Guided Sleep Meditation & Sleep Hypnosis from Sleep Cove - Sleep Story - Peter Pan

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Starting point is 00:00:46 please go to sleepcove.com slash support. That's sleepcove.com slash support. If you can't support the show right now, please subscribe with a bell to get alerts on all new free content Thank you Have you ever gazed in wonder at the Great Pyramid Have you marvelled at the golden face of Tudankhamun

Starting point is 00:01:16 Or admired the delicate features of Queen Nefertiti If you have, you'll probably like the History of Egypt podcast Every week we explore tales of this ancient culture The history of Egypt is available wherever you get your podcasting fix. Come, let me introduce you to the world of ancient Egypt. And welcome to Sleep Cove. Please listen to the podcast and a place where you can safely go to sleep. This episode, I'll be reading out the classic story of Peter Pan by J.M. Barry.

Starting point is 00:02:01 This week, the podcast is sponsored by Hello Fresh. I've received a box from HelloFresh and I've cooked tonight a lovely pasta dish with fresh tomatoes, bacon, chives and peppers. It was absolutely delicious and what I like about HelloFresh is the convenience that everything is there for you with the exact pre-portioned amounts with all the ingredients supplied to you. With HelloFresh you get fresh quality ingredients for delicious dinners that you can cook at home. Easy to read six-step recipe cards to cook delicious, fuss-free dinners. There's also a huge range of recipes to choose from and options to suit every lifestyle and taste. From family-friendly recipes, rapid recipes on the table in 20 minutes or less, and vegetarian and special limited edition recipes,

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Starting point is 00:03:42 That's the code sleep cove. Now on to the bedtime story. I will probably read this out in full on my YouTube channel in the next month or so. So if you want to hear it in full, please check it out there. And let's begin. Peter Pan by J.M. Barry. Chapter 1 Peter breaks through. 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

Starting point is 00:04:29 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 forever? This was all that passed between them on the subject. But henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know, after you are two.

Starting point is 00:05:02 Two was the beginning of the end. Of course they lived at 14, their house number on their street. And until Wendy came, her mother was the chief one. She was a lovely lady with a romantic mind and such a sweet mocking mouth. Her romantic mind was like the tiny boxes, one within the other that came from the puzzling east. However, how many you discover there, there is always one more, and her sweet mocking mouth had one kiss on it that Wendy could never get, though there it was, perfectly conspicuous in the right-hand corner.

Starting point is 00:05:53 The way Mr Darling won her was this. The many gentlemen who had been boys when she was a girl, discovered simultaneously that they loved her. and they all ran to her house to propose to her except Mr. Darling who took a cab and nipped in first so he got her he got all of her

Starting point is 00:06:17 except the innermost box and the kiss he never knew about the box in time he gave up trying for the kiss Wendy thought Napoleon could have got it but I can picture

Starting point is 00:06:33 him trying and then going off in a passion slamming the door. Mr Darling used to boast to Wendy, but her mother not only loved him but respected him. He was one of those deep ones who know about stocks and chairs. Of course no one really knows, but he quite seemed to know, and he often said stocks were up and chairs were down and away that would have made any woman respect. expect him. Mrs. Darling was married in white, and at first she kept the books perfectly, almost gleefully, as if it were a game. Not so much as a Brussels sprout was missing, but by whole colour flowers dropped out, and instead of them there were pictures of babies without faces. She drew them when she should have been totting up. They were missing. They were

Starting point is 00:07:36 Mrs. Darling's guesses. Wendy came first, then John, then Michael. For a week or two after Wendy came, it was very doubtful whether they would be able to keep her, as she was another mouth to feed. Mrs. Darling was frightfully proud of her, but he was very honourable, and he sat on the edge of Mrs. Darling's bed, holding her hand and calculating expenses while she looked at him imploringly. She wanted to risk it, come what might, but that was not his way. His way was with a pencil and a piece of paper, and if she confused him with suggestions, he had to begin at the beginning again. Now don't interrupt, he would beg her. I have £117 here

Starting point is 00:08:35 And 2 and 6 at the office I can cut off my coffee at the office Say 10 shillings Making 2, 9 and 6 With your 18 and 3 makes 3997 With 5-00 in my chequebook Makes 8997 And who is that moving

Starting point is 00:08:57 897 dot carry 7 Don't speak My own and then the pound you lent to that man who came to the door quiet child dot and carry child there you've done it

Starting point is 00:09:11 did I say nine seven yes I said nine seven the question is can we try it for a year on nine nine seven of course we can George she cried but she was prejudiced and wender's favour

Starting point is 00:09:27 and he was really the grander character of the two Remember mumps, he warned her almost threateningly. And off he went again. Mumps, one pound, that is what I've put down. But I dare say it would be more like 30 shillings. Don't speak. Measles 1-5.

