by J. M. Barrie
Level B2 Upper Intermediate British English
The tale of Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up, is one of the most famous of all children's stories. Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Wendy, and Fairy Tinker Bell are known the World over, for the play in which they appear is always being performed somewhere.
The Boy Who Never Grew Up * Peter Breaks Through * The Shadow * Come Away, Come Away! * The Flight * The Island Comes True * The Little House * The Home Underground * The Mermaids' Lagoon * Wendy's Story * The Children Are Carried Off * Do You Believe In Fairies? * The Pirate Ship * Hook Or Me, This Time * The Return Home
This is the story of Peter Pan, a boy who never grew up, but ran away when he was small, to live in the Neverland.
The Neverland is an island children visit in their dreams, where anything can happen. To reach it, you have to be able to fly.
Peter could fly. Sometimes, when he felt lonely, he used to go back to the human world. He listened at nursery windows to the bedtime stories mothers told to their children. He hoped one day to take back some playmates with him to the Neverland.
Three children called Wendy, Michael and John Darling, living happily with their father and mother, near Kensington Gardens. (This was one of Peter's favourite places, and you can see a statue of him there.)
The children had an unusual nurse, called Nana, a big Newfoundland dog. She slept in a kennel in the nursery, and always woke up the instant any of the children cried in the night. She even took them to school, carrying an umbrella in her mouth in case it rained.
If she had been on guard the night Peter came to tempt them, this story would never have happened.
Mrs Darling was a happy lady, who loved all her children and kissed and hugged them a great deal. Mr Darling was more serious. He worried about the milk bill, and did not really think it was a good idea to have a dog for a nursemaid.
Mrs Darling used to tell the children bedtime stories every night. Then she would tuck them in and light their night lights, to keep them safe. She would tidy up the nursery and wonder what they were dreaming about.
They were dreaming about the Neverland. If you could have seen into their minds, you would have seen a picture map of the island, splashed with lovely colours. It had a lagoon, a pirate ship, flamingoes and a coral reef. There was a forest with wild beasts and savages, lonely hiding places and perhaps a witch or a goblin or two. John lived in a boat turned upside down on the sands, Michael in a wigwam, and Wendy in a house of leaves.
In the daytime, the Neverland was a safe place to play in, under the table, among the chair legs. But at night, in the nursery, just before the children dropped off to sleep, it became almost too real. That was when they were glad they had night lights.
Mrs Darling was puzzled because they talked so much about a boy called Peter Pan. They said "he lived with the fairies." Mr Darling thought it must be some silly tale Nana had told them. "It all comes from having a dog as a nurse!" he said crossly.
One day, Mrs Darling found some funny looking leaves just under the nursery window.
"Peter must have dropped them, when he came to see me. He's so untidy!" said Wendy, who was the eldest, and a very tidy little girl herself.
"But how could he get up here? It's three floors up!" wondered Mrs Darling. "You must have been dreaming!"
But Wendy had not been dreaming. The very next night Mrs Darling was sewing by the nursery fire, and had almost fallen asleep. The window blew open and a boy dropped in on the floor.
He was dressed all in leaves. A strange little light followed him, darting around the room like a living thing. It woke up Mrs Darling, who knew at once that the boy was Peter Pan.
She cried out in alarm. Nana came growling at once, She sprang at the boy, who leaped back through the window. Nana closed it, but not quickly enough to catch Peter. She did get his shadow though. Slam, went the window, and cut it off at the feet.
Nana picked it up in her mouth and took it to Mrs Darling. She rolled it up carefully and put it in a drawer.
The following Friday, Mr and Mrs Darling were invited to an evening party at a house a few doors away. Mr Darling had been very cross with nana. He decided she had to be chained up in the yard outside. Mrs Darling was worried because Nana kept barking.
"That's not her usual bark!" she said. "She only barks like that when there's danger!"
"Nonsense!" said Mr Darling. "Hurry up, or we'll be late for the party."
After the front door closed, the little guardian night lights quietly went out, one after another ...
A mysterious bright light suddenly appeared in the nursery, darting into all the drawers and cupboards, and even into a jug on the washstand. When it stayed still for a moment, you could see it was not a light at all, but a fairy, Tinker Bell.
