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author: www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> 2026-03-07 08:55:39 -0800
committer: www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> 2026-03-07 08:55:39 -0800
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+      Peter Pan | Project Gutenberg
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+</head>
+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78131 ***</div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="right">
+THE UNIFORM EDITION OF<br>
+THE PLAYS OF J. M. BARRIE<br>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<h1>
+PETER PAN
+</h1>
+
+
+<p class="ph3">OR</p>
+
+<p class="ph3">THE BOY WHO WOULD NOT
+GROW UP</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_WORKS_OF_J_M_BARRIE">
+    <i>THE WORKS OF J. M. BARRIE.</i>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="r5">
+<p class="ph4"><i>NOVELS, STORIES, PLAYS, AND
+SKETCHES.</i></p>
+
+<p class="ph4"><i>Uniform Edition.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+  AULD LICHT IDYLLS, BETTER DEAD.<br>
+  WHEN A MAN’S SINGLE.<br>
+  A WINDOW IN THRUMS, AN EDINBURGH ELEVEN.<br>
+  THE LITTLE MINISTER.<br>
+  SENTIMENTAL TOMMY.<br>
+  MY LADY NICOTINE, MARGARET OGILVY.<br>
+  TOMMY AND GRIZEL.<br>
+  THE LITTLE WHITE BIRD.<br>
+  PETER AND WENDY.<br>
+  <br>
+  <i>Also</i><br>
+  <br>
+  HALF HOURS, DER TAG.<br>
+  ECHOES OF THE WAR.
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="ph4"><i>PLAYS.</i></p>
+
+<p class="ph4"><i>Uniform Edition.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+  PETER PAN.<br>
+  MARY ROSE.<br>
+  DEAR BRUTUS.<br>
+  A KISS FOR CINDERELLA.<br>
+  ALICE SIT-BY-THE-FIRE.<br>
+  WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS.<br>
+  QUALITY STREET.<br>
+  THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON.<br>
+  ECHOES OF THE WAR.
+</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><i>Containing</i>: The Old Lady Shows Her Medals—The
+New Word—Barbara’s Wedding—A
+Well-Remembered Voice.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>
+  HALF HOURS.
+</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><i>Containing</i>: Pantaloon—The Twelve-Pound
+Look—Rosalind—The Will.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+
+<p class="ph4"><i>Others in Preparation.</i></p>
+
+<p class="ph4"><i>INDIVIDUAL EDITIONS.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+  COURAGE.<br>
+  PETER PAN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS.<br>
+  <span class="indent">Illustrated by <span class="smcap">Arthur Rackham</span>.</span><br>
+  PETER AND WENDY.<br>
+   <span class="indent">Illustrated by <span class="smcap">F. D. Bedford</span>.</span><br>
+  PETER PAN AND WENDY.<br>
+   <span class="indent">Illustrated by <span class="smcap">Miss Attwell</span>.</span><br>
+  TOMMY AND GRIZEL.<br>
+   <span class="indent">Illustrated by <span class="smcap">Bernard Partridge</span>.</span><br>
+  MARGARET OGILVY.
+</p>
+
+<p>⁂ For particulars concerning <i>The Thistle
+Edition</i> of the Works of J. M. Barrie, sold only
+by subscription, send for circular.</p>
+
+
+<p class="ph4">NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="ph3">THE PLAYS OF
+J. M. BARRIE</p>
+
+
+<p class="ph2">PETER PAN</p>
+
+<p class="ph4">OR</p>
+
+<p class="ph3">THE BOY WHO WOULD NOT
+GROW UP</p>
+
+
+<p class="ph3">CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS<br>
+NEW YORK : : : : : : : : 1928</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="ph4"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1928, by</span>
+J. M. BARRIE</p>
+
+<p class="ph4">Printed in the United States of America</p>
+
+<p class="ph4"><i>All rights reserved under the International Copyright Act.<br>
+Performance forbidden and right of representation reserved.<br>
+Application for the right of performing this play must be<br>
+made to Charles Frohman, Inc., Empire Theatre, New York.</i></p>
+
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp67" id="i_004" style="width: 9.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_004.jpg" alt="">
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p class="center">
+<a href="#THE_WORKS_OF_J_M_BARRIE"><i>THE WORKS OF J. M. BARRIE.</i></a><br>
+<a href="#TO_THE_FIVE">TO THE FIVE A DEDICATION</a><br>
+<a href="#ACT_I_1">ACT I THE NURSERY</a><br>
+<a href="#ACT_II_1">ACT II THE NEVER LAND</a><br>
+<a href="#ACT_III_1">ACT III THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON</a><br>
+<a href="#ACT_IV_1">ACT IV THE HOME UNDER THE GROUND</a><br>
+<a href="#ACT_V_1">ACT V</a><br>
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="TO_THE_FIVE">
+    TO THE FIVE
+    <br>
+    A DEDICATION
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Some disquieting confessions must be made in
+printing at last the play of <i>Peter Pan</i>; among
+them this, that I have no recollection of having
+written it. Of that, however, anon. What I
+want to do first is to give Peter to the Five
+without whom he never would have existed. I
+hope, my dear sirs, that in memory of what
+we have been to each other you will accept this
+dedication with your friend’s love. The play of
+Peter is streaky with you still, though none may
+see this save ourselves. A score of Acts had to
+be left out, and you were in them all. We first
+brought Peter down, didn’t we, with a blunt-headed
+arrow in Kensington Gardens? I seem
+to remember that we believed we had killed him,
+though he was only winded, and that after a
+spasm of exultation in our prowess the more
+soft-hearted among us wept and all of us thought
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</span>of the police. There was not one of you who
+would not have sworn as an eye-witness to
+this occurence; no doubt I was abetting, but
+you used to provide corroboration that was
+never given to you by me. As for myself, I
+suppose I always knew that I made Peter by
+rubbing the five of you violently together, as
+savages with two sticks produce a flame. That
+is all he is, the spark I got from you.</p>
+
+<p>We had good sport of him before we clipped
+him small to make him fit the boards. Some of
+you were not born when the story began and yet
+were hefty figures before we saw that the game
+was up. Do you remember a garden at Burpham
+and the initiation there of No. 4 when he was six
+weeks old, and three of you grudged letting him
+in so young? Have you, No. 3, forgotten the
+white violets at the Cistercian abbey in which
+we cassocked our first fairies (all little friends of
+St. Benedict), or your cry to the Gods, ‘Do I just
+kill one pirate all the time?’ Do you remember
+Marooners’ Hut in the haunted groves of
+Waverley, and the St. Bernard dog in a tiger’s
+mask who so frequently attacked you, and the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</span>literary record of that summer, <i>The Boy Castaways</i>,
+which is so much the best and the rarest
+of this author’s works? What was it that made
+us eventually give to the public in the thin form
+of a play that which had been woven for ourselves
+alone? Alas, I know what it was, I was
+losing my grip. One by one as you swung
+monkey-wise from branch to branch in the wood
+of make-believe you reached the tree of knowledge.
+Sometimes you swung back into the
+wood, as the unthinking may at a cross-road take
+a familiar path that no longer leads to home;
+or you perched ostentatiously on its boughs to
+please me, pretending that you still belonged;
+soon you knew it only as the vanished wood, for
+it vanishes if one needs to look for it. A time
+came when I saw that No. 1, the most gallant of
+you all, ceased to believe that he was ploughing
+woods incarnadine, and with an apologetic eye
+for me derided the lingering faith of No. 2;
+when even No. 3 questioned gloomily whether he
+did not really spend his nights in bed. There
+were still two who knew no better, but their day
+was dawning. In these circumstances, I suppose,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</span>was begun the writing of the play of Peter.
+That was a quarter of a century ago, and I
+clutch my brows in vain to remember whether it
+was a last desperate throw to retain the five of
+you for a little longer, or merely a cold decision
+to turn you into bread and butter.</p>
+
+<p>This brings us back to my uncomfortable
+admission that I have no recollection of writing
+the play of <i>Peter Pan</i>, now being published for
+the first time so long after he made his bow upon
+the stage. You had played it until you tired of
+it, and tossed it in the air and gored it and left it
+derelict in the mud and went on your way singing
+other songs; and then I stole back and
+sewed some of the gory fragments together with
+a pen-nib. That is what must have happened,
+but I cannot remember doing it. I remember
+writing the story of <i>Peter and Wendy</i> many years
+after the production of the play, but I might
+have cribbed that from some typed copy. I can
+haul back to mind the writing of almost every
+other essay of mine, however forgotten by the
+pretty public; but this play of Peter, no. Even
+my beginning as an amateur playwright, that
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</span>noble mouthful, <i>Bandelero the Bandit</i>, I remember
+every detail of its composition in my
+school days at Dumfries. Not less vivid is my
+first little piece, produced by Mr. Toole. It was
+called <i>Ibsen’s Ghost</i>, and was a parody of the
+mightiest craftsman that ever wrote for our
+kind friends in front. To save the management
+the cost of typing I wrote out the ‘parts,’
+after being told what parts were, and I can
+still recall my first words, spoken so plaintively
+by a now famous actress,—‘To
+run away from my second husband just as I ran away
+from my first, it feels quite like old times.’
+On the first night a man in the pit found
+<i>Ibsen’s Ghost</i> so diverting that he had to
+be removed in hysterics. After that no one
+seems to have thought of it at all. But what
+a man to carry about with one! How odd,
+too, that these trifles should adhere to the
+mind that cannot remember the long job of
+writing Peter. It does seem almost suspicious,
+especially as I have not the original MS. of
+<i>Peter Pan</i> (except a few stray pages), with which
+to support my claim. I have indeed another
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</span>MS., lately made, but that ‘proves nothing.’
+I know not whether I lost that original MS. or
+destroyed it or happily gave it away. I talk of
+dedicating the play to you, but how can I prove
+it is mine? How ought I to act if some other
+hand, who could also have made a copy, thinks
+it worth while to contest the cold rights? Cold
+they are to me now as that laughter of yours
+in which Peter came into being long before
+he was caught and written down. There is
+Peter still, but to me he lies sunk in the gay
+Black Lake.</p>
+
+<p>Any one of you five brothers has a better claim
+to the authorship than most, and I would not
+fight you for it, but you should have launched
+your case long ago in the days when you most
+admired me, which were in the first year of the
+play, owing to a rumour’s reaching you that my
+spoils were one-and-sixpence a night. This was
+untrue, but it did give me a standing among you.
+You watched for my next play with peeled eyes,
+not for entertainment but lest it contained some
+chance witticism of yours that could be challenged
+as collaboration; indeed I believe there
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</span>still exists a legal document, full of the Aforesaid
+and Henceforward to be called Part-Author, in
+which for some such snatching I was tied down
+to pay No. 2 one halfpenny daily throughout
+the run of the piece.</p>
+
+<p>During the rehearsals of Peter (and it is
+evidence in my favour that I was admitted to
+them) a depressed man in overalls, carrying a
+mug of tea or a paint-pot, used often to appear
+by my side in the shadowy stalls and say to me,
+‘The gallery boys won’t stand it.’ He then
+mysteriously faded away as if he were the theatre
+ghost. This hopelessness of his is what all
+dramatists are said to feel at such times, so
+perhaps he was the author. Again, a large
+number of children whom I have seen playing
+Peter in their homes with careless mastership,
+constantly putting in better words, could have
+thrown it off with ease. It was for such as they
+that after the first production I had to add something
+to the play at the request of parents (who
+thus showed that they thought me the responsible
+person) about no one being able to
+fly until the fairy dust had been blown on
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</span>him; so many children having gone home and
+tried it from their beds and needed surgical
+attention.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding other possibilities, I think
+I wrote Peter, and if so it must have been in the
+usual inky way. Some of it, I like to think, was
+done in that native place which is the dearest
+spot on earth to me, though my last heart-beats
+shall be with my beloved solitary London that
+was so hard to reach. I must have sat at a
+table with that great dog waiting for me to stop,
+not complaining, for he knew it was thus we
+made our living, but giving me a look when he
+found he was to be in the play, with his sex
+changed. In after years when the actor who
+was Nana had to go to the wars he first taught
+his wife how to take his place as the dog till he
+came back, and I am glad that I see nothing
+funny in this; it seems to me to belong to the
+play. I offer this obtuseness on my part as my
+first proof that I am the author.</p>
+
+<p>Some say that we are different people at different
+periods of our lives, changing not through
+effort of will, which is a brave affair, but in the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</span>easy course of nature every ten years or so. I
+suppose this theory might explain my present
+trouble, but I don’t hold with it; I think one
+remains the same person throughout, merely
+passing, as it were, in these lapses of time from
+one room to another, but all in the same house.
+If we unlock the rooms of the far past we can
+peer in and see ourselves, busily occupied in
+beginning to become you and me. Thus, if I
+am the author in question the way he is to go
+should already be showing in the occupant of my
+first compartment, at whom I now take the
+liberty to peep. Here he is at the age of seven
+or so with his fellow-conspirator Robb, both
+in glengarry bonnets. They are giving an
+entertainment in a tiny old washing-house that
+still stands. The charge for admission is preens,
+a bool, or a peerie (I taught you a good deal
+of Scotch, so possibly you can follow that), and
+apparently the culminating Act consists in our
+trying to put each other into the boiler, though
+some say that I also addressed the spell-bound
+audience. This washing-house is not only the
+theatre of my first play, but has a still closer
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</span>connection with Peter. It is the original of the
+little house the Lost Boys built in the Never
+Land for Wendy, the chief difference being that
+it never wore John’s hat as a chimney. If
+Robb had owned such a hat I have no doubt
+that it would have been placed on the washing-house.</p>
+
+<p>Here is that boy again some four years older,
+and the reading he is munching feverishly is
+about desert islands; he calls them wrecked
+islands. He buys his sanguinary tales surreptitiously
+in penny numbers. I see a change
+coming over him; he is blanching as he reads in
+the high-class magazine, <i>Chatterbox</i>, a fulmination
+against such literature, and sees that unless
+his greed for islands is quenched he is for ever
+lost. With gloaming he steals out of the house,
+his library bulging beneath his palpitating waistcoat.
+I follow like his shadow, as indeed I am,
+and watch him dig a hole in a field at Pathhead
+farm and bury his islands in it; it was ages ago,
+but I could walk straight to that hole in the field
+now and delve for the remains. I peep into the
+next compartment. There he is again, ten
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</span>years older, an undergraduate now and craving
+to be a real explorer, one of those who do things
+instead of prating of them, but otherwise unaltered;
+he might be painted at twenty on top
+of a mast, in his hand a spy-glass through which
+he rakes the horizon for an elusive strand. I
+go from room to room, and he is now a man,
+real exploration abandoned (though only because
+no one would have him). Soon he is even concocting
+other plays, and quaking a little lest
+some low person counts how many islands there
+are in them. I note that with the years the
+islands grow more sinister, but it is only because
+he has now to write with the left hand, the right
+having given out; evidently one thinks more
+darkly down the left arm. Go to the keyhole
+of the compartment where he and I join up, and
+you may see us wondering whether they would
+stand one more island. This journey through
+the house may not convince any one that I wrote
+Peter, but it does suggest me as a likely person.
+I pause to ask myself whether I read <i>Chatterbox</i>
+again, suffered the old agony, and buried that
+MS. of the play in a hole in a field.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</span></p>
+
+<p>Of course this is over-charged. Perhaps we
+do change; except a little something in us
+which is no larger than a mote in the eye, and
+that, like it, dances in front of us beguiling us
+all our days. I cannot cut the hair by which
+it hangs.</p>
+
+<p>The strongest evidence that I am the
+author is to be found, I think, in a now
+melancholy volume, the aforementioned <i>The
+Boy Castaways</i>; so you must excuse me for
+parading that work here. Officer of the Court,
+call <i>The Boy Castaways</i>. The witness steps
+forward and proves to be a book you remember
+well though you have not glanced at it
+these many years. I pulled it out of a bookcase
+just now not without difficulty, for its recent
+occupation has been to support the shelf above.
+I suppose, though I am uncertain, that it was I
+and not you who hammered it into that place of
+utility. It is a little battered and bent after
+the manner of those who shoulder burdens, and
+ought (to our shame) to remind us of the witnesses
+who sometimes get an hour off from the
+cells to give evidence before his Lordship. I
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</span>have said that it is the rarest of my printed
+works, as it must be, for the only edition was
+limited to two copies, of which one (there was
+always some devilry in any matter connected
+with Peter) instantly lost itself in railway
+carriage. This is the survivor. The idlers in
+court may have assumed that it is a handwritten
+screed, and are impressed by its bulk. It is
+printed by Constable’s (how handsomely you
+did us, dear Blaikie), it contains thirty-five
+illustrations and is bound in cloth with a picture
+stamped on the cover of the three eldest of
+you ‘setting out to be wrecked.’ This record is
+supposed to be edited by the youngest of the
+three, and I must have granted him that
+honour to make up for his being so often lifted
+bodily out of our adventures by his nurse, who
+kept breaking into them for the fell purpose of
+giving him a midday rest. No. 4 rested so
+much at this period that he was merely an
+honorary member of the band, waving his foot
+to you for luck when you set off with bow and
+arrow to shoot his dinner for him; and one
+may rummage the book in vain for any trace
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</span>of No. 5. Here is the title-page, except that you
+are numbered instead of named—</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">THE BOY<br>
+CASTAWAYS<br>
+OF BLACK LAKE ISLAND</p>
+
+<p class="center">Being a record of the Terrible<br>
+Adventures of Three Brothers<br>
+in the summer of 1901<br>
+faithfully set forth<br>
+by No. 3.</p>
+
+<p class="center">LONDON<br>
+Published by J. M. Barrie<br>
+in the Gloucester Road<br>
+1901</p>
+
+
+<p>There is a long preface by No. 3 in which we
+gather your ages at this first flight. ‘No. 1 was
+eight and a month, No. 2 was approaching his
+seventh lustrum, and I was a good bit past four.’
+Of his two elders, while commending their fearless
+dispositions, the editor complains that they
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</span>wanted to do all the shooting and carried the
+whole equipment of arrows inside their shirts.
+He is attractively modest about himself, ‘Of
+No. 3 I prefer to say nothing, hoping that the
+tale as it is unwound will show that he was a boy
+of deeds rather than of words,’ a quality which
+he hints did not unduly protrude upon the brows
+of Nos. 1 and 2. His preface ends on a high
+note, ‘I should say that the work was in the
+first instance compiled as a record simply at
+which we could whet our memories, and that it
+is now published for No. 4’s benefit. If it
+teaches him by example lessons in fortitude and
+manly endurance we shall consider that we were
+not wrecked in vain.’</p>
+
+<p>Published to whet your memories. Does
+it whet them? Do you hear once more, like
+some long-forgotten whistle beneath your
+window (Robb at dawn calling me to the fishing!)
+the not quite mortal blows that still echo
+in some of the chapter headings?—‘Chapter II,
+No. 1 teaches Wilkinson (his master) a Stern
+Lesson—We Run away to Sea. Chapter III, A
+Fearful Hurricane—Wreck of the “Anna Pink”—We
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</span>go crazy from Want of Food—Proposal to
+eat No. 3—Land Ahoy.’ Such are two chapters
+out of sixteen. Are these again your javelins
+cutting tunes in the blue haze of the pines; do
+you sweat as you scale the dreadful Valley
+of Rolling Stones, and cleanse your hands
+of pirate blood by scouring them carelessly in
+Mother Earth? Can you still make a fire (you
+could do it once, Mr. Seton-Thompson taught
+us in, surely an odd place, the Reform Club) by
+rubbing those sticks together? Was it the
+travail of hut-building that subsequently advised
+Peter to find a ‘home under the ground’? The
+bottle and mugs in that lurid picture, ‘Last
+night on the Island,’ seem to suggest that you
+had changed from Lost Boys into pirates,
+which was probably also a tendency of Peter’s.
+Listen again to our stolen saw-mill, man’s
+proudest invention; when he made the saw-mill
+he beat the birds for music in a wood.</p>
+
+<p>The illustrations (full-paged) in <i>The Boy
+Castaways</i> are all photographs taken by myself;
+some of them indeed of phenomena that had to
+be invented afterwards, for you were always off
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxi">[Pg xxi]</span>doing the wrong things when I pressed the
+button. I see that we combined instruction
+with amusement; perhaps we had given our
+kingly word to that effect. How otherwise
+account for such wording to the pictures as
+these: ‘It is undoubtedly,’ says No. 1 in a fir
+tree that is bearing unwonted fruit, recently tied
+to it, ‘the <i>Cocos nucifera</i>, for observe the slender
+columns supporting the crown of leaves which
+fall with a grace that no art can imitate.’
+‘Truly,’ continues No. 1 under the same tree in
+another forest as he leans upon his trusty gun,
+‘though the perils of these happenings are
+great, yet would I rejoice to endure still greater
+privations to be thus rewarded by such wondrous
+studies of Nature.’ He is soon back to the
+practical, however, ‘recognising the Mango
+(<i>Magnifera indica</i>) by its lancet-shaped leaves
+and the cucumber-shaped fruit.’ No. 1 was
+certainly the right sort of voyager to be wrecked
+with, though if my memory fails me not, No. 2,
+to whom these strutting observations were
+addressed, sometimes protested because none
+of them was given to him. No. 3 being the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxii">[Pg xxii]</span>author is in surprisingly few of the pictures, but
+this, you may remember, was because the lady
+already darkly referred to used to pluck him
+from our midst for his siesta at 12 o’clock, which
+was the hour that best suited the camera. With
+a skill on which he has never been complimented
+the photographer sometimes got No. 3 nominally
+included in a wild-life picture when he was
+really in a humdrum house kicking on the sofa.
