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diff --git a/old/1332.txt b/old/1332.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3947d95 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1332.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1908 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, by J. M. Barrie + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens + +Author: J. M. Barrie + +Posting Date: August 27, 2008 [EBook #1332] +Release Date: May, 1998 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PETER PAN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS *** + + + + +Produced by Ron Burkey + + + + + +PETER PAN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS + +By J. M. Barrie + + + + +CONTENTS + + Peter Pan + The Thrush's Nest + The Little House + Lock-Out Time + + + + +Peter Pan + +If you ask your mother whether she knew about Peter Pan when she was a +little girl she will say, "Why, of course, I did, child," and if you +ask her whether he rode on a goat in those days she will say, "What +a foolish question to ask, certainly he did." Then if you ask your +grandmother whether she knew about Peter Pan when she was a girl, she +also says, "Why, of course, I did, child," but if you ask her whether he +rode on a goat in those days, she says she never heard of his having a +goat. Perhaps she has forgotten, just as she sometimes forgets your name +and calls you Mildred, which is your mother's name. Still, she could +hardly forget such an important thing as the goat. Therefore there was +no goat when your grandmother was a little girl. This shows that, in +telling the story of Peter Pan, to begin with the goat (as most people +do) is as silly as to put on your jacket before your vest. + +Of course, it also shows that Peter is ever so old, but he is really +always the same age, so that does not matter in the least. His age +is one week, and though he was born so long ago he has never had a +birthday, nor is there the slightest chance of his ever having one. The +reason is that he escaped from being a human when he was seven days' +old; he escaped by the window and flew back to the Kensington Gardens. + +If you think he was the only baby who ever wanted to escape, it shows +how completely you have forgotten your own young days. When David heard +this story first he was quite certain that he had never tried to escape, +but I told him to think back hard, pressing his hands to his temples, +and when he had done this hard, and even harder, he distinctly +remembered a youthful desire to return to the tree-tops, and with that +memory came others, as that he had lain in bed planning to escape as +soon as his mother was asleep, and how she had once caught him half-way +up the chimney. All children could have such recollections if they would +press their hands hard to their temples, for, having been birds before +they were human, they are naturally a little wild during the first few +weeks, and very itchy at the shoulders, where their wings used to be. So +David tells me. + +I ought to mention here that the following is our way with a story: +First, I tell it to him, and then he tells it to me, the understanding +being that it is quite a different story; and then I retell it with his +additions, and so we go on until no one could say whether it is more +his story or mine. In this story of Peter Pan, for instance, the bald +narrative and most of the moral reflections are mine, though not all, +for this boy can be a stern moralist, but the interesting bits about the +ways and customs of babies in the bird-stage are mostly reminiscences +of David's, recalled by pressing his hands to his temples and thinking +hard. + +Well, Peter Pan got out by the window, which had no bars. Standing +on the ledge he could see trees far away, which were doubtless the +Kensington Gardens, and the moment he saw them he entirely forgot that +he was now a little boy in a nightgown, and away he flew, right over the +houses to the Gardens. It is wonderful that he could fly without wings, +but the place itched tremendously, and, perhaps we could all fly if we +were as dead-confident-sure of our capacity to do it as was bold Peter +Pan that evening. + +He alighted gaily on the open sward, between the Baby's Palace and the +Serpentine, and the first thing he did was to lie on his back and kick. +He was quite unaware already that he had ever been human, and thought he +was a bird, even in appearance, just the same as in his early days, and +when he tried to catch a fly he did not understand that the reason he +missed it was because he had attempted to seize it with his hand, which, +of course, a bird never does. He saw, however, that it must be past +Lock-out Time, for there were a good many fairies about, all too busy +to notice him; they were getting breakfast ready, milking their cows, +drawing water, and so on, and the sight of the water-pails made him +thirsty, so he flew over to the Round Pond to have a drink. He stooped, +and dipped his beak in the pond; he thought it was his beak, but, of +course, it was only his nose, and, therefore, very little water came up, +and that not so refreshing as usual, so next he tried a puddle, and he +fell flop into it. When a real bird falls in flop, he spreads out his +feathers and pecks them dry, but Peter could not remember what was +the thing to do, and he decided, rather sulkily, to go to sleep on the +weeping beech in the Baby Walk. + +At first he found some difficulty in balancing himself on a branch, but +presently he remembered the way, and fell asleep. He awoke long before +morning, shivering, and saying to himself, "I never was out in such a +cold night;" he had really been out in colder nights when he was a bird, +but, of course, as everybody knows, what seems a warm night to a bird +is a cold night to a boy in a nightgown. Peter also felt strangely +uncomfortable, as if his head was stuffy, he heard loud noises that made +him look round sharply, though they were really himself sneezing. There +was something he wanted very much, but, though he knew he wanted it, he +could not think what it was. What he wanted so much was his mother to +blow his nose, but that never struck him, so he decided to appeal to the +fairies for enlightenment. They are reputed to know a good deal. + +There were two of them strolling along the Baby Walk, with their arms +round each other's waists, and he hopped down to address them. The +fairies have their tiffs with the birds, but they usually give a civil +answer to a civil question, and he was quite angry when these two ran +away the moment they saw him. Another was lolling on a garden-chair, +reading a postage-stamp which some human had let fall, and when he heard +Peter's voice he popped in alarm behind a tulip. + +To Peter's bewilderment he discovered that every fairy he met fled from +him. A band of workmen, who were sawing down a toadstool, rushed away, +leaving their tools behind them. A milkmaid turned her pail upside down +and hid in it. Soon the Gardens were in an uproar. Crowds of fairies +were running this way and that, asking each other stoutly, who was +afraid, lights were extinguished, doors barricaded, and from the grounds +of Queen Mab's palace came the rubadub of drums, showing that the royal +guard had been called out. + +A regiment of Lancers came charging down the Broad Walk, armed with +holly-leaves, with which they jog the enemy horribly in passing. Peter +heard the little people crying everywhere that there was a human in the +Gardens after Lock-out Time, but he never thought for a moment that he +was the human. He was feeling stuffier and stuffier, and more and more +wistful to learn what he wanted done to his nose, but he pursued them +with the vital question in vain; the timid creatures ran from him, and +even the Lancers, when he approached them up the Hump, turned swiftly +into a side-walk, on the pretence that they saw him there. + +Despairing of the fairies, he resolved to consult the birds, but now he +remembered, as an odd thing, that all the birds on the weeping beech had +flown away when he alighted on it, and though that had not troubled him +at the time, he saw its meaning now. Every living thing was shunning +him. Poor little Peter Pan, he sat down and cried, and even then he did +not know that, for a bird, he was sitting on his wrong part. It is a +blessing that he did not know, for otherwise he would have lost faith +in his power to fly, and the moment you doubt whether you can fly, you +cease forever to be able to do it. The reason birds can fly and we can't +is simply that they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have +wings. + +Now, except by flying, no one can reach the island in the Serpentine, +for the boats of humans are forbidden to land there, and there +are stakes round it, standing up in the water, on each of which a +bird-sentinel sits by day and night. It was to the island that Peter now +flew to put his strange case before old Solomon Caw, and he alighted on +it with relief, much heartened to find himself at last at home, as the +birds call the island. All of them were asleep, including the sentinels, +except Solomon, who was wide awake on one side, and he listened quietly +to Peter's adventures, and then told him their true meaning. + +"Look at your night-gown, if you don't believe me," Solomon said, +and with staring eyes Peter looked at his nightgown, and then at the +sleeping birds. Not one of them wore anything. + +"How many of your toes are thumbs?" said Solomon a little cruelly, and +Peter saw to his consternation, that all his toes were fingers. The +shock was so great that it drove away his cold. + +"Ruffle your feathers," said that grim old Solomon, and Peter tried most +desperately hard to ruffle his feathers, but he had none. Then he rose +up, quaking, and for the first time since he stood on the window-ledge, +he remembered a lady who had been very fond of him. + +"I think I shall go back to mother," he said timidly. + +"Good-bye," replied Solomon Caw with a queer look. + +But Peter hesitated. "Why don't you go?" the old one asked politely. + +"I suppose," said Peter huskily, "I suppose I can still fly?" + +You see, he had lost faith. + +"Poor little half-and-half," said Solomon, who was not really +hard-hearted, "you will never be able to fly again, not even on windy +days. You must live here on the island always." + +"And never even go to the Kensington Gardens?" Peter asked tragically. + +"How could you get across?" said Solomon. He promised very kindly, +however, to teach Peter as many of the bird ways as could be learned by +one of such an awkward shape. + +"Then I sha'n't be exactly a human?" Peter