The next moment Peter himself dropped in at the window. "Come out of that jug, Tink!" he said. "And show me where my shadow is!"
Tinker Bell told him it was in the chest of drawers. She spoke in a golden tinkle, like a chime of tiny bells.
Peter pulled out his shadow. Then he shut the drawer, forgetting that Tinker Bell was still inside. He sat down on the floor and tried to stick his shadow back on again. He tried water, and then soap, but they did not work. He was in despair, when Wendy woke up.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
"My shadow won't stick on!" complained Peter.
"Give it to me. I'll sew it on for you!" said practical Wendy, fetching her work basket.
Peter was so excited to have his shadow back, he forgot to thank her. He jumped up and down, crowing, "What a clever boy I am!"
Wendy was a kind little girl, so she was not offended. She offered him a kiss. Peter had never heard of a kiss, but thought it must be a present, so he held out his hand for it. Wendy gave him her silver thimble instead, and ever after, he called a kiss a "thimble". Which was very confusing!
In return, Peter gave Wendy an acorn button from his coat. She put it on a chain round her neck. Later on it was to save her life!
Wendy found out all about Peter Pan, how he had run away and lived with the fairies in Kensington Gardens, and always stayed the same age. (She noticed that he still had his first teeth.) Now he lived in the Neverland, with the Lost Boys.
The Lost Boys were children who had fallen out of their prams, when their nurses were not looking. Nobody claimed them, so they were sent to the Neverland.
Wendy asked about the fairies.
"Once a baby's laugh broke into a thousand pieces," explained Peter. "Each piece became a fairy. But children nowadays don't believe in them so much. Every time a child says "I don't believe in fairies", a fairy somewhere drops down dead!"
That reminded Peter of Tinker Bell, who was still shut up in the drawer! She flew out in a furious temper, and buzzed round and round the room, so fast that Wendy could not see her. She settled for a moment on the cuckoo clock, and Wendy cried, "Oh! She's lovely!"
But Tink hated Wendy. She was jealous. When Peter gave Wendy a "thimble", Tinker Bell gave her hair a spiteful tug.
By this time, Michael and John were awake. Peter told them all about the gang of Lost Boys, of which he was the captain, and their fights with the pirates.
"Aren't there any Lost Girls?" asked Wendy.
"No, girls are too clever to fall out of their prams!" said cunning Peter. "We haven't any sisters or mothers to tell us stories, and mend our clothes."
"You poor boy!" exclaimed soft-hearted Wendy. "I know lots of stories, and I could mend your clothes."
That was just what Peter wanted, to take Wendy and her brothers back to the Neverland with him. He promised to teach them how to fly.
Nana, chained up in the yard, was barking her head off. She knew something was wrong. At last, she broke her chain, and galloped up the road, to the house where the party was. She made such a fuss that Mr and Mrs Darling came out. They all ran down the street as fast as they could.
By this time, Peter had blown magic dust all over the children, and was showing them how to fly.
"Just wriggle your shoulders and let go!" he cried, swooping around the room. One by one they took off from their beds and followed him, a bit wobbly at first.
Michael shouted, "I flewed! I flewed!"
John called "Look at me!" bumping the ceiling. He was wearing his Sunday top hat, and looked very funny.
"Oh, lovely!" cried Wendy, in mid air near the bathroom.
Mr and Mrs Darling and Nana came along the street and saw the nursery window lighted up. Against the curtains, they could see the shadows of three little figures in night clothes, circling round and round, not on the floor, but in the air! Not three, but four!
They rushed upstairs and burst into the room, just too late. Peter had said "Follow me!" and soared out into the night, followed by John and Michael and Wendy.
Peter had told Wendy that the way to the Neverland was easy.
"Second to the right and go straight on till morning!"
But it seemed to take a very long time, and Wendy wondered if Peter really knew the way.
At first it was great fun. They circled round tall church spires and raced each other in among the clouds and stars. But as they went on, they grew tired and it was cold, flying in their night clothes. They were hungry too. Peter stole food for them from the beaks of passing birds, but it was not like a proper meal.
