THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON
_It is the end of a long playful day on the lagoon. The sun’s rays have
persuaded him to give them another five minutes, for one more race over
the waters before he gathers them up and lets in the moon. There are
many mermaids here, going plop-plop, and one might attempt to count the
tails did they not flash and disappear so quickly. At times a lovely
girl leaps in the air seeking to get rid of her excess of scales, which
fall in a silver shower as she shakes them off. From the coral grottoes
beneath the lagoon, where are the mermaids’ bedchambers, comes fitful
music._
_One of the most bewitching of these blue-eyed creatures is lying
lazily on Marooners’ Rock, combing her long tresses and noting effects
in a transparent shell. Peter and his band are in the water unseen
behind the rock, whither they have tracked her as if she were a trout,
and at a signal ten pairs of arms come whack upon the mermaid to
enclose her. Alas, this is only what was meant to happen, for she
hears the signal (which is the crow of a cock) and slips through their
arms into the water. It has been such a near thing that there are
scales on some of their hands. They climb on to the rock crestfallen._
WENDY (_preserving her scales as carefully as if they were rare postage
stamps_). I did so want to catch a mermaid.
PETER (_getting rid of his_). It is awfully difficult to catch a
mermaid.
(_The mermaids at times find it just as difficult to catch him,
though he sometimes joins them in their one game, which consists in
lazily blowing their bubbles into the air and seeing who can catch
them. The number of bubbles_ PETER _has flown away with! When the
weather grows cold mermaids migrate to the other side of the world,
and he once went with a great shoal of them half the way._)
They are such cruel creatures, Wendy, that they try to pull boys and
girls like you into the water and drown them.
WENDY (_too guarded by this time to ask what he means precisely by
‘like you,’ though she is very desirous of knowing_). How hateful!
(_She is slightly different in appearance now, rather rounder, while_
JOHN _and_ MICHAEL _are not quite so round. The reason is that when
new lost children arrive at his underground home_ PETER _finds new
trees for them to go up and down by, and instead of fitting the tree
to them he makes them fit the tree. Sometimes it can be done by
adding or removing garments, but if you are bumpy, or the tree is an
odd shape, he has things done to you with a roller, and after that
you fit._
_The other boys are now playing King of the Castle, throwing each
other into the water, taking headers and so on; but these two
continue to talk._)
PETER. Wendy, this is a fearfully important rock. It is called
Marooners’ Rock. Sailors are marooned, you know, when their captain
leaves them on a rock and sails away.
WENDY. Leaves them on this little rock to drown?
PETER (_lightly_). Oh, they don’t live long. Their hands are tied, so
that they can’t swim. When the tide is full this rock is covered with
water, and then the sailor drowns.
(WENDY _is uneasy as she surveys the rock, which is the only one in
the lagoon and no larger than a table. Since she last looked around a
threatening change has come over the scene. The sun has gone, but the
moon has not come. What has come is a cold shiver across the waters
which has sent all the wiser mermaids to their coral recesses. They
know that evil is creeping over the lagoon. Of the boys_ PETER _is of
course the first to scent it, and he has leapt to his feet before the
words strike the rock--_
‘And if we’re parted by a shot
We’re sure to meet below.’
_The games on the rock and around it end so abruptly that several
divers are checked in the air. There they hang waiting for the word
of command from_ PETER. _When they get it they strike the water
simultaneously, and the rock is at once as bare as if suddenly they
had been blown off it. Thus the pirates find it deserted when their
dinghy strikes the rock and is nearly stove in by the concussion._)
SMEE. Luff, you spalpeen, luff! (_They are_ SMEE _and_ STARKEY, _with_
TIGER LILY, _their captive, bound hand and foot_.) What we have got to
do is to hoist the redskin on to the rock and leave her there to drown.
(_To one of her race this is an end darker than death by fire or
torture, for it is written in the laws of the Piccaninnies that there
is no path through water to the happy hunting ground. Yet her face is
impassive; she is the daughter of a chief and must die as a chief’s
daughter; it is enough._)
STARKEY (_chagrined because she does not mewl_). No mewling. This is
your reward for prowling round the ship with a knife in your mouth.
TIGER LILY (_stoically_). Enough said.
SMEE (_who would have preferred a farewell palaver_). So that’s it! On
to the rock with her, mate.
STARKEY (_experiencing for perhaps the last time the stirrings of a
man_). Not so rough, Smee; roughish, but not so rough.
SMEE (_dragging her on to the rock_). It is the captain’s orders.
(_A stave has in some past time been driven into the rock, probably
to mark the burial place of hidden treasure, and to this they moor
the dinghy._)
WENDY (_in the water_). Poor Tiger Lily!
STARKEY. What was that? (_The children bob._)
PETER (_who can imitate the captain’s voice so perfectly that even the
author has a dizzy feeling that at times he was really_ HOOK). Ahoy
there, you lubbers!
STARKEY. It is the captain; he must be swimming out to us.
SMEE (_calling_). We have put the redskin on the rock, Captain.
PETER. Set her free.
SMEE. But, Captain----
PETER. Cut her bonds, or I’ll plunge my hook in you.