asked. + +"No." + +"Nor exactly a bird?" + +"No." + +"What shall I be?" + +"You will be a Betwixt-and-Between," Solomon said, and certainly he was +a wise old fellow, for that is exactly how it turned out. + +The birds on the island never got used to him. His oddities tickled them +every day, as if they were quite new, though it was really the birds +that were new. They came out of the eggs daily, and laughed at him at +once, then off they soon flew to be humans, and other birds came out +of other eggs, and so it went on forever. The crafty mother-birds, when +they tired of sitting on their eggs, used to get the young one to break +their shells a day before the right time by whispering to them that now +was their chance to see Peter washing or drinking or eating. Thousands +gathered round him daily to watch him do these things, just as you watch +the peacocks, and they screamed with delight when he lifted the crusts +they flung him with his hands instead of in the usual way with the +mouth. All his food was brought to him from the Gardens at Solomon's +orders by the birds. He would not eat worms or insects (which they +thought very silly of him), so they brought him bread in their beaks. +Thus, when you cry out, "Greedy! Greedy!" to the bird that flies away +with the big crust, you know now that you ought not to do this, for he +is very likely taking it to Peter Pan. + +Peter wore no night-gown now. You see, the birds were always begging him +for bits of it to line their nests with, and, being very good-natured, +he could not refuse, so by Solomon's advice he had hidden what was left +of it. But, though he was now quite naked, you must not think that he +was cold or unhappy. He was usually very happy and gay, and the reason +was that Solomon had kept his promise and taught him many of the bird +ways. To be easily pleased, for instance, and always to be really doing +something, and to think that whatever he was doing was a thing of vast +importance. Peter became very clever at helping the birds to build their +nests; soon he could build better than a wood-pigeon, and nearly as well +as a blackbird, though never did he satisfy the finches, and he made +nice little water-troughs near the nests and dug up worms for the young +ones with his fingers. He also became very learned in bird-lore, and +knew an east-wind from a west-wind by its smell, and he could see the +grass growing and hear the insects walking about inside the tree-trunks. +But the best thing Solomon had done was to teach him to have a glad +heart. All birds have glad hearts unless you rob their nests, and so as +they were the only kind of heart Solomon knew about, it was easy to him +to teach Peter how to have one. + +Peter's heart was so glad that he felt he must sing all day long, +just as the birds sing for joy, but, being partly human, he needed in +instrument, so he made a pipe of reeds, and he used to sit by the shore +of the island of an evening, practising the sough of the wind and the +ripple of the water, and catching handfuls of the shine of the moon, and +he put them all in his pipe and played them so beautifully that even the +birds were deceived, and they would say to each other, "Was that a fish +leaping in the water or was it Peter playing leaping fish on his pipe?" +and sometimes he played the birth of birds, and then the mothers would +turn round in their nests to see whether they had laid an egg. If you +are a child of the Gardens you must know the chestnut-tree near the +bridge, which comes out in flower first of all the chestnuts, but +perhaps you have not heard why this tree leads the way. It is because +Peter wearies for summer and plays that it has come, and the chestnut +being so near, hears him and is cheated. + +But as Peter sat by the shore tootling divinely on his pipe he sometimes +fell into sad thoughts and then the music became sad also, and the +reason of all this sadness was that he could not reach the Gardens, +though he could see them through the arch of the bridge. He knew he +could never be a real human again, and scarcely wanted to be one, but +oh, how he longed to play as other children play, and of course there +is no such lovely place to play in as the Gardens. The birds brought him +news of how boys and girls play, and wistful tears started in Peter's +eyes. + +Perhaps you wonder why he did not swim across. The reason was that he +could not swim. He wanted to know how to swim, but no one on the island +knew the way except the ducks, and they are so stupid. They were quite +willing to teach him, but all they could say about it was, "You sit down +on the top of the water in this way, and then you kick out like that." +Peter tried it often, but always before he could kick out he sank. What +he really needed to know was how you sit on the water without sinking, +and they said it was quite impossible to explain such an easy thing as +that. Occasionally swans touched on the island, and he would give them +all his day's food and then ask them how they sat on the water, but as +soon as he had no more to give them the hateful things hissed at him and +sailed away. + +Once he really thought he had discovered a way of reaching the Gardens. +A wonderful white thing, like a runaway newspaper, floated high over +the island and then tumbled, rolling over and over after the manner of a +bird that has broken its wing. Peter was so frightened that he hid, but +the birds told him it was only a kite, and what a kite is, and that it +must have tugged its string out of a boy's hand, and soared away. After +that they laughed at Peter for being so fond of the kite, he loved it +so much that he even slept with one hand on it, and I think this was +pathetic and pretty, for the reason he loved it was because it had +belonged to a real boy. + +To the birds this was a very poor reason, but the older ones felt +grateful to him at this time because he had nursed a number of +fledglings through the German measles, and they offered to show him how +birds fly a kite. So six of them took the end of the string in their +beaks and flew away with it; and to his amazement it flew after them and +went even higher than they. + +Peter screamed out, "Do it again!" and with great good nature they did +it several times, and always instead of thanking them he cried, "Do it +again!" which shows that even now he had not quite forgotten what it was +to be a boy. + +At last, with a grand design burning within his brave heart, he begged +them to do it once more with him clinging to the tail, and now a hundred +flew off with the string, and Peter clung to the tail, meaning to drop +off when he was over the Gardens. But the kite broke to pieces in the +air, and he would have drowned in the Serpentine had he not caught hold +of two indignant swans and made them carry him to the island. After this +the birds said that they would help him no more in his mad enterprise. + +Nevertheless, Peter did reach the Gardens at last by the help of +Shelley's boat, as I am now to tell you. + + + + +The Thrush's Nest + +Shelley was a young gentleman and as grown-up as he need ever expect to +be. He was a poet; and they are never exactly grown-up. They are people +who despise money except what you need for to-day, and he had all that +and five pounds over. So, when he was walking in the Kensington Gardens, +he made a paper boat of his bank-note, and sent it sailing on the +Serpentine. + +It reached the island at night: and the look-out brought it to Solomon +Caw, who thought at first that it was the usual thing, a message from a +lady, saying she would be obliged if he could let her have a good one. +They always ask for the best one he has, and if he likes the letter he +sends one from Class A, but if it ruffles him he sends very funny ones +indeed. Sometimes he sends none at all, and at another time he sends a +nestful; it all depends on the mood you catch him in. He likes you to +leave it all to him, and if you mention particularly that you hope he +will see his way to making it a boy this time, he is almost sure to send +another girl. And whether you are a lady or only a little boy who wants +a baby-sister, always take pains to write your address clearly. You +can't think what a lot of babies Solomon has sent to the wrong house. + +Shelley's boat, when opened, completely puzzled Solomon, and he took +counsel of his assistants, who having walked over it twice, first with +their toes pointed out, and then with their toes pointed in, decided +that it came from some greedy person who wanted five. They thought this +because there was a large five printed on it. "Preposterous!" cried +Solomon in a rage, and he presented it to Peter; anything useless which +drifted upon the island was usually given to Peter as a play-thing. + +But he did not play with his precious bank-note, for he knew what it +was at once, having been very observant during the week when he was an +ordinary boy. With so much money, he reflected, he could surely at last +contrive to reach the Gardens, and he considered all the possible ways, +and decided (wisely, I think) to choose the best way. But, first, he had +to tell the birds of the value of Shelley's boat; and though they were +too honest to demand it back, he saw that they were galled, and they +cast such black looks at Solomon, who was rather vain of his cleverness, +that he flew away to the end of the island, and sat there very depressed +with his head buried in his wings. Now Peter knew that unless Solomon +was on your side, you never got anything done for you in the island, so +he followed him and tried to hearten him. + +Nor was this all that Peter did to pin the powerful old fellow's good +will. You must know that Solomon had no intention of remaining in office +all his life. He looked forward to retiring by-and-by, and devoting his +green old age to a life of pleasure on a certain yew-stump in the Figs +which had taken his fancy, and for years he had been quietly filling his +stocking. It was a stocking belonging to some bathing person which had +been cast upon the island, and at the time I speak of it contained a +hundred and eighty crumbs, thirty-four nuts, sixteen crusts, a pen-wiper +and a bootlace. When his stocking was full, Solomon calculated that he +would be able to retire on a competency. Peter now gave him a pound. He +cut it off his bank-note with a sharp stick. + +This made Solomon his friend for ever, and after the two had consulted +together they called a meeting of the thrushes. You will see presently +why thrushes only were invited. + +The scheme to be put before them was really Peter's, but Solomon did +most of the talking, because he soon became irritable if other people +talked. He began