Peter Pan

Part One · Second Star to the Right

Wendy Darling woke in the middle of the night and saw a strange boy crawling around her nursery floor, looking under the toy box and behind the curtains. He was dressed in leaves and cobwebs, and a tiny golden light zipped around his head, tinkling like a bell and looking extremely cross. "I have lost my shadow," the boy whispered. Wendy sat up, and the boy grinned. His name was Peter Pan, and he lived in a place where nobody ever had to grow up.

The shadow was hiding in a drawer, and it did not want to be caught. It wriggled and dodged and kicked until Wendy finally grabbed it and sewed it onto Peter's feet with a needle and thread. Peter was so pleased that he crowed like a rooster. "Come to Neverland!" he cried. "There are mermaids and pirates, and nobody ever makes you wash behind your ears. We need a mother to tell us stories." He sprinkled shining dust over Wendy and her brothers and told them to think a wonderful thought.

Their feet lifted off the rug. John bumped his head on the ceiling, and little Michael floated upside down and giggled. Out the window they soared, over the sleeping rooftops of London and into the enormous night, with the wind cold and sweet on their faces. "Second star to the right," Peter called, "and straight on till morning!" The tiny light was Tinker Bell, a fairy with a terrible temper, and for many days they flew over oceans and clouds, until a green island floated up out of the mist.

"There it is," said Peter. "Neverland." But a cannon went off before they could land. BOOM! A pirate ship was hiding in the cove below, and the shot whistled past Wendy's ear. Worse, jealous Tinker Bell had told the Lost Boys that Wendy was a dangerous bird, and one of them fired an arrow. Wendy tumbled out of the sky, and Peter dived after her. Luckily the arrow had struck the acorn button she wore around her neck, and she was only stunned.

Soon Wendy was the mother of a whole crowd of Lost Boys, who lived in a secret house under the roots of an enormous tree. She darned their socks and settled their quarrels, and she told them bedtime stories so thrilling that nobody could sleep. It was the happiest place she had ever lived. But above the trees, something flashed in the moonlight. It was a hook, a shiny iron hook, and it belonged to Captain James Hook, the most feared pirate on the seven seas.

Part Two · The Ticking in the Dark

Captain Hook was terribly vain and terribly polite. He wore a curly wig, he hated bad manners, and he could not bear to be laughed at. Years ago, Peter had cut off his hand in a fight and thrown it to a crocodile, which had liked the taste so much that it followed Hook around ever since, hoping for seconds. It had also swallowed a clock. Now whenever Hook heard a faint tick-tock in the dark, he screamed like a kettle and ran up the nearest mast.

One afternoon at Mermaid Lagoon, the pirates captured Tiger Lily, the chief's daughter, and chained her to a rock as the tide crept in. The water rose to her knees, then her waist, and nobody could save her. But Peter was hiding in the shadows, and he copied Hook's voice so perfectly that the pirates untied the girl and let her slip away. "Who said that?" Hook roared. Peter leaped onto the rock and crowed, and the pirates saw whom they had been fooled by.

A wild fight began, with swords clanging and Peter flying in circles around the captain, laughing and poking his wig. But the tide kept rising, and Peter had nowhere left to stand. Later, while the Lost Boys slept, the pirates crept through the forest and snatched Wendy, John, Michael, and every Lost Boy. Hook marched them onto his ship and swore they would walk the plank at dawn. Wendy stood tall in the lantern light. "Be brave," she told the boys, "just as your real mothers would want."

Then Hook crept to the tree where Peter lay sleeping. He took out a small bottle and poured five drops of poison into Peter's medicine, and he cackled all the way back to his ship. Only Tinker Bell had seen. Peter's medicine would have finished him, so she zipped into the cup and drank it herself, and her little light began to flicker. "Do you believe in fairies?" cried Peter, to every child in the world who might be listening. "If you do, clap your hands!"

From far away came a rush of clapping, like rain on a roof, and Tinker Bell's light blazed back to life. Peter snatched up his dagger and flew through the night toward the pirate ship, and as he flew he began to make a sound. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. On the ship, the pirates heard it creeping across the black water, and every one of them went pale. "The crocodile!" shrieked a pirate, and he jumped overboard, and then so did the next one, and the next one.

Soon the deck was empty, except for Hook, standing alone with his sword. Peter dropped in front of him, grinning. "Proud and insolent youth," Hook hissed. "Prepare to meet your doom!" Their swords rang and sparked, and the Lost Boys cheered from the cabin. But Hook was forced back and back, until he was cornered against the rail. He looked down at the black water below, and in the water, a long green shape floated with its jaws wide open and a clock ticking inside.

Hook did not wait to be pushed. With one last shriek, he leaped over the side, straight past the crocodile's teeth, and swam away so fast that the water foamed behind him. The crocodile gave a very big sigh, and then it hiccuped. Tick-tock. It swam after him, in no particular hurry, because it knew it would catch up one day. Peter had won, and the Lost Boys threw their caps in the air.

Wendy knew it was time to go home, and she said so quietly. "Come with us, Peter," she begged. "My mother would adopt you." Peter shook his head. "I won't go to school and learn solemn things," he said. "I want always to be a boy and have fun." So Wendy and her brothers flew back across the sea, and they reached the nursery just as the morning began to glow. Mrs. Darling had left the window open every night, and she cried with joy to see them.

Peter peeped in at the window, then flew away, still laughing. Wendy grew up, as everyone does, and had a daughter of her own. Every spring, when the cleaning was done, Peter came back and carried that little girl off to Neverland, and so it will go on, as long as children are gay and innocent and a little heartless. And somewhere out in the dark, far from London, something is still ticking.