapping house and garden up. Now the house was the size of a little +dog's kennel, and now of a Noah's Ark, but still you could see the +smoke and the door-handle and the roses on the wall, every one +complete. The glow-worm light was waning too, but it was still there. +'Darling, loveliest, don't go!' Maimie cried, falling on her knees, for +the little house was now the size of a reel of thread, but still quite +complete. But as she stretched out her arms imploringly the snow crept +up on all sides until it met itself, and where the little house had +been was now one unbroken expanse of snow. + +Maimie stamped her foot naughtily, and was putting her fingers to her +eyes, when she heard a kind voice say, 'Don't cry, pretty human, don't +cry,' and then she turned round and saw a beautiful little naked boy +regarding her wistfully. She knew at once that he must be Peter Pan. + + + + +VI + +PETER'S GOAT + +Maimie felt quite shy, but Peter knew not what shy was. + +'I hope you have had a good night,' he said earnestly. + +'Thank you,' she replied, 'I was so cosy and warm. But you'--and she +looked at his nakedness awkwardly--'don't you feel the least bit cold?' + +Now cold was another word Peter had forgotten, so he answered, 'I think +not, but I may be wrong: you see I am rather ignorant. I am not +exactly a boy; Solomon says I am a Betwixt-and-Between.' + +'So that is what it is called,' said Maimie thoughtfully. + +'That's not my name,' he explained, 'my name is Peter Pan.' + +'Yes, of course,' she said, 'I know, everybody knows.' + +You can't think how pleased Peter was to learn that all the people +outside the gates knew about him. He begged Maimie to tell him what +they knew and what they said, and she did so. They were sitting by +this time on a fallen tree; Peter had cleared off the snow for Maimie, +but he sat on a snowy bit himself. + +'Squeeze closer,' Maimie said. + +'What is that?' he asked, and she showed him, and then he did it. They +talked together and he found that people knew a great deal about him, +but not everything, not that he had gone back to his mother and been +barred out, for instance, and he said nothing of this to Maimie, for it +still humiliated him. + +'Do they know that I play games exactly like real boys?' he asked very +proudly. 'O Maimie, please tell them!' But when he revealed how he +played, by sailing his hoop on the Round Pond, and so on, she was +simply horrified. + +'All your ways of playing,' she said with her big eyes on him, 'are +quite, quite wrong, and not in the least like how boys play.' + +Poor Peter uttered a little moan at this, and he cried for the first +time for I know not how long. Maimie was extremely sorry for him, and +lent him her handkerchief, but he didn't know in the least what to do +with it, so she showed him, that is to say, she wiped her eyes, and +then gave it back to him, saying, 'Now you do it,' but instead of +wiping his own eyes he wiped hers, and she thought it best to pretend +that this was what she had meant. + +She said out of pity for him, 'I shall give you a kiss if you like,' +but though he once knew, he had long forgotten what kisses are, and he +replied, 'Thank you,' and held out his hand, thinking she had offered +to put something into it. This was a great shock to her, but she felt +she could not explain without shaming him, so with charming delicacy +she gave Peter a thimble which happened to be in her pocket, and +pretended that it was a kiss. Poor little boy! he quite believed her, +and to this day he wears it on his finger, though there can be scarcely +any one who needs a thimble so little. You see, though still a tiny +child, it was really years and years since he had seen his mother, and +I dare say the baby who had supplanted him was now a man with whiskers. + +But you must not think that Peter Pan was a boy to pity rather than to +admire; if Maimie began by thinking this, she soon found she was very +much mistaken. Her eyes glistened with admiration when he told her of +his adventures, especially of how he went to and fro between the island +and the Gardens in the Thrush's Nest: + +'How romantic!' Maimie exclaimed, but this was another unknown word, +and he hung his head thinking she was despising him. + +'I suppose Tony would not have done that?' he said very humbly. + +'Never, never!' she answered with conviction, 'he would have been +afraid.' + +'What is afraid?' asked Peter longingly. He thought it must be some +splendid thing. 'I do wish you would teach me how to be afraid, +Maimie,' he said. + +'I believe no one could teach that to you,' she answered adoringly, but +Peter thought she meant that he was stupid. She had told him about +Tony and of the wicked thing she did in the dark to frighten him (she +knew quite well that it was wicked), but Peter misunderstood her +meaning and said, 'Oh, how I wish I was as brave as Tony!' + +It quite irritated her. 'You are twenty thousand times braver than +Tony,' she said; 'you are ever so much the bravest boy I ever knew.' + +He could scarcely believe she meant it, but when he did believe he +screamed with joy. + +'And if you want very much to give me a kiss,' Maimie said, 'you can do +it.' + +Very reluctantly Peter began to take the thimble off his finger. He +thought she wanted it back. + +'I don't mean a kiss,' she said hurriedly, 'I mean a thimble.' + +'What's that?' Peter asked. + +'It's like this,' she said, and kissed him. + +'I should love to give you a thimble,' Peter said gravely, so he gave +her one. He gave her quite a number of thimbles, and then a delightful +idea came into his head. 