by saying that he had been much impressed by the +superior ingenuity shown by the thrushes in nest-building, and this +put them into good-humour at once, as it was meant to do; for all the +quarrels between birds are about the best way of building nests. Other +birds, said Solomon, omitted to line their nests with mud, and as a +result they did not hold water. Here he cocked his head as if he had +used an unanswerable argument; but, unfortunately, a Mrs. Finch had come +to the meeting uninvited, and she squeaked out, "We don't build nests to +hold water, but to hold eggs," and then the thrushes stopped cheering, +and Solomon was so perplexed that he took several sips of water. + +"Consider," he said at last, "how warm the mud makes the nest." + +"Consider," cried Mrs. Finch, "that when water gets into the nest it +remains there and your little ones are drowned." + +The thrushes begged Solomon with a look to say something crushing in +reply to this, but again he was perplexed. + +"Try another drink," suggested Mrs. Finch pertly. Kate was her name, and +all Kates are saucy. + +Solomon did try another drink, and it inspired him. "If," said he, "a +finch's nest is placed on the Serpentine it fills and breaks to pieces, +but a thrush's nest is still as dry as the cup of a swan's back." + +How the thrushes applauded! Now they knew why they lined their nests +with mud, and when Mrs. Finch called out, "We don't place our nests on +the Serpentine," they did what they should have done at first: chased +her from the meeting. After this it was most orderly. What they had been +brought together to hear, said Solomon, was this: their young friend, +Peter Pan, as they well knew, wanted very much to be able to cross to +the Gardens, and he now proposed, with their help, to build a boat. + +At this the thrushes began to fidget, which made Peter tremble for his +scheme. + +Solomon explained hastily that what he meant was not one of the cumbrous +boats that humans use; the proposed boat was to be simply a thrush's +nest large enough to hold Peter. + +But still, to Peter's agony, the thrushes were sulky. "We are very busy +people," they grumbled, "and this would be a big job." + +"Quite so," said Solomon, "and, of course, Peter would not allow you +to work for nothing. You must remember that he is now in comfortable +circumstances, and he will pay you such wages as you have never been +paid before. Peter Pan authorises me to say that you shall all be paid +sixpence a day." + +Then all the thrushes hopped for joy, and that very day was begun the +celebrated Building of the Boat. All their ordinary business fell into +arrears. It was the time of year when they should have been pairing, but +not a thrush's nest was built except this big one, and so Solomon soon +ran short of thrushes with which to supply the demand from the mainland. +The stout, rather greedy children, who look so well in perambulators +but get puffed easily when they walk, were all young thrushes once, and +ladies often ask specially for them. What do you think Solomon did? He +sent over to the housetops for a lot of sparrows and ordered them to lay +their eggs in old thrushes' nests and sent their young to the ladies and +swore they were all thrushes! It was known afterward on the island as +the Sparrows' Year, and so, when you meet, as you doubtless sometimes +do, grown-up people who puff and blow as if they thought themselves +bigger than they are, very likely they belong to that year. You ask +them. + +Peter was a just master, and paid his work-people every evening. They +stood in rows on the branches, waiting politely while he cut the paper +sixpences out of his bank-note, and presently he called the roll, and +then each bird, as the names were mentioned, flew down and got sixpence. +It must have been a fine sight. + +And at last, after months of labor, the boat was finished. Oh, the +deportment of Peter as he saw it growing more and more like a great +thrush's nest! From the very beginning of the building of it he slept by +its side, and often woke up to say sweet things to it, and after it was +lined with mud and the mud had dried he always slept in it. He sleeps in +his nest still, and has a fascinating way of curling round in it, for it +is just large enough to hold him comfortably when he curls round like a +kitten. It is brown inside, of course, but outside it is mostly green, +being woven of grass and twigs, and when these wither or snap the walls +are thatched afresh. There are also a few feathers here and there, which +came off the thrushes while they were building. + +The other birds were extremely jealous and said that the boat would not +balance on the water, but it lay most beautifully steady; they said the +water would come into it, but no water came into it. Next they said that +Peter had no oars, and this caused the thrushes to look at each other +in dismay, but Peter replied that he had no need of oars, for he had a +sail, and with such a proud, happy face he produced a sail which he had +fashioned out of this night-gown, and though it was still rather like a +night-gown it made a lovely sail. And that night, the moon being full, +and all the birds asleep, he did enter his coracle (as Master Francis +Pretty would have said) and depart out of the island. And first, he knew +not why, he looked upward, with his hands clasped, and from that moment +his eyes were pinned to the west. + +He had promised the thrushes to begin by making short voyages, with them +to his guides, but far away he saw the Kensington Gardens beckoning to +him beneath the bridge, and he could not wait. His face was flushed, but +he never looked back; there was an exultation in his little breast that +drove out fear. Was Peter the least gallant of the English mariners who +have sailed westward to meet the Unknown? + +At first, his boat turned round and round, and he was driven back to the +place of his starting, whereupon he shortened sail, by removing one of +the sleeves, and was forthwith carried backward by a contrary breeze, to +his no small peril. He now let go the sail, with the result that he was +drifted toward the far shore, where are black shadows he knew not the +dangers of, but suspected them, and so once more hoisted his night-gown +and went roomer of the shadows until he caught a favouring wind, which +bore him westward, but at so great a speed that he was like to be broke +against the bridge. Which, having avoided, he passed under the bridge +and came, to his great rejoicing, within full sight of the delectable +Gardens. But having tried to cast anchor, which was a stone at the end +of a piece of the kite-string, he found no bottom, and was fain to hold +off, seeking for moorage, and, feeling his way, he buffeted against a +sunken reef that cast him overboard by the greatness of the shock, and +he was near to being drowned, but clambered back into the vessel. There +now arose a mighty storm, accompanied by roaring of waters, such as he +had never heard the like, and he was tossed this way and that, and +his hands so numbed with the cold that he could not close them. Having +escaped the danger of which, he was mercifully carried into a small bay, +where his boat rode at peace. + +Nevertheless, he was not yet in safety; for, on pretending to disembark, +he found a multitude of small people drawn up on the shore to contest +his landing; and shouting shrilly to him to be off, for it was long past +Lock-out Time. This, with much brandishing of their holly-leaves, and +also a company of them carried an arrow which some boy had left in the +Gardens, and this they were prepared to use as a battering-ram. + +Then Peter, who knew them for the fairies, called out that he was not an +ordinary human and had no desire to do them displeasure, but to be their +friend, nevertheless, having found a jolly harbour, he was in no temper +to draw off there-from, and he warned them if they sought to mischief +him to stand to their harms. + +So saying; he boldly leapt ashore, and they gathered around him with +intent to slay him, but there then arose a great cry among the women, +and it was because they had now observed that his sail was a baby's +night-gown. Whereupon, they straightway loved him, and grieved that +their laps were too small, the which I cannot explain, except by saying +that such is the way of women. The men-fairies now sheathed their +weapons on observing the behaviour of their women, on whose intelligence +they set great store, and they led him civilly to their queen, who +conferred upon him the courtesy of the Gardens after Lock-out Time, and +henceforth Peter could go whither he chose, and the fairies had orders +to put him in comfort. + +Such was his first voyage to the Gardens, and you may gather from the +antiquity of the language that it took place a long time ago. But Peter +never grows any older, and if we could be watching for him under the +bridge to-night (but, of course, we can't), I daresay we should see +him hoisting his night-gown and sailing or paddling toward us in the +Thrush's Nest. When he sails, he sits down, but he stands up to paddle. +I shall tell you presently how he got his paddle. + +Long before the time for the opening of the gates comes he steals back +to the island, for people must not see him (he is not so human as all +that), but this gives him hours for play, and he plays exactly as real +children play. At least he thinks so, and it is one of the pathetic +things about him that he often plays quite wrongly. + +You see, he had no one to tell him how children really play, for the +fairies were all more or less in hiding until dusk, and so know nothing, +and though the buds pretended that they could tell him a great deal, +when the time for telling came, it was wonderful how little they really +knew. They told him the truth about hide-and-seek, and he often plays +it by himself, but even the ducks on the Round Pond could not explain to +him what it is that makes the pond so fascinating to boys. Every night +the ducks have forgotten all the events of the day, except the number of +pieces of cake thrown to them. They are gloomy creatures, and say that +cake is not what it was in their young days. + +So Peter had to find out many things for himself. He often played ships +at the Round Pond, but his ship was only a hoop which he had found on +the grass. Of course, he had never seen a hoop, and he wondered what +you play at with them, and decided that you play at pretending they +are boats. This hoop always sank at once, but he waded in for it, and +sometimes he dragged it gleefully round the rim of the pond, and he was +quite proud to think that he had discovered what boys do with hoops. + +Another