Now they were flying over the sea, and there was a new danger. If they fell asleep, they dropped down, like stones, towards the waves. Peter thought this was very funny. He waited till the last minute to swoop down and rescue Michael, before he hit the sea. (That was clever, but unkind, Wendy thought.)
Peter showed off a lot and kept flying away and leaving them, to talk to mermaids or stars. He always came back in the end, and they followed him, bumping into the clouds every so often.
Then, at last, they saw the Neverland below! The sun sent a million golden arrows to point it out. It was just as they had imagined. They could see the lagoon, the redskins' wigwams, and the wild animals.
But then the sun went in and everything became dark and frightening. They began to wish they were back in the nursery with Nana and the night lights. They were flying low through the tree-tops now. It felt queer, as if something was pushing them, to keep them away from the island.
"They don't want us to land!" said Peter, his eyes sparkling.
"Why don't?"
There was no answer.
"Do you want an adventure first, or tea?" said Peter. "There's a pirate asleep down there in those bushes. If you like, I'll go and kill him!"
"Tea, please!" said John, timidly.
Then Peter told them more about the pirates and their dreaded leader, Captain Hook. They had all heard of him, the most bloodthirsty buccaneer that ever sailed the Spanish Main.
"I cut off his right hand!" said Peter proudly.
"Then he can't fight?" asked Wendy.
"Oh, yes — he has a iron hook instead of a hand, and he uses it like a claw!"
The children shivered.
"One thing you must promise me," said Peter, his eyes glittering sternly. "If we meet Captain Hook in open fight, you must leave me to deal with him."
Just then, Tinker Bell flew up, tinkling a warning. The pirates had loaded their big gun, Long Tom, and were waiting to shoot. They could tell where Peter and his friends were, by Tinker's light. So the children hid her in John's Sunday top hat, which Wendy carried.
Suddenly there was an enormous BANG! The gun had been fired. The blast blew them on their backs and scattered them. Tinker Bell and Wendy were separated from the rest.
This was Tinker Bell's great chance. She hated Wendy and wanted to get rid of her. So, pretending to be her friend, she led Wendy away, following her golden tinkle, in quite the wrong direction.
Now that Peter was on his way back, the Neverland came to life. The Lost Boys set out to look for their captain. The pirates were looking for the Lost Boys. The redskins were stalking the pirates, and the wild animals were tracking the redskins! They all went round and round the island in circles and never caught up with each other.
There were six LOST BOYS: There was Tootles (the unlucky one), Nibs (the cheerful one), Slightly (the conceited one) and Curly the pickle. He was so often in trouble he used to confess to things he hadn't done! Lastly there were the Twins. They all crept along behind the bushes in single file, clutching their daggers.
Then came the PIRATES with their black beards and evil looks, some wearing gold coins for earrings, others tattooed all over. They were all ruffians, known and feared on the Spanish Main. They had names like Cecco, Bill Jukes, Skylight and Gentleman Starkey. The worst one, because he looked so meek and mild and wore spectacles, was Smee and Bos'un. He had a cutlass, named Jimmy Corkscrew, which he used to wriggle in his victim's wounds.
Their leader Captain Jas (short for James) Hook was the blackest rogue of all. He feared nothing, except the sight of his own blood, which was an ugly colour. He treated his men like dogs and smoked two cigars at once, in a special holder.
Hook had a dark, lean, scowling face and long black hair in ringlets. He thought he looked like Charles II, and always dressed like him. His eyes were blue, with two mad red dots in them, that glowed when he used his hook.
If any of his crew annoyed him, out shot his iron hook. There was a tearing sound, and one scream, the the body was tossed aside. He did not even take the cigars out of his mouth. He was Peter Pan's great enemy.
On the trail of the pirates stole the REDSKINS, on the war path with their tomahawks. Their bodies gleamed with oil and paint. Great Big Little Panther was their Chief, and Tiger Lily their Princess. She was a beautiful, proud maiden, as brave as any warrior.
next came a procession of WILD ANIMALS, man-eating lions, tigers and the like, all with their tongues hanging out for food. Last of all, there came an enormous CROCODILE.
The Lost Boys reached their underground home in the wood. This was a cave, hollowed out under the roots of seven tall trees. Each trunk had a hole in it, just big enough for a boy to wriggle into.
