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[Illustration: WITH THE SPRING COMES WENDY].
THE STORY OF PETER PAN
RETOLD FROM THE FAIRY PLAY
BY SIR J.M. BARRIE
BY DANIEL O'CONNOR
ILLUSTRATED BY
ALICE B. WOODWARD
TORONTO
THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY
LIMITED
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY PURNELL AND SONS
PAULTON, SOMERSET, ENGLAND
PREFACE
Sir J. M. Barrie's delightful creation, "Peter Pan," has by this time
taken a secure place in the hearts of children of all ages, and there
are few nurseries in the land in which Peter, Wendy, Tinker Bell,
Captain Hook and his Pirates, the Mermaids and Redskins, and the
exciting world in which they lived, are not as familiar as the most
time-honoured lore of fairyland.
The popularity of Mr. Daniel O'Connor's version of the story, issued
with Sir J. M. Barrie's kind consent, and illustrated so charmingly by
Miss Alice B. Woodward, has induced the publishers to bring out the
present re-issue at a lower price.
The selections of music which will be found in it are included with
the permission of Mr. John Crook, the composer, and Messrs. Price and
Reynolds.
CONTENTS
PART I EARLY DAYS
PART II THE NEVER-NEVER-NEVER LAND
PART III THE MERMAIDS' LAGOON
PART IV THE UNDERGROUND HOME
PART V THE PIRATE SHIP
PART VI HOME, SWEET HOME
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
WITH THE SPRING COMES WENDY _colour-plate_
WITH MICHAEL SITTING ON HER BACK _colour-plate_
THE SHADOW HELD ON BEAUTIFULLY
WENDY GENTLY KISSED HIS CHEEK _colour-plate_
AWAY THEY FLOATED
SLIGHTLY WAS DANCING MERRILY WITH AN OSTRICH _colour-plate_
"THE CROCODILE! THE CROCODILE!"
THE INDIANS CREPT SILENTLY UP
THE LOST BOYS KNELT BEFORE HER _colour-plate_
SHE WAS COMBING HER LONG TRESSES
SHE SLIPPED OUT OF HIS GRASP
A FIERCE FIGHT ENSUED
SPREADING HIS COAT TO THE WIND, HE SAILED MERRILY _colour-plate_
SEIZED BY ONE OF THE SWARTHY RUFFIANS
HE PERCEIVED TINKER BELL IN HIS GLASS _colour-plate_
THE PIRATE SHIP
"THAT MAN IS MINE!" _colour-plate_
RIGHT INTO THE JAWS OF THE CROCODILE!
NURSE TO THE PAPOOSES!
HE WOULD LIVE IN THE KENNEL TILL HIS CHILDREN'S RETURN
PART I EARLY DAYS
[Illustration: music score]
LULLABY
Gold-en slum-bers kiss your eyes,
Smiles a-wake you when you rise, Sleep, pret-ty dar-ling,
do not cry, And I will sing a lul-la-by.
In one of the nicest nurseries in the world there were beds for three
young people called John Napoleon, and Wendy Moira Angela, and
Michael, the children of Mr. and Mrs. Darling. The nursery was wide
and airy, with a large window, and a bright fire with a high
fire-guard round it, and a big clock, and prettily-coloured
nursery-rhyme pictures over the walls. It was in many ways a most
interesting household. For one thing, although there was a pretty
little parlour-maid called Liza, the children were bathed and dressed
by a big dog called Nana, whose kennel was kept in the nursery.
On the evening on which our story begins, Nana was dozing peacefully
by the fireside, with her head between her paws. Mr. and Mrs. Darling
were getting ready to go out to dinner and Nana was to be left in sole
charge of the children. Presently the clock went off with a whirr, and
struck--one, two, three, four, five, six--time to begin to put the
children to bed.