time, when he found a child's pail, he thought it was for +sitting in, and he sat so hard in it that he could scarcely get out of +it. Also he found a balloon. It was bobbing about on the Hump, quite as +if it was having a game by itself, and he caught it after an exciting +chase. But he thought it was a ball, and Jenny Wren had told him that +boys kick balls, so he kicked it; and after that he could not find it +anywhere. + +Perhaps the most surprising thing he found was a perambulator. It was +under a lime-tree, near the entrance to the Fairy Queen's Winter Palace +(which is within the circle of the seven Spanish chestnuts), and Peter +approached it warily, for the birds had never mentioned such things to +him. Lest it was alive, he addressed it politely, and then, as it gave +no answer, he went nearer and felt it cautiously. He gave it a little +push, and it ran from him, which made him think it must be alive after +all; but, as it had run from him, he was not afraid. So he stretched out +his hand to pull it to him, but this time it ran at him, and he was so +alarmed that he leapt the railing and scudded away to his boat. You must +not think, however, that he was a coward, for he came back next night +with a crust in one hand and a stick in the other, but the perambulator +had gone, and he never saw another one. I have promised to tell you also +about his paddle. It was a child's spade which he had found near St. +Govor's Well, and he thought it was a paddle. + +Do you pity Peter Pan for making these mistakes? If so, I think it +rather silly of you. What I mean is that, of course, one must pity him +now and then, but to pity him all the time would be impertinence. He +thought he had the most splendid time in the Gardens, and to think you +have it is almost quite as good as really to have it. He played without +ceasing, while you often waste time by being mad-dog or Mary-Annish. He +could be neither of these things, for he had never heard of them, but do +you think he is to be pitied for that? + +Oh, he was merry. He was as much merrier than you, for instance, as you +are merrier than your father. Sometimes he fell, like a spinning-top, +from sheer merriment. Have you seen a greyhound leaping the fences of +the Gardens? That is how Peter leaps them. + +And think of the music of his pipe. Gentlemen who walk home at night +write to the papers to say they heard a nightingale in the Gardens, but +it is really Peter's pipe they hear. Of course, he had no mother--at +least, what use was she to him? You can be sorry for him for that, but +don't be too sorry, for the next thing I mean to tell you is how he +revisited her. It was the fairies who gave him the chance. + + + + +The Little House + +Everybody has heard of the Little House in the Kensington Gardens, which +is the only house in the whole world that the fairies have built for +humans. But no one has really seen it, except just three or four, and +they have not only seen it but slept in it, and unless you sleep in it +you never see it. This is because it is not there when you lie down, but +it is there when you wake up and step outside. + +In a kind of way everyone may see it, but what you see is not really +it, but only the light in the windows. You see the light after Lock-out +Time. David, for instance, saw it quite distinctly far away among the +trees as we were going home from the pantomime, and Oliver Bailey saw +it the night he stayed so late at the Temple, which is the name of +his father's office. Angela Clare, who loves to have a tooth extracted +because then she is treated to tea in a shop, saw more than one light, +she saw hundreds of them all together, and this must have been the +fairies building the house, for they build it every night and always +in a different part of the Gardens. She thought one of the lights was +bigger than the others, though she was not quite sure, for they jumped +about so, and it might have been another one that was bigger. But if it +was the same one, it was Peter Pan's light. Heaps of children have seen +the fight, so that is nothing. But Maimie Mannering was the famous one +for whom the house was first built. + +Maimie was always rather a strange girl, and it was at night that she +was strange. She was four years of age, and in the daytime she was +the ordinary kind. She was pleased when her brother Tony, who was a +magnificent fellow of six, took notice of her, and she looked up to him +in the right way, and tried in vain to imitate him and was flattered +rather than annoyed when he shoved her about. Also, when she was batting +she would pause though the ball was in the air to point out to you +that she was wearing new shoes. She was quite the ordinary kind in the +daytime. + +But as the shades of night fell, Tony, the swaggerer, lost his contempt +for Maimie and eyed her fearfully, and no wonder, for with dark there +came into her face a look that I can describe only as a leary look. +It was also a serene look that contrasted grandly with Tony's uneasy +glances. Then he would make her presents of his favourite toys (which +he always took away from her next morning) and she accepted them with a +disturbing smile. The reason he was now become so wheedling and she so +mysterious was (in brief) that they knew they were about to be sent to +bed. It was then that Maimie was terrible. Tony entreated her not to do +it to-night, and the mother and their coloured nurse threatened her, but +Maimie merely smiled her agitating smile. And by-and-by when they were +alone with their night-light she would start up in bed crying "Hsh! what +was that?" Tony beseeches her! "It was nothing--don't, Maimie, don't!" +and pulls the sheet over his head. "It is coming nearer!" she cries; +"Oh, look at it, Tony! It is feeling your bed with its horns--it is +boring for you, oh, Tony, oh!" and she desists not until he rushes +downstairs in his combinations, screeching. When they came up to whip +Maimie they usually found her sleeping tranquilly, not shamming, you +know, but really sleeping, and looking like the sweetest little angel, +which seems to me to make it almost worse. + +But of course it was daytime when they were in the Gardens, and then +Tony did most of the talking. You could gather from his talk that he +was a very brave boy, and no one was so proud of it as Maimie. She would +have loved to have a ticket on her saying that she was his sister. And +at no time did she admire him more than when he told her, as he often +did with splendid firmness, that one day he meant to remain behind in +the Gardens after the gates were closed. + +"Oh, Tony," she would say, with awful respect, "but the fairies will be +so angry!" + +"I daresay," replied Tony, carelessly. + +"Perhaps," she said, thrilling, "Peter Pan will give you a sail in his +boat!" + +"I shall make him," replied Tony; no wonder she was proud of him. + +But they should not have talked so loudly, for one day they were +overheard by a fairy who had been gathering skeleton leaves, from which +the little people weave their summer curtains, and after that Tony was a +marked boy. They loosened the rails before he sat on them, so that down +he came on the back of his head; they tripped him up by catching his +bootlace and bribed the ducks to sink his boat. Nearly all the nasty +accidents you meet with in the Gardens occur because the fairies have +taken an ill-will to you, and so it behoves you to be careful what you +say about them. + +Maimie was one of the kind who like to fix a day for doing things, +but Tony was not that kind, and when she asked him which day he was to +remain behind in the Gardens after Lock-out he merely replied, "Just +some day;" he was quite vague about which day except when she asked +"Will it be today?" and then he could always say for certain that it +would not be to-day. So she saw that he was waiting for a real good +chance. + +This brings us to an afternoon when the Gardens were white with snow, +and there was ice on the Round Pond, not thick enough to skate on but +at least you could spoil it for tomorrow by flinging stones, and many +bright little boys and girls were doing that. + +When Tony and his sister arrived they wanted to go straight to the pond, +but their ayah said they must take a sharp walk first, and as she said +this she glanced at the time-board to see when the Gardens closed that +night. It read half-past five. Poor ayah! she is the one who laughs +continuously because there are so many white children in the world, but +she was not to laugh much more that day. + +Well, they went up the Baby Walk and back, and when they returned to the +time-board she was surprised to see that it now read five o'clock for +closing time. But she was unacquainted with the tricky ways of the +fairies, and so did not see (as Maimie and Tony saw at once) that they +had changed the hour because there was to be a ball to-night. She said +there was only time now to walk to the top of the Hump and back, and as +they trotted along with her she little guessed what was thrilling their +little breasts. You see the chance had come of seeing a fairy ball. +Never, Tony felt, could he hope for a better chance. + +He had to feel this, for Maimie so plainly felt it for him. Her eager +eyes asked the question, "Is it to-day?" and he gasped and then nodded. +Maimie slipped her hand into Tony's, and hers was hot, but his was cold. +She did a very kind thing; she took off her scarf and gave it to him! +"In case you should feel cold," she whispered. Her face was aglow, but +Tony's was very gloomy. + +As they turned on the top of the Hump he whispered to her, "I'm afraid +Nurse would see me, so I sha'n't be able to do it." + +Maimie admired him more than ever for being afraid of nothing but their +ayah, when there were so many unknown terrors to fear, and she said +aloud, "Tony, I shall race you to the gate," and in a whisper, "Then you +can hide," and off they ran. + +Tony could always outdistance her easily, but never had she known him +speed away so quickly as now, and she was sure he hurried that he might +have more time to hide. "Brave, brave!" her doting eyes were crying when +she got a dreadful shock; instead of hiding, her hero had run out at the +gate! At this bitter sight Maimie stopped blankly, as if all her lapful +of darling treasures were suddenly spilled, and then for very disdain +she could not sob; in a swell of protest against all puling cowards she +ran to St. Govor's Well and hid in Tony's stead. + +When the ayah reached the gate and saw Tony far in front she thought her +other charge was with him and passed out. Twilight came on, and scores +and hundreds of people passed out, including the last one, who always +has to run