+Thus in a scene representing Nos. 1 and 2 sitting
+scowling outside the hut it is untruly written
+that they scowled because ‘their brother was
+within singing and playing on a barbaric instrument.
+The music,’ the unseen No. 3 is represented
+as saying (obviously forestalling No. 1),
+‘is rude and to a cultured ear discordant, but
+the songs like those of the Arabs are full of
+poetic imagery.’ He was perhaps allowed to say
+this sulkily on the sofa.</p>
+
+<p>Though <i>The Boy Castaways</i> has sixteen
+chapter-headings, there is no other letterpress;
+an absence which possible purchasers might
+complain of, though there are surely worse ways
+of writing a book than this. These headings
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxiii">[Pg xxiii]</span>anticipate much of the play of <i>Peter Pan</i>, but
+there were many incidents of our Kensington
+Gardens days that never get into the book, such
+as our Antarctic exploits when we reached the
+Pole in advance of our friend Captain Scott and
+cut our initials on it for him to find, a strange
+foreshadowing of what was really to happen.
+In <i>The Boy Castaways</i> Captain Hook has arrived
+but is called Captain Swarthy, and he seems from
+the pictures to have been a black man. This
+character, as you do not need to be told, is held
+by those in the know to be autobiographical.
+You had many tussels with him (though you
+never, I think, got his right arm) before you
+reached the terrible chapter (which might be
+taken from the play) entitled ‘We Board the
+Pirate Ship at Dawn—A Rakish Craft—No. 1
+Hew-them-Down and No. 2 of the Red Hatchet—A
+Holocaust of Pirates—Rescue of Peter.’
+(Hullo, Peter rescued instead of rescuing others?
+I know what that means and so do you, but we
+are not going to give away all our secrets.)
+The scene of the Holocaust is the Black Lake
+(afterwards, when we let women in, the Mermaids’
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxiv">[Pg xxiv]</span>Lagoon). The pirate captain’s end was not in
+the mouth of a crocodile though we had crocodiles
+on the spot (‘while No. 2 was removing the
+crocodiles from the stream No. 1 shot a few
+parrots, <i>Psittacidae</i>, for our evening meal’). I
+think our captain had divers deaths owing to
+unseemly competition among you, each wanting
+to slay him single-handed. On a special
+occasion, such as when No. 3 pulled out the tooth
+himself, you gave the deed to him, but took
+it from him while he rested. The only pictorial
+representation in the book of Swarthy’s fate is
+in two parts. In one, called briefly ‘We string
+him up,’ Nos. 1 and 2, stern as Athos, are hauling
+him up a tree by a rope, his face snarling as
+if it were a grinning mask (which indeed it was),
+and his garments very like some of my own
+stuffed with bracken. The other, the same
+scene next day, is called ‘The Vultures had
+Picked him Clean,’ and tells its own tale.</p>
+
+<p>The dog in <i>The Boy Castaways</i> seems never to
+have been called Nana but was evidently in
+training for that post. He originally belonged
+to Swarthy (or to Captain Marryat?), and the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxv">[Pg xxv]</span>first picture of him, lean, skulking, and hunched
+(how did I get that effect?), ‘patrolling the
+island’ in that monster’s interests, gives little
+indication of the domestic paragon he was to
+become. We lured him away to the better life,
+and there is, later, a touching picture, a clear
+forecast of the Darling nursery, entitled ‘We
+trained the dog to watch over us while we slept.’
+In this he also is sleeping, in a position that is a
+careful copy of his charges; indeed any trouble
+we had with him was because, once he knew he
+was in a story, he thought his safest course was
+to imitate you in everything you did. How
+anxious he was to show that he understood the
+game, and more generous than you, he never
+pretended that he was the one who killed
+Captain Swarthy. I must not imply that he
+was entirely without initiative, for it was his own
+idea to bark warningly a minute or two before
+twelve o’clock as a signal to No. 3 that his
+keeper was probably on her way for him (Disappearance
+of No. 3); and he became so used
+to living in the world of Pretend that when we
+reached the hut of a morning he was often there
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxvi">[Pg xxvi]</span>waiting for us, looking, it is true, rather idiotic,
+but with a new bark he had invented which
+puzzled us until we decided that he was demanding
+the password. He was always willing to
+do any extra jobs, such as becoming the tiger
+in mask, and when after a fierce engagement
+you carried home that mask in triumph, he
+joined in the procession proudly and never let
+on that the trophy had ever been part of him.
+Long afterwards he saw the play from a box in
+the theatre, and as familiar scenes were unrolled
+before his eyes I have never seen a dog so
+bothered. At one matinee we even let him for
+a moment take the place of the actor who played
+Nana, and I don’t know that any members of
+the audience ever noticed the change, though
+he introduced some ‘business’ that was new
+to them but old to you and me. Heigh-ho, I
+suspect that in this reminiscence I am mixing
+him up with his successor, for such a one there
+had to be, the loyal Newfoundland who, perhaps
+in the following year, applied, so to say, for the
+part by bringing hedgehogs to the hut in his
+mouth as offerings for our evening repasts.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxvii">[Pg xxvii]</span>The head and coat of him were copied for the
+Nana of the play.</p>
+
+<p>They do seem to be emerging out of our
+island, don’t they, the little people of the play,
+all except that sly one, the chief figure, who
+draws farther and farther into the wood as we
+advance upon him? He so dislikes being
+tracked, as if there were something odd about
+him, that when he dies he means to get up and
+blow away the particle that will be his ashes.</p>
+
+<p>Wendy has not yet appeared, but she has been
+trying to come ever since that loyal nurse cast
+the humorous shadow of woman upon the scene
+and made us feel that it might be fun to let in
+a disturbing element. Perhaps she would have
+bored her way in at last whether we wanted her
+or not. It may be that even Peter did not
+really bring her to the Never Land of his free
+will, but merely pretended to do so because she
+would not stay away. Even Tinker Bell had
+reached our island before we left it. It was one
+evening when we climbed the wood carrying
+No. 4 to show him what the trail was like by
+twilight. As our lanterns twinkled among the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxviii">[Pg xxviii]</span>leaves No. 4 saw a twinkle stand still for a
+moment and he waved his foot gaily to it, thus
+creating Tink. It must not be thought, however,
+that there were any other sentimental
+passages between No. 4 and Tink; indeed, as
+he got to know her better he suspected her of
+frequenting the hut to see what we had been
+having for supper, and to partake of the same,
+and he pursued her with malignancy.</p>
+
+<p>A safe but sometimes chilly way of recalling
+the past is to force open a crammed drawer. If
+you are searching for anything in particular
+you don’t find it, but something falls out at the
+back that is often more interesting. It is in this
+way that I get my desultory reading, which
+includes the few stray leaves of the original MS.
+of Peter that I have said I do possess, though
+even they, when returned to the drawer, are
+gone again, as if that touch of devilry lurked in
+them still. They show that in early days I
+hacked at and added to the play. In the drawer
+I find some scraps of Mr. Crook’s delightful music,
+and other incomplete matter relating to Peter.
+Here is the reply of a boy whom I favoured with
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxix">[Pg xxix]</span>a seat in my box and injudiciously asked at the
+end what he had liked best. ‘What I think
+I liked best,’ he said, ‘was tearing up the
+programme and dropping the bits on people’s
+heads.’ Thus am I often laid low. A copy
+of my favourite programme of the play is still
+in the drawer. In the first or second year of
+Peter No. 4 could not attend through illness, so
+we took the play to his nursery, far away in the
+country, an array of vehicles almost as glorious
+as a travelling circus; the leading parts were
+played by the youngest children in the London
+company, and No. 4, aged five, looked on
+solemnly at the performance from his bed and
+never smiled once. That was my first and only
+appearance on the real stage, and this copy of
+the programme shows I was thought so meanly
+of as an actor that they printed my name in
+smaller letters than the others.</p>
+
+<p>I have said little here of Nos. 4 and 5, and it
+is high time I had finished. They had a long
+summer day, and I turn round twice and now
+they are off to school. On Monday, as it
+seems, I was escorting No. 5 to a children’s
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxx">[Pg xxx]</span>party and brushing his hair in the ante-room;
+and by Thursday he is placing me against the
+wall of an underground station and saying,
+‘Now I am going to get the tickets; don’t
+move till I come back for you or you’ll lose
+yourself.’ No. 4 jumps from being astride my
+shoulders fishing, I knee-deep in the stream, to
+becoming, while still a schoolboy, the sternest
+of my literary critics. Anything he shook his
+head over I abandoned, and conceivably the
+world has thus been deprived of masterpieces.
+There was for instance an unfortunate little
+tragedy which I liked until I foolishly told
+No. 4 its subject, when he frowned and said he
+had better have a look at it. He read it, and
+then, patting me on the back, as only he and
+No. 1 could touch me, said, ‘You know you
+can’t do this sort of thing.’ End of a tragedian.
+Sometimes, however, No. 4 liked my efforts,
+and I walked in the azure that day when he
+returned <i>Dear Brutus</i> to me with the comment
+‘Not so bad.’ In earlier days, when he was ten,
+I offered him the MS. of my book <i>Margaret
+Ogilvy</i>. ‘Oh, thanks,’ he said almost immediately,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxxi">[Pg xxxi]</span>and added, ‘Of course my desk is awfully full.’
+I reminded him that he could take out some of its
+more ridiculous contents. He said, ‘I have read
+it already in the book.’ This I had not known,
+and I was secretly elated, but I said that people
+sometimes liked to preserve this kind of thing
+as a curiosity. He said ‘Oh’ again. I said
+tartly that he was not compelled to take it if he
+didn’t want it. He said, ‘Of course I want it,
+but my desk——’ Then he wriggled out of the
+room and came back in a few minutes dragging
+in No. 5 and announcing triumphantly, ‘No. 5
+will have it.’</p>
+
+<p>The rebuffs I have got from all of you!
+They were especially crushing in those early
+days when one by one you came out of your
+belief in fairies and lowered on me as the deceiver.
+My grandest triumph, the best thing
+in the play of <i>Peter Pan</i> (though it is not in
+it), is that long after No. 4 had ceased to
+believe, I brought him back to the faith for
+at least two minutes. We were on our way
+in a boat to fish the Outer Hebrides (where
+we caught <i>Mary Rose</i>), and though it was a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxxii">[Pg xxxii]</span>journey of days he wore his fishing basket on his
+back all the time, so as to be able to begin at
+once. His one pain was the absence of Johnny
+Mackay, for Johnny was the loved gillie of the
+previous summer who had taught him everything
+that is worth knowing (which is a matter
+of flies) but could not be with us this time as he
+would have had to cross and re-cross Scotland
+to reach us. As the boat drew near the Kyle
+of Lochalsh pier I told Nos. 4 and 5 it was such
+a famous wishing pier that they had now but
+to wish and they should have. No. 5 believed
+at once and expressed a wish to meet himself
+(I afterwards found him on the pier searching
+faces confidently), but No. 4 thought it more of
+my untimely nonsense and doggedly declined to
+humour me. ‘Whom do you want to see most,
+No. 4?’ ‘Of course I would like most to
+see Johnny Mackay.’ ‘Well, then, wish for
+him.’ ‘Oh, rot.’ ‘It can’t do any harm to wish.’
+Contemptuously he wished, and as the ropes
+were thrown on the pier he saw Johnny waiting
+for him, loaded with angling paraphernalia. I
+know no one less like a fairy than Johnny
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxxiii">[Pg xxxiii]</span>Mackay, but for two minutes No. 4 was quivering
+in another world than ours. When he came to he
+gave me a smile which meant that we understood
+each other, and thereafter neglected me for
+a month, being always with Johnny. As I have
+said, this episode is not in the play; so though
+I dedicate <i>Peter Pan</i> to you I keep the smile,
+with the few other broken fragments of immortality
+that have come my way.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xxxiv"></a><a id="Page_1"></a>[Pg 1]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_I">
+    ACT I
+
+  </h2>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[Pg 2]</span></p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[Pg 3]</span></p>
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_I_1">
+    ACT I<br>
+    <br>
+    THE NURSERY
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><i>The night nursery of the Darling family, which is
+the scene of our opening Act, is at the top of a
+rather depressed street in Bloomsbury. We have
+a right to place it where we will, and the reason
+Bloomsbury is chosen is that Mr. Roget once lived
+there. So did we in days when his</i> Thesaurus <i>was
+our only companion in London; and we whom he
+has helped to wend our way through life have always
+wanted to pay him a little compliment. The
+Darlings therefore lived in Bloomsbury.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It is a corner house whose top window, the important
+one, looks upon a leafy square from which
+Peter used to fly up to it, to the delight of three
+children and no doubt the irritation of passers-by.
+The street is still there, though the steaming sausage
+shop has gone; and apparently the same cards
+perch now as then over the doors, inviting homeless
+ones to come and stay with the hospitable inhabitants.
+Since the days of the Darlings, however, a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span>lick of paint has been applied; and our corner house
+in particular, which has swallowed its neighbour,
+blooms with awful freshness as if the colours had
+been discharged upon it through a hose. Its card
+now says ‘No children,’ meaning maybe that the
+goings-on of Wendy and her brothers have given
+the house a bad name. As for ourselves, we have
+not been in it since we went back to reclaim our
+old</i> Thesaurus.</p>
+
+<p><i>That is what we call the Darling house, but you
+may dump it down anywhere you like, and if you
+think it was your house you are very probably
+right. It wanders about London looking for anybody
+in need of it, like the little house in the Never
+Land.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The blind (which is what Peter would have called
+the theatre curtain if he had ever seen one) rises on
+that top room, a shabby little room if Mrs. Darling
+had not made it the hub of creation by her certainty
+that such it was, and adorned it to match
+with a loving heart and all the scrapings of her
+purse. The door on the right leads into the day
+nursery, which she has no right to have, but she
+made it herself with nails in her mouth and a paste-pot
+in her hand. This is the door the children will
+come in by. There are three beds and (rather
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span>oddly) a large dog-kennel; two of these beds, with
+the kennel, being on the left and the other on the
+right. The coverlets of the beds (if visitors are
+expected) are made out of Mrs. Darling’s wedding-gown,
+which was such a grand affair that it still
+keeps them pinched. Over each bed is a china
+house, the size of a linnet’s nest, containing a night-light.
+The fire, which is on our right, is burning as
+discreetly as if it were in custody, which in a sense
+it is, for supporting the mantelshelf are two wooden
+soldiers, home-made, begun by Mr. Darling, finished
+by Mrs. Darling, repainted (unfortunately)
+by John Darling. On the fire-guard hang incomplete
+parts of children’s night attire. The door the
+parents will come in by is on the left. At the back
+is the bathroom door, with a cuckoo clock over it;
+and in the centre is the window, which is at present
+ever so staid and respectable, but half an hour
+hence (namely at 6.30 p.m.) will be able to tell a
+very strange tale to the police.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The only occupant of the room at present is
+Nana the nurse, reclining, not as you might expect
+on the one soft chair, but on the floor. She is a
+Newfoundland dog, and though this may shock the
+grandiose, the not exactly affluent will make allowances.
+The Darlings could not afford to have a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>nurse, they could not afford indeed to have children;
+and now you are beginning to understand
+how they did it. Of course Nana has been trained
+by Mrs. Darling, but like all treasures she was born
+to it. In this play we shall see her chiefly inside the
+house, but she was just as exemplary outside, escorting
+the two elders to school with an umbrella
+in her mouth, for instance, and butting them back
+into line if they strayed.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The cuckoo clock strikes six, and Nana springs
+into life. This first moment in the play is tremendously
+important, for if the actor playing Nana
+does not spring properly we are undone. She will
+probably be played by a boy, if one clever enough
+can be found, and must never be on two legs except
+on those rare occasions when an ordinary
+nurse would be on four. This Nana must go about
+all her duties in a most ordinary manner, so that
+you know in your bones that she performs them
+just so every evening at six; naturalness must be
+her passion; indeed, it should be the aim of every
+one in the play, for which she is now setting the
+pace. All the characters, whether grown-ups or
+babes, must wear a child’s outlook on life as their
+only important adornment. If they cannot help
+being funny they are begged to go away. A good
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>motto for all would be ‘The little less, and how
+much it is.’</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Nana, making much use of her mouth, ‘turns
+down’ the beds, and carries the various articles on
+the fire-guard across to them. Then pushing the
+bathroom door open, she is seen at work on the
+taps preparing Michael’s bath; after which she enters
+from the day nursery with the youngest of the
+family on her back.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>obstreperous</i>). I won’t go to bed, I
+won’t, I won’t. Nana, it isn’t six o’clock yet.
+Two minutes more, please, one minute more?
+Nana, I won’t be bathed, I tell you I will not be
+bathed.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>Here the bathroom door closes on them, and</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span>, <i>who has perhaps heard his
+cry, enters the nursery. She is the loveliest
+lady in Bloomsbury, with a sweet mocking
+mouth, and as she is going out to dinner
+to-night she is already wearing her evening
+gown because she knows her children like to
+see her in it. It is a delicious confection
+made by herself out of nothing and other
+people’s mistakes. She does not often go out
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span>to dinner, preferring when the children are in
+bed to sit beside them tidying up their minds,
+just as if they were drawers. If</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>
+<i>and the boys could keep awake they might
+see her repacking into their proper places
+the many articles of the mind that have
+strayed during the day, lingering humorously
+over some of their contents, wondering
+where on earth they picked this thing up,
+making discoveries sweet and not so sweet,
+pressing this to her cheek and hurriedly
+stowing that out of sight. When they wake
+in the morning the naughtinesses with which
+they went to bed are not, alas, blown away,
+but they are placed at the bottom of the
+drawer; and on the top, beautifully aired,
+are their prettier thoughts ready for the
+new day.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>As she enters the room she is startled to
+see a strange little face outside the window
+and a hand groping as if it wanted to
+come in.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS DARLING.</span> Who are you? (<i>The unknown
+disappears; she hurries to the window.</i>)
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span>No one there. And yet I feel sure I saw a face.
+My children! (<i>She throws open the bathroom
+door and</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL’S</span> <i>head appears gaily over the
+bath. He splashes; she throws kisses to him and
+closes the door. ‘Wendy, John,’ she cries, and gets
+reassuring answers from the day nursery. She sits
+down, relieved, on</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY’S</span> <i>bed; and</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>and</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> <i>come in, looking their smallest size, as children
+tend to do to a mother suddenly in fear for them</i>.)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>histrionically</i>). We are doing an act;
+we are playing at being you and father. (<i>He
+imitates the only father who has come under his
+special notice.</i>) A little less noise there.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Now let us pretend we have a baby.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>good-naturedly</i>). I am happy to inform
+you, Mrs. Darling, that you are now a mother.
+(<span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>gives way to ecstasy</i>.) You have missed
+the chief thing; you haven’t asked, ‘boy or
+girl?’</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> I am so glad to have one at all, I
+don’t care which it is.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>crushingly</i>). That is just the difference
+between gentlemen and ladies. Now you
+tell me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> I am happy to acquaint you, Mr.
+Darling, you are now a father.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Boy or girl?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>presenting herself</i>). Girl.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Tuts.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> You horrid.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Go on.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> I am happy to acquaint you, Mr.
+Darling, you are again a father.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Boy or girl?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Boy. (<span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> <i>beams</i>.) Mummy, it’s
+hateful of him.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> <i>emerges from the bathroom in</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">JOHN’S</span> <i>old pyjamas and giving his face a
+last wipe with the towel</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>expanding</i>). Now, John, have me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> We don’t want any more.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>contracting</i>). Am I not to be born
+at all?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Two is enough.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>wheedling</i>). Come, John; boy,
+John. (<i>Appalled</i>) Nobody wants me!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> I do.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>with a glimmer of hope</i>). Boy or girl?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>with one of those happy thoughts
+of hers</i>). Boy.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>Triumph of</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span>; <i>discomfiture of</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span>. <span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> <i>arrives, in no mood
+unfortunately to gloat over this domestic
+scene. He is really a good man as bread-winners
+go, and it is hard luck for him to be
+propelled into the room now, when if we had
+brought him in a few minutes earlier or later
+he might have made a fairer impression.
+In the city where he sits on a stool all day,
+as fixed as a postage stamp, he is so like all
+the others on stools that you recognise him
+not by his face but by his stool, but at home
+the way to gratify him is to say that he has
+a distinct personality. He is very conscientious,
+and in the days when</i> <span class="allsmcap">MRS.
+DARLING</span> <i>gave up keeping the house books
+correctly and drew pictures instead (which
+he called her guesses), he did all the totting
+up for her, holding her hand while he calculated
+whether they could have Wendy or
+not, and coming down on the right side. It
+is with regret, therefore, that we introduce
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>him as a tornado, rushing into the nursery
+in evening dress, but without his coat, and
+brandishing in his hand a recalcitrant
+white tie.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>implying that he has searched for
+her everywhere and that the nursery is a strange
+place in which to find her</i>). Oh, here you are,
+Mary.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>knowing at once what is the
+matter</i>). What is the matter, George dear?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>as if the word were monstrous</i>).
+Matter! This tie, it will not tie. (<i>He waxes
+sarcastic.</i>) Not round my neck. Round the
+bed-post, oh yes; twenty times have I made it
+up round the bed-post, but round my neck, oh
+dear no; begs to be excused.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>in a joyous transport</i>). Say it
+again, father, say it again!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>witheringly</i>). Thank you.
+(<i>Goaded by a suspiciously crooked smile on</i> <span class="allsmcap">MRS.