These were the doors into the cave. There was one for each boy, and one for Peter Pan. So for the pirates had not discovered them.
The pirates wanted to catch Nibs as he ran away among the trees, but Hook held them back.
"I want all of them. One is no good!" he said, and sat down on a large mushroom to wait, while they searched the wood.
Hook told Smee he hated Peter, for he had cut off his hand.
"He threw it to a passing crocodile," snarled Hook. "It liked the taste so much that it has followed me ever since, licking its lips for the rest of me! It would have had me many times, but luckily it swallowed a clock. It goes tick tick tick, so I can hear it coming, and escape."
"One day," said Smee, "the clock will run down, and it will get you!"
"That's what I'm afraid of," said Hook.
Suddenly he sprang to his feet. "My coat-tails! I'm on fire!" he shouted. "This mushroom is red hot!"
It was really the chimney to the cave, as Hook quickly realised. The boys always stopped it up with a mushroom, when enemies were about.
Just then, a familiar sound reached Hook's ears.
Tick tick tick tick — it was the crocodile!
Hook and Smee dashed away, and the boys came out of hiding. Nibs came rushing back, pointing up at the sky. Something like a great white bird was floating their way. It was really Wendy in her nightie, but they did not know this.
Tinker Bell was flying all around her, pinching her black and blue. Wendy was moaning "Poor Wendy!" to herself.
"Is there a bird called a Wendy?" asked Nibs.
"Hullo, Tink!" the boys shouted.
Tink replied, "Peter wants you to shoot the Wendy!"
The boys always did what Peter wanted, so they hurried away for their bows and arrows. Tootles was first back. "Quick, tootles, quick!" Tink screamed. "Peter will be so pleased!"
Tootles fitted an arrows to his bow. Then he fired. Wendy fluttered to the ground, an arrow in her heart.
When the boys crowded round to see the bird they had shot, they soon realised it was a lady.
"A mother to take care of us at last," said the Twins, "and Tootles has shot her!"
It was all part of Tootles' bad luck. He wanted to run away, but just then Peter arrived.
"I've brought you a mother!" he said proudly. "Haven't you seen her? She flew this way."
The Lost Boys stood aside and showed him Wendy.
"She is dead!" said Peter sternly. "Who shot her?"
"I did!" said Tootles bravely. "Now kill me!"
Peter raised the arrow to strike, when Wendy lifted up her arm. "Poor Tootles!" she moaned.
"She's alive!" Peter cried. The arrow had struck the acorn button on her chain and saved Wendy's life!
"Listen to Tink!" said Curly. "She's crying because Wendy's not dead."
They told Peter what Tinker Bell had done.
"Go away, Tinker Bell, for ever!" Peter cried. "I am no longer your friend!"
But Wendy raised her arm again.
"Well, not for ever — only for a week!" Peter relented.
Do you think Tinker Bell was grateful? No! She wanted to pinch Wendy more than ever. Fairies are funny creatures.
What could they do for Wendy? They could not carry her down into the cave.
"I know!" said Peter. "We'll build a little house for her!"
The boys rushed off to fetch branches, bedding and firewood. Michael and John joined in.
Bit by bit the house was built, with a green moss carpet and red walls, a door and windows. They planted roses round it.
Then Peter said, "Where's the chimney?"
He knocked the top out of John's Sunday hat and fitted it on the roof. At once it began to smoke. Peter knocked on the door and Wendy came out.
"This is your own little house!" Peter said.
"And we are all your children!" said the Lost Boys.
Wendy smiled. "Come inside," she said, "and I'll tell you the story of Cinderella."
Peter measured some trees to make holes to fit the new arrivals, so that they could go down into the cave whenever they wanted.
The cave was one enormous room, and they had sawed off a Nevertree, that grew in the middle, for a table. (They had to do this every morning, because it grew again overnight.)
Wendy stretched strings across the room to hang up the washing. There was a huge bed, slung against the wall, which was let down at night. The Lost Boys slept in it like sardines in a tin.
Tinker Bell had her own tiny room, with a little curtain in front of it. It was furnished elegantly, with a couch, a dressing-table and a mirror. There was a crystal chandelier, though the fairy lighted her beautiful room herself.