for it, but Maimie saw them not. She had shut her eyes tight +and glued them with passionate tears. When she opened them something +very cold ran up her legs and up her arms and dropped into her heart. +It was the stillness of the Gardens. Then she heard clang, then from +another part _clang_, then _clang_, _clang_ far away. It was the Closing +of the Gates. + +Immediately the last clang had died away Maimie distinctly heard a voice +say, "So that's all right." It had a wooden sound and seemed to come +from above, and she looked up in time to see an elm tree stretching out +its arms and yawning. + +She was about to say, "I never knew you could speak!" when a metallic +voice that seemed to come from the ladle at the well remarked to the +elm, "I suppose it is a bit coldish up there?" and the elm replied, "Not +particularly, but you do get numb standing so long on one leg," and he +flapped his arms vigorously just as the cabmen do before they drive off. +Maimie was quite surprised to see that a number of other tall trees were +doing the same sort of thing and she stole away to the Baby Walk and +crouched observantly under a Minorca Holly which shrugged its shoulders +but did not seem to mind her. + +She was not in the least cold. She was wearing a russet-coloured pelisse +and had the hood over her head, so that nothing of her showed except her +dear little face and her curls. The rest of her real self was hidden far +away inside so many warm garments that in shape she seemed rather like a +ball. She was about forty round the waist. + +There was a good deal going on in the Baby Walk, when Maimie arrived in +time to see a magnolia and a Persian lilac step over the railing and set +off for a smart walk. They moved in a jerky sort of way certainly, but +that was because they used crutches. An elderberry hobbled across the +walk, and stood chatting with some young quinces, and they all had +crutches. The crutches were the sticks that are tied to young trees and +shrubs. They were quite familiar objects to Maimie, but she had never +known what they were for until to-night. + +She peeped up the walk and saw her first fairy. He was a street boy +fairy who was running up the walk closing the weeping trees. The way +he did it was this, he pressed a spring in the trunk and they shut +like umbrellas, deluging the little plants beneath with snow. "Oh, you +naughty, naughty child!" Maimie cried indignantly, for she knew what it +was to have a dripping umbrella about your ears. + +Fortunately the mischievous fellow was out of earshot, but the +chrysanthemums heard her, and they all said so pointedly "Hoity-toity, +what is this?" that she had to come out and show herself. Then the whole +vegetable kingdom was rather puzzled what to do. + +"Of course it is no affair of ours," a spindle tree said after they had +whispered together, "but you know quite well you ought not to be here, +and perhaps our duty is to report you to the fairies; what do you think +yourself?" + +"I think you should not," Maimie replied, which so perplexed them that +they said petulantly there was no arguing with her. "I wouldn't ask it +of you," she assured them, "if I thought it was wrong," and of +course after this they could not well carry tales. They then said, +"Well-a-day," and "Such is life!" for they can be frightfully sarcastic, +but she felt sorry for those of them who had no crutches, and she said +good-naturedly, "Before I go to the fairies' ball, I should like to take +you for a walk one at a time; you can lean on me, you know." + +At this they clapped their hands, and she escorted them up to the Baby +Walk and back again, one at a time, putting an arm or a finger round +the very frail, setting their leg right when it got too ridiculous, and +treating the foreign ones quite as courteously as the English, though +she could not understand a word they said. + +They behaved well on the whole, though some whimpered that she had not +taken them as far as she took Nancy or Grace or Dorothy, and others +jagged her, but it was quite unintentional, and she was too much of a +lady to cry out. So much walking tired her and she was anxious to be off +to the ball, but she no longer felt afraid. The reason she felt no more +fear was that it was now night-time, and in the dark, you remember, +Maimie was always rather strange. + +They were now loath to let her go, for, "If the fairies see you," they +warned her, "they will mischief you, stab you to death or compel you +to nurse their children or turn you into something tedious, like an +evergreen oak." As they said this they looked with affected pity at an +evergreen oak, for in winter they are very envious of the evergreens. + +"Oh, la!" replied the oak bitingly, "how deliciously cosy it is to stand +here buttoned to the neck and watch you poor naked creatures shivering!" + +This made them sulky though they had really brought it on themselves, +and they drew for Maimie a very gloomy picture of the perils that faced +her if she insisted on going to the ball. + +She learned from a purple filbert that the court was not in its usual +good temper at present, the cause being the tantalising heart of the +Duke of Christmas Daisies. He was an Oriental fairy, very poorly of a +dreadful complaint, namely, inability to love, and though he had tried +many ladies in many lands he could not fall in love with one of them. +Queen Mab, who rules in the Gardens, had been confident that her girls +would bewitch him, but alas, his heart, the doctor said, remained cold. +This rather irritating doctor, who was his private physician, felt the +Duke's heart immediately after any lady was presented, and then always +shook his bald head and murmured, "Cold, quite cold!" Naturally Queen +Mab felt disgraced, and first she tried the effect of ordering the court +into tears for nine minutes, and then she blamed the Cupids and decreed +that they should wear fools' caps until they thawed the Duke's frozen +heart. + +"How I should love to see the Cupids in their dear little fools' caps!" +Maimie cried, and away she ran to look for them very recklessly, for the +Cupids hate to be laughed at. + +It is always easy to discover where a fairies' ball is being held, +as ribbons are stretched between it and all the populous parts of the +Gardens, on which those invited may walk to the dance without wetting +their pumps. This night the ribbons were red and looked very pretty on +the snow. + +Maimie walked alongside one of them for some distance without meeting +anybody, but at last she saw a fairy cavalcade approaching. To her +surprise they seemed to be returning from the ball, and she had just +time to hide from them by bending her knees and holding out her arms and +pretending to be a garden chair. There were six horsemen in front and +six behind, in the middle walked a prim lady wearing a long train held +up by two pages, and on the train, as if it were a couch, reclined a +lovely girl, for in this way do aristocratic fairies travel about. She +was dressed in golden rain, but the most enviable part of her was her +neck, which was blue in colour and of a velvet texture, and of course +showed off her diamond necklace as no white throat could have glorified +it. The high-born fairies obtain this admired effect by pricking their +skin, which lets the blue blood come through and dye them, and you +cannot imagine anything so dazzling unless you have seen the ladies' +busts in the jewellers' windows. + +Maimie also noticed that the whole cavalcade seemed to be in a passion, +tilting their noses higher than it can be safe for even fairies to tilt +them, and she concluded that this must be another case in which the +doctor had said "Cold, quite cold!" + +Well, she followed the ribbon to a place where it became a bridge over a +dry puddle into which another fairy had fallen and been unable to climb +out. At first this little damsel was afraid of Maimie, who most kindly +went to her aid, but soon she sat in her hand chatting gaily and +explaining that her name was Brownie, and that though only a poor street +singer she was on her way to the ball to see if the Duke would have her. + +"Of course," she said, "I am rather plain," and this made Maimie +uncomfortable, for indeed the simple little creature was almost quite +plain for a fairy. + +It was difficult to know what to reply. + +"I see you think I have no chance," Brownie said falteringly. + +"I don't say that," Maimie answered politely, "of course your face is +just a tiny bit homely, but--" Really it was quite awkward for her. + +Fortunately she remembered about her father and the bazaar. He had gone +to a fashionable bazaar where all the most beautiful ladies in London +were on view for half-a-crown the second day, but on his return home +instead of being dissatisfied with Maimie's mother he had said, "You +can't think, my dear, what a relief it is to see a homely face again." + +Maimie repeated this story, and it fortified Brownie tremendously, +indeed she had no longer the slightest doubt that the Duke would choose +her. So she scudded away up the ribbon, calling out to Maimie not to +follow lest the Queen should mischief her. + +But Maimie's curiosity tugged her forward, and presently at the seven +Spanish chestnuts, she saw a wonderful light. She crept forward until +she was quite near it, and then she peeped from behind a tree. + +The light, which was as high as your head above the ground, was composed +of myriads of glow-worms all holding on to each other, and so forming +a dazzling canopy over the fairy ring. There were thousands of little +people looking on, but they were in shadow and drab in colour compared +to the glorious creatures within that luminous circle who were so +bewilderingly bright that Maimie had to wink hard all the time she +looked at them. + +It was amazing and even irritating to her that the Duke of Christmas +Daisies should be able to keep out of love for a moment: yet out of love +his dusky grace still was: you could see it by the shamed looks of the +Queen and court (though they pretended not to care), by the way darling +ladies brought forward for his approval burst into tears as they were +told to pass on, and by his own most dreary face. + +Maimie could also see the pompous doctor feeling the Duke's heart and +hear him give utterance to his parrot cry, and she was particularly +sorry for the Cupids, who stood in their fools' caps in obscure +places and, every time they heard that "Cold, quite cold," bowed their +disgraced little heads. + +She was disappointed not to see Peter Pan, and I may as well tell you +now why he was so late that night. It was because his boat had got +wedged on the Serpentine between fields of floating