Starting point is 00:09:50 German measles half a guinea. Makes 2.15, 6. Don't waggle your finger. Whooping cough say 15 shillings. And so it went. and it added up differently each time, but at last Wendy just got through, with mumps reduced to 12-6, and two kinds of measles treated as one. There was the same excitement over John, and Michael had even a narrower squeak, but both were kept, and soon you might have seen the three of them going in a row to Miss Folsom's kindergarten school, accompanied by their nurse. Mrs Darling loved to have everything just so

Starting point is 00:10:34 And Mr Darling had a passion for being exactly like his neighbours So of course they had a nurse As they were poor owing to the amount of milk the children drank This nurse was a prim newfoundland dog Called Nana Who had belonged to no one in particular Until the darlings engaged her She had always thought children important

Starting point is 00:10:59 However, and the darlings had become acquainted with her in Kensington Gardens, where she spent most of her time peeping into perambulators and was much hated by careless nursemaids whom she followed to their houses and complained of to their mistresses. She proved to be quite a treasure of a nurse. How thorough was she at bath time and up at any moment of the night if one of her charges made the slightest cry.

Starting point is 00:11:32 Of course her kennel was in the nursery. She had a genius for knowing when a cough is a thing to have no patience with and when it needs stoking around your throat. She believed to her last day in the old-fashioned remedies like rhubarb leaf and made sounds of content

Starting point is 00:11:53 all over this newfangled talk about germs and so on. It was a lesson in propriety to see her escorting the children to school, walking sedately by their size, when they were well behaved, and putting them back into line if they strayed. On John's footer, in England soccer, we called football footer for short.

Starting point is 00:12:20 Days she never once forgot his sweater, and she usually carried an umbrella in her mouth case of rain. There is a room in the basement of Mrs. Folsom's school, where the nurses wait. They sat on forms while Nana lay on the floor, but that was the only difference. They affected to ignore her as of an inferior social status to themselves, and she despised their light talk. She resented visits to the nursery from Mrs. Darling's friends, but if they did she, she,

Starting point is 00:12:57 did come, she first whipped off Michael's pinafore and put him into one with blue braiding and smoothed out Wendy and made a dash at John's hair. No nursery could possibly have been more conducted correctly, and Mr. Darling knew it, yet he sometimes wondered uneasily whether the neighbours talked. He had his position in the city to consider. Nana also troubled him in another way. He had sometimes a feeling that she did not admire him. I know she admires you tremendously, George, Mrs. Darling would assure him,

Starting point is 00:13:38 and then she would sign to the children to be specially nice to father. Lovely dancers followed, in which the only other servant, Liza, was sometimes allowed to join. Such a midget, she looked in her long skirt and maid's cap. Though she had sworn, when engaged, that she would never see ten again. The gaiety of those romps, and gayest of all was Mrs. Darling,

Starting point is 00:14:07 who'd pirouette so wildly that all you could see of her was the kiss. And then, if you had dashed at her, you might have got it. There was never a simpler, happier family, until the coming of Peter Pan. first heard of Peter when she was tidying up her children's minds. It was the nightly custom of every good mother after her children were asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for next morning. Repacking into the proper places

Starting point is 00:14:45 that many articles that have wandered during the day. If you could keep awake, but of course you can't, you could see your own mother doing it. this and you would find it very interesting to watch her. It is quite like tidying up drawers. You would see her on her knees, I expect, lingering humorously over some of your contents, wondering where on earth you had picked the sing up,

Starting point is 00:15:18 making discoveries sweet and not so sweet, pressing this to her cheek, as if it were, nice as a kitten and hurriedly stowing that out of sight. When you wake up in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions with which you went to bed have been folded up small and placed at the bottom of your mind and on the top. Beautifully aired are spread out your prettier thoughts, ready for you to put on. I don't know whether you have seen a map of a person's mind. Doctors sometimes draw maps of other parts of you and your own map can become intensely interesting. But catch them trying to draw a map