Wendy did all the cooking. They ate island food — roast pig, bread-fruit and bananas. Wendy liked to sit by the fire at night, when the boys were asleep, darning their socks.
As the weeks went by, Michael and John began to forget that she was not their real mother, though she did her best to remind them.
All this time the boys were going off on adventures organised by Peter, though there is only time to tell you about a few of them.
At the edge of the island there was a vivid blue lagoon where mermaids swam and you could hear the surf breaking on the shore. The mermaids lazed on the rocks, combing their long hair, and splashing the children with their tails if they came too near. After a shower, they bobbed up to play games with the rainbow-coloured sea bubbles. On Moonlight nights they sang strange wailing songs, and on those nights it was dangerous to go near the lagoon.
A Neverbird had built her nest in one of the trees by the shore, and laid six eggs. One day the nest fell, and floated out on the lagoon. The mother bird still sat there, drifting about in her nest like a little boat. Peter warned the boys to be careful not to disturb her.
There was a huge black rock out at sea, which was always covered with water at high tide. Pirates used to tie up their captives and leave them there to drown, so it was called the Marooners' Rock.
One afternoon, when Wendy and the boys were having a nap on the rock, dark shadows began to gather. The sun went in, and the lagoon became cold and unfriendly. Wendy tried not to be afraid, even when she heard the sound of a boat approaching.
Peter, always on the alert, smelled danger. "Pirates!" he cried. "Everybody dive!"
The next moment the Rock was empty.
The pirate dinghy, rowed by Smee and Starkey, drew near. They had captured Tiger Lily just as she was boarding the pirate sip with a knife between her teeth. They had tied her hands and feet and were going to leave her on the Rock to drown. She showed no fear, for she was a chief's daughter.
Peter wanted to save Tiger Lily and have some fun as well. He could imitate Captain Hook's voice. "Ahoy, you lubbers!" he called. "Set the redskin free!"
"But, Captain, you told us ..." began Smee.
"At once, d'you hear?" cried Peter, "or I'll plunge my hook in you!"
"Better do what the Captain orders!" muttered Starkey nervously.
So they cut Tiger Lily's cords and she slipped like an eel into the sea.
Suddenly a cry came across the water. "Boat ahoy!" It was the real Captain Hook, swimming out to join his men. Smee held up a lantern, and Wendy could see Hook's evil face as he rose dripping from the water. He had come to tell his men of a plan to capture Peter and his gang.
"We may never get the better of those boys now they have a mother to care for them!" he said gloomily.
"I know!" said Smee. "If we can capture Wendy, she can be our mother!"
(Wendy nearly gave the game away by saying "Never!")
"A capital idea!" cried Hook, with gleaming eyes. "But first we must catch the boys and make them walk the plank!"
Then Hook remembered Tiger Lily. He was furious that his men had let her go. "I gave no such orders!" he said.
He was scared when he heard about the mysterious voice. "Spirit that haunts this dark lagoon tonight," he called over the water, "dost hear me?"
Peter could not keep quiet. "Odds, bobs, hammer and tongs, I hear you!"
"Who are you, stranger?" asked Hook hoarsely.
"I am James Hook, Captain of the Jolly Roger!"
"If you are Hook, then who am I?"
"You're a codfish!"
Hook went pale at this insult. He began to guess who was playing games. "Are you a boy?" he called.
"Can't you guess?" crowed Peter.
"Are you a #I wonderful boy?" said Hook cunningly.
"Yes, yes!" said Peter boastfully. "I am! I'm Peter Pan!"
At once Hook ordered his men to attack. "Into the water! take him, dead or alive!"
Peter whistled up the boys and all eight of them came to the rescue, armed with daggers. The boys put up a good fight. Before long, Smee and Starkey were swimming for their lives towards the pirate ship, overcome by Tootles, Curly and John.
Peter had ordered the boys to leave Hook to him, so they rowed for shore in the pirate dinghy.
Peter and Hook came up to breathe at the same moment, on opposite sides of the Rock, and stared into each other's grim faces. They climbed up, and Peter snatched a knife from Hook's belt. Then he gave him a hand up, so that they could fight fairly. But the treacherous Hook bit Peter's hand. Peter was so shocked by this mean act, he dropped his guard, and Hook was able to claw him twice.