'Maimie,' he said, 'will you marry me?' + +Now, strange to tell, the same idea had come at exactly the same time +into Maimie's head. 'I should like to,' she answered, 'but will there +be room in your boat for two?' + +'If you squeeze close,' he said eagerly. + +'Perhaps the birds would be angry?' + +He assured her that the birds would love to have her, though I am not +so certain of it myself. Also that there were very few birds in +winter. 'Of course they might want your clothes,' he had to admit +rather falteringly. + +She was somewhat indignant at this. + +'They are always thinking of their nests,' he said apologetically, 'and +there are some bits of you'--he stroked the fur on her pelisse--'that +would excite them very much.' + +'They shan't have my fur,' she said sharply. + +'No,' he said, still fondling it, however, 'no. O Maimie,' he said +rapturously, 'do you know why I love you? It is because you are like a +beautiful nest.' + +Somehow this made her uneasy. 'I think you are speaking more like a +bird than a boy now,' she said, holding back, and indeed he was even +looking rather like a bird. 'After all,' she said, 'you are only a +Betwixt-and-Between.' But it hurt him so much that she immediately +added, 'It must be a delicious thing to be.' + +'Come and be one, then, dear Maimie,' he implored her, and they set off +for the boat, for it was now very near Open-Gate time. 'And you are +not a bit like a nest,' he whispered to please her. + +'But I think it is rather nice to be like one,' she said in a woman's +contradictory way. 'And, Peter, dear, though I can't give them my fur, +I wouldn't mind their building in it. Fancy a nest in my neck with +little spotty eggs in it! O Peter, how perfectly lovely!' + +But as they drew near the Serpentine, she shivered a little, and said, +'Of course I shall go and see mother often, quite often. It is not as +if I was saying good-bye for ever to mother, it is not in the least +like that.' + +'Oh no,' answered Peter, but in his heart he knew it was very like +that, and he would have told her so had he not been in a quaking fear +of losing her. He was so fond of her, he felt he could not live +without her. 'She will forget her mother in time, and be happy with +me,' he kept saying to himself, and he hurried her on, giving her +thimbles by the way. + +But even when she had seen the boat and exclaimed ecstatically over its +loveliness, she still talked tremblingly about her mother. 'You know +quite well, Peter, don't you,' she said, 'that I wouldn't come unless I +knew for certain I could go back to mother whenever I want to? Peter, +say it.' + +He said it, but he could no longer look her in the face. + +'If you are sure your mother will always want you,' he added rather +sourly. + +'The idea of mother's not always wanting me!' Maimie cried, and her +face glistened. + +'If she doesn't bar you out,' said Peter huskily. + +'The door,' replied Maimie, 'will always, always be open, and mother +will always be waiting at it for me.' + +'Then,' said Peter, not without grimness, 'step in, if you feel so sure +of her,' and he helped Maimie into the Thrush's Nest. + +'But why don't you look at me?' she asked, taking him by the arm. + +Peter tried hard not to look, he tried to push off, then he gave a +great gulp and jumped ashore and sat down miserably in the snow. + +She went to him. 'What is it, dear, dear Peter?' she said, wondering. + +'O Maimie,' he cried, 'it isn't fair to take you with me if you think +you can go back! Your mother'--he gulped again--'you don't know them +as well as I do.' + +And then he told her the woeful story of how he had been barred out, +and she gasped all the time. 'But my mother,' she said, '_my_ +mother----' + +'Yes, she would,' said Peter, 'they are all the same. I dare say she +is looking for another one already.' + +Maimie said aghast, 'I can't believe it. You see, when you went away +your mother had none, but my mother has Tony, and surely they are +satisfied when they have one.' + +Peter replied bitterly, 'You should see the letters Solomon gets from +ladies who have six.' + +Just then they heard a grating creak, followed by _creak, creak_, all +round the Gardens. It was the Opening of the Gates, and Peter jumped +nervously into his boat. He knew Maimie would not come with him now, +and he was trying bravely not to cry. But Maimie was sobbing painfully. + +'If I should be too late,' she said in agony, 'O Peter, if she has got +another one already!' + +Again he sprang ashore as if she had called him back. 'I shall come +and look for you to-night,' he said, squeezing close, 'but if you hurry +away I think you will be in time.' + +Then he pressed a last thimble on her sweet little mouth, and covered +his face with his hands so that he might not see her go. + +'Dear Peter!' she cried. + +'Dear Maimie!' cried the tragic boy. + +She leapt into his arms, so that it was a sort of fairy wedding, and +then she hurried away. Oh, how she hastened to the gates! Peter, you +may be sure, was back in the Gardens that night as soon as Lock-out +sounded, but he found no Maimie, and so he knew she had been in time. +For long he hoped that some night she would come back to him; often he +thought he saw her waiting for him by the shore of the Serpentine as +his bark drew to land, but Maimie never went back. She wanted to, but +she was afraid that if she saw her dear Betwixt-and-Between again she +would linger with him too long, and besides the ayah now kept