ice, through which +he had to break a perilous passage with his trusty paddle. + +The fairies had as yet scarcely missed him, for they could not dance, so +heavy were their hearts. They forget all the steps when they are sad +and remember them again when they are merry. David tells me that fairies +never say "We feel happy": what they say is, "We feel _dancey_." + +Well, they were looking very undancy indeed, when sudden laughter broke +out among the onlookers, caused by Brownie, who had just arrived and was +insisting on her right to be presented to the Duke. + +Maimie craned forward eagerly to see how her friend fared, though she +had really no hope; no one seemed to have the least hope except Brownie +herself who, however, was absolutely confident. She was led before his +grace, and the doctor putting a finger carelessly on the ducal heart, +which for convenience sake was reached by a little trap-door in his +diamond shirt, had begun to say mechanically, "Cold, qui--," when he +stopped abruptly. + +"What's this?" he cried, and first he shook the heart like a watch, and +then put his ear to it. + +"Bless my soul!" cried the doctor, and by this time of course the +excitement among the spectators was tremendous, fairies fainting right +and left. + +Everybody stared breathlessly at the Duke, who was very much startled +and looked as if he would like to run away. "Good gracious me!" the +doctor was heard muttering, and now the heart was evidently on fire, for +he had to jerk his fingers away from it and put them in his mouth. + +The suspense was awful! + +Then in a loud voice, and bowing low, "My Lord Duke," said the physician +elatedly, "I have the honour to inform your excellency that your grace +is in love." + +You can't conceive the effect of it. Brownie held out her arms to the +Duke and he flung himself into them, the Queen leapt into the arms of +the Lord Chamberlain, and the ladies of the court leapt into the arms of +her gentlemen, for it is etiquette to follow her example in everything. +Thus in a single moment about fifty marriages took place, for if you +leap into each other's arms it is a fairy wedding. Of course a clergyman +has to be present. + +How the crowd cheered and leapt! Trumpets brayed, the moon came out, and +immediately a thousand couples seized hold of its rays as if they were +ribbons in a May dance and waltzed in wild abandon round the fairy ring. +Most gladsome sight of all, the Cupids plucked the hated fools' caps +from their heads and cast them high in the air. And then Maimie went +and spoiled everything. She couldn't help it. She was crazy with delight +over her little friend's good fortune, so she took several steps forward +and cried in an ecstasy, "Oh, Brownie, how splendid!" + +Everybody stood still, the music ceased, the lights went out, and all in +the time you may take to say "Oh dear!" An awful sense of her peril +came upon Maimie, too late she remembered that she was a lost child in a +place where no human must be between the locking and the opening of the +gates, she heard the murmur of an angry multitude, she saw a thousand +swords flashing for her blood, and she uttered a cry of terror and fled. + +How she ran! and all the time her eyes were starting out of her head. +Many times she lay down, and then quickly jumped up and ran on again. +Her little mind was so entangled in terrors that she no longer knew +she was in the Gardens. The one thing she was sure of was that she must +never cease to run, and she thought she was still running long after she +had dropped in the Figs and gone to sleep. She thought the snowflakes +falling on her face were her mother kissing her good-night. She thought +her coverlet of snow was a warm blanket, and tried to pull it over her +head. And when she heard talking through her dreams she thought it was +mother bringing father to the nursery door to look at her as she slept. +But it was the fairies. + +I am very glad to be able to say that they no longer desired to mischief +her. When she rushed away they had rent the air with such cries as "Slay +her!" "Turn her into something extremely unpleasant!" and so on, but the +pursuit was delayed while they discussed who should march in front, +and this gave Duchess Brownie time to cast herself before the Queen and +demand a boon. + +Every bride has a right to a boon, and what she asked for was Maimie's +life. "Anything except that," replied Queen Mab sternly, and all the +fairies chanted "Anything except that." But when they learned how Maimie +had befriended Brownie and so enabled her to attend the ball to their +great glory and renown, they gave three huzzas for the little human, and +set off, like an army, to thank her, the court advancing in front +and the canopy keeping step with it. They traced Maimie easily by her +footprints in the snow. + +But though they found her deep in snow in the Figs, it seemed impossible +to thank Maimie, for they could not waken her. They went through the +form of thanking her, that is to say, the new King stood on her body and +read her a long address of welcome, but she heard not a word of it. They +also cleared the snow off her, but soon she was covered again, and they +saw she was in danger of perishing of cold. + +"Turn her into something that does not mind the cold," seemed a good +suggestion of the doctor's, but the only thing they could think of +that does not mind cold was a snowflake. "And it might melt," the Queen +pointed out, so that idea had to be given up. + +A magnificent attempt was made to carry her to a sheltered spot, but +though there were so many of them she was too heavy. By this time all +the ladies were crying in their handkerchiefs, but presently the Cupids +had a lovely idea. "Build a house round her," they cried, and at once +everybody perceived that this was the thing to do; in a moment a hundred +fairy sawyers were among the branches, architects were running round +Maimie, measuring her; a bricklayer's yard sprang up at her feet, +seventy-five masons rushed up with the foundation stone and the Queen +laid it, overseers were appointed to keep the boys off, scaffoldings +were run up, the whole place rang with hammers and chisels and turning +lathes, and by this time the roof was on and the glaziers were putting +in the windows. + +The house was exactly the size of Maimie and perfectly lovely. One of +her arms was extended and this had bothered them for a second, but they +built a verandah round it, leading to the front door. The windows were +the size of a coloured picture-book and the door rather smaller, but it +would be easy for her to get out by taking off the roof. The fairies, as +is their custom, clapped their hands with delight over their cleverness, +and they were all so madly in love with the little house that they could +not bear to think they had finished it. So they gave it ever so many +little extra touches, and even then they added more extra touches. + +For instance, two of them ran up a ladder and put on a chimney. + +"Now we fear it is quite finished," they sighed. + +But no, for another two ran up the ladder, and tied some smoke to the +chimney. + +"That certainly finishes it," they cried reluctantly. + +"Not at all," cried a glow-worm, "if she were to wake without seeing a +night-light she might be frightened, so I shall be her night-light." + +"Wait one moment," said a china merchant, "and I shall make you a +saucer." + +Now alas, it was absolutely finished. + +Oh, dear no! + +"Gracious me," cried a brass manufacturer, "there's no handle on the +door," and he put one on. + +An ironmonger added a scraper and an old lady ran up with a door-mat. +Carpenters arrived with a water-butt, and the painters insisted on +painting it. + +Finished at last! + +"Finished! how can it be finished," the plumber demanded scornfully, +"before hot and cold are put in?" and he put in hot and cold. Then an +army of gardeners arrived with fairy carts and spades and seeds and +bulbs and forcing-houses, and soon they had a flower garden to the +right of the verandah and a vegetable garden to the left, and roses and +clematis on the walls of the house, and in less time than five minutes +all these dear things were in full bloom. + +Oh, how beautiful the little house was now! But it was at last finished +true as true, and they had to leave it and return to the dance. They +all kissed their hands to it as they went away, and the last to go was +Brownie. She stayed a moment behind the others to drop a pleasant dream +down the chimney. + +All through the night the exquisite little house stood there in the Figs +taking care of Maimie, and she never knew. She slept until the dream +was quite finished and woke feeling deliciously cosy just as morning was +breaking from its egg, and then she almost fell asleep again, and then +she called out, + +"Tony," for she thought she was at home in the nursery. As Tony made no +answer, she sat up, whereupon her head hit the roof, and it opened like +the lid of a box, and to her bewilderment she saw all around her the +Kensington Gardens lying deep in snow. As she was not in the nursery she +wondered whether this was really herself, so she pinched her cheeks, and +then she knew it was herself, and this reminded her that she was in +the middle of a great adventure. She remembered now everything that had +happened to her from the closing of the gates up to her running away +from the fairies, but however, she asked herself, had she got into this +funny place? She stepped out by the roof, right over the garden, and +then she saw the dear house in which she had passed the night. It so +entranced her that she could think of nothing else. + +"Oh, you darling, oh, you sweet, oh, you love!" she cried. + +Perhaps a human voice frightened the little house, or maybe it now knew +that its work was done, for no sooner had Maimie spoken than it began to +grow smaller; it shrank so slowly that she could scarce believe it +was shrinking, yet she soon knew that it could not contain her now. It +always remained as complete as ever, but it became smaller and smaller, +and the garden dwindled at the same time, and the snow crept closer, +lapping house and garden up. Now the house was the size of a little +dog's kennel, and now of a Noah's Ark, but still you could see the smoke +and the door-handle and the roses on the wall, every one complete. +The glow-worm fight was waning too, but it was still there. "Darling, +loveliest, don't go!" Maimie cried, falling on her knees, for the little +house was now the size of a reel of thread, but still quite complete. +But as she stretched out her arms imploringly the snow crept up on all +sides until it met itself, and where the little house had been