Peter Pan

Peter Pan

Once there lived in England a little girl whose name was Wendy Darling She had two brothers john Darling and Michael Darling. Their house was small house made of brick, and they kept big dog called Nana, and Nana acted as nurse to the three children.

   Nana was very clever, and she always took care that the children would put on pajamas after warming them at the fire Sometimes the children would not go to bed, but Nana always made them do as they were always made them do as they told. Mrs. Darling loved Nana and she had very good reason for keeping Nana as the children’s nurse One night, when she went into the nursery, she saw a strange Shape flying to and fro in the dim light.

When this Shape saw Mrs. Darling, it rushed to the window after it, just as ran out into the night, Mrs. Darling suddenly closed the window. And Mrs. Darling rushed to the window after it ran out into the night, Mrs. Darling suddenly closed the window. The Shape fled; but something fell on the floor at Mrs. Darling’s feet. It was the shadow of this strange flying Shape. Mrs. Darling picked up the shadow and put it in a drawer; but she felt very anxious about the safety of her children. She was afraid that the Shape might come back and hurt them, but she hoped that Nana would come to the nursery and protect them from all danger. But some days after that Nana was led to the yard to sleep in her kennel. That night the window was pushed open and the strange Shape slipped into the room and began to dance about.

“Where is my shadow?” it cried. Nana barked furiously outside. “I can’t be happy without my shadow. Tinker Bell, Tinker Bell, where is my dear little shadow?” cried the Shape. At that a tiny Ball of fire flew into the room, and sprang round the room. Wherever it went it made a tinkling sound like a little silver bell. Now this little ball of fire was really a fairy girl. She told the Shape where the shadow was. Soon the drawer was opened, the shadow was pulled out, and the Shape danced round the room with delight. The Shape could find its shadow, it was true; but it could never put it on again. And so all the delight went, and the shape was so unhappy that tears filled its eyes and rolled down its cheeks. Just at that time, Wendy woke up. She was not afraid, but asked the little Shape why it was crying. Then she asked it its name, and the shape told her that it was Peter Pan. Wend got a needle and some thread and sewed the shadow on to Peter Pan, and then Peter Pan danced with joy, for wherever he went the shadow followed him on the floor. Peter Pan then told Wendy the story of his life. He said that he lived in a place called never-Never-Land, with a lot of little boys who had all been dropped out of their baby carriages by careless nurses. He also said that they lived with fairies ever would remain happy boys in this enchanting Never-Never-Land. He then told her that when the first baby laughed, the laughter broke into little pieces, and each little piece became a fairy, and went dancing about the world. But whenever a child said that it did not believe in fairies, then one of the fairies died. Peter Pan said that it was a dreadful and wicked thing for a child to say that it did not believe in fairies. There was only one thing that made them sad, he sad, and that was the want of a mother; all the boys in Never-Never-Land wanted to have a mother very much indeed. Wendy asked if there was any little girl among them who could pretend to be their mother; but Peter Pan shook his head and answered that girls never dropped out of their baby-carriages; they were far too clever. This pleased Wendy, and she loved Peter Pan. “Oh, wend,” cried Peter, “come and live with us and be our mother!” Wendy’ s brothers woke up. Peter Pan said he would teach them all to fly if Wendy would only come and be their mother. When the children heard that they could learn to fly, they were quite excited, and at once began to jump up into the air. But every time they jumped they fell onto the ground, “Look and fly as I do,” cried Peter; and so saying, he flew gracefully high up into the air, and sailed noiselessly round the room. Soon the children learned, and all began to fly round the room with cries of delight. Then the windows were opened wide, and tinker bell led the way into the night. Peter held Wendy’ s hand and they floated away into the starry night. Very soon Mrs. Darling, who had just come home from the theater, rushed into the nursery with Nana at her heels. But it was too late. The children had already left for never-never-land. 

