Peter Pan
In a quiet street in London lived the Darling family.  There was 
Father and Mother Darling, and Wendy, Michael, and John.  There 
was also the children's nursemaid, Nana-a St.  Bernard dog.  For 
Nana and the children the best hour of the day was bedtime, for 
then they were together in the nursery.  There Wendy told 
wonderful stories about Peter Pan of Never Land.  This Never Land 
was a magical spot with Indians and Mermaids and Fairies-and 
wicked pirates, too.
John and Michael liked best of all to play pirate.  They had some 
fine, slashing duels between Peter Pan and his arch-enemy, the 
pirate, Captain Hook.  Father Darling did not like this kind of 
play.  He blamed it on Wendy's stories of Peter Pan of Never Land, 
and he did not approve of those stories, either." It is time for 
Wendy to grow up," Father Darling decided.  "This is your last
night in the nursery, Wendy girl." All the children were much 
upset at that.  Without Wendy in the nursery there would be no 
more stories of Peter Pan! Then to make matters worse, Father 
Darling became annoyed with Nana and decided the children were 
too old to be treated like puppies.  So he tied Nana in the garden 
for the night.  When Mother and Father Darling had gone out for
the evening, leaving the children snug in their beds with Nana on 
guard bellow, who should come to the nursery but Peter Pan! It 
seemed he had been flying in from Never Land to listen to the 
bedtime stories, all unseen.  Only Nana had caught sight of him 
once and nipped off his shadow as he escaped.  So back he came, 
looking for his lost shadow and hoping for a story anout himself.  
With him was a fairy, Tinker Bell.  When Peter heard that Wendy 
was to be moved from the nursery, he hit upon a plan.  "I'll take 
you to Never Land with me, to tell stories to my Lost Boys!" he 
decided as Wendy sewed his shadow back on.  Wendy thought that was 
a lovely idea-if Micheal and John could go, too.  So Peter Pan
taught them all to fly-with happy thoughts and faith and trust, 
and a sprinkling of Tinker Bell's pixie dust.  Then out the 
nursery window they sailed, heading for Never Land, while Nana 
barked frantically below.  Back in Never Land, on the pirate ship, 
Captain Hook as usual was grumbling about Peter Pan.  You see, 
once in a fair fight long ago, Peter Pan had cut off one of the 
pirate captain's hand, so that he had to wear a hook instead.  
Then Pan threw the hand to a crocodile, who had enjoyed the taste 
of Hook so much that he had been lurking around ever since, 
hoping to nibble at the rest of him.  Fortunately for the pirate, 
the crocodile had also swallowed a clock.  He went "tick tock" 
when he came near, which gave a warning to Captain Hook.  Now, as
Captain Hook grumbled about his young enemy, there was a call 
from the crow's nest.  "Peter Pan ahoy!" "What? Where?" shouted 
Captain Hook, twirling his spyglass around the sky.  "Swoggle me 
eyes, it is Peter Pan!" Hook gloated.  "Pipe up the crew.  Man the 
guns.  At last.  We'll get Peter Pan this time!" "Oh, Peter, it's 
just as I've dreamed it would be-Mermaid Lagoon and all,"
Wendy was saying when the first of the pirates' cannonballs 
ripped through the cloud close beside their feet and went 
sizzling on past.  "Look out!" cried Pan.  "Tinker Bell, take Wendy 
and the boys to the island.  I'll stay here and draw Hook's fire." 
Away flew Tinker Bell, as fast as she could go.  In her naughty 
little heart she hoped the children would fall behind and be 
lost.  Especially was she jealous of the Wendy girl, who seemed to 
have won Peter Pan's heart.  Straight through the Never Land 
jungle flew Tink, down into a clearing beside an old dead tree 
called Hangman's Tree.  She landed on a toadstool, bounced to a 
shiny leaf, and pop! a secret door opened for her in the knot of 
the hollow tree.  Zip! Down a slippery tunnel Tink slid.  She 
landed at the bottom in an underground room-the secret house of 
Peter Pan.  Ting-a-ling! she tinkled, flitting about from one 
corner of the room to the next.  She trying to awaken the sleeping 
Lost Boys, who lay like so many curled-up balls of fur.  At last, 
rather grumpily, they woke up and stretched in their little fur 
suits.  And they listened to Tinker Bell.  "What? Pan wants us to 
shoot down a terrible Wendy bird? Lead us to it!" they shouted, 
and out they hurried.  When Wendy and Michael and John appeared, 
flying wearily, the Lost Boys tried to pelt them with stones and 
sticks-especially the "Wendy bird!" Down tumbled Wendy, all her 
happy thoughts destroyed-for without them no one can fly.  "Hurry! 
Hurry! We got the Wendy bird!" the Lost Boys shouted.
But then Peter Pan arrived.  How angry he was when he discovered 
that boys had tried to shoot down Wendy, even though he had 
caught her before she could be hurt.  "I brought her to be a 
mother to us all and to tell us stories," Peter said.  "Come on, 
Wendy," said Peter, "I'll show you the Mermaids.  Boys, take
Michael and John to hunt some Indians." So Peter Pan and Wendy 
flew away, and the boys marched off through the forest, planning 
to capture some Indians.  There were wild animals all around, but 
the boys never thought to be afraid, and not a creature harmed 
them.  "First we'll surround the Indians," John decided.  "Then 
we'll take them by surprise." John's plan worked splendidly,
but it was the Indians who used it.  Disguised as moving trees, 
they quietly surrounded the boys and took them by surprise! Soon, 
bound with ropes, the row of boys marched away, led by the 
Indians to their village on the cliff.  "Don't worry, the Indians 
are our friends," the Lost Boys said, but the chief looked stern.  
Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, Wendy and Peter Pan
were watching the Mermaids swim and play in their peaceful 
Mermaid Lagoon.  As they were chatting together, Peter suddenly 
said, "Hush!" A boat from the pirate ship was going by.  In it 
were wicked Catain Hook and Smee, the pirate cook.  And at the 
stern, all bound with ropes, sat Princess Tiger Lily, daughter of 
the Indian chief.  "We'll make her talk," sneered Captain Hook.
"She'll tell us where Peter Pan lives, or we'll leave her tied to 
slippery Skull Rock, where the tide will wash over her." But the 
proud and loyal Princess Tiger Lily would not say a single word.  
Peter and Wendy flew to Skull Rock.  Peter, by imitating Hook's 
voice, tried to trick Smee into setting Tiger Lily free.  That 
almost worked, but Hook discovered the trick, and came after 
Peter with his sword.  Then what a thrilling duel they had, all
over that rocky cave where Princess Tiger Lily sat, with the tide 
up to her chin! Peter won the duel and rescued Tiger Lily just in 
the nick of time.  Then away he flew to the Indian village, to see 
the Princess home.  When Peter and Wendy brought Tiger Lily home, 
the chief set the captives all free.  Then what a wonderful feast 
they had! All the boys did Indian dances, and learned wild Indian 
chants, and Peter Pan was made a chief! Only Wendy had no fun at 
all, for she had to help the squaws carry firewood.  "I've had 
enough of Never Land," she thought grumpily.  "I'm ready to go 
home right now!" While the Indian celebration was at its height, 
Smee, the pirate, crept up through the underbrush and captured 
Tinker Bell.  Trapped in his cap, she struggled and kicked, but 
Smee took her back to the pirate ship and presented her to 
Captain Hook.  "Ah, Miss Bell," said Hook sympathetically, "I've 
heard how badly Peter Pan has treated you since that scheming 
girl Wendy came.  How nice it would it would be if we could kidnap 
her and take her off to sea to scrub the decks and cook for the 
pirate crew!" Tink tinkled happily at the thought.  "But, alas," 
sighed Hook, "we don't know where Pan's house is, so we cannot
get rid of Wendy forn you." Tink thought this over.  "You won't 
hurt Peter?" she asked, in solemn tinkling tones.  "Of course 
not!" promised Hook.  Then she marched to Captain Hook's map of 
Never Land.  Tinker Bell traced a path to Peter's hidden house.  
"Thank you, my dear," said wicked Captain Hook, and he locked her 
up in a lantern cage, while he went off to capture Peter Pan! 
That night when Wendy tucked the children into their beds in the 
underground house, she talked to them about home and mother.  Soon 
they were all so homesick that they wanted to leave at once.  
Wendy invited all the Lost Boys to come and live with the Darling 
family.  Only Peter refused to go.  He simply looked the other
way as Wendy and the boys told him good-by and climbed the tunnel 
to Hangman's Tree.  Up in the woods near Hangman's Tree waited 
Hook and his pirate band.  As each boy came out, a hand was 
clapped over his mouth and he was quickly tied up with ropes.  
Last of all came Wendy.  Zip, zip, she was bound up too, and the
crew marched off with their load of children, back to the pirate 
ship.  "Blast it!" muttered Captain Hook.  "We still don't have 
Peter Pan!" So Captain Hook and Smee left a wicked bomb, wrapped 
as a gift from Wendy, for poor Peter to find.  Very soon, they 
hoped, Peter would open it and blow himself straight out of Never 
Land.  Imagine how terrible Tinker Bell felt when she saw all the 
children prisoners, and knew it was her fault! The boys were 
given the terrible choice between turning pirates and walking the 
plank.  To the boys the life of a pirate sounded fine, sad to say, 
and they were all ready to join up.  But Wendy was shocked at 
that.  "I will never become a pirate," said Wendy.  "Very well," 
said Hook.  "Then you shall be the first to walk the plank, my 
dear." Everyone felt so terrible, though Wendy was ever so brave.  
Captain Hook and Smee did not notice Tinker Bell escaping, as she 
flew off to warn Peter Pan.  What a dreadful moment when Wendy 
said good-by to everyone on the ship and bravely walked out the 
long narrow plank that led to the churning sea! And then she 
disappeared.  Everyone listened, breathless, waiting for a splash, 
but not a sign of one came! What could the silence mean? Then 
they heard a familiar, happy crow.  It was Pan in the rigging, 
high above.  Warned by Tinker Bell, he had come just in time to 
scoop up Wendy in mid-air and fly with her to safety.  "This time 
you have gone too far, Captain Hook," Peter cried.  He swooped 
down from the rigging, all set for a duel.  And what a duel it 
was! While they fought, Tinker Bell slashed the ropes that bound 
the boys and they forced the pirates into jumping overboard and 
rowing away in their boat.  Thin Peter Pan knocked Captain Hook's 
sword overboard, and Hook jumped, too.  When the children last saw 
the wicked Captain Hook, he was swimming for the boat, with the 
crocodile tick-tocking hungrily behind him.  Peter Pan took 
command of the pirate ship.  "Heave those halyards.  Up with the
jib.  We're sailing for London," he cried.  "Oh Michael! John!" 
cried Wendy.  " We're going home!" And sure enough, with happy 
thoughts and faith and trust, and a liberal sprinkling of pixie 
dust, away flew that pirate ship through the skies till the 
gangplank was run out to the Darlings' nursery window sill.  But 
now that they had arrived, the Lost Boys did not want to stay.  So 
Wendy, John, and Michael waved good-by as Peter Pan's ship sailed 
off through the sky, taking the Lost Boys home to Never Land, 
where they still live today.