+DARLING’S</span> <i>face</i>) I warn you, Mary, that unless
+this tie is round my neck we don’t go out to
+dinner to-night, and if I don’t go out to dinner
+to-night I never go to the office again, and if I
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>don’t go to the office again you and I starve, and
+our children will be thrown into the streets.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The children blanch as they grasp the
+gravity of the situation.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> Let me try, dear.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>In a terrible silence their progeny cluster
+round them. Will she succeed? Their
+fate depends on it. She fails—no, she
+succeeds. In another moment they are wildly
+gay, romping round the room on each
+other’s shoulders. Father is even a better
+horse than mother.</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> <i>is dropped
+upon his bed</i>, <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>retires to prepare for
+hers</i>, <span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> <i>runs from</i> <span class="allsmcap">NANA</span>, <i>who has reappeared
+with the bath towel</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>rebellious</i>). I won’t be bathed. You
+needn’t think it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>in the grand manner</i>). Go and
+be bathed at once, sir.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>With bent head</i> <span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> <i>follows</i> <span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>into the
+bathroom</i>. <span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> <i>swells</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>as he is put between the sheets</i>).
+Mother, how did you get to know me?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> A little less noise there.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>growing solemn</i>). At what time was
+I born, mother?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> At two o’clock in the night-time,
+dearest.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> Oh, mother, I hope I didn’t wake
+you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> They are rather sweet, don’t
+you think, George?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>doting</i>). There is not their
+equal on earth, and they are ours, ours!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>Unfortunately</i> <span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>has come from the
+bathroom for a sponge and she collides with
+his trousers, the first pair he has ever had
+with braid on them</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> Mary, it is too bad; just look
+at this; covered with hairs. Clumsy, clumsy!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>goes, a drooping figure</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> Let me brush you, dear.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>Once more she is successful. They are now
+by the fire, and</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> <i>is in bed doing
+idiotic things with a teddy bear</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>depressed</i>). I sometimes think,
+Mary, that it is a mistake to have a dog for a
+nurse.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> George, Nana is a treasure.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> No doubt; but I have an uneasy
+feeling at times that she looks upon the
+children as puppies.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>rather faintly</i>). Oh no, dear
+one, I am sure she knows they have souls.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>profoundly</i>). I wonder, I wonder.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The opportunity has come for her to tell
+him of something that is on her mind.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> George, we must keep Nana.
+I will tell you why. (<i>Her seriousness impresses
+him.</i>) My dear, when I came into this room
+to-night I saw a face at the window.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>incredulous</i>). A face at the
+window, three floors up? Pooh!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> It was the face of a little boy;
+he was trying to get in. George, this is not the
+first time I have seen that boy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>beginning to think that this may
+be a man’s job</i>). Oho!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>making sure that</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> <i>does
+not hear</i>). The first time was a week ago. It
+was Nana’s night out, and I had been drowsing
+here by the fire when suddenly I felt a draught,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>as if the window were open. I looked round and
+I saw that boy—in the room.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> In the room?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> I screamed. Just then Nana
+came back and she at once sprang at him.
+The boy leapt for the window. She pulled
+down the sash quickly, but was too late to catch
+him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>who knows he would not have
+been too late</i>). I thought so!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> Wait. The boy escaped, but
+his shadow had not time to get out; down came
+the window and cut it clean off.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>heavily</i>). Mary, Mary, why
+didn’t you keep that shadow?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>scoring</i>). I did. I rolled it
+up, George; and here it is.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>She produces it from a drawer. They unroll
+and examine the flimsy thing, which is
+not more material than a puff of smoke, and
+if let go would probably float into the ceiling
+without discolouring it. Yet it has human
+shape. As they nod their heads over it they
+present the most satisfying picture on earth,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span>two happy parents conspiring cosily by the
+fire for the good of their children</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> It is nobody I know, but he
+does look a scoundrel.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> I think he comes back to get
+his shadow, George.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>meaning that the miscreant has
+now a father to deal with</i>). I dare say. (<i>He sees
+himself telling the story to the other stools at the
+office.</i>) There is money in this, my love. I
+shall take it to the British Museum to-morrow
+and have it priced.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The shadow is rolled up and replaced in
+the drawer.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>like a guilty person</i>). George,
+I have not told you all; I am afraid to.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>who knows exactly the right
+moment to treat a woman as a beloved child</i>).
+Cowardy, cowardy custard.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>pouting</i>). No, I’m not.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> Oh yes, you are.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> George, I’m not.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> Then why not tell? (<i>Thus
+cleverly soothed she goes on.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> The boy was not alone that
+first time. He was accompanied by—I don’t
+know how to describe it; by a ball of light, not as
+big as my fist, but it darted about the room like
+a living thing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>though open-minded</i>). That is
+very unusual. It escaped with the boy?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS DARLING.</span> Yes. (<i>Sliding her hand into
+his.</i>) George, what can all this mean?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>ever ready</i>). What indeed!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>This intimate scene is broken by the return
+of</i> <span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>with a bottle in her mouth</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>at once dissembling</i>). What is
+that, Nana? Ah, of course; Michael, it is your
+medicine.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>promptly</i>). Won’t take it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>recalling his youth</i>). Be a man,
+Michael.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> Won’t.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>weakly</i>). I’ll get you a lovely
+chocky to take after it. (<i>She leaves the room,
+though her husband calls after her.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> Mary, don’t pamper him.
+When I was your age, Michael, I took medicine
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>without a murmur. I said ‘Thank you, kind
+parents, for giving me bottles to make me well.’</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>, <i>who has appeared in her nightgown,
+hears this and believes</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> That medicine you sometimes take
+is much nastier, isn’t it, father?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>valuing her support</i>). Ever so
+must nastier. And as an example to you,
+Michael, I would take it now (<i>thankfully</i>) if I
+hadn’t lost the bottle.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>always glad to be of service</i>). I know
+where it is, father. I’ll fetch it.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>She is gone before he can stop her. He
+turns for help to</i> <span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span>, <i>who has come from
+the bathroom attired for bed</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> John, it is the most beastly
+stuff. It is that sticky sweet kind.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>who is perhaps still playing at parents</i>).
+Never mind, father, it will soon be over.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>A spasm of ill-will to</i> <span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> <i>cuts through</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span>, <i>and is gone</i>. <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>returns
+panting</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Here it is, father; I have been as
+quick as I could.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>with a sarcasm that is completely
+thrown away on her</i>). You have been wonderfully
+quick, precious quick!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He is now at the foot of</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL’S</span> <i>bed</i>,
+<span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>is by its side, holding the medicine
+spoon insinuatingly in her mouth</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>proudly, as she pours out</i> <span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING’S</span>
+<i>medicine</i>). Michael, now you will see how
+father takes it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>hedging</i>). Michael first.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>full of unworthy suspicions</i>). Father
+first.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> It will make me sick, you know.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>lightly</i>). Come on, father.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> Hold your tongue, sir.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>disturbed</i>). I thought you took it
+quite easily, father, saying ‘Thank you, kind
+parents, for——’</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> That is not the point; the
+point is that there is more in my glass than in
+Michael’s spoon. It isn’t fair, I swear though
+it were with my last breath, it is not fair.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>coldly</i>). Father, I’m waiting.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> It’s all very well to say you
+are waiting; so am I waiting.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> Father’s a cowardy custard.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> So are you a cowardy custard.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They are now glaring at each other.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> I am not frightened.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> Neither am I frightened.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> Well, then, take it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> Well, then, you take it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>butting in again</i>). Why not take it
+at the same time?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>haughtily</i>). Certainly. Are you
+ready, Michael?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>as nothing has happened</i>). One—two—three.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> <i>partakes, but</i> <span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> <i>resorts
+to hanky-panky</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Father hasn’t taken his!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> <i>howls</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>inexpressibly pained</i>). Oh father!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>who has been hiding the glass behind
+him</i>). What do you mean by ‘oh father’?
+Stop that row, Michael. I meant to take mine
+but I—missed it. (<span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>shakes her head sadly
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>over him, and goes into the bathroom. They are
+all looking as if they did not admire him, and
+nothing so dashes a temperamental man.</i>) I say,
+I have just thought of a splendid joke. (<i>They
+brighten.</i>) I shall pour my medicine into Nana’s
+bowl, and she will drink it thinking it is milk!
+(<i>The pleasantry does not appeal, but he prepares
+the joke, listening for appreciation.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Poor darling Nana!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> You silly little things; to your
+beds every one of you; I am ashamed of you.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They steal to their beds as</i> <span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span>
+<i>returns with the chocolate</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> Well, is it all over?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> Father didn’t——(<i>Father glares.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> All over, dear, quite satisfactorily.
+(<span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>comes back</i>.) Nana, good dog,
+good girl; I have put a little milk into your
+bowl. (<i>The bowl is by the kennel, and</i> <span class="allsmcap">NANA</span>
+<i>begins to lap, only begins. She retreats into the
+kennel.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> What is the matter, Nana?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>uneasily</i>). Nothing, nothing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>smelling the bowl</i>). George, it
+is your medicine!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The children break into lamentation. He
+gives his wife an imploring look; he is
+begging for one smile, but does not get it.
+In consequence he goes from bad to worse.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> It was only a joke. Much good
+my wearing myself to the bone trying to be
+funny in this house.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>on her knees by the kennel</i>). Father,
+Nana is crying.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> Coddle her; nobody coddles
+me. Oh dear no. I am only the bread-winner,
+why should I be coddled? Why, why, why?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> George, not so loud; the
+servants will hear you.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>There is only one maid, absurdly small too,
+but they have got into the way of calling her
+the servants.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>defiant</i>). Let them hear me;
+bring in the whole world. (<i>The desperate man,
+who has not been in fresh air for days, has now
+lost all self-control.</i>) I refuse to allow that dog
+to lord it in my nursery for one hour longer.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span>(<span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>supplicates him</i>.) In vain, in vain, the
+proper place for you is the yard, and there you
+go to be tied up this instant.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>again retreats into the kennel, and
+the children add their prayers to hers</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>who knows how contrite he will
+be for this presently</i>). George, George, remember
+what I told you about that boy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> Am I master in this house or
+is she? (<i>To</i> <span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>fiercely</i>) Come along. (<i>He
+thunders at her, but she indicates that she has reasons
+not worth troubling him with for remaining
+where she is. He resorts to a false bonhomie.</i>)
+There, there, did she think he was angry with
+her, poor Nana? (<i>She wriggles a response in the
+affirmative.</i>) Good Nana, pretty Nana. (<i>She
+has seldom been called pretty, and it has the old
+effect. She plays rub-a-dub with her paws, which
+is how a dog blushes.</i>) She will come to her kind
+master, won’t she? won’t she? (<i>She advances,
+retreats, waggles her head, her tail, and eventually
+goes to him. He seizes her collar in an iron grip
+and amid the cries of his progeny drags her from
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span>the room. They listen, for her remonstrances are
+not inaudible.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> Be brave, my dears.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> He is chaining Nana up!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>This unfortunately is what he is doing,
+though we cannot see him. Let us hope that
+he then retires to his study, looks up the
+word ‘temper’ in his</i> Thesaurus, <i>and under
+the influence of those benign pages becomes
+a better man. In the meantime the children
+have been put to bed in unwonted silence,
+and</i> <span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> <i>lights the night-lights
+over the beds</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>as the barking below goes on</i>). She is
+awfully unhappy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> That is not Nana’s unhappy bark.
+That is her bark when she smells danger.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>remembering that boy</i>). Danger!
+Are you sure, Wendy?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>the one of the family, for there is one
+in every family, who can be trusted to know or
+not to know</i>). Oh yes.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>Her mother looks this way and that from
+the window.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Is anything there?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> All quite quiet and still. Oh,
+how I wish I was not going out to dinner to-night.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> Can anything harm us, mother,
+after the night-lights are lit?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> Nothing, precious. They are
+the eyes a mother leaves behind her to guard her
+children.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>Nevertheless we may be sure she means to
+tell</i> <span class="allsmcap">LIZA</span>, <i>the little maid, to look in on them
+frequently till she comes home. She goes
+from bed to bed, after her custom, tucking
+them in and crooning a lullaby.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>drowsily</i>). Mother, I’m glad of you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>with a last look round, her hand
+on the switch</i>). Dear night-lights that protect
+my sleeping babes, burn clear and steadfast
+to-night.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The nursery darkens and she is gone, intentionally
+leaving the door ajar. Something
+uncanny is going to happen, we expect, for
+a quiver has passed through the room, just
+sufficient to touch the night-lights. They
+blink three times one after the other and go
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span>out, precisely as children (whom familiarity
+has made them resemble) fall asleep. There
+is another light in the room now, no larger
+than</i> <span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING’S</span> <i>fist, and in the time
+we have taken to say this it has been into the
+drawers and wardrobe and searched pockets,
+as it darts about looking for a certain
+shadow. Then the window is blown open,
+probably by the smallest and therefore most
+mischievous star, and</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER PAN</span> <i>flies into
+the room. In so far as he is dressed at all it
+is in autumn leaves and cobwebs.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>in a whisper</i>). Tinker Bell, Tink, are
+you there? (<i>A jug lights up.</i>) Oh, do come out
+of that jug. (<span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>flashes hither and thither.</i>)
+Do you know where they put it? (<i>The answer
+comes as of a tinkle of bells; it is the fairy language.</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>can speak it, but it bores him</i>.) Which big
+box? This one? But which drawer? Yes, do
+show me. (<span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>pops into the drawer where the
+shadow is, but before</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>can reach it</i>, <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>
+<i>moves in her sleep. He flies onto the mantelshelf
+as a hiding-place. Then, as she has not waked, he
+flutters over the beds as an easy way to observe the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>occupants, closes the window softly, wafts himself
+to the drawer and scatters its contents to the floor,
+as kings on their wedding day toss ha’pence to the
+crowds. In his joy at finding his shadow he forgets
+that he has shut up</i> <span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>in the drawer. He sits on
+the floor with the shadow, confident that he and it
+will join like drops of water. Then he tries to
+stick it on with soap from the bathroom, and
+this failing also, he subsides dejectedly on the
+floor. This wakens</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>, <i>who sits up, and is
+pleasantly interested to see a stranger.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>courteously</i>). Boy, why are you
+crying?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He jumps up, and crossing to the foot of the
+bed bows to her in the fairy way.</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>,
+<i>impressed, bows to him from the bed</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> What is your name?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>well satisfied</i>). Wendy Moira Angela
+Darling. What is yours?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>finding it lamentably brief</i>). Peter Pan.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Is that all?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>biting his lip</i>). Yes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>politely</i>). I am so sorry.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> It doesn’t matter.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Where do you live?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Second to the right and then straight
+on till morning.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> What a funny address!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> No, it isn’t.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> I mean, is that what they put on
+the letters?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Don’t get any letters.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> But your mother gets letters?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Don’t have a mother.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Peter!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>She leaps out of bed to put her arms
+round him, but he draws back; he does
+not know why, but he knows he must
+draw back.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> You mustn’t touch me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Why?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> No one must ever touch me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Why?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> I don’t know.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He is never touched by any one in the play.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> No wonder you were crying.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> I wasn’t crying. But I can’t get my
+shadow to stick on.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> It has come off! How awful.
+(<i>Looking at the spot where he had lain.</i>) Peter,
+you have been trying to stick it on with soap!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>snappily</i>). Well then?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> It must be sewn on.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> What is ‘sewn’?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> You are dreadfully ignorant.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> No, I’m not.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> I will sew it on for you, my little
+man. But we must have more light. (<i>She
+touches something, and to his astonishment the
+room is illuminated.</i>) Sit here. I dare say it
+will hurt a little.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>a recent remark of hers rankling</i>). I
+never cry. (<i>She seems to attach the shadow. He
+tests the combination.</i>) It isn’t quite itself yet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Perhaps I should have ironed it.
+(<i>It awakes and is as glad to be back with him as
+he to have it. He and his shadow dance together.
+He is showing off now. He crows like a cock.
+He would fly in order to impress</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>further if
+he knew that there is anything unusual in that</i>.)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Wendy, look, look; oh the cleverness
+of me!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> You conceit; of course I did
+nothing!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> You did a little.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>wounded</i>). A little! If I am no use
+I can at least withdraw.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>With one haughty leap she is again in
+bed with the sheet over her face. Popping
+on to the end of the bed the artful one
+appeals.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Wendy, don’t withdraw. I can’t
+help crowing, Wendy, when I’m pleased with
+myself. Wendy, one girl is worth more than
+twenty boys.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>peeping over the sheet</i>). You really
+think so, Peter?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Yes, I do.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> I think it’s perfectly sweet of you,
+and I shall get up again. (<i>They sit together on the
+side of the bed.</i>) I shall give you a kiss if you like.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Thank you. (<i>He holds out his hand.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>aghast</i>). Don’t you know what a kiss is?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> I shall know when you give it me.
+(<i>Not to hurt his feelings she gives him her thimble.</i>)
+Now shall I give you a kiss?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>primly</i>). If you please. (<i>He pulls an
+acorn button off his person and bestows it on her.
+She is shocked but considerate.</i>) I will wear it on
+this chain round my neck. Peter, how old are
+you?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>blithely</i>). I don’t know, but quite
+young, Wendy. I ran away the day I was born.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Ran away, why?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Because I heard father and mother
+talking of what I was to be when I became a man.
+I want always to be a little boy and to have fun;
+so I ran away to Kensington Gardens and lived
+a long time among the fairies.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>with great eyes</i>). You know fairies,
+Peter!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>surprised that this should be a recommendation</i>).
+Yes, but they are nearly all dead
+now. (<i>Baldly</i>) You see, Wendy, when the first
+baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke
+into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping
+about, and that was the beginning of fairies.
+And now when every new baby is born its first
+laugh becomes a fairy. So there ought to be one
+fairy for every boy or girl.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>breathlessly</i>). Ought to be? Isn’t
+there?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Oh no. Children know such a lot
+now. Soon they don’t believe in fairies, and
+every time a child says ‘I don’t believe in
+fairies’ there is a fairy somewhere that falls
+down dead. (<i>He skips about heartlessly.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Poor things!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>to whom this statement recalls a forgotten
+friend</i>). I can’t think where she has gone.
+Tinker Bell, Tink, where are you?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>thrilling</i>). Peter, you don’t mean to
+tell me that there is a fairy in this room!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>flitting about in search</i>). She came
+with me. You don’t hear anything, do you?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> I hear—the only sound I hear is like
+a tinkle of bells.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> That is the fairy language. I hear
+it too.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> It seems to come from over there.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>with shameless glee</i>). Wendy, I believe
+I shut her up in that drawer!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He releases</i> <span class="allsmcap">TINK</span>, <i>who darts about in a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span>fury using language it is perhaps as well
+we don’t understand</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>You needn’t say that; I’m very sorry, but
+how could I know you were in the drawer?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>her eyes dancing in pursuit of the
+delicious creature</i>). Oh, Peter, if only she would
+stand still and let me see her!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>indifferently</i>). They hardly ever stand
+still.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>To show that she can do even this</i> <span class="allsmcap">TINK</span>
+<i>pauses between two ticks of the cuckoo
+clock</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> I see her, the lovely! where is she
+now?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> She is behind the clock. Tink, this
+lady wishes you were her fairy. (<i>The answer
+comes immediately.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> What does she say?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> She is not very polite. She says you
+are a great ugly girl, and that she is my fairy.
+You know, Tink, you can’t be my fairy because
+I am a gentleman and you are a lady.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>replies</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> What did she say?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> She said ‘You silly ass.’ She is quite a
+common girl, you know. She is called Tinker Bell
+because she mends the fairy pots and kettles.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They have reached a chair</i>, <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>in the
+ordinary way and</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>through a hole in
+the back</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Where do you live now?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> With the lost boys.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Who are they?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> They are the children who fall out of
+their prams when the nurse is looking the other
+way. If they are not claimed in seven days
+they are sent far away to the Never Land.
+I’m captain.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> What fun it must be.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>craftily</i>). Yes, but we are rather
+lonely. You see, Wendy, we have no female
+companionship.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Are none of the other children
+girls?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Oh no; girls, you know, are much
+too clever to fall out of their prams.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Peter, it is perfectly lovely the way
+you talk about girls. John there just despises us.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>, <i>for the first time, has a good look
+at</i> <span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span>. <i>He then neatly tumbles him out
+of bed.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>You wicked! you are not captain here. (<i>She
+bends over her brother who is prone on the floor.</i>)
+After all he hasn’t wakened, and you meant to
+be kind. (<i>Having now done her duty she forgets</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span>, <i>who blissfully sleeps on.</i>) Peter, you may
+give me a kiss.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>cynically</i>). I thought you would want
+it back.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He offers her the thimble.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>artfully</i>). Oh dear, I didn’t mean a
+kiss, Peter. I meant a thimble.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>only half placated</i>). What is that?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> It is like this. (<i>She leans forward to
+give a demonstration, but something prevents the
+meeting of their faces.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>satisfied</i>). Now shall I give you a
+thimble?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> If you please. (<i>Before he can even
+draw near she screams.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> What is it?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> It was exactly as if some one were
+pulling my hair!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> That must have been Tink. I never
+knew her so naughty before.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>speaks. She is in the jug again.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> What does she say?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> She says she will do that every time
+I give you a thimble.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> But why?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>equally nonplussed</i>). Why, Tink?
+(<i>He has to translate the answer.</i>) She said ‘You
+silly ass’ again.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> She is very impertinent. (<i>They are
+sitting on the floor now.</i>) Peter, why did you
+come to our nursery window?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> To try to hear stories. None of us
+knows any stories.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> How perfectly awful!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Do you know why swallows build in
+the eaves of houses? It is to listen to the stories.