(2)Now, the boys in never-never-land were beginning to get anxious about Peter Pan, who was their leader. He was away for a long time, and they were afraid of wolves and pirates. By and by they saw something that looked like a large white bird in the sky. As they looked at it, tinker bell suddenly shone on the trees, and told them that Peter Pan wanted them to shoot this bird at once. So they ran and got bows and arrows, and shot the bird. Suddenly down it fell—what do you think it was?-----poor Wendy fell with an arrow in her breast. But Wendy was not dead. Soon she felt well, and then with her brothers round her, and Peter Pan holding her hand, she promised all the boys to be their mother. Then they began working and built Wendy funny little house, with john’s silk-hat for a chimney; and every body was very, very happy. But tinker bell was very jealous of Wendy. Though they were so happy in their house, there were on the lake near the forest some terrible pirates. The captain of these terrible pirates was named James hook. All his crew were afraid of him and trembled when they saw him. His long black hair was fearful, the wrinkles on his face was fearful, his eyes were fearful, and his voice was fearful. But, above all, his right hand was most fearful. It wasn’t a common hand at all; it was an iron hook. Peter pan had once driven this terrible pirate into the sea, and a huge crocodile had bitten off his hand and part of his wrist. The crocodile followed the captain wherever he went, and wanted to have another bite. It dreamed of the happy day when it could eat him all up. The captain always knew when this fearful enemy was near, because on one occasion it had swallowed an alarm-clock. It was so made that it would go for one century without stopping. Now the ticking of this clock could plainly be heard even through its thick skin. It ticked so loudly that the captain could al-ways hear it coming, and it was the signal for him to run! But the captain was afraid, because he knew the clock would stop some day. Then the crocodile would come up behind him and eat him up. So he grew to hate Peter Pan, and wanted to kill him. The home of the lost boys was in the forest by the lake. They lived under the ground for fear of the pirates and the wolves. Each boy had a special staircase hollowed in a tree-trunk; so that they could easily run down among the roots of the trees into their cave. Wendy, you must know, had become the mother of these boys, and they all loved her, because it was so delightful to have a mother after having lived so long without one. Wendy gave each of the boys some medicine, taught them how to behave nicely, and put them all in their comfortable beds at night. Though she was only nine years old, Wendy was quite a splendid mother. The lost boys were protected by some friendly Indians. On this day, up came the pirates, and suddenly there was a stamping overhead, and a sound of people fighting and struggling here and there. The pirates had attacked the red Indians by surprise. The battle was very soon over. The Indians were beaten and ran away, or crawled seriously wounded into the forest. The pirates won a victory close above the children’s heads. Now, on this night, before the fight had started, Wendy had been telling the boys a story about her own father and mother-a beautiful story which showed how her father and mother must be crying for their lost children. As she was finishing her story, John and Michael sprang up in their beds and said, “Wendy, we must go back quickly!” “yes, answered Wendy, “we must go back quickly” You can imagine how sad all the motherless boys were when they heard that Wendy was going home. They cried so much that at last she told them they might return with her and her brothers. She said they could live in there house, and have Mr. And Mr. Darling for their father and mother. All the boys except Peter Pan were very glad to hear that. Peter Pan said he did not want to grow up. He did not want to live in a real house and go to school. He wanted to live always in Never-Never-Land. So they all said good-by to Peter Pan, and climbed up the staircases in the tree-trunks which led from their underground home to the forest. Wendy was the last to go, and before she went she left some medicine for Peter and mad him promise that he would take it when he woke up in the morning. But the pirates were there on the ground waiting for them to come out. The boys were caught as they stepped on the ground; a rough hand was held over their mouths to prevent them from crying out, and they were carried away to the pirate ship with Wendy.