The tide was rising rapidly, so Hook struck out for his ship, leaving Peter wounded. Wendy managed to pull herself up on the Rock, and collapsed in Peter's arms.
"We can't swim or fly to the island!" said Peter. "You're tired, and I'm wounded."
"Shall we be drowned?" asked Wendy.
Just then something touched Peter gently. It was the tail of a kite Michael had lost that morning, which had blown across the lagoon.
"This will carry one of us!" cried Peter, and he tied the tail around Wendy. He gave her a push, and she floated up into the sky.
Peter was left alone on the Rock, which by now the tide had nearly covered. Perhaps he was going to drown. He could hear the mermaids singing their sad songs to the moon. His heart beat like a drum. A strange smile came over his face. He thought — "To die will be an awfully big adventure."
But Peter was not to die! The Neverbird came by in her nest and rescued him. When he returned to the cave he saw twinkling campfires. The redskins had come to protect the boys from pirate attack because Peter had saved Tiger Lily. There was nothing they would not do for him.
Safe inside their cave, the children sat round for a make-believe tea. They were so excited that they started to squabble, so Wendy decided to tell them a story, to settle them down.
Just then, Peter came back. He had been to get the right time from the crocodile.
"It's story time!" said Wendy. She began to tell the story that Peter hated. It was about three children who had a nurse called Nana, and how they flew away from home one night, and how their father and mother missed them. "Think how sad they were when they saw the empty beds!" she said.
Then she came to the part that Peter hated most. She told them how much mothers love their children. "The mother always left the window open for the children to fly back. So they stayed away for years and had a lovely time."
Peter was very upset. "Wendy, you're wrong about mothers!" he said. Then he told them what had happened when #I he went back home. "I thought, like you, my mother would always keep the window open for me. So I stayed away a long time. Then I flew back, but my mother had forgotten me. The window was shut and there was another little boy in my bed."
Michael and John began to cry, and Wendy comforted them. They were afraid their mother might forget them, too. They begged Wendy to take them home.
The Lost Boys wanted to come too, and Wendy promised she would ask Mr and Mrs Darling to adopt them.
Peter was very hurt, but he was too proud to show it. He would not keep Wendy against her will. So he pretended not to care. "I will ask the redskins to show you the way through the wood, and Tinker Bell can guide you when you fly over the sea," he said.
"But aren't you coming too?" pleaded Wendy.
"Oh, no! They would make me grow up. I want to stay a little boy always, and have fun!"
Peter shook hands. He did not even give Wendy a "thimble".
Wendy measured out a dose of his medicine (it was only water) and put the glass on a shelf by his bed. "Promise me you'll take it!" she said in her motherly way.
"I promise! Lead the way, Tinker Bell!" ordered Peter.
Tink darted up the nearest tree, but nobody followed her. For it was at that moment the pirates made their dreadful attack on the redskins. The air was full of shrieks and howls and the clash of steel!
Below, there was dead silence. Wendy fell to her knees, and the boys all turned to Peter, holding out their arms, and begging him not to desert them. And he seized his trusty sword, ready to do battle.
Hook and his fiendish crew had taken the redskins by surprise, attacking in the evening. Attacks are supposed to be at dawn, as everyone knows, so the pirates had a mean advantage. Tiger Lily and a small band of braves were the first to see them. They seized their weapons and gave their war cry, but it was too late.
Almost the whole tribe perished. Only the Chief, Tiger Lily and a few warriors managed to fight their way out.
Hook stood in triumph a little way from his crew, who were busy wiping the blood off their cutlasses. The night's work was not yet over. There was hatred in his black heart for Peter Pan.
None of the pirates was thin enough to wriggle down the holes in the tree-trunks, but they could hear what the boys were saying down below.
"Who has won the fight, the redskins or the pirates?"
"If the redskins have won," replied Peter, "they'll beat their tom-tom."
Hook signalled to Smee, who was sitting on the tom-tom. smee beat on it twice, an evil grin on his face.
"It's a redskin victory!" cried Peter.
The boys cheered and picked up their bundles to leave the cave, saying a last goodbye to Peter.