+Wendy, your mother was telling you such a
+lovely story.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Which story was it?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> About the prince, and he couldn’t
+find the lady who wore the glass slipper.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> That was Cinderella. Peter, he
+found her and they were happy ever after.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> I am glad. (<i>They have worked their
+way along the floor close to each other, but he now
+jumps up.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Where are you going?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>already on his way to the window</i>). To
+tell the other boys.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Don’t go, Peter. I know lots of
+stories. The stories I could tell to the boys!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>gleaming</i>). Come on! We’ll fly.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Fly? You can fly!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>How he would like to rip those stories out
+of her; he is dangerous now.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Wendy, come with me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Oh dear, I mustn’t. Think of
+mother. Besides, I can’t fly.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> I’ll teach you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> How lovely to fly!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> I’ll teach you how to jump on the
+wind’s back and then away we go. Wendy, when
+you are sleeping in your silly bed you might be
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span>flying about with me, saying funny things to
+the stars. There are mermaids, Wendy, with
+long tails. (<i>She just succeeds in remaining on
+the nursery floor.</i>) Wendy, how we should all
+respect you.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>At this she strikes her colours.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Of course it’s awfully fas-cin-a-ting!
+Would you teach John and Michael to fly too?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>indifferently</i>). If you like.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>playing rum-tum on John</i>). John,
+wake up; there is a boy here who is to teach us
+to fly.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Is there? Then I shall get up. (<i>He
+raises his head from the floor.</i>) Hullo, I
+am up!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Michael, open your eyes. This boy
+is to teach us to fly.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The sleepers are at once as awake as their
+father’s razor; but before a question can
+be asked</i> <span class="allsmcap">NANA’S</span> <i>bark is heard</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Out with the light, quick, hide!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>When the maid</i> <span class="allsmcap">LIZA</span>, <i>who is so small that
+when she says she will never see ten again
+one can scarcely believe her, enters with a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span>firm hand on the troubled</i> <span class="allsmcap">NANA’S</span> <i>chain
+the room is in comparative darkness</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">LIZA.</span> There, you suspicious brute, they are
+perfectly safe, aren’t they? Every one of the
+little angels sound asleep in bed. Listen to their
+gentle breathing. (<span class="allsmcap">NANA’S</span> <i>sense of smell here
+helps to her undoing instead of hindering it. She
+knows that they are in the room.</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span>, <i>who is
+behind the window curtain, is so encouraged by</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">LIZA’S</span> <i>last remark that he breathes too loudly</i>.
+<span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>knows that kind of breathing and tries to
+break from her keeper’s control</i>.) No more of it,
+Nana. (<i>Wagging a finger at her</i>) I warn you if
+you bark again I shall go straight for master and
+missus and bring them home from the party, and
+then won’t master whip you just! Come along,
+you naughty dog.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The unhappy</i> <span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>is led away. The
+children emerge exulting from their various
+hiding-places. In their brief absence from the
+scene strange things have been done to them;
+but it is not for us to reveal a mysterious
+secret of the stage. They look just the same.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> I say, can you really fly?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Look! (<i>He is now over their heads.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Oh, how sweet!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> I’m sweet, oh, I am sweet!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>It looks so easy that they try it first from
+the floor and then from their beds, without
+encouraging results.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>rubbing his knees</i>). How do you do it?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>descending</i>). You just think lovely
+wonderful thoughts and they lift you up in the
+air. (<i>He is off again.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> You are so nippy at it; couldn’t you
+do it very slowly once? (<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>does it slowly</i>.)
+I’ve got it now, Wendy. (<i>He tries; no, he has
+not got it, poor stay-at-home, though he knows
+the names of all the counties in England and</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>does not know one</i>.)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> I must blow the fairy dust on you
+first. (<i>Fortunately his garments are smeared with
+it and he blows some dust on each.</i>) Now, try;
+try from the bed. Just wriggle your shoulders
+this way, and then let go.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The gallant</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> <i>is the first to let go,
+and is borne across the room</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>with a yell that should have disturbed</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">LIZA</span>). I flewed!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> <i>lets go, and meets</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>near the
+bathroom door though they had both aimed
+in an opposite direction</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Oh, lovely!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>tending to be upside down</i>). How ripping!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>playing whack on a chair</i>). I do
+like it!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">THE THREE.</span> Look at me, look at me, look at me!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They are not nearly so elegant in the air as</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>, <i>but their heads have bumped the
+ceiling, and there is nothing more delicious
+than that</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>who can even go backwards</i>). I say,
+why shouldn’t we go out?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> There are pirates.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Pirates! (<i>He grabs his tall Sunday
+hat.</i>) Let us go at once!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>does not like it. She darts at their
+hair. From down below in the street the
+lighted window must present an unwonted
+spectacle: the shadows of children revolving
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span>in the room like a merry-go-round. This is
+perhaps what</i> <span class="allsmcap">MR.</span> <i>and</i> <span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> <i>see as
+they come hurrying home from the party,
+brought by</i> <span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>who, you may be sure,
+has broken her chain.</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER’S</span> <i>accomplice,
+the little star, has seen them coming, and
+again the window blows open</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>as if he had heard the star whisper</i>
+Cave). Now come!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>Breaking the circle he flies out of the window
+over the trees of the square and over the
+house-tops, and the others follow like a flight
+of birds. The broken-hearted father and
+mother arrive just in time to get a nip from</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>as she too sets out for the Never Land</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[Pg 44]</span></p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[Pg 45]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_II">
+    ACT II
+
+
+  </h2>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[Pg 46]</span></p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[Pg 47]</span></p>
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_II_1">
+    ACT II<br>
+    <br>
+    THE NEVER LAND
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><i>When the blind goes up all is so dark that you
+scarcely know it has gone up. This is because if
+you were to see the island bang (as Peter would
+say) the wonders of it might hurt your eyes. If you
+all came in spectacles perhaps you could see it bang,
+but to make a rule of that kind would be a pity.
+The first thing seen is merely some whitish dots
+trudging along the sward, and you can guess from
+their tinkling that they are probably fairies of the
+commoner sort going home afoot from some party
+and having a cheery tiff by the way. Then Peter’s
+star wakes up, and in the blink of it, which is much
+stronger than in our stars, you can make out
+masses of trees, and you think you see wild beasts
+stealing past to drink, though what you see is not
+the beasts themselves but only the shadows of them.
+They are really out pictorially to greet Peter in
+the way they think he would like them to greet him;
+and for the same reason the mermaids basking in
+the lagoon beyond the trees are carefully combing
+their hair; and for the same reason the pirates are
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span>landing invisibly from the longboat, invisibly to
+you but not to the redskins, whom none can see or
+hear because they are on the war-path. The whole
+island, in short, which has been having a slack time
+in Peter’s absence, is now in a ferment because the
+tidings have leaked out that he is on his way back;
+and everybody and everything know that they will
+catch it from him if they don’t give satisfaction.
+While you have been told this the sun (another of
+his servants) has been bestirring himself. Those of
+you who may have thought it wiser after all to begin
+this Act in spectacles may now take them off.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>What you see is the Never Land. You have often
+half seen it before, or even three-quarters, after the
+night-lights were lit, and you might then have
+beached your coracle on it if you had not always
+at the great moment fallen asleep. I dare say you
+have chucked things on to it, the things you can’t
+find in the morning. In the daytime you think the
+Never Land is only make-believe, and so it is to the
+likes of you, but this is the Never Land come true.
+It is an open-air scene, a forest, with a beautiful
+lagoon beyond but not really far away, for the
+Never Land is very compact, not large and sprawly
+with tedious distances between one adventure and
+another, but nicely crammed. It is summer time
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span>on the trees and on the lagoon but winter on the
+river, which is not remarkable on Peter’s island
+where all the four seasons may pass while you are
+filling a jug at the well. Peter’s home is at this very
+spot, but you could not point out the way into it
+even if you were told which is the entrance, not
+even if you were told that there are seven of them.
+You know now because you have just seen one of
+the lost boys emerge. The holes in these seven
+great hollow trees are the ‘doors’ down to Peter’s
+home, and he made seven because, despite his cleverness,
+he thought seven boys must need seven doors.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The boy who has emerged from his tree is
+Slightly, who has perhaps been driven from the
+abode below by companions less musical than himself.
+Quite possibly a genius, Slightly has with
+him his home-made whistle to which he capers entrancingly,
+with no audience save a Never ostrich
+which is also musically inclined. Unable to imitate
+Slightly’s graces the bird falls so low as to burlesque
+them and is driven from the entertainment.
+Other lost boys climb up the trunks or drop from
+branches, and now we see the six of them, all in the
+skins of animals they think they have shot, and so
+round and furry in them that if they fall they roll.
+Tootles is not the least brave though the most unfortunate
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span>of this gallant band. He has been in
+fewer adventures than any of them because the big
+things constantly happen while he has stepped
+round the corner; he will go off, for instance, in
+some quiet hour to gather firewood, and then when
+he returns the others will be sweeping up the blood.
+Instead of souring his nature this has sweetened
+it and he is the humblest of the band. Nibs is more
+gay and debonair, Slightly more conceited. Slightly
+thinks he remembers the days before he was lost,
+with their manners and customs. Curly is a pickle,
+and so often has he had to deliver up his person
+when Peter said sternly, ‘Stand forth the one who
+did this thing,’ that now he stands forth whether he
+has done it or not. The other two are First Twin
+and Second Twin, who cannot be described because
+we should probably be describing the wrong one.
+Hunkering on the ground or peeping out of their
+holes, the six are not unlike village gossips gathered
+round the pump.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> Has Peter come back yet, Slightly?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> (<i>with a solemnity that he thinks suits
+the occasion</i>). No, Tootles, no.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They are like dogs waiting for the master
+to tell them that the day has begun.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CURLY</span> (<i>as if</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>might be listening</i>). I do
+wish he would come back.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> I am always afraid of the pirates
+when Peter is not here to protect us.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> I am not afraid of pirates. Nothing
+frightens me. But I do wish Peter would
+come back and tell us whether he has heard anything
+more about Cinderella.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SECOND TWIN</span> (<i>with diffidence</i>). Slightly, I
+dreamt last night that the prince found Cinderella.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN</span> (<i>who is intellectually the superior
+of the two</i>). Twin, I think you should not have
+dreamt that, for I didn’t, and Peter may say we
+oughtn’t to dream differently, being twins, you
+know.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> I am awfully anxious about Cinderella.
+You see, not knowing anything about my
+own mother I am fond of thinking that she was
+rather like Cinderella.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>This is received with derision.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS.</span> All I remember about my mother is
+that she often said to father, ‘Oh how I wish I
+had a cheque book of my own.’ I don’t know
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span>what a cheque book is, but I should just love to
+give my mother one.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> (<i>as usual</i>). My mother was fonder
+of me than your mothers were of you. (<i>Uproar.</i>)
+Oh yes, she was. Peter had to make up names
+for you, but my mother had wrote my name on
+the pinafore I was lost in. ‘Slightly Soiled’;
+that’s my name.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They fall upon him pugnaciously; not that
+they are really worrying about their mothers,
+who are now as important to them as a piece
+of string, but because any excuse is good
+enough for a shindy. Not for long is he
+belaboured, for a sound is heard that sends
+them scurrying down their holes: in a
+second of time the scene is bereft of human
+life. What they have heard from near-by is
+a verse of the dreadful song with which on
+the Never Land the pirates stealthily
+trumpet their approach—</i></p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <div class="verse indent0">Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">The flag of skull and bones,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">A merry hour, a hempen rope,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">And hey for Davy Jones!</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>The pirates appear upon the frozen river
+dragging a raft, on which reclines among
+cushions that dark and fearful man</i>, <span class="allsmcap">CAPTAIN
+JAS HOOK</span>. <i>A more villainous-looking
+brotherhood of men never hung in a row on
+Execution dock. Here, his great arms bare,
+pieces of eight in his ears as ornaments, is
+the handsome</i> <span class="allsmcap">CECCO</span>, <i>who cut his name on the
+back of the governor of the prison at Gao.
+Heavier in the pull is the gigantic black who
+has had many names since the first one
+terrified dusky children on the banks of the
+Guidjo-mo.</i> <span class="allsmcap">BILL JUKES</span> <i>comes next, every
+inch of him tattooed, the same</i> <span class="allsmcap">JUKES</span> <i>who got
+six dozen on the</i> Walrus <i>from</i> <span class="allsmcap">FLINT</span>. <i>Following
+these are</i> <span class="allsmcap">COOKSON</span>, <i>said to be</i> <span class="allsmcap">BLACK
+MURPHY’S</span> <i>brother (but this was never
+proved); and</i> <span class="allsmcap">GENTLEMAN STARKEY</span>, <i>once an
+usher in a school; and</i> <span class="allsmcap">SKYLIGHTS</span> <i>(Morgan’s
+Skylights); and</i> <span class="allsmcap">NOODLER</span>, <i>whose hands
+are fixed on backwards; and the spectacled
+boatswain</i>, <span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span>, <i>the only Nonconformist in</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">HOOK’S</span> <i>crew; and other ruffians long known
+and feared on the Spanish main</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Cruelest jewel in that dark setting is</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>himself, cadaverous and blackavised,
+his hair dressed in long curls which look
+like black candles about to melt, his eyes
+blue as the forget-me-not and of a profound
+insensibility, save when he claws, at which
+time a red spot appears in them. He has
+an iron hook instead of a right hand, and it
+is with this he claws. He is never more
+sinister than when he is most polite, and the
+elegance of his diction, the distinction of his
+demeanour, show him one of a different
+class from his crew, a solitary among uncultured
+companions. This courtliness impresses
+even his victims on the high seas,
+who note that he always says ‘Sorry’ when
+prodding them along the plank. A man of
+indomitable courage, the only thing at which
+he flinches is the sight of his own blood, which
+is thick and of an unusual colour. At his
+public school they said of him that he ‘bled
+yellow.’ In dress he apes the dandiacal
+associated with Charles II., having heard
+it said in an earlier period of his career that
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span>he bore a strange resemblance to the ill-fated
+Stuarts. A holder of his own contrivance
+is in his mouth enabling him to smoke
+two cigars at once. Those, however, who have
+seen him in the flesh, which is an inadequate
+term for his earthly tenement, agree that the
+grimmest part of him is his iron claw.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They continue their distasteful singing as
+they disembark—</i></p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <div class="verse indent0">Avast, belay, yo ho, heave to,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">A-pirating we go,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">And if we’re parted by a shot</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">We’re sure to meet below!</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS</span>, <i>the only one of the boys who has not
+sought safety in his tree, is seen for a
+moment near the lagoon, and</i> <span class="allsmcap">STARKEY’S</span>
+<i>pistol is at once upraised. The captain
+twists his hook in him.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span> (<i>abject</i>). Captain, let go!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Put back that pistol, first.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY.</span> ’Twas one of those boys you hate;
+I could have shot him dead.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Ay, and the sound would have brought
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span>Tiger Lily’s redskins on us. Do you want to lose
+your scalp?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> (<i>wriggling his cutlass pleasantly</i>). That
+is true. Shall I after him, Captain, and tickle
+him with Johnny Corkscrew? Johnny is a
+silent fellow.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Not now. He is only one, and I want
+to mischief all the seven. Scatter and look for
+them. (<i>The boatswain whistles his instructions,
+and the men disperse on their frightful errand.
+With none to hear save</i> <span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span>, <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>becomes
+confidential</i>.) Most of all I want their captain,
+Peter Pan. ’Twas he cut off my arm. I
+have waited long to shake his hand with this.
+(<i>Luxuriating</i>) Oh, I’ll tear him!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> (<i>always ready for a chat</i>). Yet I have oft
+heard you say your hook was worth a score of
+hands, for combing the hair and other homely
+uses.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> If I was a mother I would pray to have
+my children born with this instead of that (<i>his
+left arm creeps nervously behind him. He has a
+galling remembrance</i>). Smee, Pan flung my arm
+to a crocodile that happened to be passing by.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE.</span> I have often noticed your strange dread
+of crocodiles.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>pettishly</i>). Not of crocodiles but of
+that one crocodile. (<i>He lays bare a lacerated
+heart.</i>) The brute liked my arm so much,
+Smee, that he has followed me ever since, from
+sea to sea, and from land to land, licking his
+lips for the rest of me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> (<i>looking for the bright side</i>). In a way
+it is a sort of compliment.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>with dignity</i>). I want no such compliments;
+I want Peter Pan, who first gave the brute
+his taste for me. Smee, that crocodile would
+have had me before now, but by a lucky chance
+he swallowed a clock, and it goes tick, tick, tick,
+tick inside him; and so before he can reach me
+I hear the tick and bolt. (<i>He emits a hollow
+rumble.</i>) Once I heard it strike six within him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> (<i>sombrely</i>). Some day the clock will run
+down, and then he’ll get you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>a broken man</i>). Ay, that is the fear that
+haunts me. (<i>He rises.</i>) Smee, this seat is hot;
+odds, bobs, hammer and tongs, I am burning.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He has been sitting, he thinks, on one of the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span>island mushrooms, which are of enormous
+size. But this is a hand-painted one placed
+here in times of danger to conceal a chimney.
+They remove it, and tell-tale smoke issues;
+also, alas, the sound of children’s voices.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE.</span> A chimney!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>avidly</i>). Listen! Smee, ’tis plain
+they live here, beneath the ground. (<i>He replaces
+the mushroom. His brain works tortuously.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE.</span> (<i>hopefully</i>). Unrip your plan, Captain.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> To return to the boat and cook a large
+rich cake of jolly thickness with sugar on it,
+green sugar. There can be but one room below,
+for there is but one chimney. The silly moles
+had not the sense to see that they did not need a
+door apiece. We must leave the cake on the
+shore of the mermaids’ lagoon. These boys are
+always swimming about there, trying to catch
+the mermaids. They will find the cake and
+gobble it up, because, having no mother, they
+don’t know how dangerous ’tis to eat rich damp
+cake. They will die!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> (<i>fascinated</i>). It is the wickedest, prettiest
+policy ever I heard of.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>meaning well</i>). Shake hands on ’t.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE.</span> No, Captain, no.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He has to link with the hook, but he does
+not join in the song.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span></p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <div class="verse indent0">Yo ho, yo ho, when I say ‘paw,’</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">By fear they’re overtook,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">Naught’s left upon your bones when you</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">Have shaken hands with Hook!</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>Frightened by a tug at his hand</i>, <span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> <i>is
+joining in the chorus when another sound
+stills them both. It is a tick, tick as of a clock,
+whose significance</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>is, naturally, the
+first to recognise. ‘The crocodile!’ he cries,
+and totters from the scene.</i> <span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> <i>follows.
+A huge crocodile, of one thought compact,
+passes across, ticking, and oozes after them.
+The wood is now so silent that you may be
+sure it is full of redskins.</i> <span class="allsmcap">TIGER LILY</span>
+<i>comes first. She is the belle of the Piccaninny
+tribe, whose braves would all have her
+to wife, but she wards them off with a hatchet.
+She puts her ear to the ground and listens,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span>then beckons, and</i> <span class="allsmcap">GREAT BIG LITTLE
+PANTHER</span> <i>and the tribe are around her,
+carpeting the ground. Far away some one
+treads on a dry leaf.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TIGER LILY.</span> Pirates! (<i>They do not draw their
+knives; the knives slip into their hands.</i>) Have
+um scalps? What you say?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PANTHER</span>. Scalp um, oho, velly quick.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">THE BRAVES</span> (<i>in corroboration</i>). Ugh, ugh, wah.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>A fire is lit and they dance round and over
+it till they seem part of the leaping flames.</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">TIGER LILY</span> <i>invokes Manitou; the pipe
+of peace is broken; and they crawl off
+like a long snake that has not fed for many
+moons</i>. <span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> <i>peers after the tail and
+summons the other boys, who issue from
+their holes</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> They are gone.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> (<i>almost losing confidence in himself</i>).
+I do wish Peter was here.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN.</span> H’sh! What is that? (<i>He is
+gazing at the lagoon and shrinks back.</i>) It is
+wolves, and they are chasing Nibs!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The baying wolves are upon them quicker
+than any boy can scuttle down his tree.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS</span> (<i>falling among his comrades</i>). Save me,
+save me!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> What should we do?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SECOND TWIN.</span> What would Peter do?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> Peter would look at them through
+his legs; let us do what Peter would do.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The boys advance backwards, looking between
+their legs at the snarling red-eyed
+enemy, who trot away foiled.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN</span> (<i>swaggering</i>). We have saved you,
+Nibs. Did you see the pirates?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS</span> (<i>sitting up, and agreeably aware that the
+centre of interest is now to pass to him</i>). No, but
+I saw a wonderfuller thing, Twin. (<i>All mouths
+open for the information to be dropped into them.</i>)
+High over the lagoon I saw the loveliest great
+white bird. It is flying this way. (<i>They search
+the firmament.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> What kind of a bird, do you think?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS</span> (<i>awed</i>). I don’t know; but it looked so
+weary, and as it flies it moans ‘Poor Wendy.’</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> (<i>instantly</i>). I remember now there
+are birds called Wendies.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN</span> (<i>who has flown to a high branch</i>).
+See, it comes, the Wendy! (<i>They all see it now.</i>)
+How white it is! (<i>A dot of light is pursuing the
+bird malignantly.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> That is Tinker Bell. Tink is trying
+to hurt the Wendy. (<i>He makes a cup of his
+hands and calls</i>) Hullo, Tink! (<i>A response
+comes down in the fairy language.</i>) She says
+Peter wants us to shoot the Wendy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS.</span> Let us do what Peter wishes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> Ay, shoot it; quick, bows and
+arrows.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> (<i>first with his bow</i>). Out of the way,
+Tink; I’ll shoot it. (<i>His bolt goes home, and</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>, <i>who has been fluttering among the tree-tops
+in her white nightgown, falls straight to
+earth. No one could be more proud than</i> <span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span>.)