(3) Wendy and all the Lost Boys were now on board the pirate ship. Peter Pan lay asleep in his underground bed. He was alone. Captain hook was creeping down the stair-case above. Now was the chance for the captain to kill Peter Pan. He crept up to the door and peeped in. Peter Pan was fast asleep. The captain tried to open the door and failed. Again and again he tried to open the door with his hook, but without success. Peter Pan was safe. But, no! the terrible captain found the glass of medicine left by Wendy on a shelf; he reached toward it, and then, taking a bottle of poison from his pocket, poured the contents into the glass. Peter Pan woke up. He remembered his promise to Wendy, and went to drink the poison. At that moment tinker bell rushed in, crying, “don’t drink! Don’t drink!” but her warning was useless. “I have promised Wendy,” answered Peter, and walked toward the glass, stretching out his hand. Just as Peter was about to drink, the little tinker bell flew into the glass and drank all its deadly contents. Then its light flamed weakly and went pale, and it fell toward the bed dying. Peter Pan knew there was only way in which he could possibly save tinker bell. “Do you believe in fairies? Oh, please say you believe in fairies!” cried Peter Pan to all the children in the world. And back from the children everywhere, who were so sorry for poor tinker bell, came the answer, “We believe in fairies. So tinker bell got well again and was saved. Then she told Peter Pan how the pirates had carried off the Lost boys, with Wendy and her brothers, to their ship, and that they were all in very great danger. The poor children were all at once driven into the dark and dirty hold. Captain Hook thought that at last he had them in his power. “Are all the children chained so that they cannot fly away?” he asked. “YES, Captain,” replied his men. “Then bring them up, ”shouted the Captain. He seated himself. On a chair on the deck, waiting while the boys were dragged out of the hold and brought before him. Six of them, he said, were to walk the plank at once, but he would save any two of them who were willing to be cabin boys. The children could not understand him well, but Hook soon explained them the meaning by roaring out something like a song; ”Yo ho! Yo ho! The jolly plank, You walk along it so----- Till it goes down, and you go down To tooral looral lo.” Then he waved his hook to show them that when the plank tipped they would be shot into the water and drowned! But Peter Pan had already started out. He had an alarm-clock in his pocket. It had begun ticking. “Tick! Tick! Ter-ick, tick, tick!” the captain heard, and at the dreaded sound, he shouted, “the crocodile! Hide me! Hide me!”  He rushed into a corner of the ship, while his men crowded round him, anxious to protect their captain from the terrible crocodile. The boys, too, waited, breathless with horror. At last, with sudden relief and joy, they saw, not the crocodile, but their brave leader, peter Pan, appearing over the ship’s side. In one hand he held the alarm-clock, the ticking of which had made the captain believe that the crocodile was coming to eat him. Peter Pan dashed into the cabin unseen by the pirates, and closed the door. The ticking stopped at once, and the captain’s terror disappeared. Captain Hook again began to sing his song “The Jolly Plank,” but the boys, filled with hope and delight, drowned his voice by singing “Rule, Britannia, Britannia Rules the waves.” And just as the captain was about to force them to walk the plank, he was silenced by a terrible shriek from the cabin. The captain ordered one of his men to enter the cabin and find out what was the matter. The man went, but did not return. Once more they heard that dreadful shriek. The rest of the men were now frightened. They refused to enter the cabin; one threw himself into the sea. “Drive the boys in—let them fight the terror,” cried the captain. “if they kill him. So much the better; it he kills them, we’re none the worse.” This, of course, was just what the boys wanted, but, hiding their delight, they allowed themselves to be driven into the cabin. But as for the pirates, all of them were so terrified that no one saw Peter Pan steal out, followed by the boys. No one saw Peter Pan cut the ropes with which Wendy had been bound, take her the brown cloak she had left, while Wendy joined the boys. "It's the girl!" cried the captain, "there's never luck on a pirate ship with a girl on board; let's throw her into the sea!" All the men knew that their captain was right, and one of them started up and cried to the figure at the mast, "There's nothing can save you now!" "There is one," came a ringing voice, and the brown cloak was thrown aside, and there stood Peter Pan. "Down, boys, and at them," the captain shouted, and the boys, armed with the weapons Peter Pan had found and given them in the cabin, rushed down upon the lower deck. A terrible fight followed. Some of the crew jumped into the sea; others rushed at the boys with their knives, while Captain Hook tried to escape into the cabin, fighting for his life. "Put away your knives, boys; that man is mine!" cried Peter Pan, pointing to Captain Hook. Hook's men jumped one by one into the sea and were drowned. Peter Pan and Captain Hook appeared at the cabin door, fighting violently. Step by step, Hook was driven back to the side of the ship. At last, Peter Pan pushed him into the sea, right into the mouth of the waiting crocodile, which ate him up at last. The boys burst into ringing cheers as they and Wendy crowded round their hero, who stood like a victorious Napoleon while the pirate flag was lowered. Then Wendy and all the boys went home, and you can imagine how glad Mr. and Mrs. Darling and Nana were to see their lost children again. Mrs. Darling had always kept the window open, and used to sing "Home, Sweet Home," hoping that the children might hear her and come back. But Peter Pan, all alone in Never-Never-Land, longed for little Wendy; and Mrs. Darling allowed Wendy to go every now and then to visit Peter Pan, and see that his house was nice and tidy. Peter Pan never wanted to grow up, and Wendy never forgot the fairies.

James Barrie