Orakel Children's Books
Peter Pan
Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie, prepared as a public-domain Orakel edition with 17 chapter-aware companion links.
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Chapter I.: PETER BREAKS THROUGH
Chapter I.: PETER BREAKS THROUGH from Peter Pan. All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, “Oh, why can’t you remain like this for ever!” This was all that passed between
Open2Chapter II.: THE SHADOW
Chapter II.: THE SHADOW from Peter Pan. Mrs. Darling screamed, and, as if in answer to a bell, the door opened, and Nana entered, returned from her evening out. She growled and sprang at the boy, who leapt lightly through the window. Again Mrs. Darling screamed, this time in distress for him, for she thought he was killed, and she ran down into the street to look for his little body, but it was not there; and she looked up, and in the black night she
Open3Chapter III.: COME AWAY, COME AWAY!
Chapter III.: COME AWAY, COME AWAY! from Peter Pan. For a moment after Mr. and Mrs. Darling left the house the night-lights by the beds of the three children continued to burn clearly. They were awfully nice little night-lights, and one cannot help wishing that they could have kept awake to see Peter; but Wendy’s light blinked and gave such a yawn that the other two yawned also, and before they could close their mouths all the three went
Open4Chapter IV.: THE FLIGHT
Chapter IV.: THE FLIGHT from Peter Pan. That, Peter had told Wendy, was the way to the Neverland; but even birds, carrying maps and consulting them at windy corners, could not have sighted it with these instructions. Peter, you see, just said anything that came into his
Open5Chapter V.: THE ISLAND COME TRUE
Chapter V.: THE ISLAND COME TRUE from Peter Pan. Feeling that Peter was on his way back, the Neverland had again woke into life. We ought to use the pluperfect and say wakened, but woke is better and was always used by
Open6Chapter VI.: THE LITTLE HOUSE
Chapter VI.: THE LITTLE HOUSE from Peter Pan. Foolish Tootles was standing like a conqueror over Wendy’s body when the other boys sprang, armed, from their
Open7Chapter VII.: THE HOME UNDER THE GROUND
Chapter VII.: THE HOME UNDER THE GROUND from Peter Pan. One of the first things Peter did next day was to measure Wendy and John and Michael for hollow trees. Hook, you remember, had sneered at the boys for thinking they needed a tree apiece, but this was ignorance, for unless your tree fitted you it was difficult to go up and down, and no two of the boys were quite the same size. Once you fitted, you drew in your breath at the top, and down you went at exactly the right
Open8Chapter VIII.: THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON
Chapter VIII.: THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON from Peter Pan. If you shut your eyes and are a lucky one, you may see at times a shapeless pool of lovely pale colours suspended in the darkness; then if you squeeze your eyes tighter, the pool begins to take shape, and the colours become so vivid that with another squeeze they must go on fire. But just before they go on fire you see the lagoon. This is the nearest you ever get to it on the mainland, just one heavenly moment; if
Open9Chapter IX.: THE NEVER BIRD
Chapter IX.: THE NEVER BIRD from Peter Pan. The last sound Peter heard before he was quite alone were the mermaids retiring one by one to their bedchambers under the sea. He was too far away to hear their doors shut; but every door in the coral caves where they live rings a tiny bell when it opens or closes (as in all the nicest houses on the mainland), and he heard the
Open10Chapter X.: THE HAPPY HOME
Chapter X.: THE HAPPY HOME from Peter Pan. One important result of the brush on the lagoon was that it made the redskins their friends. Peter had saved Tiger Lily from a dreadful fate, and now there was nothing she and her braves would not do for him. All night they sat above, keeping watch over the home under the ground and awaiting the big attack by the pirates which obviously could not be much longer delayed. Even by day they hung about, smoking the pipe
Open11Chapter XI.: WENDY’S STORY
Chapter XI.: WENDY’S STORY from Peter Pan. “Listen, then,” said Wendy, settling down to her story, with Michael at her feet and seven boys in the bed. “There was once a
Open12Chapter XII.: THE CHILDREN ARE CARRIED OFF
Chapter XII.: THE CHILDREN ARE CARRIED OFF from Peter Pan. The pirate attack had been a complete surprise: a sure proof that the unscrupulous Hook had conducted it improperly, for to surprise redskins fairly is beyond the wit of the white
Open13Chapter XIII.: DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES?
Chapter XIII.: DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES? from Peter Pan. The more quickly this horror is disposed of the better. The first to emerge from his tree was Curly. He rose out of it into the arms of Cecco, who flung him to Smee, who flung him to Starkey, who flung him to Bill Jukes, who flung him to Noodler, and so he was tossed from one to another till he fell at the feet of the black pirate. All the boys were plucked from their trees in this ruthless manner; and several of
Open14Chapter XIV.: THE PIRATE SHIP
Chapter XIV.: THE PIRATE SHIP from Peter Pan. One green light squinting over Kidd’s Creek, which is near the mouth of the pirate river, marked where the brig, the Jolly Roger, lay, low in the water; a rakish-looking craft foul to the hull, every beam in her detestable, like ground strewn with mangled feathers. She was the cannibal of the seas, and scarce needed that watchful eye, for she floated immune in the horror of her
Open15Chapter XV.: “HOOK OR ME THIS TIME”
Chapter XV.: “HOOK OR ME THIS TIME” from Peter Pan. Odd things happen to all of us on our way through life without our noticing for a time that they have happened. Thus, to take an instance, we suddenly discover that we have been deaf in one ear for we don’t know how long, but, say, half an hour. Now such an experience had come that night to Peter. When last we saw him he was stealing across the island with one finger to his lips and his dagger at the ready. He had
Open16Chapter XVI.: THE RETURN HOME
Chapter XVI.: THE RETURN HOME from Peter Pan. By three bells that morning they were all stirring their stumps; for there was a big sea running; and Tootles, the bo’sun, was among them, with a rope’s end in his hand and chewing tobacco. They all donned pirate clothes cut off at the knee, shaved smartly, and tumbled up, with the true nautical roll and hitching their
Open17Chapter XVII.: WHEN WENDY GREW UP
Chapter XVII.: WHEN WENDY GREW UP from Peter Pan. I hope you want to know what became of the other boys. They were waiting below to give Wendy time to explain about them; and when they had counted five hundred they went up. They went up by the stair, because they thought this would make a better impression. They stood in a row in front of Mrs. Darling, with their hats off, and wishing they were not wearing their pirate clothes. They said nothing, but their eyes
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