Nana got up, and stretched herself, and carefully switched on the
electric light. You would have been surprised to see how cleverly she
managed to do that with her mouth. Then she turned the bedclothes
neatly down and hung the little pyjamas over the fire-guard. She then
trotted up to the bathroom and turned on the water; after feeling it
with her paw to make sure that it was not too hot, she went off to
look for Michael, who, being the youngest of the three children, must
go to bed first. She returned immediately with him sitting astride on
her back as though she were a pony. Michael, of course, did not want
to be bathed, but Nana was firm and, taking him to the bathroom, shut
the door so that he should not be in a draught. Then Mrs. Darling came
to peep at him as he splashed about in the nice warm water.
Whilst Mrs. Darling was in the nursery she heard a wee noise outside
the window, as a tiny figure, no bigger than a little boy, tried the
window-latch, and vanished suddenly at her cry of surprise. She flung
the window open, but there was nothing to be seen, nothing but the dim
roofs of the neighbouring houses, and the deep blue sky above. She
began to frighten herself with eerie bogie tales, for the same thing
had happened the day before, when Nana had gone to the window and shut
it down so quickly that she had cut off the boy's shadow. Mrs. Darling
had found it in Nana's mouth, and had carefully folded it and put it
away. But she soon felt reassured when her children came in together
in answer to her call. John Napoleon and Wendy were playing at their
favourite game of being Father and Mother, and Mrs. Darling's
beautiful face beamed with delight as she listened to them. Suddenly,
in rushed Mr. Darling, very much excited because he could not
fasten his evening tie (evening ties are difficult things to fasten,
you know). Mrs. Darling easily managed that for him, and he was soon
skipping about the room with Michael on his back, dropping him finally
into his bed with a big "bump-ah!"----
[Illustration: WITH MICHAEL SITTING ON HER BACK.]
Unfortunately, in going to the bathroom, Nana accidentally brushed
against Mr. Darling's beautifully pressed black trousers, and left
some of her grey clinging hairs upon them. Now no grown-up person
likes hairy trousers, so Mr. Darling was very cross with Nana, and
spoke of dismissing her. But Mrs. Darling told him about the weird
apparition at the window, how Nana had barked at it and shut the
window down so fast that its shadow had been cut clean off and left
behind. She showed him the shadow, and told him how glad she was to
have such a treasure as Nana for a nurse. "You see how very useful
Nana is," concluded Mrs. Darling, as the faithful dog came in with
Michael's bottle of cough mixture. But Michael was naughty, and would
not take it; there was a fine fuss over it, when Wendy, being a clever
little girl, hit on a brilliant idea.
"Father should take some of _his_ medicine to keep Michael company."
"Very well," said Mr. Darling, "we shall see who is the braver." Two
glasses were fetched and filled in a moment. "One, two, three," cried
Wendy; Michael took his like a man, but Mr. Darling only pretended to,
and quietly hid the glass behind his back. John caught him in the act:
"Father hasn't taken his!" he cried, and Michael, seeing that he had
been tricked, burst into a loud "Boo-hoo-oo!" Mr. Darling, to appease
Michael, thought of what seemed to him an excellent joke. He poured
his medicine into Nana's drinking-bowl, and when poor Nana, thinking
that it was something nice, ran eagerly to lap it up, he roared with
laughter to see the reproachful eyes she turned upon him. The
children, who loved their old nurse very dearly, were terribly
distressed as she slunk to her kennel, looking as woeful and as hurt
in her feelings as ever a dog did. Mr. Darling, angry that they did
not enjoy his joke in the least, coaxed Nana out of her kennel, seized
her by the collar and dragged her off in disgrace, to be chained up in
the yard, "the proper place for dogs," he said, in spite of the
persuasions and pleadings of them all. Mrs. Darling comforted the
children, kissing them very tenderly as mothers always do, tucked them
up in their beds, sang them to sleep and, leaving the night-lights
burning for company, crept softly out of the room to go to the
dinner-party with Mr. Darling.
Everything in the big nursery was now still and quiet. Suddenly the
night-lights flickered, waned, and went out one by one, and there
darted into the room a tiny ball of fire, which flitted uneasily about
and finally vanished into a jug. Then the same slender graceful figure
that had so startled Mrs. Darling leapt from the darkness outside the
window. There was just one click, the window was open, and the little
creature stepped cautiously in. He seemed to be looking for something;
and you will easily guess that what he was looking for was his shadow.
