Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens

orbidden the Gardens, and at that time there was not a fairy in the place; then the children were admitted, and the fairies came trooping in that very evening. They can't resist follo

ing after Lock-out, but

re so

stra

re not looking they s

ng fro

e reason they were cheated was that she pretended to be something else. This is one of their best tricks. They usually pretend to be flowers, because the court sits in the Fairies' Basin, and there are so many flowers there, and all along the Baby Walk, that a flower is the thing least likely to attract attention. They dress exactly like flowers, and change with the seasons,

r mothers they have had such an adventure. The Fairy Basin, you remember, is all covered with ground-ivy (from which they make their castor-oil), with flowers growing in it here and there. Most of them really are flowers, but some of them are fairies. You never can be

stra

nd they fear there

e still pretend

ng fro

pty bed and pretended to be hyacinths. Unfortunately what the governess had heard was two gardeners coming to plant new flowers in that very bed. They were wheeling a hand-cart with the flowers in it, and were quite surprised to find the bed occupied. 'Pity to lift them hyacinths,' said the one man. 'Duke's orders,' replied the other, and, having emptied the c

mean that they are black, for night has its colours just as day has, but ever so much brighter. Their blues and reds and greens are like ours with a light behind them. The palace is entirely built of many-coloured glasses, and it is quite the loveliest of all royal residences, but the queen sometimes complains because the common people will peep in to

are exquis

doing, they could not tell you in the least. They are frightfully ignorant, and everything they do is make-believe. They have a postman, but he never calls except at Christmas with his little box, and though they have beautiful schools, nothing is taught in them; the youngest child being chief person is always elected mistress, and when she has called the roll, they

down to naughtiness. But it is not; it simply means that she is doing as she has seen the fairies do; she begins by following their ways, and it takes about two years to get her into the human ways. Her fits of passion, which are awful to behold, and are usually called teething, are no such thing; they are her natural exasperation, because we don't un

iry

s a thrush, and though I suggested to him that perhaps it is really bird language he is remembering, he says not, for these phrases are about fun and adventures, and the birds talked of nothing but nest-building. He distinctly remembers that t

metimes slyly change th

u can see the ring on the grass. It is not there when they begin, but they make it by waltzing round and round. Sometimes you will find mushrooms inside the ring, and these are fairy chairs that the servants have forgotten to clear away. The chairs and th

Gardens are to close to-day. Well, these tricky fairies sometimes slyly change the board on a ball night, so that it says t

n, all in uniform, holding up the ladies' trains, and linkmen running in front carrying winter cherries, which are the fairy-lanterns; the cloakroom where they put on their silver slippers and get a ticket for their wraps; the flowers streaming up from

in front carryin

his: The men, scores of them, climb up the trees and shake the branches, and the blossom falls like snow. Then the lady servan

oots of old trees, and the really horrid ones crawl over the tablecloth chasing sugar or other delicacies with their tongues. When the Queen sees them doing this she signs to the servants to wash up and put away, and then everybody adjourns to the dance, the Queen walking in front while the Lord Chamberlain walks behind her, carrying two little pots, one of which contains the juice of wallflower and the other the juice of Solomon's Seal. Wallflower juice is good for reviving dancers who fall to the ground in a fit, and Solomon's Seal juice is for bruises. They bru

sty wants to

utifully she would give him the wish of his heart. Then they all gathered round Peter to hear what

other,' he asked at last, '

r they should lose his music, so the Queen tilted her nose conte

a little wish

Queen answered, putting h

s a big wish

her skirt and it was

l, then, I think I shall have two l

he said that his first wish was to go to his mother, but with the right to return to

de him, and even put

to her house,' the Queen said, 'b

eter said confidently. 'Mother always keep

uite surprised, and, really, Pet

do know,

this: They all tickled him on the shoulder, and soon he felt a funny itching in that part, an

l's to the Crystal Palace and back by the river and Regent's Park, and by the time he reached hi

f the bed and had a good look at her. She lay with her head on her hand, and the hollow in the pillow was like a nest lined with her brown wavy hair. He remembered, thou

. One of her arms moved as if it wanted to go roun

'if you just knew who is sitting

says their name. Then she would give such a joyous cry and squeeze him tight. How nice that would be to him, but oh! how exquisitely delicious it would be to her. That, I am afraid, is how Peter regarded it. In returning to h

n mushrooms, and at fir

n the rail; why does he not tell

ed and opened some drawers to have a look at his old garments. They were still there, but he could not remember how you put them on. The socks, for instance, were they worn on the hands or on the feet? He was about to try one of them on his hand, when he had a great adventure. Perhaps the drawer had creaked; at any rate, his mother woke up, for he heard her s

il at the foot of the bed, he played a beautiful lullaby to his mother on his pipe. He had made i

nning to-night. It was the second wish which troubled him. He no longer meant to make it a wish to be a bird, but not to ask for a second wish seemed wasteful, and, of course, he could not ask for it without returning to the fairies. Also, if he put off asking for his wish too long it might go bad. He asked himself if he had not been hard-heart

stra

from the roo

ng fro

ing to kiss his mother, but he feared the delight of it might waken her, so at l

d his last sail of all, and so on. Again, a number of farewell feasts were given in his honour; and another comfortable reason was that, after all, there was no hurry, for his mother would never weary of waiting for him. This last reason displeased old Solomon, for it was an encouragement to the birds to procrastinate. S

his to pass they tried to trick him into making such a remark as 'I wish the grass was not so wet,' and some of them danced out of time in the hope that he might cry, 'I do wish you would keep time!' Then they would have said that this was his second

he cried for, and that a hug from her splendid Peter would quickly make her to smile. Oh! he felt sure of it, and so ea

for reviving dancers who

on it, and peering inside he saw his mother sleepi

e never saw his dear again. What a glorious boy he had meant to be to her! Ah, Peter! we who have made the great mistake, how differently we should all act at th