As they came up, one by one, each was caught by a pirate and thrown from hand to hand till he landed at the feet of Hook. There he was gagged and trussed up like a chicken.
Only Wendy was spared. Hook raised his hat to her with horrible politeness, gave her his arm and escorted her to join the others.
The pirates bundled the children into the little Wendy House. Four of them carried it on their shoulders to the #I Jolly #I Roger, while the others fell in behind, singing their hateful pirate song.
Hook was left behind. He looked carefully at the trees, and discovered one of them was more hollow than the others. He could just squeeze in. At the bottom, he could not open the door, but found a chink to peer through. He could see Peter lying asleep peacefully, on the great bed, and for a moment his cold heart was touched. Then he spied the medicine, which he could just reach.
Hook always carried a deadly poison on him. Reaching his arm through the chink, he poured five drops into the glass.
He climbed out of the tree like some evil spirit. Pulling his hat over his eyes, he wrapped his black cloak around him. Muttering to himself, he stole away through the wood.
Peter slept till ten o'clock that night. He was wakened by a tiny knock on the door.
It was Tinker Bell, her dress all muddy and her face flushed. She told him that Wendy and the boys had been captured and taken to the pirate ship.
"I'll rescue them!" cried Peter, grasping his sword. "But first I must take my medicine!"
"No! No!" said Tinker Bell shrilly. "It's poisoned!" she had heard Hook talking to himself, as he slunk through the wood.
"How could it be?" said Peter. "Nobody has been down here."
He put the glass to his lips. Brave Tinker Bell flew between his mouth and the glass and drank the poison herself. in one gulp.
"It #I was poisoned!" she cried. "I am going to be dead!"
"Oh, Tink!" gasped Peter. "Did you drink it to save me?"
"Yes!"
"But why?"
"You silly ass," said Tink lovingly, and fluttered feebly to her tiny couch, in her own little room. She lay there gasping, her light getting weaker every moment. Soon it would go out.
She was whispering something. Peter bent down to listen. "If enough children believe in fairies, I might get better again!"
What could Peter do? All children were asleep in their beds. Then he thought of those who were dreaming of Neverland.
He called out "If you believe in fairies, #I clap your hands!#I Don't let poor Tinker Bell die!"
There was silence. Then there was a faint pattering of clapping. It grew and grew until it filled the cave. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. But already Tink was saved. Her voice grew strong. She flashed round the room, as merry as ever.
"And now to rescue Wendy!"
Peter came up through the tree into the moonlit wood and set out on his perilous quest. No one was about, except for the crocodile, which never slept, passing down below.
Peter swore a terrible oath — "Hook or me, this time!"
The Jolly Roger lay at the mouth of the river, an ugly-looking craft with sloping masts, and one green light burning at her stern. The tired pirates were sprawling on the deck, or hunched over barrels playing cards. Hook himself paced up and down, joylessly. He had achieved his ambition, but he knew he was hated and feared by all.
In a fit of jury, he ordered the boys to be dragged up from the hold. He promised to spare two of them if they would join the crew as cabin-boys.
"Six of you must walk the plank!" he snarled, puffing away at his cigars.
The boys bravely refused the offer.
"Would we be free subjects of the King?" asked John.
"You would have to swear 'down with the King!'"
"Then we say No!" was the answer.
"Bring out the plank!" roared Hook. "And fetch their mother!"
Wendy was brought up to see her boys walk to their death in the briny ocean.
"Have you any last message for you children?" sneered Hook.
Wendy despised the pirates. She spoke out firmly. "All you mothers hope you will die bravely like true Englishmen!"
"Tie her to the mast!" Hook shouted.
The boys' eyes were on the plank. The last walk they would ever take. There was a grim silence. It was broken by a strange sound — the tick tick tick of a the crocodile!
Everyone looked at Hook. That terrible man collapsed with fear. The sound came nearer. Hook fell to the deck. He crawled along as far as he could go, crying to his men hoarsely, "Hide me! Hide me!"
The crew gathered round him. The boys looked over the side of the vessel and saw — not the crocodile, but Peter Pan! It was he who was ticking!
The crocodile's clock had run down at last and Peter was imitating it. He signed to the boys not to give him away, and slipped aboard, to hide in the captain's cabin.