+I have shot the Wendy; Peter will be so
+pleased. (<i>From some tree on which</i> <span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>is roosting
+comes the tinkle we can now translate, ‘You
+silly ass.’</i> <span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> <i>falters</i>.) Why do you say
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span>that? (<i>The others feel that he may have blundered,
+and draw away from</i> <span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span>.)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> (<i>examining the fallen one more
+minutely</i>). This is no bird; I think it must be
+a lady.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS</span> (<i>who would have preferred it to be a
+bird</i>). And Tootles has killed her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CURLY.</span> Now I see, Peter was bringing her to
+us. (<i>They wonder for what object.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SECOND TWIN.</span> To take care of us? (<i>Undoubtedly
+for some diverting purpose.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">OMNES</span> (<i>though every one of them had wanted
+to have a shot at her</i>). Oh, Tootles!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> (<i>gulping</i>). I did it. When ladies
+used to come to me in dreams I said ‘Pretty
+mother,’ but when she really came I shot her!
+(<i>He perceives the necessity of a solitary life for
+him.</i>) Friends, good-bye.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SEVERAL</span> (<i>not very enthusiastic</i>). Don’t go.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> I must; I am so afraid of Peter.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He has gone but a step toward oblivion
+when he is stopped by a crowing as of some
+victorious cock.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">OMNES.</span> Peter!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They make a paling of themselves in front
+of</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>as</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>skims round the tree-tops
+and reaches earth.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Greeting, boys! (<i>Their silence chafes
+him.</i>) I am back; why do you not cheer?
+Great news, boys, I have brought at last a
+mother for us all.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> (<i>vaguely</i>). Ay, ay.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> She flew this way; have you not
+seen her?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SECOND TWIN</span> (<i>as</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>evidently thinks her
+important</i>). Oh mournful day!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> (<i>making a break in the paling</i>). Peter,
+I will show her to you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">THE OTHERS</span> (<i>closing the gap</i>). No, no.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> (<i>majestically</i>). Stand back all, and
+let Peter see.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The paling dissolves, and</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>sees</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>prone on the ground</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Wendy, with an arrow in her heart!
+(<i>He plucks it out.</i>) Wendy is dead. (<i>He is not
+so much pained as puzzled.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CURLY.</span> I thought it was only flowers that die.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Perhaps she is frightened at being
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span>dead? (<i>None of them can say as to that.</i>) Whose
+arrow? (<i>Not one of them looks at</i> <span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span>.)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> Mine, Peter.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>raising it as a dagger</i>). Oh dastard
+hand!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> (<i>kneeling and baring his breast</i>).
+Strike, Peter; strike true.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>undergoing a singular experience</i>). I
+cannot strike; there is something stays my hand.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>In fact</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY’S</span> <i>arm has risen</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS.</span> ’Tis she, the Wendy lady. See, her
+arm. (<i>To help a friend</i>) I think she said ‘Poor
+Tootles.’</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>investigating</i>). She lives!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> (<i>authoritatively</i>). The Wendy lady
+lives.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The delightful feeling that they have been
+cleverer than they thought comes over them
+and they applaud themselves.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>holding up a button that is attached to
+her chain</i>). See, the arrow struck against this. It
+is a kiss I gave her; it has saved her life.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> I remember kisses; let me see it.
+(<i>He takes it in his hand.</i>) Ay, that is a kiss.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Wendy, get better quickly and I’ll
+take you to see the mermaids. She is awfully
+anxious to see a mermaid.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">TINKER BELL</span>, <i>who may have been off visiting
+her relations, returns to the wood and,
+under the impression that</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>has been
+got rid of, is whistling as gaily as a canary.
+She is not wholly heartless, but is so small
+that she has only room for one feeling at a
+time.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CURLY.</span> Listen to Tink rejoicing because she
+thinks the Wendy is dead! (<i>Regardless of spoiling
+another’s pleasure</i>) Tink, the Wendy lives.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>gives expression to fury.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SECOND TWIN</span> (<i>tell-tale</i>). It was she who said
+that you wanted us to shoot the Wendy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> She said that? Then listen, Tink, I
+am your friend no more. (<i>There is a note of
+acerbity in</i> <span class="allsmcap">TINK’S</span> <i>reply; it may mean ‘Who
+wants you?’</i>) Begone from me for ever. (<i>Now
+it is a very wet tinkle.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CURLY.</span> She is crying.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> She says she is your fairy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>who knows they are not worth worrying
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span>about</i>). Oh well, not for ever, but for a whole
+week.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>goes off sulking, no doubt with the
+intention of giving all her friends an entirely
+false impression of</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY’S</span> <i>appearance</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Now what shall we do with Wendy?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CURLY.</span> Let us carry her down into the house.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> Ay, that is what one does with
+ladies.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> No, you must not touch her; it
+wouldn’t be sufficiently respectful.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> That is what I was thinking.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> But if she lies there she will die.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> Ay, she will die. It is a pity, but
+there is no way out.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Yes, there is. Let us build a house
+around her! (<i>Cheers again, meaning that no
+difficulty baffles</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>.) Leave all to me. Bring
+the best of what we have. Gut our house. Be
+sharp. (<i>They race down their trees.</i>)</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>While</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>is engrossed in measuring</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>so that the house may fit her</i>, <span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span>
+<i>and</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span>, <i>who have probably landed on
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span>the island with a bump, wander forward,
+so draggled and tired that if you were to ask</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> <i>whether he is awake or asleep he
+would probably answer ‘I haven’t tried yet.’</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>bewildered</i>). John, John, wake up.
+Where is Nana, John?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>with the help of one eye but not always
+the same eye</i>). It is true, we did fly! (<i>Thankfully</i>)
+And here is Peter. Peter, is this the place?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>, <i>alas, has already forgotten them, as
+soon maybe he will forget</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>. <i>The
+first thing she should do now that she is here
+is to sew a handkerchief for him, and knot
+it as a jog to his memory.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>curtly</i>). Yes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> Where is Wendy? (<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>points</i>.)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>who still wears his hat</i>). She is asleep.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> John, let us wake her and get her
+to make supper for us.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>Some of the boys emerge, and he pinches
+one.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>John, look at them!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>still house-building</i>). Curly, see that
+these boys help in the building of the house.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Build a house?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CURLY.</span> For the Wendy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>feeling that there must be some mistake
+here</i>). For Wendy? Why, she is only a girl.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CURLY.</span> That is why we are her servants.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>dazed</i>). Are you Wendy’s servants?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Yes, and you also. Away with them.
+(<i>In another moment they are woodsmen hacking
+at trees, with</i> <span class="allsmcap">CURLY</span> <i>as overseer</i>.) Slightly, fetch
+a doctor. (<span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> <i>reels and goes. He returns
+professionally in</i> <span class="allsmcap">JOHN’S</span> <i>hat</i>.) Please, sir, are
+you a doctor?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> (<i>trembling in his desire to give
+satisfaction</i>). Yes, my little man.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Please, sir, a lady lies very ill.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> (<i>taking care not to fall over her</i>).
+Tut, tut, where does she lie?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> In yonder glade. (<i>It is a variation of
+a game they play.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> I will put a glass thing in her
+mouth. (<i>He inserts an imaginary thermometer
+in</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY’S</span> <i>mouth and gives it a moment to record
+its verdict. He shakes it and then consults it.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>anxiously</i>). How is she?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> Tut, tut, this has cured her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>leaping joyously</i>). I am glad.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> I will call again in the evening.
+Give her beef tea out of a cup with a spout to it,
+tut, tut.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The boys are running up with odd articles
+of furniture.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>with an already fading recollection of
+the Darling nursery</i>). These are not good
+enough for Wendy. How I wish I knew the
+kind of house she would prefer!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN.</span> Peter, she is moving in her sleep.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> (<i>opening</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY’S</span> <i>mouth and gazing
+down into the depths</i>). Lovely!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Oh, Wendy, if you could sing the kind
+of house you would like to have.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>It is as if she had heard him.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>without opening her eyes</i>).</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <div class="verse indent0">I wish I had a woodland house,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">The littlest ever seen,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">With funny little red walls</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">And roof of mossy green.</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>In the time she sings this and two other
+verses, such is the urgency of</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER’S</span> <i>silent
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span>orders that they have knocked down trees,
+laid a foundation and put up the walls and
+roof, so that she is now hidden from view.
+‘Windows,’ cries</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>, <i>and</i> <span class="allsmcap">CURLY</span> <i>rushes
+them in, ‘Roses,’ and</i> <span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> <i>arrives
+breathless with a festoon for the door. Thus
+springs into existence the most delicious
+little house for beginners.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN.</span> I think it is finished.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> There is no knocker on the door.
+(<span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> <i>hangs up the sole of his shoe</i>.) There
+is no chimney; we must have a chimney.
+(<i>They await his deliberations anxiously.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>unwisely critical</i>). It certainly does
+need a chimney.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He is again wearing his hat, which</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>
+<i>seizes, knocks the top off it and places on the
+roof. In the friendliest way smoke begins
+to come out of the hat.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>with his hand on the knocker</i>). All
+look your best; the first impression is awfully important.
+(<i>He knocks, and after a dreadful
+moment of suspense, in which they cannot help
+wondering if any one is inside, the door opens
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span>and who should come out but</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>! <i>She has
+evidently been tidying a little. She is quite surprised
+to find that she has nine children.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>genteelly</i>). Where am I?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> Wendy lady, for you we built this
+house.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS</span> and <span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span>. Oh, say you are pleased.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>stroking the pretty thing</i>). Lovely,
+darling house!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN.</span> And we are your children.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>affecting surprise</i>). Oh?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">OMNES</span> (<i>kneeling, with outstretched arms</i>).
+Wendy lady, be our mother! (<i>Now that they
+know it is pretend they acclaim her greedily.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>not to make herself too cheap</i>). Ought
+I? Of course it is frightfully fascinating; but
+you see I am only a little girl; I have no real
+experience.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">OMNES.</span> That doesn’t matter. What we need
+is just a nice motherly person.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Oh dear, I feel that is just exactly
+what I am.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">OMNES.</span> It is, it is, we saw it at once.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Very well then, I will do my best.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span>(<i>In their glee they go dancing obstreperously
+round the little house, and she sees she must be
+firm with them as well as kind.</i>) Come inside at
+once, you naughty children, I am sure your feet
+are damp. And before I put you to bed I have
+just time to finish the story of Cinderella.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They all troop into the enchanting house,
+whose not least remarkable feature is that it
+holds them. A vision of</i> <span class="allsmcap">LIZA</span> <i>passes, not
+perhaps because she has any right to be
+there; but she has so few pleasures and is
+so young that we just let her have a peep
+at the little house. By and by</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>
+<i>comes out and marches up and down with
+drawn sword, for the pirates can be heard
+carousing far away on the lagoon, and the
+wolves are on the prowl. The little house,
+its walls so red and its roof so mossy, looks
+very cosy and safe, with a bright light showing
+through the blind, the chimney smoking
+beautifully, and</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>on guard. On our
+last sight of him it is so dark that we just
+guess he is the little figure who has fallen
+asleep by the door. Dots of light come and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span>go. They are inquisitive fairies having
+a look at the house. Any other child in
+their way they would mischief, but they just
+tweak</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER’S</span> <i>nose and pass on. Fairies,
+you see, can touch him.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_III">
+    ACT III
+
+
+  </h2>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[Pg 76]</span></p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[Pg 77]</span></p>
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_III_1">
+    ACT III<br>
+    <br>
+    THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><i>It is the end of a long playful day on the lagoon.
+The sun’s rays have persuaded him to give them
+another five minutes, for one more race over the
+waters before he gathers them up and lets in the
+moon. There are many mermaids here, going plop-plop,
+and one might attempt to count the tails
+did they not flash and disappear so quickly. At
+times a lovely girl leaps in the air seeking to get rid
+of her excess of scales, which fall in a silver shower
+as she shakes them off. From the coral grottoes beneath
+the lagoon, where are the mermaids’ bedchambers,
+comes fitful music.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>One of the most bewitching of these blue-eyed
+creatures is lying lazily on Marooners’ Rock, combing
+her long tresses and noting effects in a transparent
+shell. Peter and his band are in the water
+unseen behind the rock, whither they have tracked
+her as if she were a trout, and at a signal ten pairs
+of arms come whack upon the mermaid to enclose
+her. Alas, this is only what was meant to happen,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span>for she hears the signal (which is the crow of a
+cock) and slips through their arms into the water.
+It has been such a near thing that there are scales
+on some of their hands. They climb on to the rock
+crestfallen.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>preserving her scales as carefully as if
+they were rare postage stamps</i>). I did so want
+to catch a mermaid.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>getting rid of his</i>). It is awfully difficult
+to catch a mermaid.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The mermaids at times find it just as
+difficult to catch him, though he sometimes
+joins them in their one game, which consists
+in lazily blowing their bubbles into the air
+and seeing who can catch them. The
+number of bubbles</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>has flown away
+with! When the weather grows cold
+mermaids migrate to the other side of the
+world, and he once went with a great shoal
+of them half the way.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>They are such cruel creatures, Wendy, that they
+try to pull boys and girls like you into the water
+and drown them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>too guarded by this time to ask what he
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span>means precisely by ‘like you,’ though she is very
+desirous of knowing</i>). How hateful!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>She is slightly different in appearance now,
+rather rounder, while</i> <span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> <i>and</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span>
+<i>are not quite so round. The reason is that
+when new lost children arrive at his underground
+home</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>finds new trees for
+them to go up and down by, and instead of
+fitting the tree to them he makes them fit the
+tree. Sometimes it can be done by adding or
+removing garments, but if you are bumpy,
+or the tree is an odd shape, he has things done
+to you with a roller, and after that you fit.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The other boys are now playing King
+of the Castle, throwing each other into the
+water, taking headers and so on; but these
+two continue to talk.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Wendy, this is a fearfully important
+rock. It is called Marooners’ Rock. Sailors are
+marooned, you know, when their captain leaves
+them on a rock and sails away.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Leaves them on this little rock to
+drown?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>lightly</i>). Oh, they don’t live long.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span>Their hands are tied, so that they can’t swim.
+When the tide is full this rock is covered with
+water, and then the sailor drowns.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>is uneasy as she surveys the rock,
+which is the only one in the lagoon and no
+larger than a table. Since she last looked
+around a threatening change has come over
+the scene. The sun has gone, but the moon
+has not come. What has come is a cold
+shiver across the waters which has sent all
+the wiser mermaids to their coral recesses.
+They know that evil is creeping over the
+lagoon. Of the boys</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>is of course
+the first to scent it, and he has leapt to his
+feet before the words strike the rock—</i></p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <div class="verse indent0">‘And if we’re parted by a shot</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">We’re sure to meet below.’</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p><i>The games on the rock and around it end so
+abruptly that several divers are checked in
+the air. There they hang waiting for the
+word of command from</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>. <i>When they
+get it they strike the water simultaneously,
+and the rock is at once as bare as if suddenly
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span>they had been blown off it. Thus the
+pirates find it deserted when their dinghy
+strikes the rock and is nearly stove in by
+the concussion.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE.</span> Luff, you spalpeen, luff! (<i>They are</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> <i>and</i> <span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span>, <i>with</i> <span class="allsmcap">TIGER LILY</span>, <i>their captive,
+bound hand and foot</i>.) What we have got
+to do is to hoist the redskin on to the rock and
+leave her there to drown.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>To one of her race this is an end darker than
+death by fire or torture, for it is written in
+the laws of the Piccaninnies that there is no
+path through water to the happy hunting
+ground. Yet her face is impassive; she is
+the daughter of a chief and must die as a
+chief’s daughter; it is enough.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span> (<i>chagrined because she does not mewl</i>).
+No mewling. This is your reward for prowling
+round the ship with a knife in your mouth.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TIGER LILY</span> (<i>stoically</i>). Enough said.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> (<i>who would have preferred a farewell
+palaver</i>). So that’s it! On to the rock with
+her, mate.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span> (<i>experiencing for perhaps the last
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span>time the stirrings of a man</i>). Not so rough,
+Smee; roughish, but not so rough.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> (<i>dragging her on to the rock</i>). It is the
+captain’s orders.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>A stave has in some past time been driven
+into the rock, probably to mark the burial
+place of hidden treasure, and to this they
+moor the dinghy.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>in the water</i>). Poor Tiger Lily!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY.</span> What was that? (<i>The children
+bob.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>who can imitate the captain’s voice so
+perfectly that even the author has a dizzy feeling
+that at times he was really</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span>). Ahoy there,
+you lubbers!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY.</span> It is the captain; he must be
+swimming out to us.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> (<i>calling</i>). We have put the redskin on
+the rock, Captain.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Set her free.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE.</span> But, Captain——</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Cut her bonds, or I’ll plunge my
+hook in you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE.</span> This is queer!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span> (<i>unmanned</i>). Let us follow the
+captain’s orders.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They undo the thongs and</i> <span class="allsmcap">TIGER LILY</span>
+<i>slides between their legs into the lagoon, forgetting
+in her haste to utter her war-cry,
+but</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>utters it for her, so naturally that
+even the lost boys are deceived. It is at this
+moment that the voice of the true</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>is
+heard</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Boat ahoy!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> (<i>relieved</i>). It is the captain.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>is swimming, and they help him to
+scale the rock. He is in gloomy mood.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY.</span> Captain, is all well?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE.</span> He sighs.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY.</span> He sighs again.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> (<i>counting</i>). And yet a third time he
+sighs. (<i>With foreboding</i>) What’s up, Captain?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>who has perhaps found the large rich
+damp cake untouched</i>). The game is up. Those
+boys have found a mother!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY.</span> Oh evil day!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE.</span> What is a mother?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>horrified</i>). He doesn’t know!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>sharply</i>). What was that?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>makes the splash of a mermaid’s
+tail</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY.</span> One of them mermaids.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Dost not know, Smee? A mother is—(<i>he
+finds it more difficult to explain than he had
+expected, and looks about him for an illustration.
+He finds one in a great bird which drifts past in a
+nest as large as the roomiest basin.</i>) There is a
+lesson in mothers for you! The nest must have
+fallen into the water, but would the bird desert
+her eggs? (<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>, <i>who is now more or less off his
+head, makes the sound of a bird answering in the
+negative. The nest is borne out of sight.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY.</span> Maybe she is hanging about here
+to protect Peter?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">HOOK’S</span> <i>face clouds still further and</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>
+<i>just manages not to call out that he needs
+no protection</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> (<i>not usually a man of ideas</i>). Captain,
+could we not kidnap these boys’ mother and
+make her our mother?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Obesity and bunions, ’tis a princely
+scheme. We will seize the children, make them
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span>walk the plank, and Wendy shall be our
+mother!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Never! (<i>Another splash from</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>.)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> What say you, bullies?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE.</span> There is my hand on ’t.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY.</span> And mine.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> And there is my hook. Swear. (<i>All
+swear.</i>) But I had forgot; where is the redskin?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> (<i>shaken</i>). That is all right, Captain; we
+let her go.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>terrible</i>). Let her go?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE.</span> ’Twas your own orders, Captain.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span> (<i>whimpering</i>). You called over the
+water to us to let her go.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Brimstone and gall, what cozening is
+here? (<i>Disturbed by their faithful faces</i>) Lads,
+I gave no such order.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE.</span> ’Tis passing queer.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>addressing the immensities</i>). Spirit
+that haunts this dark lagoon to-night, dost
+hear me?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>in the same voice</i>). Odds, bobs, hammer
+and tongs, I hear you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>gripping the stave for support</i>). Who
+are you, stranger, speak.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>who is only too ready to speak</i>). I am
+Jas Hook, Captain of the <i>Jolly Roger</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>now white to the gills</i>). No, no, you are
+not.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Brimstone and gall, say that again
+and I’ll cast anchor in you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> If you are Hook, come tell me, who
+am I?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> A codfish, only a codfish.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>aghast</i>). A codfish?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> (<i>drawing back from him</i>). Have we been
+captained all this time by a codfish?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY.</span> It’s lowering to our pride.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>feeling that his ego is slipping from
+him</i>). Don’t desert me, bullies.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>top-heavy</i>). Paw, fish, paw!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>There is a touch of the feminine in</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span>, <i>as in all the greatest pirates,
+and it prompts him to try the guessing
+game</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Have you another name?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>falling to the lure</i>). Ay, ay.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>thirstily</i>). Vegetable?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> No.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Mineral?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> No.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Animal?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>after a hurried consultation with</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span>). Yes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Man?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>with scorn</i>). No.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Boy?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Yes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Ordinary boy?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> No!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Wonderful boy?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>to</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY’S</span> <i>distress</i>). Yes!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Are you in England?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> No.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Are you here?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Yes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>beaten, though he feels he has very
+nearly got it</i>). Smee, you ask him some questions.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> (<i>rummaging his brains</i>). I can’t think
+of a thing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Can’t guess, can’t guess! (<i>Foundering
+in his cockiness</i>) Do you give it up?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>eagerly</i>). Yes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> All of you?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span> and <span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span>. Yes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>crowing</i>). Well, then, I am Peter
+Pan!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>Now they have him.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Pan! Into the water, Smee. Starkey,
+mind the boat. Take him dead or alive!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>who still has all his baby teeth</i>). Boys,
+lam into the pirates!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>For a moment the only two we can see are
+in the dinghy, where</i> <span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> <i>throws himself
+on</i> <span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span>. <span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span> <i>wriggles into the
+lagoon and</i> <span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> <i>leaps so quickly after him
+that he reaches it first. The impression left
+on</i> <span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span> <i>is that he is being attacked by
+the</i> <span class="allsmcap">TWINS</span>. <i>The water becomes stained.