SMEE. This is queer!
STARKEY (_unmanned_). Let us follow the captain’s orders.
(_They undo the thongs and_ TIGER LILY _slides between their legs
into the lagoon, forgetting in her haste to utter her war-cry, but_
PETER _utters it for her, so naturally that even the lost boys are
deceived. It is at this moment that the voice of the true_ HOOK _is
heard_.)
HOOK. Boat ahoy!
SMEE (_relieved_). It is the captain.
(HOOK _is swimming, and they help him to scale the rock. He is in
gloomy mood._)
STARKEY. Captain, is all well?
SMEE. He sighs.
STARKEY. He sighs again.
SMEE (_counting_). And yet a third time he sighs. (_With foreboding_)
What’s up, Captain?
HOOK (_who has perhaps found the large rich damp cake untouched_). The
game is up. Those boys have found a mother!
STARKEY. Oh evil day!
SMEE. What is a mother?
WENDY (_horrified_). He doesn’t know!
HOOK (_sharply_). What was that?
(PETER _makes the splash of a mermaid’s tail_.)
STARKEY. One of them mermaids.
HOOK. Dost not know, Smee? A mother is--(_he finds it more difficult to
explain than he had expected, and looks about him for an illustration.
He finds one in a great bird which drifts past in a nest as large as
the roomiest basin._) There is a lesson in mothers for you! The nest
must have fallen into the water, but would the bird desert her eggs?
(PETER, _who is now more or less off his head, makes the sound of a
bird answering in the negative. The nest is borne out of sight._)
STARKEY. Maybe she is hanging about here to protect Peter?
(HOOK’S _face clouds still further and_ PETER _just manages not to
call out that he needs no protection_.)
SMEE (_not usually a man of ideas_). Captain, could we not kidnap these
boys’ mother and make her our mother?
HOOK. Obesity and bunions, ’tis a princely scheme. We will seize the
children, make them walk the plank, and Wendy shall be our mother!
WENDY. Never! (_Another splash from_ PETER.)
HOOK. What say you, bullies?
SMEE. There is my hand on ’t.
STARKEY. And mine.
HOOK. And there is my hook. Swear. (_All swear._) But I had forgot;
where is the redskin?
SMEE (_shaken_). That is all right, Captain; we let her go.
HOOK (_terrible_). Let her go?
SMEE. ’Twas your own orders, Captain.
STARKEY (_whimpering_). You called over the water to us to let her go.
HOOK. Brimstone and gall, what cozening is here? (_Disturbed by their
faithful faces_) Lads, I gave no such order.
SMEE. ’Tis passing queer.
HOOK (_addressing the immensities_). Spirit that haunts this dark
lagoon to-night, dost hear me?
PETER (_in the same voice_). Odds, bobs, hammer and tongs, I hear you.
HOOK (_gripping the stave for support_). Who are you, stranger, speak.
PETER (_who is only too ready to speak_). I am Jas Hook, Captain of the
_Jolly Roger_.
HOOK (_now white to the gills_). No, no, you are not.
PETER. Brimstone and gall, say that again and I’ll cast anchor in you.
HOOK. If you are Hook, come tell me, who am I?
PETER. A codfish, only a codfish.
HOOK (_aghast_). A codfish?
SMEE (_drawing back from him_). Have we been captained all this time by
a codfish?
STARKEY. It’s lowering to our pride.
HOOK (_feeling that his ego is slipping from him_). Don’t desert me,
bullies.
PETER (_top-heavy_). Paw, fish, paw!
(_There is a touch of the feminine in_ HOOK, _as in all the greatest
pirates, and it prompts him to try the guessing game_.)
HOOK. Have you another name?
PETER (_falling to the lure_). Ay, ay.
HOOK (_thirstily_). Vegetable?
PETER. No.
HOOK. Mineral?
PETER. No.
HOOK. Animal?
PETER (_after a hurried consultation with_ TOOTLES). Yes.
HOOK. Man?
PETER (_with scorn_). No.
HOOK. Boy?
PETER. Yes.
HOOK. Ordinary boy?
PETER. No!
HOOK. Wonderful boy?
PETER (_to_ WENDY’S _distress_). Yes!
HOOK. Are you in England?
PETER. No.
HOOK. Are you here?
PETER. Yes.
HOOK (_beaten, though he feels he has very nearly got it_). Smee, you
ask him some questions.
SMEE (_rummaging his brains_). I can’t think of a thing.
PETER. Can’t guess, can’t guess! (_Foundering in his cockiness_) Do you
give it up?
HOOK (_eagerly_). Yes.
PETER. All of you?
SMEE and STARKEY. Yes.
PETER (_crowing_). Well, then, I am Peter Pan!
(_Now they have him._)
HOOK. Pan! Into the water, Smee. Starkey, mind the boat. Take him dead
or alive!
PETER (_who still has all his baby teeth_). Boys, lam into the pirates!