The ticking had stopped, so Hook was brave again. He lined up the boys for a flogging and sent Jukes to his cabin to fetch the cat-o'-nine-tails. Jukes entered the dark room. There was a terrible scream, followed by a blood-curdling crow. Jukes had been killed by Peter!
Two more pirates followed, to suffer the same fate.
"Will no one fetch out this cursed doodle-doo?" grated Hook. By this time the crew had lost their nerve. No one else would venture.
So Hook sent in the eight boys. "Let them kill each other!" he said, cruelly.
This was just what Peter had planned. He unlocked the boys' chains with a key he had found, and armed them with Hook's weapons. Then they all crept out on the deck while the pirates' backs were turned. Peter freed Wendy and took her place at the mast, wrapped in her cloak.
Then he let out a terrific "cock-a-doodle".
The pirates spun round. "'Tis an unlucky ship," they cried, "with a captain with a hook!"
"'Tis because we have a woman on board," said Hook quickly. "Throw her over the side!"
"No one can save you now, missy!" said one of the kinder pirates, sadly.
"Here's one who can!" cried Peter, throwing aside the cloak. "Peter Pan!"
A great fight began. Swords and cutlasses clashed, and bodies fell into the water. Slightly counted up to eleven, and soon only Hook was left. His sword flashed like a circle of fire.
"Leave him to me, boys!" cried Peter.
Although his arm was shorter, Peter was nimbler, and soon wounded Hook. At the sight of his own ugly blood, Hook turned pale and dropped his sword. He rushed to set fire to the powder magazine, and blow the ship up. The daring Peter snatched the torch from his hand and threw it into the sea.
Hook backed away from the menacing Peter and climbed on the bulwark. Peter aimed a kick at him. Hook lost his balance and went slithering down into the sea.
The crocodile, who had followed Peter, was waiting patiently below. He opened his huge jaws and had the rest of Hook for his supper.
That night the boys slept in the pirates' bunks, and next morning Wendy made them all scrub the ship from stem to stern. Then they set off for home and England, with Peter as captain.
Meanwhile, in London, Mr and Mrs Darling were still grieving over the empty nursery and their lost children. Mr Darling was sure it was all his fault for chaining up Nana, and, as a punishment, he slept in her kennel. He even went to the office in it.
One night he had crawled into the kennel in the nursery, feeling very miserable. So he begged Mrs Darling to play the piano for him, in the room next door.
"Please shut the window!" he asked. "It's very draughty in the kennel."
"You know I can't do that, dear!" said Mrs Darling. "The children might come home!"
Little did she know that they were on their way! She went into the day nursery and played, till Mr Darling went to sleep.
The children had crossed the sea now, and were flying the last bit of the way. Peter and Tinker Bell were ahead of the others, as Peter had a plan. They found the open window and flew in. Peter was going to shut the window, so that Wendy would think her mother had forgotten her, and go back with him to the Neverland.
But Mrs Darling was sitting sadly at the piano, with tears trickling down her face.
"She is fond of Wendy, too!" thought Peter miserably. "We can't both have her. What had I better do?" Then he said, "Oh, come on, Tink. We'll let them in."
So Wendy and Michael and John slipped into the nursery, very surprised to see their father in the kennel. They decided to get into bed and pretend that they had never been away.
So when Mrs Darling came in to see if her husband was asleep, the beds were full! She thought it was a dream. Then the children spoke to her. She put her arms round them all, and called her husband and Nana to share her happiness.
Peter Pan had had many strange experiences that other children could never know, but now he was looking through the window at the one joy he could never share.
Peter did come back one day. The Darlings adopted the Lost Boys, and Mrs Darling let Wendy go back to the Neverland once a year to help Peter with the spring-cleaning. He was living in Wendy's Little House, which the fairies had put in the tree-tops for him.
Peter had not much idea of time, so he did not come every year. Once he left it so long that Wendy was grown-up and had a little girl of her own, called Jane.
You can guess what happened! #I Jane wanted to go back with him, and Wendy let her.
As Peter never grew up, one year Jane's #I daughter was the one who went. And so it will go on, as long as there are children, and Neverland, and Peter Pan!
THE END