"Tink, where are you?" he whispered, and as then the light shone on
the jug he went on: "Tink, do you know where they have put it?"
Now this little ball of light was really a fairy girl who knew
everything worth knowing. Most fairies do. All you could see of her
was the little flame, but you could _hear_ her distinctly, she made a
tinkling noise like a little silver bell, and that was why she was
called Tinker Bell. Tinker Bell at last rested a few moments on the
second drawer of the nursery dresser; instantly the boy ran joyfully
to it, and pulling open the drawer snatched out his shadow neatly
rolled up, just as Mrs. Darling had left it. He had found it
certainly, but the next trouble was to put it on again. A happy
thought struck him; he would stick it on with soap! Sitting on the
hearthrug, he soaped his feet and then he soaped his shadow, but
whichever way he soaped they would not stick together. There is no use
in having a shadow if it will not stick to you. After trying and
trying in vain the poor little fellow gave up the attempt, buried his
face in his hands, and sobbed despairingly.
It was then that Wendy awoke. She sat right up in bed, and, not at all
frightened, said: "Little boy, why are you crying?"
The elfin creature sprang to his feet, and taking off his cap, bowed
very politely. Wendy curtsied in return, though she found it a
difficult thing to do in bed.
"What's your name?" asked the little boy.
"Wendy Moira Angela Darling. What's yours?"
"Peter Pan."
"Where do you live?"
"Second turning to the right, and straight on till morning."
This seemed to Wendy a very funny address, but she was all sympathy
when she heard that Peter had no mother. No wonder he was crying! But
that was not the reason for Peter's tears; he was crying because he
could not get his shadow to stick on. This made Wendy smile, and she
emphatically declared that soap was no good. It must be sewn on.
"Shall I do it for you?" she suggested, and, jumping out of bed to get
her work-basket, she set to work at once. It hurts a good deal to have
a shadow sewn on to your feet, but Peter bore it bravely. It was the
right thing to do, for the shadow held on beautifully, and Peter was
so delighted that he danced up and down the nursery watching it making
patterns on the floor as he flung his arms and legs about.
"Oh! the cleverness of me!" cried Peter, overcome with joy, and he
crowed with pleasure, for all the world just as a cock would crow.
"You conceit," exclaimed Wendy indignantly, "of course _I_ did
nothing!"
"Oh! you did a little!"
"A little! If I am no use I can at least withdraw," she said, jumping
back into bed and covering her head in a dignified way with the
bedclothes.
"Oh! Wendy, please don't withdraw," Peter exclaimed in great distress.
"I can't help crowing when I'm pleased with myself. One girl is more
use than twenty boys."
This was rather clever of Peter, and at these sensible words Wendy got
up again. She even offered to give Peter a kiss if he liked. Peter
looked puzzled, but seeing the thimble on Wendy's finger he thought
she meant to give him that, and held out his hand for it. Now Wendy
saw at a glance that the poor boy did not even know what a kiss
was, but being a nice little girl of motherly disposition, she did not
hurt his feelings by laughing at him, but simply placed the thimble on
his finger.
[Illustration: THE SHADOW HELD ON BEAUTIFULLY]
Peter admired the thimble very much. "Shall I give you a kiss?" he
asked and, jerking a button off his coat, solemnly presented it to
her.
Wendy at once fastened it on a chain which she wore round her neck,
and, forgetting the puzzle in his mind, she once more asked him for a
kiss.
Immediately he returned the thimble. "Oh! I didn't mean a _kiss_, I
meant a thimble!"
"What's that?" he asked.
"It's like this," replied Wendy, and gently kissed his cheek.
[Illustration: WENDY GENTLY KISSED HIS CHEEK.]
"Oh!" cried Peter, "how nice!" and he began to give her _thimbles_ in
return, and ever afterwards he called a kiss a thimble, and a thimble
a kiss.