+The dinghy drifts away. Here and there
+a head shows in the water, and once it is
+the head of the crocodile. In the growing
+gloom some strike at their friends</i>, <span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span>
+<i>getting</i> <span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> <i>in the fourth rib while he
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span>himself is pinked by</i> <span class="allsmcap">CURLY</span>. <i>It looks as if
+the boys were getting the worse of it, which
+is perhaps just as well at this point, because</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>, <i>who will be the determining factor in
+the end, has a perplexing way of changing
+sides if he is winning too easily</i>. <span class="allsmcap">HOOK’S</span>
+<i>iron claw makes a circle of black water
+round him from which opponents flee like
+fishes. There is only one prepared to enter
+that dreadful circle. His name is</i> <span class="allsmcap">PAN</span>.
+<i>Strangely, it is not in the water that they
+meet.</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>has risen to the rock to breathe,
+and at the same moment</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>scales it on
+the opposite side. The rock is now wet and
+as slippery as a ball, and they have to crawl
+rather than climb. Suddenly they are face
+to face.</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>gnashes his pretty teeth
+with joy, and is gathering himself for the
+spring when he sees he is higher up the rock
+than his foe. Courteously he waits</i>; <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span>
+<i>sees his intention, and taking advantage of
+it claws twice</i>. <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>is untouched, but unfairness
+is what he never can get used to, and
+in his bewilderment he rolls off the rock.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span>The crocodile, whose tick has been drowned
+in the strife, rears its jaws, and</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span>, <i>who
+has almost stepped into them, is pursued by
+it to land. All is quiet on the lagoon now,
+not a sound save little waves nibbling at the
+rock, which is smaller than when we last
+looked at it. Two boys appear with the
+dinghy, and the others despite their wounds
+climb into it. They send the cry ‘Peter—Wendy’
+across the waters, but no answer
+comes.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS.</span> They must be swimming home.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Or flying.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN.</span> Yes, that is it. Let us be off
+and call to them as we go.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The dinghy disappears with its load, whose
+hearts would sink it if they knew of the peril
+of</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>and her captain. From near and
+far away come the cries ‘Peter—Wendy’
+till we no longer hear them.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Two small figures are now on the rock,
+but they have fainted. A mermaid who has
+dared to come back in the stillness stretches
+up her arms and is slowly pulling</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span><i>into the water to drown her</i>. <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>starts
+up just in time</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Peter!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He rouses himself and looks around him.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Where are we, Peter?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> We are on the rock, but it is getting
+smaller. Soon the water will be over it. Listen!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They can hear the wash of the relentless
+little waves.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> We must go.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Yes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Shall we swim or fly?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Wendy, do you think you could swim
+or fly to the island without me?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> You know I couldn’t, Peter; I am
+just a beginner.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Hook wounded me twice. (<i>He believes
+it; he is so good at pretend that he feels the
+pain, his arms hang limp.</i>) I can neither swim
+nor fly.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Do you mean we shall both be
+drowned?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Look how the water is rising!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They cover their faces with their hands.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span>Something touches</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>as lightly as a
+kiss</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>with little interest</i>). It must be the tail
+of the kite we made for Michael; you remember
+it tore itself out of his hands and floated away.
+(<i>He looks up and sees the kite sailing overhead.</i>)
+The kite! Why shouldn’t it carry you? (<i>He
+grips the tail and pulls, and the kite responds.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Both of us!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> It can’t lift two. Michael and Curly
+tried.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>She knows very well that if it can lift her it
+can lift him also, for she has been told by the
+boys as a deadly secret that one of the queer
+things about him is that he is no weight at
+all. But it is a forbidden subject.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> I won’t go without you. Let us
+draw lots which is to stay behind.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> And you a lady, never! (<i>The tail is
+in her hands, and the kite is tugging hard. She
+holds out her mouth to</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>, <i>but he knows they
+cannot do that</i>.) Ready, Wendy!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The kite draws her out of sight across the
+lagoon.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>The waters are lapping over the rock now,
+and</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>knows that it will soon be submerged.
+Pale rays of light mingle with the
+moving clouds, and from the coral grottoes is
+to be heard a sound, at once the most musical
+and the most melancholy in the Never Land,
+the mermaids calling to the moon to rise.</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>is afraid at last, and a tremor runs
+through him, like a shudder passing over
+the lagoon; but on the lagoon one shudder
+follows another till there are hundreds of
+them, and he feels just the one.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>with a drum beating in his breast as if
+he were a real boy at last</i>). To die will be an
+awfully big adventure.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The blind rises again, and the lagoon is now
+suffused with moonlight. He is on the rock
+still, but the water is over his feet. The nest
+is borne nearer, and the bird, after cooing
+a message to him, leaves it and wings her
+way upwards.</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>, <i>who knows the bird
+language, slips into the nest, first removing
+the two eggs and placing them in</i> <span class="allsmcap">STARKEY’S</span>
+<i>hat, which has been left on the stave. The
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span>hat drifts away from the rock, but he uses
+the stave as a mast. The wind is driving
+him toward the open sea. He takes off his
+shirt, which he had forgotten to remove while
+bathing, and unfurls it as a sail. His
+vessel tacks, and he passes from sight,
+naked and victorious. The bird returns
+and sits on the hat.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_IV">
+    ACT IV
+
+
+  </h2>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[Pg 96]</span></p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[Pg 97]</span></p>
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_IV_1">
+    ACT IV<br>
+    <br>
+    THE HOME UNDER THE GROUND
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><i>We see simultaneously the home under the ground
+with the children in it and the wood above ground
+with the redskins on it. Below, the children are
+gobbling their evening meal; above, the redskins are
+squatting in their blankets near the little house
+guarding the children from the pirates. The only
+way of communicating between these two parties is
+by means of the hollow trees.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The home has an earthen floor, which is handy
+for digging in if you want to go fishing; and owing
+to there being so many entrances there is not much
+wall space. The table at which the lost ones are
+sitting is a board on top of a live tree trunk, which
+has been cut flat but has such growing pains that
+the board rises as they eat, and they have sometimes
+to pause in their meals to cut a bit more off
+the trunk. Their seats are pumpkins or the large
+gay mushrooms of which we have seen an imitation
+one concealing the chimney. There is an enormous
+fireplace which is in almost any part of the room
+where you care to light it, and across this Wendy
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span>has stretched strings, made of fibre, from which she
+hangs her washing. There are also various tomfool
+things in the room of no use whatever.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Michael’s basket bed is nailed high up on the wall
+as if to protect him from the cat, but there is no
+indication at present of where the others sleep. At
+the back between two of the tree trunks is a grindstone,
+and near it is a lovely hole, the size of a
+band-box, with a gay curtain drawn across so that
+you cannot see what is inside. This is Tink’s withdrawing-room
+and bed-chamber, and it is just as
+well that you cannot see inside, for it is so exquisite
+in its decoration and in the personal apparel
+spread out on the bed that you could scarcely
+resist making off with something. Tink is within at
+present, as one can guess from a glow showing
+through the chinks. It is her own glow, for though
+she has a chandelier for the look of the thing, of
+course she lights her residence herself. She is probably
+wasting valuable time just now wondering
+whether to put on the smoky blue or the apple-blossom.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>All the boys except Peter are here, and Wendy
+has the head of the table, smiling complacently at
+their captivating ways, but doing her best at the
+same time to see that they keep the rules about
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span>hands-off-the-table, no-two-to-speak-at-once, and so
+on. She is wearing romantic woodland garments,
+sewn by herself, with red berries in her hair which
+go charmingly with her complexion, as she knows;
+indeed she searched for red berries the morning
+after she reached the island. The boys are in picturesque
+attire of her contrivance, and if these don’t
+always fit well the fault is not hers but the wearers’,
+for they constantly put on each other’s things when
+they put on anything at all. Michael is in his
+cradle on the wall. First Twin is apart on a high
+stool and wears a dunce’s cap, another invention of
+Wendy’s, but not wholly successful because everybody
+wants to be dunce.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It is a pretend meal this evening, with nothing
+whatever on the table, not a mug, nor a crust, nor a
+spoon. They often have these suppers and like
+them on occasions as well as the other kind, which
+consist chiefly of bread-fruit, tappa rolls, yams,
+mammee apples and banana splash, washed down
+with calabashes of poe-poe. The pretend meals are
+not Wendy’s idea; indeed she was rather startled to
+find, on arriving, that Peter knew of no other kind,
+and she is not absolutely certain even now that he
+does eat the other kind, though no one appears to
+do it more heartily. He insists that the pretend
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span>meals should be partaken of with gusto, and we see
+his band doing their best to obey orders.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>her fingers to her ears, for their chatter
+and clatter are deafening</i>). Si-lence! Is your
+mug empty, Slightly?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> (<i>who would not say this if he had a
+mug</i>). Not quite empty, thank you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS.</span> Mummy, he has not even begun to
+drink his poe-poe.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> (<i>seizing his chance, for this is tale-bearing</i>).
+I complain of Nibs!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> <i>holds up his hand</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Well, John?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> May I sit in Peter’s chair as he is not
+here?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> In your father’s chair? Certainly
+not.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> He is not really our father. He did
+not even know how to be a father till I showed
+him.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>This is insubordination.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SECOND TWIN.</span> I complain of John!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The gentle</i> <span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> <i>raises his hand</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> (<i>who has the poorest opinion of himself</i>).
+I don’t suppose Michael would let me be
+baby?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> No, I won’t.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> May I be dunce?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN</span> (<i>from his perch</i>). No. It’s
+awfully difficult to be dunce.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> As I can’t be anything important
+would any of you like to see me do a trick?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">OMNES.</span> No.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> (<i>subsiding</i>). I hadn’t really any hope.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The tale-telling breaks out again.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS.</span> Slightly is coughing on the table.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CURLY.</span> The twins began with tappa rolls.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> I complain of Nibs!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS.</span> I complain of Slightly!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Oh dear, I am sure I sometimes
+think that spinsters are to be envied.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> Wendy, I am too big for a cradle.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> You are the littlest, and a cradle is
+such a nice homely thing to have about a house.
+You others can clear away now. (<i>She sits down on
+a pumpkin near the fire to her usual evening occupation,
+darning.</i>) Every heel with a hole in it!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The boys clear away with dispatch, washing
+dishes they don’t have in a non-existent sink
+and stowing them in a cupboard that isn’t
+there. Instead of sawing the table-leg to-night
+they crush it into the ground like a
+concertina, and are now ready for play, in
+which they indulge hilariously.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A movement of the Indians draws our attention
+to the scene above. Hitherto, with the
+exception of</i> <span class="allsmcap">PANTHER</span>, <i>who sits on guard on
+top of the little house, they have been hunkering
+in their blankets, mute but picturesque;
+now all rise and prostrate themselves before
+the majestic figure of</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>, <i>who approaches
+through the forest carrying a gun and game
+bag. It is not exactly a gun. He often
+wanders away alone with this weapon, and
+when he comes back you are never absolutely
+certain whether he has had an adventure or
+not. He may have forgotten it so completely
+that he says nothing about it; and
+then when you go out you find the body. On
+the other hand he may say a great deal about
+it, and yet you never find the body. Sometimes
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span>he comes home with his face scratched,
+and tells</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>, <i>as a thing of no importance,
+that he got these marks from the
+little people for cheeking them at a fairy
+wedding, and she listens politely, but she
+is never quite sure, you know; indeed the
+only one who is sure about anything on the
+island is</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> The Great White Father is glad to
+see the Piccaninny braves protecting his wigwam
+from the pirates.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TIGER LILY.</span> The Great White Father save
+me from pirates. Me his velly nice friend now;
+no let pirates hurt him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">BRAVES.</span> Ugh, ugh, wah!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TIGER LILY.</span> Tiger Lily has spoken.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PANTHER.</span> Loola, loola! Great Big Little
+Panther has spoken.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> It is well. The Great White Father
+has spoken.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>This has a note of finality about it, with the
+implied ‘And now shut up,’ which is never
+far from the courteous receptions of well-meaning
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span>inferiors by born leaders of men. He
+descends his tree, not unheard by</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Children, I hear your father’s step.
+He likes you to meet him at the door. (<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>
+<i>scatters pretend nuts among them and watches
+sharply to see that they crunch with relish</i>.)
+Peter, you just spoil them, you know!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>who would be incredulous if he dare</i>).
+Any sport, Peter?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Two tigers and a pirate.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>boldly</i>). Where are their heads?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>contracting his little brows</i>). In the
+bag.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> (<i>No, he doesn’t say it. He backs away.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>peeping into the bag</i>). They are
+beauties! (<i>She has learned her lesson.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN.</span> Mummy, we all want to dance.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> The mother of such an armful dance!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> As it is Saturday night?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They have long lost count of the days, but
+always if they want to do anything special
+they say this is Saturday night, and then
+they do it.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Of course it is Saturday night,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span>Peter? (<i>He shrugs an indifferent assent.</i>) On
+with your nighties first.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They disappear into various recesses, and</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>and</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>with her darning are
+left by the fire to dodder parentally. She
+emphasises it by humming a verse of
+‘John Anderson my Jo,’ which has not the
+desired effect on</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>. <i>She is too loving
+to be ignorant that he is not loving enough,
+and she hesitates like one who knows the
+answer to her question.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>What is wrong, Peter?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>scared</i>). It is only pretend, isn’t it,
+that I am their father?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>drooping</i>). Oh yes.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>His sigh of relief is without consideration
+for her feelings.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>But they are ours, Peter, yours and mine.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>determined to get at facts, the only
+things that puzzle him</i>). But not really?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Not if you don’t wish it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> I don’t.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>knowing she ought not to probe but
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span>driven to it by something within</i>). What are your
+exact feelings for me, Peter?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>in the class-room</i>). Those of a devoted
+son, Wendy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>turning away</i>). I thought so.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> You are so puzzling. Tiger Lily
+is just the same; there is something or other
+she wants to be to me, but she says it is not my
+mother.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>with spirit</i>). No, indeed it isn’t.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Then what is it?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> It isn’t for a lady to tell.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The curtain of the fairy chamber opens
+slightly, and</i> <span class="allsmcap">TINK</span>, <i>who has doubtless been
+eavesdropping, tinkles a laugh of scorn</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>badgered</i>). I suppose she means that
+she wants to be my mother.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">TINK’S</span> <i>comment is ‘You silly ass.’</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>who has picked up some of the fairy
+words</i>). I almost agree with her!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The arrival of the boys in their nightgowns
+turns</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY’S</span> <i>mind to practical matters,
+for the children have to be arranged in line
+and passed or not passed for cleanliness.</i>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> <i>is the worst. At last we see how
+they sleep, for in a babel the great bed which
+stands on end by day against the wall is
+unloosed from custody and lowered to the
+floor. Though large, it is a tight fit for
+so many boys, and</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>has made
+a rule that there is to be no turning round
+until one gives the signal, when all turn at
+once</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN</span> <i>is the best dancer and performs
+mightily on the bed and in it and out
+of it and over it to an accompaniment of
+pillow fights by the less agile; and then there
+is a rush at</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS.</span> Now the story you promised to tell us
+as soon as we were in bed!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>severely</i>). As far as I can see you
+are not in bed yet.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They scramble into the bed, and the effect
+is as of a boxful of sardines.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>drawing up her stool</i>). Well, there
+was once a gentleman——</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CURLY.</span> I wish he had been a lady.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS.</span> I wish he had been a white rat.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Quiet! There was a lady also.
+The gentleman’s name was Mr. Darling and the
+lady’s name was Mrs. Darling——</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> I knew them!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>who has been allowed to join the
+circle</i>). I think I knew them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> They were married, you know; and
+what do you think they had?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS.</span> White rats?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> No, they had three descendants.
+White rats are descendants also. Almost everything
+is a descendant. Now these three children
+had a faithful nurse called Nana.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>alas</i>). What a funny name!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> But Mr. Darling—(<i>faltering</i>) or
+was it Mrs. Darling?—was angry with her and
+chained her up in the yard; so all the children
+flew away. They flew away to the Never Land,
+where the lost boys are.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CURLY.</span> I just thought they did; I don’t
+know how it is, but I just thought they did.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> Oh, Wendy, was one of the lost
+boys called Tootles?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Yes, he was.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> (<i>dazzled</i>). Am I in a story? Nibs,
+I am in a story!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>who is by the fire making Pan’s pipes
+with his knife, and is determined that</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>shall
+have fair play, however beastly a story he may
+think it</i>). A little less noise there.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>melting over the beauty of her present
+performance, but without any real qualms</i>). Now
+I want you to consider the feelings of the unhappy
+parents with all their children flown away.
+Think, oh think, of the empty beds. (<i>The
+heartless ones think of them with glee.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN</span> (<i>cheerfully</i>). It’s awfully sad.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> But our heroine knew that her
+mother would always leave the window open for
+her progeny to fly back by; so they stayed
+away for years and had a lovely time.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>is interested at last</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN.</span> Did they ever go back?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>comfortably</i>). Let us now take a peep
+into the future. Years have rolled by, and who
+is this elegant lady of uncertain age alighting
+at London station?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The tension is unbearable.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS.</span> Oh, Wendy, who is she?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>swelling</i>). Can it be—yes—no—yes,
+it is the fair Wendy!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> I am glad.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Who are the two noble portly
+figures accompanying her? Can they be John
+and Michael? They are. (<i>Pride of</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span>.)
+‘See, dear brothers,’ says Wendy, pointing
+upward, ‘there is the window standing open.’
+So up they flew to their loving parents, and pen
+cannot inscribe the happy scene over which we
+draw a veil. (<i>Her triumph is spoilt by a groan
+from</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>and she hurries to him</i>.) Peter, what
+is it? (<i>Thinking he is ill, and looking lower than
+his chest.</i>) Where is it?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> It isn’t that kind of pain. Wendy,
+you are wrong about mothers. I thought like
+you about the window, so I stayed away for
+moons and moons, and then I flew back, but the
+window was barred, for my mother had forgotten
+all about me and there was another little boy
+sleeping in my bed.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>This is a general damper.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Wendy, let us go back!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Are you sure mothers are like that?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Yes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> John, Michael! (<i>She clasps them
+to her.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN</span> (<i>alarmed</i>). You are not to leave
+us, Wendy?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> I must.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS.</span> Not to-night?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> At once. Perhaps mother is in half-mourning
+by this time! Peter, will you make
+the necessary arrangements?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>She asks it in the steely tones women adopt
+when they are prepared secretly for opposition.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>coolly</i>). If you wish it.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He ascends his tree to give the redskins
+their instructions. The lost boys gather
+threateningly round</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CURLY.</span> We won’t let you go!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>with one of those inspirations women
+have, in an emergency, to make use of some male
+who need otherwise have no hope</i>). Tootles, I
+appeal to you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> (<i>leaping to his death if necessary</i>).
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span>I am just Tootles and nobody minds me, but the
+first who does not behave to Wendy I will blood
+him severely. (<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>returns</i>.)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>with awful serenity</i>). Wendy, I told
+the braves to guide you through the wood as
+flying tires you so. Then Tinker Bell will take
+you across the sea. (<i>A shrill tinkle from the
+boudoir probably means ‘and drop her into it.’</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS</span> (<i>fingering the curtain which he is not
+allowed to open</i>). Tink, you are to get up and
+take Wendy on a journey. (<i>Star-eyed</i>) She says
+she won’t!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>taking a step toward that chamber</i>).
+If you don’t get up, Tink, and dress at once——
+She is getting up!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>quivering now that the time to depart
+has come</i>). Dear ones, if you will all come with
+me I feel almost sure I can get my father and
+mother to adopt you.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>There is joy at this, not that they want
+parents, but novelty is their religion.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NIBS.</span> But won’t they think us rather a
+handful?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>a swift reckoner</i>). Oh no, it will only
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span>mean having a few beds in the drawing-room;
+they can be hidden behind screens on first
+Thursdays.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>Everything depends on</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">OMNES.</span> Peter, may we go?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>carelessly through the pipes to which
+he is giving a finishing touch</i>). All right.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They scurry off to dress for the adventure</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>insinuatingly</i>). Get your clothes,
+Peter.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>skipping about and playing fairy
+music on his pipes, the only music he knows</i>). I
+am not going with you, Wendy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Yes, Peter!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> No.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The lost ones run back gaily, each carrying
+a stick with a bundle on the end of it.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Peter isn’t coming!</p>
+
+<p>(<i>All the faces go blank.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>even</i> <span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span>). Peter not coming!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> (<i>overthrown</i>). Why, Peter?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>his pipes more riotous than ever</i>). I just
+want always to be a little boy and to have fun.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>There is a general fear that they are perhaps
+making the mistake of their lives.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Now then, no fuss, no blubbering. (<i>With dreadful
+cynicism</i>) I hope you will like your mothers!
+Are you ready, Tink? Then lead the way.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>darts up any tree, but she is the only
+one. The air above is suddenly rent with
+shrieks and the clash of steel. Though they
+cannot see, the boys know that</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>and his
+crew are upon the Indians. Mouths open
+and remain open, all in mute appeal to</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>. <i>He is the only boy on his feet now,
+a sword in his hand, the same he slew
+Barbicue with; and in his eye is the lust
+of battle.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>We can watch the carnage that is invisible
+to the children.</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>has basely broken
+the two laws of Indian warfare, which are
+that the redskins should attack first, and
+that it should be at dawn. They have known
+the pirate whereabouts since, early in the
+night, one of</i> <span class="allsmcap">SMEE’S</span> <i>fingers crackled. The
+brushwood has closed behind their scouts as
+silently as the sand on the mole; for hours
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span>they have imitated the lonely call of the
+coyote; no stratagem has been overlooked,
+but, alas, they have trusted to the pale-faces’
+honour to await an attack at dawn, when his
+courage is known to be at the lowest ebb.</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>falls upon them pell-mell, and one
+cannot withhold a reluctant admiration for
+the wit that conceived so subtle a scheme and
+the fell genius with which it is carried out.