was now +one unbroken expanse of snow. + +Maimie stamped her foot naughtily, and was putting her fingers to her +eyes, when she heard a kind voice say, "Don't cry, pretty human, don't +cry," and then she turned round and saw a beautiful little naked boy +regarding her wistfully. She knew at once that he must be Peter Pan. + + + + +Lock-out Time + +It is frightfully difficult to know much about the fairies, and almost +the only thing known for certain is that there are fairies wherever +there are children. Long ago children were forbidden the Gardens, and +at that time there was not a fairy in the place; then the children were +admitted, and the fairies came trooping in that very evening. They can't +resist following the children, but you seldom see them, partly because +they live in the daytime behind the railings, where you are not allowed +to go, and also partly because they are so cunning. They are not a bit +cunning after Lock-out, but until Lock-out, my word! + +When you were a bird you knew the fairies pretty well, and you remember +a good deal about them in your babyhood, which it is a great pity you +can't write down, for gradually you forget, and I have heard of children +who declared that they had never once seen a fairy. Very likely if they +said this in the Kensington Gardens, they were standing looking at a +fairy all the time. The reason they were cheated was that she pretended +to be something else. This is one of their best tricks. They usually +pretend to be flowers, because the court sits in the Fairies' Basin, +and there are so many flowers there, and all along the Baby Walk, that +a flower is the thing least likely to attract attention. They dress +exactly like flowers, and change with the seasons, putting on white when +lilies are in and blue for blue-bells, and so on. They like crocus and +hyacinth time best of all, as they are partial to a bit of colour, but +tulips (except white ones, which are the fairy-cradles) they consider +garish, and they sometimes put off dressing like tulips for days, so +that the beginning of the tulip weeks is almost the best time to catch +them. + +When they think you are not looking they skip along pretty lively, but +if you look and they fear there is no time to hide, they stand quite +still, pretending to be flowers. Then, after you have passed without +knowing that they were fairies, they rush home and tell their mothers +they have had such an adventure. The Fairy Basin, you remember, is all +covered with ground-ivy (from which they make their castor-oil), with +flowers growing in it here and there. Most of them really are flowers, +but some of them are fairies. You never can be sure of them, but a good +plan is to walk by looking the other way, and then turn round sharply. +Another good plan, which David and I sometimes follow, is to stare them +down. After a long time they can't help winking, and then you know for +certain that they are fairies. + +There are also numbers of them along the Baby Walk, which is a +famous gentle place, as spots frequented by fairies are called. Once +twenty-four of them had an extraordinary adventure. They were a girls' +school out for a walk with the governess, and all wearing hyacinth +gowns, when she suddenly put her finger to her mouth, and then they +all stood still on an empty bed and pretended to be hyacinths. +Unfortunately, what the governess had heard was two gardeners coming to +plant new flowers in that very bed. They were wheeling a handcart with +flowers in it, and were quite surprised to find the bed occupied. "Pity +to lift them hyacinths," said the one man. "Duke's orders," replied the +other, and, having emptied the cart, they dug up the boarding-school and +put the poor, terrified things in it in five rows. Of course, neither +the governess nor the girls dare let on that they were fairies, so they +were carted far away to a potting-shed, out of which they escaped in the +night without their shoes, but there was a great row about it among the +parents, and the school was ruined. + +As for their houses, it is no use looking for them, because they are +the exact opposite of our houses. You can see our houses by day but you +can't see them by dark. Well, you can see their houses by dark, but you +can't see them by day, for they are the colour of night, and I never +heard of anyone yet who could see night in the daytime. This does not +mean that they are black, for night has its colours just as day has, +but ever so much brighter. Their blues and reds and greens are like ours +with a light behind them. The palace is entirely built of many-coloured +glasses, and is quite the loveliest of all royal residences, but the +queen sometimes complains because the common people will peep in to see +what she is doing. They are very inquisitive folk, and press quite hard +against the glass, and that is why their noses are mostly snubby. The +streets are miles long and very twisty, and have paths on each side made +of bright worsted. The birds used to steal the worsted for their nests, +but a policeman has been appointed to hold on at the other end. + +One of the great differences between the fairies and us is that they +never do anything useful. When the first baby laughed for the first +time, his laugh broke into a million pieces, and they all went skipping +about. That was the beginning of fairies. They look tremendously busy, +you know, as if they had not a moment to spare, but if you were to ask +them what they are doing, they could not tell you in the least. They are +frightfully ignorant, and everything they do is make-believe. They have +a postman, but he never calls except at Christmas with his little box, +and though they have beautiful schools, nothing is taught in them; the +youngest child being chief person is always elected mistress, and when +she has called the roll, they all go out for a walk and never come back. +It is a very noticeable thing that, in fairy families, the youngest +is always chief person, and usually becomes a prince or princess, and +children remember this, and think it must be so among humans also, and +that is why they are often made uneasy when they come upon their mother +furtively putting new frills on the basinette. + +You have probably observed that your baby-sister wants to do all sorts +of things that your mother and her nurse want her not to do: to stand up +at sitting-down time, and to sit down at standing-up time, for instance, +or to wake up when she should fall asleep, or to crawl on the floor when +she is wearing her best frock, and so on, and perhaps you put this down +to naughtiness. But it is not; it simply means that she is doing as +she has seen the fairies do; she begins by following their ways, and +it takes about two years to get her into the human ways. Her fits of +passion, which are awful to behold, and are usually called teething, +are no such thing; they are her natural exasperation, because we don't +understand her, though she is talking an intelligible language. She is +talking fairy. The reason mothers and nurses know what her remarks mean, +before other people know, as that "Guch" means "Give it to me at once," +while "Wa" is "Why do you wear such a funny hat?" is because, mixing so +much with babies, they have picked up a little of the fairy language. + +Of late David has been thinking back hard about the fairy tongue, with +his hands clutching his temples, and he has remembered a number of their +phrases which I shall tell you some day if I don't forget. He had heard +them in the days when he was a thrush, and though I suggested to him +that perhaps it is really bird language he is remembering, he says not, +for these phrases are about fun and adventures, and the birds talked of +nothing but nest-building. He distinctly remembers that the birds used +to go from spot to spot like ladies at shop-windows, looking at the +different nests and saying, "Not my colour, my dear," and "How would +that do with a soft lining?" and "But will it wear?" and "What hideous +trimming!" and so on. + +The fairies are exquisite dancers, and that is why one of the first +things the baby does is to sign to you to dance to him and then to cry +when you do it. They hold their great balls in the open air, in what +is called a fairy-ring. For weeks afterward you can see the ring on the +grass. It is not there when they begin, but they make it by waltzing +round and round. Sometimes you will find mushrooms inside the ring, and +these are fairy chairs that the servants have forgotten to clear away. +The chairs and the rings are the only tell-tale marks these little +people leave behind them, and they would remove even these were they not +so fond of dancing that they toe it till the very moment of the opening +of the gates. David and I once found a fairy-ring quite warm. + +But there is also a way of finding out about the ball before it takes +place. You know the boards which tell at what time the Gardens are to +close to-day. Well, these tricky fairies sometimes slyly change the +board on a ball night, so that it says the Gardens are to close at +six-thirty for instance, instead of at seven. This enables them to get +begun half an hour earlier. + +If on such a night we could remain behind in the Gardens, as the famous +Maimie Mannering did, we might see delicious sights, hundreds of +lovely fairies hastening to the ball, the married ones wearing their +wedding-rings round their waists, the gentlemen, all in uniform, holding +up the ladies' trains, and linkmen running in front carrying winter +cherries, which are the fairy-lanterns, the cloakroom where they put +on their silver slippers and get a ticket for their wraps, the flowers +streaming up from the Baby Walk to look on, and always welcome because +they can lend a pin, the supper-table, with Queen Mab at the head of it, +and behind her chair the Lord Chamberlain, who carries a dandelion on +which he blows when Her Majesty wants to know the time. + +The table-cloth varies according to the seasons, and in May it is made +of chestnut-blossom. The way the fairy-servants do is this: The men, +scores of them, climb up the trees and shake the branches, and the +blossom falls like snow. Then the lady servants sweep it together by +whisking their skirts until it is exactly like a table-cloth, and that +is how they get their table-cloth. + +They have real glasses and real wine of three kinds, namely, blackthorn +wine, berberris wine, and cowslip wine, and the Queen pours out, but the +bottles are so heavy that she just pretends to pour out. There is bread +and butter to begin with, of the size of a threepenny bit; and cakes to +end with, and they are so small that they have no crumbs. The fairies +sit round on mushrooms, and at first they are very well-behaved and +always cough off the table, and so on, but after a bit they are not so +well-behaved and stick their fingers into the butter, which is got +from the roots of old trees, and the really horrid ones crawl over the +table-cloth chasing sugar or other delicacies with their tongues. When +the Queen sees them doing this she signs to the servants to wash up and +put away, and then everybody adjourns to the dance, the Queen walking in +front while the Lord Chamberlain walks behind her, carrying two little +pots, one of which contains the juice of wall-flower and the other the +juice of Solomon's Seals. Wall-flower juice is good for reviving dancers +who fall to the ground in a fit, and Solomon's Seals juice is for +bruises. They bruise very easily and when Peter plays faster and faster +they foot it till they fall down in fits. For, as you know without my +telling you, Peter Pan is the fairies' orchestra. He sits in the middle +of the ring, and they would never dream of having a smart dance nowadays +without him. "P. P." is written on the corner of the invitation-cards +sent out by all really good families. They are grateful little people, +too, and at the princess's coming-of-age ball (they come of age on their +second birthday and have a birthday every month) they gave him the wish +of his heart. + +The way it was done was this. The Queen ordered him to kneel, and then +said that for playing so beautifully she would give him the wish of his +heart. Then they all gathered round Peter to hear what was the wish of +his heart, but for a long time he hesitated, not being certain what it +was himself. + +"If I chose to go back to mother," he asked at last, "could you give me +that wish?" + +Now this question vexed them, for were he to return to his mother they +should lose his music, so the Queen tilted her nose contemptuously and +said, "Pooh, ask for a much bigger wish than that." + +"Is that quite a little wish?" he inquired. + +"As little as this," the Queen answered, putting her hands near each +other. + +"What size is a big wish?" he asked. + +She measured it off on her skirt and it was a very handsome length. + +Then Peter reflected and said, "Well, then, I think I shall have two +little wishes instead of one big one." + +Of course, the fairies had to agree, though his cleverness rather +shocked them, and he said that his first wish was to go to his +mother, but with the right to return to the Gardens if he found her +disappointing. His second wish he would hold in reserve. + +They tried to dissuade him, and even put obstacles in the way. + +"I can give you the power to fly to her house," the Queen said, "but I +can't open the door for you." + +"The window I flew out at will be open," Peter said confidently. "Mother +always keeps it open in the hope that I may fly back. + +"How do you know?" they asked, quite surprised, and, really, Peter could +not explain how he knew. + +"I just do know," he said. + +So as he persisted in his wish, they had to grant it. The way they gave +him power to fly was this: They all tickled him on the shoulder, and +soon he felt a funny itching in that part and then up he rose higher and +higher and flew away out of the Gardens and over the house-tops. + +It was so delicious that instead of flying straight to his old home he +skimmed away over St. Paul's to the Crystal Palace and back by the river +and Regent's Park, and by the time he reached his mother's window he had +quite made up his mind that his second wish should be to become a bird. + +The window was wide open, just as he knew it would be, and in he +fluttered, and there was his mother lying asleep. + +Peter alighted softly on the wooden rail at the foot of the bed and had +a good look at her. She lay with her head on her hand, and the hollow +in the pillow was like a nest lined with her brown wavy hair. He +remembered, though he had long forgotten it, that she always gave her +hair a holiday at night. + +How sweet the frills of her night-gown were. He was very glad she was +such a pretty mother. + +But she looked sad, and he knew why she looked sad. One of her arms +moved as if it wanted to go round something, and he knew what it wanted +to go round. + +"Oh, mother," said Peter to himself, "if you just knew who is sitting on +the rail at the foot of the bed." + +Very gently he patted the little mound that her feet made, and he could +see by her face that she liked it. He knew he had but to say "Mother" +ever so softly, and she would wake up. They always wake up at once if it +is you that says their name. Then she would give such a joyous cry +and squeeze him tight. How nice that would be to him, but oh, how +exquisitely delicious it would be to her. That I am afraid is how Peter +regarded it. In returning to his mother he never doubted that he was +giving her the greatest treat a woman can have. Nothing can be more +splendid, he thought, than to have a little boy of your own. How proud +of him they are; and very right and proper, too. + +But why does Peter sit so long on the rail, why does he not tell his +mother that he has come back? + +I quite shrink from the truth, which is that he sat there in two minds. +Sometimes he looked longingly at his mother, and sometimes he looked +longingly at the window. Certainly it would be pleasant to be her boy +again, but, on the other hand, what times those had been in the Gardens! +Was he so sure that he would enjoy wearing clothes again? He popped off +the bed and opened some drawers to have a look at his old garments. They +were still there, but he could not remember how you put them on. The +socks, for instance, were they worn on the hands or on the feet? He was +about to try one of them on his hand, when he had a great adventure. +Perhaps the drawer had creaked; at any rate, his mother woke up, for +he heard her say "Peter," as if it was the most lovely word in the +language. He remained sitting on the floor and held his breath, +wondering how she knew that he had come back. If she said "Peter" again, +he meant to cry "Mother" and run to her. But she spoke no more, she +made little moans only, and when next he peeped at her she was once more +asleep, with tears on her face. + +It made Peter very miserable, and what do you think was the first +thing he did? Sitting on the rail at the foot of the bed, he played a +beautiful lullaby to his mother on his pipe. He had made it up himself +out of the way she said "Peter," and he never stopped playing until she +looked happy. + +He thought this so clever of him that he could scarcely resist wakening +her to hear her say, "Oh, Peter, how exquisitely you play." However, as +she now seemed comfortable, he again cast looks at the window. You must +not think that he meditated flying away and never coming back. He had +quite decided to be his mother's boy, but hesitated about beginning +to-night. It was the second wish which troubled him. He no longer meant +to make it a wish to be a bird, but not to ask for a second wish seemed +wasteful, and, of course, he could not ask for it without returning to +the fairies. Also, if he put off asking for his wish too long it might +go bad. He asked himself if he had not been hard-hearted to fly away +without saying good-bye to Solomon. "I should like awfully to sail in my +boat just once more," he said wistfully to his sleeping mother. He quite +argued with her as if she could hear him. "It would be so splendid to +tell the birds of this adventure," he said coaxingly. "I promise to come +back," he said solemnly and meant it, too. + +And in the end, you know, he flew away. Twice he came back from the +window, wanting to kiss his mother, but he feared the delight of it +might waken her, so at last he played her a lovely kiss on his pipe, and +then he flew back to the Gardens. + +Many nights and even months passed before he asked the fairies for his +second wish; and I am not sure that I quite know why he delayed so long. +One reason was that he had so many good-byes to say, not only to his +particular friends, but to a hundred favourite spots. Then he had his +last sail, and his very last sail, and his last sail of all, and so on. +Again, a number of farewell feasts were given in his honour; and another +comfortable reason was that, after all, there was no hurry, for his +mother would never weary of waiting for him. This last reason displeased +old Solomon, for it was an encouragement to the birds to procrastinate. +Solomon had several excellent mottoes for keeping them at their work, +such as "Never put off laying to-day, because you can lay to-morrow," +and "In this world there are no second chances," and yet here was Peter +gaily putting off and none the worse for it. The birds pointed this out +to each other, and fell into lazy habits. + +But, mind you, though Peter was so slow in going back to his mother, +he was quite decided to go back. The best proof of this was his caution +with the fairies. They were most anxious that he should remain in the +Gardens to play to them, and to bring this to pass they tried to trick +him into making such a remark as "I wish the grass was not so wet," and +some of them danced out of time in the hope that he might cry, "I do +wish you would keep time!" Then they would have said that this was his +second wish. But he smoked their design, and though on occasions he +began, "I wish--" he always stopped in time. So when at last he said +to them bravely, "I wish now to go back to mother for ever and always," +they had to tickle his shoulder and let him go. + +He went in a hurry in the end because he had dreamt that his mother was +crying, and he knew what was the great thing she cried for, and that a +hug from her splendid Peter would quickly make her to smile. Oh, he felt +sure of it, and so eager was he to be nestling in her arms that this +time he flew straight to the window, which was always to be open for +him. + +But the window was closed, and there were iron bars on it, and peering +inside he saw his mother sleeping peacefully with her arm round another +little boy. + +Peter called, "Mother! mother!" but she heard him not; in vain he beat +his little limbs against the iron bars. He had to fly back, sobbing, to +the Gardens, and he never saw his dear again. What a glorious boy he had +meant to be to her. Ah, Peter, we who have made the great mistake, how +differently we should all act at the second chance. But Solomon was +right; there is no second chance, not for most of us. When we reach the +window it is Lock-out Time. The iron bars are up for life. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, by J. M. 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