(_For a moment the only two we can see are in the dinghy, where_
JOHN _throws himself on_ STARKEY. STARKEY _wriggles into the lagoon
and_ JOHN _leaps so quickly after him that he reaches it first. The
impression left on_ STARKEY _is that he is being attacked by the_
TWINS. _The water becomes stained. The dinghy drifts away. Here
and there a head shows in the water, and once it is the head of
the crocodile. In the growing gloom some strike at their friends_,
SLIGHTLY _getting_ TOOTLES _in the fourth rib while he himself is
pinked by_ CURLY. _It looks as if the boys were getting the worse of
it, which is perhaps just as well at this point, because_ PETER, _who
will be the determining factor in the end, has a perplexing way of
changing sides if he is winning too easily_. HOOK’S _iron claw makes
a circle of black water round him from which opponents flee like
fishes. There is only one prepared to enter that dreadful circle. His
name is_ PAN. _Strangely, it is not in the water that they meet._
HOOK _has risen to the rock to breathe, and at the same moment_ PETER
_scales it on the opposite side. The rock is now wet and as slippery
as a ball, and they have to crawl rather than climb. Suddenly they
are face to face._ PETER _gnashes his pretty teeth with joy, and is
gathering himself for the spring when he sees he is higher up the
rock than his foe. Courteously he waits_; HOOK _sees his intention,
and taking advantage of it claws twice_. PETER _is untouched, but
unfairness is what he never can get used to, and in his bewilderment
he rolls off the rock. The crocodile, whose tick has been drowned
in the strife, rears its jaws, and_ HOOK, _who has almost stepped
into them, is pursued by it to land. All is quiet on the lagoon now,
not a sound save little waves nibbling at the rock, which is smaller
than when we last looked at it. Two boys appear with the dinghy, and
the others despite their wounds climb into it. They send the cry
‘Peter--Wendy’ across the waters, but no answer comes._)
NIBS. They must be swimming home.
JOHN. Or flying.
FIRST TWIN. Yes, that is it. Let us be off and call to them as we go.
(_The dinghy disappears with its load, whose hearts would sink it if
they knew of the peril of_ WENDY _and her captain. From near and far
away come the cries ‘Peter--Wendy’ till we no longer hear them._
_Two small figures are now on the rock, but they have fainted. A
mermaid who has dared to come back in the stillness stretches up her
arms and is slowly pulling_ WENDY _into the water to drown her_.
WENDY _starts up just in time_.)
WENDY. Peter!
(_He rouses himself and looks around him._)
Where are we, Peter?
PETER. We are on the rock, but it is getting smaller. Soon the water
will be over it. Listen!
(_They can hear the wash of the relentless little waves._)
WENDY. We must go.
PETER. Yes.
WENDY. Shall we swim or fly?
PETER. Wendy, do you think you could swim or fly to the island without
me?
WENDY. You know I couldn’t, Peter; I am just a beginner.
PETER. Hook wounded me twice. (_He believes it; he is so good at
pretend that he feels the pain, his arms hang limp._) I can neither
swim nor fly.
WENDY. Do you mean we shall both be drowned?
PETER. Look how the water is rising!
(_They cover their faces with their hands. Something touches_ WENDY
_as lightly as a kiss_.)
PETER (_with little interest_). It must be the tail of the kite we made
for Michael; you remember it tore itself out of his hands and floated
away. (_He looks up and sees the kite sailing overhead._) The kite! Why
shouldn’t it carry you? (_He grips the tail and pulls, and the kite
responds._)
WENDY. Both of us!
PETER. It can’t lift two. Michael and Curly tried.
(_She knows very well that if it can lift her it can lift him also,
for she has been told by the boys as a deadly secret that one of the
queer things about him is that he is no weight at all. But it is a
forbidden subject._)
WENDY. I won’t go without you. Let us draw lots which is to stay behind.
PETER. And you a lady, never! (_The tail is in her hands, and the kite
is tugging hard. She holds out her mouth to_ PETER, _but he knows they
cannot do that_.) Ready, Wendy!
(_The kite draws her out of sight across the lagoon._
_The waters are lapping over the rock now, and_ PETER _knows that it
will soon be submerged. Pale rays of light mingle with the moving
clouds, and from the coral grottoes is to be heard a sound, at once
the most musical and the most melancholy in the Never Land, the
mermaids calling to the moon to rise._ PETER _is afraid at last, and
a tremor runs through him, like a shudder passing over the lagoon;
but on the lagoon one shudder follows another till there are hundreds
of them, and he feels just the one._)
PETER (_with a drum beating in his breast as if he were a real boy at
last_). To die will be an awfully big adventure.
(_The blind rises again, and the lagoon is now suffused with
moonlight. He is on the rock still, but the water is over his feet.
The nest is borne nearer, and the bird, after cooing a message to
him, leaves it and wings her way upwards._ PETER, _who knows the
bird language, slips into the nest, first removing the two eggs and
placing them in_ STARKEY’S _hat, which has been left on the stave.
The hat drifts away from the rock, but he uses the stave as a
mast. The wind is driving him toward the open sea. He takes off his
shirt, which he had forgotten to remove while bathing, and unfurls
it as a sail. His vessel tacks, and he passes from sight, naked and
victorious. The bird returns and sits on the hat._)