+If the braves would rise quickly they might
+still have time to scalp, but this they are
+forbidden to do by the traditions of their
+race, for it is written that they must never
+express surprise in the presence of the pale-face.
+For a brief space they remain recumbent,
+not a muscle moving, as if the foe
+were here by invitation. Thus perish the
+flower of the Piccaninnies, though not unavenged,
+for with</i> <span class="allsmcap">LEAN WOLF</span> <i>fall</i> <span class="allsmcap">ALF MASON</span>
+<i>and</i> <span class="allsmcap">CANARY ROBB</span>, <i>while other pirates to bite
+dust are</i> <span class="allsmcap">BLACK GILMOUR</span> <i>and</i> <span class="allsmcap">ALAN HERB</span>,
+<i>that same</i> <span class="allsmcap">HERB</span> <i>who is still remembered at
+Manaos for playing skittles with the mate of
+the</i> Switch <i>for each other’s heads</i>. <span class="allsmcap">CHAY
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span>TURLEY</span>, <i>who laughed with the wrong side of
+his mouth (having no other), is tomahawked
+by</i> <span class="allsmcap">PANTHER</span>, <i>who eventually cuts a way
+through the shambles with</i> <span class="allsmcap">TIGER LILY</span> <i>and
+a remnant of the tribe</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>This onslaught passes and is gone like a
+fierce wind. The victors wipe their cutlasses,
+and squint, ferret-eyed, at their leader. He
+remains, as ever, aloof in spirit and in substance.
+He signs to them to descend the
+trees, for he is convinced that</i> <span class="allsmcap">PAN</span> <i>is down
+there, and though he has smoked the bees it
+is the honey he wants. There is something
+in</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>that at all times goads this extra-ordinary
+man to frenzy; it is the boy’s
+cockiness, which disturbs</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>like an
+insect. If you have seen a lion in a cage
+futilely pursuing a sparrow you will know
+what is meant. The pirates try to do their
+captain’s bidding, but the apertures prove
+to be not wide enough for them; he cannot
+even ram them down with a pole. He steals
+to the mouth of a tree and listens.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>prematurely</i>). All is over!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> But who has won?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Hst! If the Indians have won they
+will beat the tom-tom; it is always their signal
+of victory.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>licks his lips at this and signs to</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span>, <i>who is sitting on it, to hold up the
+tom-tom. He beats upon it with his claw,
+and listens for results.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> The tom-tom!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>sheathing his sword</i>). An Indian
+victory!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The cheers from below are music to the
+black hearts above.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>You are quite safe now, Wendy. Boys, good-bye.
+(<i>He resumes his pipes.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Peter, you will remember about
+changing your flannels, won’t you?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Oh, all right!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> And this is your medicine.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>She puts something into a shell and leaves
+it on a ledge between two of the trees. It
+is only water, but she measures it out in
+drops.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> I won’t forget.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Peter, what are you to me?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>through the pipes</i>). Your son, Wendy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Oh, good-bye!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The travellers start upon their journey,
+little witting that</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>has issued his silent
+orders: a man to the mouth of each tree, and
+a row of men between the trees and the little
+house. As the children squeeze up they are
+plucked from their trees, trussed, thrown like
+bales of cotton from one pirate to another,
+and so piled up in the little house. The only
+one treated differently is</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>, <i>whom</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>escorts to the house on his arm with
+hateful politeness. He signs to his dogs to
+be gone, and they depart through the wood,
+carrying the little house with its strange
+merchandise and singing their ribald song.
+The chimney of the little house emits a jet of
+smoke fitfully, as if not sure what it ought
+to do just now.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>and</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>are now, as it were, alone
+on the island. Below</i>, <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>is on the bed,
+asleep, no weapon near him; above</i>, <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span>,
+<i>armed to the teeth, is searching noiselessly
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span>for some tree down which the nastiness of
+him can descend. Don’t be too much
+alarmed by this; it is precisely the situation</i>
+<i>PETER</i> <i>would have chosen; indeed if the
+whole thing were pretend—. One of his
+arms droops over the edge of the bed, a leg
+is arched, and the mouth is not so tightly
+closed that we cannot see the little pearls.
+He is dreaming, and in his dreams he is
+always in pursuit of a boy who was never
+here, nor anywhere: the only boy who could
+beat him.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>finds the tree. It is the one set apart
+for</i> <span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span>, <i>who being addicted when hot
+to the drinking of water has swelled in consequence
+and surreptitiously scooped his tree
+for easier descent and egress. Down this
+the pirate wriggles a passage. In the
+aperture below his face emerges and goes
+green as he glares at the sleeping child.
+Does no feeling of compassion disturb his
+sombre breast? The man is not wholly
+evil: he has a</i> Thesaurus <i>in his cabin, and
+is no mean performer on the flute. What
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span>really warps him is a presentiment that
+he is about to fail. This is not unconnected
+with a beatific smile on the face of the sleeper,
+whom he cannot reach owing to being stuck
+at the foot of the tree. He, however, sees the
+medicine shell within easy reach, and to</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">WENDY’S</span> <i>draught he adds from a bottle
+five drops of poison distilled when he was
+weeping from the red in his eye. The
+expression on</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER’S</span> <i>face merely implies
+that something heavenly is going on</i>. <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span>
+<i>worms his way upwards, and winding his
+cloak around him, as if to conceal his person
+from the night of which he is the blackest
+part, he stalks moodily toward the lagoon.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A dot of light flashes past him and darts
+down the nearest tree, looking for</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>,
+<i>only for</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>, <i>quite indifferent about the
+others when she finds him safe</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>stirring</i>). Who is that? (<span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>has to
+tell her tale, in one long ungrammatical sentence</i>.)
+The redskins were defeated? Wendy and the
+boys captured by the pirates! I’ll rescue her,
+I’ll rescue her! (<i>He leaps first at his dagger, and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span>then at his grindstone, to sharpen it.</i> <span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>alights
+near the shell, and rings out a warning cry</i>.) Oh,
+that is just my medicine. Poisoned? Who
+could have poisoned it? I promised Wendy to
+take it, and I will as soon as I have sharpened
+my dagger. (<span class="allsmcap">TINK</span>, <i>who sees its red colour and
+remembers the red in the pirate’s eye, nobly
+swallows the draught as</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER’S</span> <i>hand is reaching
+for it</i>.) Why, Tink, you have drunk my
+medicine! (<i>She flutters strangely about the
+room, answering him now in a very thin tinkle.</i>)
+It was poisoned and you drank it to save my life!
+Tink, dear Tink, are you dying? (<i>He has never
+called her dear Tink before, and for a moment she
+is gay; she alights on his shoulder, gives his chin
+a loving bite, whispers ‘You silly ass,’ and falls on
+her tiny bed. The boudoir, which is lit by her,
+flickers ominously. He is on his knees by the
+opening.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>Her light is growing faint, and if it goes out,
+that means she is dead! Her voice is so low I
+can scarcely tell what she is saying. She says—she
+says she thinks she could get well again if
+children believed in fairies! (<i>He rises and throws
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span>out his arms he knows not to whom, perhaps to the
+boys and girls of whom he is not one.</i>) Do you
+believe in fairies? Say quick that you believe!
+If you believe, clap your hands! (<i>Many clap,
+some don’t, a few hiss. Then perhaps there is a
+rush of Nanas to the nurseries to see what on earth
+is happening. But</i> <span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>is saved</i>.) Oh, thank
+you, thank you, thank you! And now to rescue
+Wendy!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>is already as merry and impudent as a
+grig, with not a thought for those who have
+saved her</i>. <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>ascends his tree as if he
+were shot up it. What he is feeling is</i>
+‘<i>Hook or me this time!</i>’ <i>He is frightfully
+happy. He soon hits the trail, for the
+smoke from the little house has lingered
+here and there to guide him. He takes
+wing.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_V">
+    ACT V
+
+
+  </h2>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124"></a>[Pg 124]</span></p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125"></a>[Pg 125]</span></p>
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_V_1">
+    ACT V<br>
+<br>
+Scene 1
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p class="ph3">THE PIRATE SHIP</p>
+
+<p><i>The stage directions for the opening of this scene
+are as follows:—1 Circuit Amber checked to 80.
+Battens, all Amber checked, 3 ship’s lanterns alight,
+Arcs: prompt perch 1. Open dark amber flooding
+back, O.P. perch open dark amber flooding upper
+deck. Arc on tall steps at back of cabin to flood
+back cloth. Open dark Amber. Warning for slide.
+Plank ready. Call Hook.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the strange light thus described we see what
+is happening on the deck of the</i> Jolly Roger, <i>which
+is flying the skull and crossbones and lies low in
+the water. There is no need to call Hook, for he
+is here already, and indeed there is not a pirate
+aboard who would dare to call him. Most of them
+are at present carousing in the bowels of the vessel,
+but on the poop Mullins is visible, in the only
+great-coat on the ship, raking with his glass the
+monstrous rocks within which the lagoon is cooped.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span>Such a look-out is supererogatory, for the pirate
+craft floats immune in the horror of her name.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>From Hook’s cabin at the back Starkey appears
+and leans over the bulwark, silently surveying the
+sullen waters. He is bare-headed and is perhaps
+thinking with bitterness of his hat, which he sometimes
+sees still drifting past him with the Never
+bird sitting on it. The black pirate is asleep on
+deck, yet even in his dreams rolling mechanically
+out of the way when Hook draws near. The only
+sound to be heard is made by Smee at his sewing-machine,
+which lends a touch of domesticity to the
+night.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Hook is now leaning against the mast, now
+prowling the deck, the double cigar in his mouth.
+With Peter surely at last removed from his path
+we, who know how vain a tabernacle is man, would
+not be surprised to find him bellied out by the winds
+of his success, but it is not so; he is still uneasy,
+looking long and meaninglessly at familiar objects,
+such as the ship’s bell or the Long Tom, like one
+who may shortly be a stranger to them. It is as if
+Pan’s terrible oath ‘Hook or me this time!’ had
+already boarded the ship.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>communing with his ego</i>). How still the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span>night is; nothing sounds alive. Now is the hour
+when children in their homes are a-bed; their lips
+bright-browned with the good-night chocolate,
+and their tongues drowsily searching for belated
+crumbs housed insecurely on their shining cheeks.
+Compare with them the children on this boat
+about to walk the plank. Split my infinitives, but
+’tis my hour of triumph! (<i>Clinging to this fair
+prospect he dances a few jubilant steps, but they
+fall below his usual form.</i>) And yet some disky
+spirit compels me now to make my dying speech,
+lest when dying there may be no time for it. All
+mortals envy me, yet better perhaps for Hook to
+have had less ambition! O fame, fame, thou
+glittering bauble, what if the very—— (<span class="allsmcap">SMEE</span>,
+<i>engrossed in his labours at the sewing-machine,
+tears a piece of calico with a rending sound which
+makes the Solitary think for a moment that the
+untoward has happened to his garments</i>.) No
+little children love me. I am told they play at
+Peter Pan, and that the strongest always chooses
+to be Peter. They would rather be a Twin than
+Hook; they force the baby to be Hook. The baby!
+that is where the canker gnaws. (<i>He contemplates
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span>his industrious boatswain.</i>) ’Tis said they find
+Smee lovable. But an hour agone I found him
+letting the youngest of them try on his spectacles.
+Pathetic Smee, the Nonconformist pirate, a
+happy smile upon his face because he thinks they
+fear him! How can I break it to him that they
+think him lovable? No, bi-carbonate of Soda,
+no, not even—— (<i>Another rending of the calico
+disturbs him, and he has a private consultation
+with</i> <span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span>, <i>who turns him round and evidently
+assures him that all is well. The peroration of his
+speech is nevertheless for ever lost, as eight bells
+strikes and his crew pour forth in bacchanalian
+orgy. From the poop he watches their dance till it
+frets him beyond bearing.</i>) Quiet, you dogs, or I’ll
+cast anchor in you! (<i>He descends to a barrel on
+which there are playing-cards, and his crew stand
+waiting, as ever, like whipped curs.</i>) Are all the
+prisoners chained, so that they can’t fly away?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JUKES.</span> Ay, ay, Captain.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Then hoist them up.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span> (<i>raising the door of the hold</i>). Tumble
+up, you ungentlemanly lubbers.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The terrified boys are prodded up and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span>tossed about the deck.</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>seems to have
+forgotten them; he is sitting by the barrel
+with his cards</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>suddenly</i>). So! Now then, you bullies,
+six of you walk the plank to-night, but I have
+room for two cabin-boys. Which of you is it to
+be? (<i>He returns to his cards.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span> (<i>hoping to soothe him by putting the
+blame on the only person, vaguely remembered,
+who is always willing to act as a buffer</i>). You
+see, sir, I don’t think my mother would like me
+to be a pirate. Would your mother like you to
+be a pirate, Slightly?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> (<i>implying that otherwise it would be
+a pleasure to him to oblige</i>). I don’t think so.
+Twin, would your mother like——</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Stow this gab. (<i>To</i> <span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span>) You boy,
+you look as if you had a little pluck in you.
+Didst never want to be a pirate, my hearty?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>dazzled by being singled out</i>). When
+I was at school I—what do you think, Michael?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>stepping into prominence</i>). What
+would you call me if I joined?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Blackbeard Joe.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> John, what do you think?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Stop, should we still be respectful
+subjects of King George?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> You would have to swear ‘Down with
+King George.’</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>grandly</i>). Then I refuse!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> And I refuse.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> That seals your doom. Bring up
+their mother.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>is driven up from the hold and
+thrown to him. She sees at the first glance that
+the deck has not been scrubbed for years.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>So, my beauty, you are to see your children
+walk the plank.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>with noble calmness</i>). Are they to die?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> They are. Silence all, for a mother’s
+last words to her children.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> These are my last words. Dear
+boys, I feel that I have a message to you from
+your real mothers, and it is this, ‘We hope our
+sons will die like English gentlemen.’</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The boys go on fire.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES.</span> I am going to do what my mother
+hopes. What are you to do, Twin?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">FIRST TWIN.</span> What my mother hopes. John,
+what are——</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Tie her up! Get the plank ready.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>is roped to the mast; but no one
+regards her, for all eyes are fixed upon the
+plank now protruding from the poop over
+the ship’s side. A great change, however,
+occurs in the time</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>takes to raise his
+claw and point to this deadly engine. No
+one is now looking at the plank: for the
+tick, tick of the crocodile is heard. Yet it is
+not to bear on the crocodile that all eyes slew
+round, it is that they may bear on</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span>.
+<i>Otherwise prisoners and captors are equally
+inert, like actors in some play who have
+found themselves ‘on’ in a scene in which
+they are not personally concerned. Even the
+iron claw hangs inactive, as if aware that the
+crocodile is not coming for it. Affection for
+their captain, now cowering from view, is
+not what has given</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>his dominance over
+the crew, but as the menacing sound draws
+nearer they close their eyes respectfully</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>There is no crocodile. It is</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>, <i>who
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span>has been circling the pirate ship, ticking as
+he flies far more superbly than any clock.
+He drops into the water and climbs aboard,
+warning the captives with upraised finger
+(but still ticking) not for the moment to give
+audible expression to their natural admiration.
+Only one pirate sees him</i>, <span class="allsmcap">WHIBBLES</span>
+<i>of the eye patch, who comes up from below</i>.
+<span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> <i>claps a hand on</i> <span class="allsmcap">WHIBBLES’</span> <i>mouth to
+stifle the groan; four boys hold him to prevent
+the thud</i>; <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>delivers the blow, and
+the carrion is thrown overboard. ‘One!’
+says</i> <span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span>, <i>beginning to count</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span> <i>is the first pirate to open his
+eyes. The ship seems to him to be precisely
+as when he closed them. He cannot interpret
+the sparkle that has come into the faces of
+the captives, who are cleverly pretending to
+be as afraid as ever. He little knows that the
+door of the dark cabin has just closed on one
+more boy. Indeed it is for</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>alone he
+looks, and he is a little surprised to see him</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span> (<i>hoarsely</i>). It is gone, Captain!
+There is not a sound.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The tenement that is</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>heaves tumultuously
+and he is himself again</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>now convinced that some fair spirit
+watches over him</i>). Then here is to Johnny
+Plank—</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <div class="verse indent0">Avast, belay, the English brig</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">We took and quickly sank,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">And for a warning to the crew</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">We made them walk the plank!</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>As he sings he capers detestably along an
+imaginary plank and his copy-cats do
+likewise, joining in the chorus.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <div class="verse indent0">Yo ho, yo ho, the frisky cat,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">You walks along it so,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">Till it goes down and you goes down</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">To tooral looral lo!</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The brave children try to stem this monstrous
+torrent by breaking into the National
+Anthem.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span> (<i>paling</i>). I don’t like it, messmates!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Stow that, Starkey. Do you boys
+want a touch of the cat before you walk the
+plank? (<i>He is more pitiless than ever now that
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span>he believes he has a charmed life.</i>) Fetch the cat,
+Jukes; it is in the cabin.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JUKES.</span> Ay, ay, sir. (<i>It is one of his commonest
+remarks, and is only recorded now because he
+never makes another. The stage direction</i> ‘<i>Exit</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">JUKES</span>’ <i>has in this case a special significance.
+But only the children know that some one is awaiting
+this unfortunate in the cabin, and</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span>
+<i>tramples them down as he resumes his ditty</i>:)</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <div class="verse indent0">Yo ho, yo ho, the scratching cat</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">Its tails are nine you know,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">And when they’re writ upon your back,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">You’re fit to——</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The last words will ever remain a matter of
+conjecture, for from the dark cabin comes
+a curdling screech which wails through the
+ship and dies away. It is followed by a
+sound, almost more eerie in the circumstances,
+that can only be likened to the
+crowing of a cock.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> What was that?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> (<i>solemnly</i>). Two!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">CECCO</span> <i>swings into the cabin, and in a
+moment returns, livid</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>with an effort</i>). What is the matter
+with Bill Jukes, you dog?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CECCO.</span> The matter with him is he is dead—stabbed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PIRATES.</span> Bill Jukes dead!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CECCO.</span> The cabin is as black as a pit, but
+there is something terrible in there: the thing
+you heard a-crowing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>slowly</i>). Cecco, go back and fetch me
+out that doodle-doo.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CECCO</span> (<i>unstrung</i>). No, Captain, no. (<i>He
+supplicates on his knees, but his master advances
+on him implacably.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>in his most syrupy voice</i>). Did you say
+you would go, Cecco?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">CECCO</span> <i>goes. All listen. There is one
+screech, one crow.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> (<i>as if he were a bell tolling</i>). Three!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> ’Sdeath and oddsfish, who is to bring
+me out that doodle-doo?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>No one steps forward.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span> (<i>injudiciously</i>). Wait till Cecco
+comes out.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The black looks of some others encourage
+him.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> I think I heard you volunteer,
+Starkey.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span> (<i>emphatically</i>). No, by thunder!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>in that syrupy voice which might be
+more engaging when accompanied by his flute</i>).
+My hook thinks you did. I wonder if it
+would not be advisable, Starkey, to humour
+the hook?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">STARKEY.</span> I’ll swing before I go in there.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>gleaming</i>). Is it mutiny? Starkey is
+ringleader. Shake hands, Starkey.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span> <i>recoils from the claw. It follows
+him till he leaps overboard.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Did any other gentleman say mutiny?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They indicate that they did not even know
+the late</i> <span class="allsmcap">STARKEY</span>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> Four!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> I will bring out that doodle-doo
+myself.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He raises a blunderbuss but casts it from
+him with a menacing gesture which means
+that he has more faith in the claw. With a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span>lighted lantern in his hand he enters the
+cabin. Not a sound is to be heard now on
+the ship, unless it be</i> <span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span> <i>wetting his
+lips to say ‘Five.’</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>staggers out</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>unsteadily</i>). Something blew out the
+light.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MULLINS</span> (<i>with dark meaning</i>). Some—thing?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NOODLER.</span> What of Cecco?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> He is as dead as Jukes.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They are superstitious like all sailors, and</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">MULLINS</span> <i>has planted a dire conception in
+their minds</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">COOKSON.</span> They do say as the surest sign a
+ship’s accurst is when there is one aboard more
+than can be accounted for.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NOODLER.</span> I’ve heard he allus boards the
+pirate craft at last. (<i>With dreadful significance</i>)
+Has he a tail, Captain?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MULLINS.</span> They say that when he comes it is
+in the likeness of the wickedest man aboard.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">COOKSON</span> (<i>clinching it</i>). Has he a hook,
+Captain?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>Knives and pistols come to hand, and there
+is a general cry ‘The ship is doomed!’ But
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span>it is not his dogs that can frighten</i> <span class="allsmcap">JAS
+HOOK</span>. <i>Hearing something like a cheer
+from the boys he wheels round, and his face
+brings them to their knees.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> So you like it, do you! By Caius and
+Balbus, bullies, here is a notion: open the cabin
+door and drive them in. Let them fight the
+doodle-doo for their lives. If they kill him we
+are so much the better; if he kills them we are
+none the worse.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>This masterly stroke restores their confidence;
+and the boys, affecting fear, are
+driven into the cabin. Desperadoes though
+the pirates are, some of them have been
+boys themselves, and all turn their backs to
+the cabin and listen, with arms outstretched
+to it as if to ward off the horrors that are
+being enacted there.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Relieved by</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>of their manacles, and
+armed with such weapons as they can lay their
+hands on, the boys steal out softly as snowflakes,
+and under their captain’s hushed order
+find hiding-places on the poop. He releases</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>; <i>and now it would be easy for them
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span>all to fly away, but it is to be</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>or him
+this time. He signs to her to join the others,
+and with awful grimness folding her cloak
+around him, the hood over his head, he takes
+her place by the mast, and crows.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MULLINS.</span> The doodle-doo has killed them all!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SEVERAL.</span> The ship’s bewitched.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They are snapping at</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>again</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> I’ve thought it out, lads; there is a
+Jonah aboard.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SEVERAL</span> (<i>advancing upon him</i>). Ay, a man
+with a hook.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>If he were to withdraw one step their
+knives would be in him, but he does not
+flinch.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>temporising</i>). No, lads, no, it is the
+girl. Never was luck on a pirate ship wi’ a
+woman aboard. We’ll right the ship when she
+has gone.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MULLINS</span> (<i>lowering his cutlass</i>). It’s worth
+trying.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Throw the girl overboard.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MULLINS</span> (<i>jeering</i>). There is none can save
+you now, missy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> There is one.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MULLINS.</span> Who is that?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>casting off the cloak</i>). Peter Pan, the
+avenger!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He continues standing there to let the effect
+sink in.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>throwing out a suggestion</i>). Cleave him
+to the brisket.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>But he has a sinking feeling that this boy has no
+brisket.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">NOODLER.</span> The ship’s accurst!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Down, boys, and at them!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The boys leap from their concealment and
+the clash of arms resounds through the
+vessel. Man to man the pirates are the
+stronger, but they are unnerved by the
+suddenness of the onslaught and they scatter,
+thus enabling their opponents to hunt in
+couples and choose their quarry. Some are
+hurled into the lagoon; others are dragged
+from dark recesses. There is no boy whose
+weapon is not reeking save</i> <span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span>, <i>who
+runs about with a lantern, counting, ever
+counting</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>meeting</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> <i>in a moment’s lull</i>).