a sharp +eye on her. But she often talked lovingly of Peter, and she knitted a +kettle-holder for him, and one day when she was wondering what Easter +present he would like, her mother made a suggestion. + +'Nothing,' she said thoughtfully, 'would be so useful to him as a goat.' + +'He could ride on it,' cried Maimie, 'and play on his pipe at the same +time.' + +'Then,' her mother asked, 'won't you give him your goat, the one you +frighten Tony with at night?' + +'But it isn't a real goat,' Maimie said. + +'It seems very real to Tony,' replied her mother. + +'It seems frightfully real to me too,' Maimie admitted, 'but how could +I give it to Peter?' + +Her mother knew a way, and next day, accompanied by Tony (who was +really quite a nice boy, though of course he could not compare), they +went to the Gardens, and Maimie stood alone within a fairy ring, and +then her mother, who was a rather gifted lady, said-- + + _'My daughter, tell me, if you can, + What have you got for Peter Pan?'_ + +To which Maimie replied-- + + _'I have a goat for him to ride, + Observe me cast it far and wide.'_ + +She then flung her arms about as if she were sowing seed, and turned +round three times. + +Next Tony said-- + + _'If P. doth find it waiting here, + Wilt ne'er again make me to fear?'_ + +And Maimie answered-- + + _'By dark or light I fondly swear + Never to see goats anywhere.'_ + + +She also left a letter to Peter in a likely place, explaining what she +had done, and begging him to ask the fairies to turn the goat into one +convenient for riding on. Well, it all happened just as she hoped, for +Peter found the letter, and of course nothing could be easier for the +fairies than to turn the goat into a real one, and so that is how Peter +got the goat on which he now rides round the Gardens every night +playing sublimely on his pipe. And Maimie kept her promise, and never +frightened Tony with a goat again, though I have heard that she created +another animal. Until she was quite a big girl she continued to leave +presents for Peter in the Gardens (with letters explaining how humans +play with them), and she is not the only one who has done this. David +does it, for instance, and he and I know the likeliest place for +leaving them in, and we shall tell you if you like, but for mercy's +sake don't ask us before Porthos, for he is so fond of toys that, were +he to find out the place, he would take every one of them. + +Though Peter still remembers Maimie he is become as gay as ever, and +often in sheer happiness he jumps off his goat and lies kicking merrily +on the grass. Oh, he has a joyful time! But he has still a vague +memory that he was a human once, and it makes him especially kind to +the house-swallows when they visit the island, for house-swallows are +the spirits of little children who have died. They always build in the +eaves of the houses where they lived when they were humans, and +sometimes they try to fly in at a nursery window, and perhaps that is +why Peter loves them best of all the birds. + +And the little house? Every lawful night (that is to say, every night +except ball nights) the fairies now build the little house lest there +should be a human child lost in the Gardens, and Peter rides the +marches looking for lost ones, and if he finds them he carries them on +his goat to the little house, and when they wake up they are in it, and +when they step out they see it. The fairies build the house merely +because it is so pretty, but Peter rides round in memory of Maimie, and +because he still loves to do just as he believes real boys would do. + +But you must not think that, because somewhere among the trees the +little house is twinkling, it is a safe thing to remain in the Gardens +after Lock-out time. If the bad ones among the fairies happen to be +out that night they will certainly mischief you, and even though they +are not, you may perish of cold and dark before Peter Pan comes round. +He has been too late several times, and when he sees he is too late he +runs back to the Thrush's Nest for his paddle, of which Maimie had told +him the true use, and he digs a grave for the child and erects a little +tombstone, and carves the poor thing's initials on it. He does this at +once because he thinks it is what real boys would do, and you must have +noticed the little stones, and that there are always two together. He +puts them in twos because they seem less lonely. I think that quite +the most touching sight in the Gardens is the two tombstones of Walter +Stephen Matthews and Phoebe Phelps. They stand together at the spot +where the parish of Westminster St. Mary's is said to meet the Parish +of Paddington. Here Peter found the two babes, who had fallen +unnoticed from their perambulators, Phoebe aged thirteen months and +Walter probably still younger, for Peter seems to have felt a delicacy +about putting any age on his stone. They lie side by side, and the +simple inscriptions read + + +---------+ +---------+ + | W. | | 13a | + | St. M. | and | P. P. | + | | | 1841. | + +---------+ +---------+ + + +David sometimes places white flowers on these two innocent graves. + +But how strange for parents, when they hurry into the Gardens at the +opening of the gates looking for their lost one, to find the sweetest +little tombstone instead. I do hope that Peter is not too ready with +his spade. It is all rather sad. + + + +[Illustration: Rear cover art] + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, by J. M. 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