"But Peter, how old are you?" continued Wendy.
"I don't know, but quite young. I ran away the day I was born."
"Ran away--why?"
"Because I heard my father and mother talking about what I was to be
when I became a man. I don't want to be a man. I want always to be a
little boy and have fun. So I ran away and lived among the fairies."
Wendy was almost speechless with delight at the thought of sitting
beside a boy who knew fairies, and after a minute said: "Peter, do you
really know fairies?"
"Yes, but they're nearly all dead now. You see, Wendy, when the first
baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand
pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the
beginning of fairies. And now, whenever a new baby is born, its
first laugh becomes a fairy. So there ought to be a fairy for every
little boy and girl, but there isn't. You see children know such a lot
now. They soon won't believe in fairies, and whenever a child says: 'I
don't believe in fairies,' there's a fairy somewhere that falls down
dead."
Peter suddenly looked about the room, as though he were searching for
something. Tinker Bell had disappeared! Before he could grow anxious,
however, a tinkling of bells was heard, and Peter, who knew the fairy
language, of course understood it. He pulled open the drawer in which
his shadow had been hidden, and out sprang Tinker Bell, very angry
with him for shutting her up accidentally in the drawer. She skipped
about the room, but Wendy gave such a cry of delight that Tink was
frightened and hid behind the clock.
"But Peter," continued Wendy, "if you don't live with the fairies,
where do you live?"
"I live with the Lost Boys."
"Who are they?"
"Why, they are the children who fall out of their perambulators when
their nurses are looking the other way. If they are not claimed within
seven days, they are sent far away to the Never-Never-Never Land to
defray expenses. I'm their Captain."
"Oh! what fun! But, Peter, why did you come to our nursery window?"
Peter told her that he came to listen to the lovely stories Wendy's
mother related to her children, for the Lost Boys had no mothers, and
no one to tell them any stories. He also told her how he led them
against their enemies, the pirates and the wolves, and how they
enjoyed bathing in the Lagoon, where beautiful mermaids sang and swam
all day long.
"I must go back now," he went on, "the boys will be anxious to hear
the end of the story about the Prince and the Glass Slipper. I told
them as much as I knew, and they're longing to hear the rest."
Wendy begged him to stay.
"I'll tell you lots more," she promised, "ever so many stories if
you'll only stay."
"Come, Wendy!" exclaimed Peter, struck with a new idea. "You can tell
us all the stories there, and darn our clothes, and tuck us in at
night. None of us has ever been tucked in. All the boys long for a
mother. Oh, Wendy, do come!"
It was a tempting idea to Wendy, but a sudden thought came across her
mind. "Peter, I can't! Think of Mummy! Besides, I can't fly."
"I'll teach you, Wendy."
This was too much for her. "Peter, will you teach John and Michael to
fly as well?"
"Yes, if you like."
So John and Michael were awakened, and directly they heard that there
were pirates in the Never-Never-Never Land they began to clamour to go
at once. They watched Peter fly about the room, and tried to imitate
him, flapping their arms clumsily at first like unfledged birds, and
flopping about all over the place.
"That will never do," Peter said, "I must blow the fairy dust on you.
Now waggle your shoulders as I do."
So they tried, and found that they could fly; just a little at first,
from the bed to the floor and back again; then over the bed and across
the room, and then, as they grew braver, almost as freely and easily
as Peter himself.
"Tink, lead the way!" called Peter, and the fairy shot out like a
little star. None of the children had time to put on their day
clothes, but John snatched his top hat as he flew out of the window,
followed by Michael. Peter Pan held Wendy's hand, and away they
floated into the dark blue depths of the starry night.
A minute afterwards Mrs. Darling, who had just returned from the
party, rushed into the nursery with Nana at her heels, for Nana had
been anxious about her charges, and had just succeeded in breaking
her chain. But it was too late. The children were already on their way
to the Never-Never-Never Land.
[Illustration: AWAY THEY FLOATED]
[Illustration: piano score: THE ARRIVAL OF WENDY ]