+Oh, Michael, stay with me, protect me!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>reeling</i>). Wendy, I’ve killed a
+pirate!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> It’s awful, awful.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> No, it isn’t, I like it, I like it.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He casts himself into the group of boys who
+are encircling</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span>. <i>Again and again
+they close upon him and again and again
+he hews a clear space.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Back, back, you mice. It’s Hook;
+do you like him? (<i>He lifts up</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> <i>with his
+claw and uses him as a buckler. A terrible voice
+breaks in.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Put up your swords, boys. This man
+is mine.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>shakes</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> <i>off his claw as if he
+were a drop of water, and these two antagonists
+face each other for their final bout.
+They measure swords at arms’ length, make
+a sweeping motion with them, and bringing
+the points to the deck rest their hands upon
+the hilts.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>with curling lip</i>). So, Pan, this is all
+your doing!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Ay, Jas Hook, it is all my doing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Proud and insolent youth, prepare to
+meet thy doom.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Dark and sinister man, have at thee.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>Some say that he had to ask</i> <span class="allsmcap">TOOTLES</span>
+<i>whether the word was sinister or canister</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>or</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>this time! They fall to
+without another word.</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>is a rare
+swordsman, and parries with dazzling
+rapidity, sometimes before the other can
+make his stroke</i>. <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span>, <i>if not quite so
+nimble in wrist play, has the advantage of a
+yard or two in reach, but though they close
+he cannot give the quietus with his claw,
+which seems to find nothing to tear at. He
+does not, especially in the most heated
+moments, quite see</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>, <i>who to his eyes,
+now blurred or opened clearly for the first
+time, is less like a boy than a mote of dust
+dancing in the sun. By some impalpable
+stroke</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK’S</span> <i>sword is whipped from his
+grasp, and when he stoops to raise it a little
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span>foot is on its blade. There is no deep gash
+on</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span>, <i>but he is suffering torment as from
+innumerable jags</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">BOYS</span> (<i>exulting</i>). Now, Peter, now!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>raises the sword by its blade, and
+with an inclination of the head that is
+perhaps slightly overdone, presents the hilt
+to his enemy</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> ’Tis some fiend fighting me! Pan,
+who and what art thou?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The children listen eagerly for the answer,
+none quite so eagerly as</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>at a venture</i>). I’m youth, I’m joy,
+I’m a little bird that has broken out of the egg.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> To ’t again!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He has now a damp feeling that this boy is
+the weapon which is to strike him from the
+lists of man; but the grandeur of his mind
+still holds and, true to the traditions of his
+flag, he fights on like a human flail.</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>
+<i>flutters round and through and over these
+gyrations as if the wind of them blew him
+out of the danger zone, and again and again
+he darts in and jags</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>stung to madness</i>). I’ll fire the powder
+magazine. (<i>He disappears they know not where.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CHILDREN.</span> Peter, save us!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>, <i>alas, goes the wrong way and</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span>
+<i>returns</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> (<i>sitting on the hold with gloomy satisfaction</i>).
+In two minutes the ship will be blown
+to pieces.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They cast themselves before him in entreaty.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">CHILDREN.</span> Mercy, mercy!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">HOOK.</span> Back, you pewling spawn. I’ll show
+you now the road to dusty death. A holocaust
+of children, there is something grand in the
+idea!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>appears with the smoking bomb in
+his hand and tosses it overboard</i>. <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>has
+not really had much hope, and he rushes at
+his other persecutors with his head down
+like some exasperated bull in the ring; but
+with bantering cries they easily elude him
+by flying among the rigging</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Where is</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>? <i>The incredible boy has
+apparently forgotten the recent doings, and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span>is sitting on a barrel playing upon his pipes.
+This may surprise others but does not
+surprise</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span>. <i>Lifting a blunderbuss he
+strikes forlornly not at the boy but at the
+barrel, which is hurled across the deck.</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>remains sitting in the air still playing
+upon his pipes. At this sight the great
+heart of</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span> <i>breaks. That not wholly
+unheroic figure climbs the bulwarks murmuring</i>
+‘Floreat Etona,’ <i>and prostrates
+himself into the water, where the crocodile
+is waiting for him open-mouthed</i>. <span class="allsmcap">HOOK</span>
+<i>knows the purpose of this yawning cavity,
+but after what he has gone through he enters
+it like one greeting a friend</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>The curtain rises to show</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>a very
+Napoleon on his ship. It must not rise
+again lest we see him on the poop in</i> <span class="allsmcap">HOOK’S</span>
+<i>hat and cigars, and with a small iron claw</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span></p>
+
+
+<h2>Scene 2</h2>
+
+<p class="ph3">THE NURSERY AND THE TREE-TOPS</p>
+
+<p><i>The old nursery appears again with everything just
+as it was at the beginning of the play, except that
+the kennel has gone and that the window is standing
+open. So Peter was wrong about mothers; indeed
+there is no subject on which he is so likely to
+be wrong.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Mrs. Darling is asleep on a chair near the window,
+her eyes tired with searching the heavens.
+Nana is stretched out listless on the floor. She is
+the cynical one, and though custom has made her
+hang the children’s night things on the fire-guard
+for an airing, she surveys them not hopefully but
+with some self-contempt.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>starting up as if we had whispered
+to her that her brats are coming back</i>).
+Wendy, John, Michael! (<span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>lifts a sympathetic
+paw to the poor soul’s lap</i>.) I see you
+have put their night things out again, Nana! It
+touches my heart to watch you do that night
+after night. But they will never come back.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>In trouble the difference of station can be
+completely ignored, and it is not strange to
+see these two using the same handkerchief.
+Enter</i> <span class="allsmcap">LIZA</span>, <i>who in the gentleness with which
+the house has been run of late is perhaps a
+little more masterful than of yore</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">LIZA</span> (<i>feeling herself degraded by the announcement</i>).
+Nana’s dinner is served.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">NANA</span>, <i>who quite understands what are</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">LIZA’S</span> <i>feelings, departs for the dining-room
+with our exasperating leisureliness, instead
+of running, as we would all do if we
+followed our instincts</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">LIZA.</span> To think I have a master as have
+changed places with his dog!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>gently</i>). Out of remorse, Liza.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">LIZA</span> (<i>surely exaggerating</i>). I am a married
+woman myself. I don’t think it’s respectable to
+go to his office in a kennel, with the street boys
+running alongside cheering. (<i>Even this does not
+rouse her mistress, which may have been the honourable
+intention.</i>) There, that is the cab fetching
+him back! (<i>Amid interested cheers from the
+street the kennel is conveyed to its old place by a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span>cabby and friend, and</i> <span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> <i>scrambles out
+of it in his office clothes</i>.)</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>giving her his hat loftily</i>). If
+you will be so good, Liza. (<i>The cheering is
+resumed.</i>) It is very gratifying!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">LIZA</span> (<i>contemptuous</i>). Lot of little boys.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>with the new sweetness of one
+who has sworn never to lose his temper again</i>).
+There were several adults to-day.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>She goes off scornfully with the hat and the
+two men, but he has not a word of reproach
+for her. It ought to melt us when we see
+how humbly grateful he is for a kiss from
+his wife, so much more than he feels he
+deserves. One may think he is wrong to
+exchange into the kennel, but sorrow has
+taught him that he is the kind of man who
+whatever he does contritely he must do to
+excess; otherwise he soon abandons doing it.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>who has known this for quite a
+long time</i>). What sort of a day have you had,
+George?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He is sitting on the floor by the kennel.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> There were never less than a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span>hundred running round the cab cheering, and
+when we passed the Stock Exchange the
+members came out and waved.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He is exultant but uncertain of himself, and
+with a word she could dispirit him utterly.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>bravely</i>). I am so proud,
+George.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>commendation from the dearest
+quarter ever going to his head</i>). I have been put
+on a picture postcard, dear.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>nobly</i>). Never!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>thoughtlessly</i>). Ah, Mary, we
+should not be such celebrities if the children
+hadn’t flown away.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>startled</i>). George, you are sure
+you are not enjoying it?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> (<i>anxiously</i>). Enjoying it! See
+my punishment: living in a kennel.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> Forgive me, dear one.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING.</span> It is I who need forgiveness,
+always I, never you. And now I feel drowsy.
+(<i>He retires into the kennel.</i>) Won’t you play me
+to sleep on the nursery piano? And shut that
+window, Mary dearest; I feel a draught.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> Oh, George, never ask me to
+do that. The window must always be left open
+for them, always, always.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>She goes into the day nursery, from which
+we presently hear her playing the sad
+song of Margaret. She little knows that
+her last remark has been overheard by a
+boy crouching at the window. He steals
+into the room accompanied by a ball of
+light.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Tink, where are you? Quick, close
+the window. (<i>It closes.</i>) Bar it. (<i>The bar
+slams down.</i>) Now when Wendy comes she will
+think her mother has barred her out, and she
+will have to come back to me! (<span class="allsmcap">TINKER BELL</span>
+<i>sulks</i>.) Now, Tink, you and I must go out by
+the door. (<i>Doors, however, are confusing things to
+those who are used to windows, and he is puzzled
+when he finds that this one does not open on to the
+firmament. He tries the other, and sees the piano
+player.</i>) It is Wendy’s mother! (<span class="allsmcap">TINK</span> <i>pops on to
+his shoulder and they peep together</i>.) She is a
+pretty lady, but not so pretty as my mother.
+(<i>This is a pure guess.</i>) She is making the box
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span>say ‘Come home, Wendy.’ You will never see
+Wendy again, lady, for the window is barred! (<i>He
+flutters about the room joyously like a bird, but
+has to return to that door.</i>) She has laid her head
+down on the box. There are two wet things
+sitting on her eyes. As soon as they go away
+another two come and sit on her eyes. (<i>She is
+heard moaning ‘Wendy, Wendy, Wendy.’</i>) She
+wants me to unbar the window. I won’t! She
+is awfully fond of Wendy. I am fond of her
+too. We can’t both have her, lady! (<i>A funny
+feeling comes over him.</i>) Come on, Tink; we
+don’t want any silly mothers.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He opens the window and they fly out.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It is thus that the truants find entrance
+easy when they alight on the sill</i>, <span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> <i>to
+his credit having the tired</i> <span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> <i>on his
+shoulders. They have nothing else to their
+credit; no compunction for what they have
+done, not the tiniest fear that any just person
+may be awaiting them with a stick. The
+youngest is in a daze, but the two others are
+shining virtuously like holy people who are
+about to give two other people a treat.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>looking about him</i>). I think I have
+been here before.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> It’s your home, you stupid.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> There is your old bed, Michael.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> I had nearly forgotten.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> I say, the kennel!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Perhaps Nana is in it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>peering</i>). There is a man asleep in it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>remembering him by the bald patch</i>).
+It’s father!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> So it is!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> Let me see father. (<i>Disappointed</i>)
+He is not as big as the pirate I killed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>perplexed</i>). Wendy, surely father
+didn’t use to sleep in the kennel?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>with misgivings</i>). Perhaps we don’t
+remember the old life as well as we thought we
+did.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>chilled</i>). It is very careless of mother
+not to be here when we come back.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>The piano is heard again.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> H’sh! (<i>She goes to the door and
+peeps.</i>) That is her playing! (<i>They all have a
+peep.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> Who is that lady?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> H’sh! It’s mother.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL.</span> Then are you not really our mother,
+Wendy?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>with conviction</i>). Oh dear, it is quite
+time to be back!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN.</span> Let us creep in and put our hands over
+her eyes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>more considerate</i>). No, let us break
+it to her gently.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>She slips between the sheets of her bed;
+and the others, seeing the idea at once, get
+into their beds. Then when the music stops
+they cover their heads. There are now
+three distinct bumps in the beds.</i> <span class="allsmcap">MRS.
+DARLING</span> <i>sees the bumps as soon as she
+comes in, but she does not believe she sees
+them</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> I see them in their beds so
+often in my dreams that I seem still to see
+them when I am awake! I’ll not look again.
+(<i>She sits down and turns away her face from
+the bumps, though of course they are still reflected
+in her mind.</i>) So often their silver voices
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span>call me, my little children whom I’ll see no
+more.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>Silver voices is a good one, especially about</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span>; <i>but the heads pop up</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>perhaps rather silvery</i>). Mother!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>without moving</i>). That is
+Wendy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">JOHN</span> (<i>quite gruff</i>). Mother!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> Now it is John.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MICHAEL</span> (<i>no better than a squeak</i>). Mother!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> Now Michael. And when
+they call I stretch out my arms to them, but
+they never come, they never come!</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>This time, however, they come, and there is
+joy once more in the Darling household.
+The little boy who is crouching at the
+window sees the joke of the bumps in the
+beds, but cannot understand what all the
+rest of the fuss is about.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p><i>The scene changes from the inside of the
+house to the outside, and we see</i> <span class="allsmcap">MR.
+DARLING</span> <i>romping in at the door, with the
+lost boys hanging gaily to his coat-tails.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span>So we may conclude that</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>has told
+them to wait outside until she explains
+the situation to her mother, who has then sent</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">MR. DARLING</span> <i>down to tell them that they are
+adopted. Of course they could have flown
+in by the window like a covey of birds, but
+they think it better fun to enter by a door.
+There is a moment’s trouble about</i> <span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span>,
+<i>who somehow gets shut out. Fortunately</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">LIZA</span> <i>finds him</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">LIZA.</span> What is the matter, boy?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> They have all got a mother except
+me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">LIZA</span> (<i>starting back</i>). Is your name Slightly?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> Yes’m.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">LIZA.</span> Then I am your mother.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY.</span> How do you know?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">LIZA</span> (<i>the good-natured creature</i>). I feel it in
+my bones.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>They go into the house and there is none
+happier now than</i> <span class="allsmcap">SLIGHTLY</span>, <i>unless it be</i>
+<span class="allsmcap">NANA</span> <i>as she passes with the importance of a
+nurse who will never have another day off</i>.
+<span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>looks out at the nursery window and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span>sees a friend below, who is hovering in
+the air knocking off tall hats with his feet.
+The wearers don’t see him. They are too
+old. You can’t see</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>if you are old.
+They think he is a draught at the corner.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Peter!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>looking up casually</i>). Hullo, Wendy.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>She flies down to him, to the horror of her
+mother, who rushes to the window.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>making a last attempt</i>). You don’t
+feel you would like to say anything to my parents,
+Peter, about a very sweet subject?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> No, Wendy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> About me, Peter?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> No.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>He gets out his pipes, which
+she knows is a very bad sign. She appeals
+with her arms to</i> <span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span>, <i>who is probably
+thinking that these children will all
+need to be tied to their beds at night</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>from the window</i>). Peter,
+where are you? Let me adopt you too.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>She is the loveliest age for a woman, but
+too old to see</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> <i>clearly</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Would you send me to school?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>obligingly</i>). Yes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> And then to an office?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> I suppose so.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Soon I should be a man?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> Very soon.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>passionately</i>). I don’t want to go to
+school and learn solemn things. No one is going
+to catch me, lady, and make me a man. I want
+always to be a little boy and to have fun.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>So perhaps he thinks, but it is only his
+greatest pretend.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>shivering every time</i> <span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span>
+<i>pursues him in the air</i>). Where are you to live,
+Peter?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> In the house we built for Wendy.
+The fairies are to put it high up among the tree-tops
+where they sleep at night.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>rapturously</i>). To think of it!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> I thought all the fairies were
+dead.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>almost reprovingly</i>). No indeed!
+Their mothers drop the babies into the Never
+birds’ nests, all mixed up with the eggs, and the
+mauve fairies are boys and the white ones are
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span>girls, and there are some colours who don’t
+know what they are. The row the children
+and the birds make at bath time is positively
+deafening.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> I throw things at them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> You will be rather lonely in the
+evenings, Peter.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> I shall have Tink.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>flying up to the window</i>). Mother,
+may I go?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>gripping her for ever</i>). Certainly
+not. I have got you home again, and I
+mean to keep you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> But he does so need a mother.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> So do you, my love.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Oh, all right.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span> (<i>magnanimously</i>). But, Peter,
+I shall let her go to you once a year for a week
+to do your spring cleaning.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> <i>revels in this, but</i> <span class="allsmcap">PETER</span>, <i>who has
+no notion what a spring cleaning is, waves
+a rather careless thanks</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> Say good-night, Wendy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> I couldn’t go down just for a
+minute?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING.</span> No.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Good-night, Peter!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Good-night, Wendy!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Peter, you won’t forget me, will you,
+before spring-cleaning time comes?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>(<i>There is no answer, for he is already soaring
+high. For a moment after he is gone
+we still hear the pipes.</i> <span class="allsmcap">MRS. DARLING</span>
+<i>closes and bars the window</i>.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p><i>We are dreaming now of the Never Land a year
+later. It is bed-time on the island, and the blind
+goes up to the whispers of the lovely Never music.
+The blue haze that makes the wood below magical
+by day comes up to the tree-tops to sleep, and
+through it we see numberless nests all lit up, fairies
+and birds quarrelling for possession, others flying
+around just for the fun of the thing and perhaps
+making bets about where the little house will appear
+to-night. It always comes and snuggles on
+some tree-top, but you can never be sure which;
+here it is again, you see John’s hat first as up comes
+the house so softly that it knocks some gossips off
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span>their perch. When it has settled comfortably it
+lights up, and out come Peter and Wendy.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Wendy looks a little older, but Peter is just the
+same. She is cloaked for a journey, and a sad
+confession must be made about her; she flies so
+badly now that she has to use a broomstick.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY</span> (<i>who knows better this time than to be
+demonstrative at partings</i>). Well, good-bye,
+Peter; and remember not to bite your nails.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Good-bye, Wendy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> I’ll tell mother all about the spring
+cleaning and the house.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>who sometimes forgets that she has
+been here before</i>). You do like the house?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Of course it is small. But most
+people of our size wouldn’t have a house at all.
+(<i>She should not have mentioned size, for he has
+already expressed displeasure at her growth.
+Another thing, one he has scarcely noticed,
+though it disturbs her, is that she does not see
+him quite so clearly now as she used to do.</i>)
+When you come for me next year, Peter—you
+will come, won’t you?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Yes. (<i>Gloating</i>) To hear stories
+about me!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> It is so queer that the stories you
+like best should be the ones about yourself.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>touchy</i>). Well, then?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Fancy your forgetting the lost boys,
+and even Captain Hook!</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Well, then?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> I haven’t seen Tink this time.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER.</span> Who?</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> Oh dear! I suppose it is because
+you have so many adventures.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">PETER</span> (<i>relieved</i>). ’Course it is.</p>
+
+<p><span class="allsmcap">WENDY.</span> If another little girl—if one younger
+than I am—— (<i>She can’t go on.</i>) Oh, Peter,
+how I wish I could take you up and squdge you!
+(<i>He draws back.</i>) Yes, I know. (<i>She gets
+astride her broomstick.</i>) Home! (<i>It carries
+her from him over the tree-tops.</i></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><i>In a sort of way he understands what she
+means by ‘Yes, I know,’ but in most sorts
+of ways he doesn’t. It has something to do
+with the riddle of his being. If he could get
+the hang of the thing his cry might become
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span>‘To live would be an awfully big adventure!’
+but he can never quite get the hang
+of it, and so no one is as gay as he. With
+rapturous face he produces his pipes, and
+the Never birds and the fairies gather
+closer till the roof of the little house is so
+thick with his admirers that some of them
+fall down the chimney. He plays on and on
+till we wake up.</i>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+
+<p class="ph4"><i>The End</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<div class="tnote">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_note">
+    Transcriber’s note
+  </h2>
+
+<p>Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice.  Italization
+was standardized.</p>
+
+<p>A Table of Contents was added to this version.</p>
+
+<p>Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following
+changes:</p>
+
+<table class="autotable">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Page <a href="#Page_48">48</a>: “the tidings has leaked”
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+“the tidings have leaked”
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Page <a href="#Page_140">140</a>: “he has a sinking”
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+“he has a sinking feeling”
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78131 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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author	www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org>	2026-03-07 08:55:39 -0800
committer	www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org>	2026-03-07 08:55:39 -0800
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tree	e1d75522e5592e79c4f9a17a64c0d5296c7eaaa6 /78131-h