Starting point is 00:16:15 of a child's mind, which is not only confused but keeps going round all the time. There are zigzag lines on it, just like your temperature on a card. And these are probably roads in the island for the Netherlands is always more or less an island, with astonishing splashes of colour here and there, and coral reefs, and rakish-looking craft in the offing, and savages and lonely lairs, and gnomes who are mostly tailors, and caves through which a river runs, and princesses with six elder brothers and a hut fast going to decay and one very small old lady with a hooked nose. It would be an easy map if that were all, but there is also first day at school, religion, fathers, the round pond, needlework, murders, hangings, verbs that take the Dative Chocolate Pudding Day getting into braces, say 99, 3 pence for pulling out your tooth yourself, and so on.

Starting point is 00:17:40 And either these are part of the island or they are on another map showing them. And it is all rather confusing, especially as nothing will stand still. Of course, the Netherlands vary a good deal. For instance, had a lagoon with flamingos flying over it, which John was shooting, while Michael, who was very small, had a flamingo with lagoes flying over it. John lived in a boat turned upside down on the sands. Michael in a wigwam. Wendy in a house of leaves deftly sewn together. John had no friends.

Starting point is 00:18:26 Michael had friends at night Wendy had a pet wolf forsaken by its parents but on the whole the Netherlands had a family resemblance and if they stood still in a row

Starting point is 00:18:42 you could say of them that they had each other's noses and so forth on these magic shawls children at play are forever beaching their coracles their simple boats we too have been there

Starting point is 00:18:58 we can still hear the sound of the surf though we shall land no more of all the detectable islands a never land is the snugness and most compact not large and sprawler you know with tedious

Starting point is 00:19:16 distances between one adventure and another but nicely crammed when you play at it by day with the chairs and tablecloth It is not in the least alarming But in the two minutes before you go to sleep It becomes very real

Starting point is 00:19:34 That is why there are nightlights Occasionally in her travels through her children's minds Mrs. Darling found things she could not understand And of these quite the most perplexing Was the word Peter She knew of no Peter And yet he was his here and there in John and Michael's minds, while Wendy's began to be scrawled all over with him.

Starting point is 00:20:06 The name stood out in bolder letters than any other words, and as Mrs. Darling gazed, she felt that it had an oddly cocky appearance. Yes, he is rather cocky, Wendy admitted with regret. Her mother had been questioning her. But who is he? My pet? He is Peter Pan, you know, mother. And first Mrs. Darling did not know, but after thinking back into her childhood, she remembered a Peter Pan who was said to live with the fairies. There were odd stories about him, as that when children died, he went part of the way with them,

Starting point is 00:20:51 so that they should not be frightened. She had believed in him at the time. But now she was married and full of sense. She quite doubted whether there was any such person. Besides, she said to Wendy. He would be grown up by this time. Oh no, he isn't grown up, Wendy assured her confidently. He is just my size.

Starting point is 00:21:20 She meant that he was her size in both mind and body. She didn't know how she knew. She just knew it. Mrs. Darling consulted Mr. Darling, but he smiled, poo-poo. Mark my words, he said. It is some nonsense Nana has been putting into their heads. Just the sort of an idea a dog would have. Leave it alone and it will blow over. But it would not blow over. And soon the troublesome boy gave Mrs. Darling quite a shock. children had the strangest adventures without being troubled by them. For instance, they may remember to mention a week after the event happened

Starting point is 00:22:10 that when they were in the wood, they had met their dead father and had a game with him. But it was in this casual way that Wendy one morning made a disquieting revelation. Some leaves of a tree had been found on the nursery floor. floor, we certainly were not there when the children went to bed. And Mrs. Darling was puzzling over them when Wendy said with a tolerant smile, I do believe it is that Peter again. Whatever do you mean, Wendy? It is so naughty of him not to wipe his feet, Wendy said, sighing.

Starting point is 00:22:56 She was a tidy child. She explained in quite a matter-of-fact way But she thought Peter sometimes came to the nursery in the night And sat on the foot of her bed And played on his pipes to her Unfortunately she never woke So she didn't know how she knew She just knew

Starting point is 00:23:21 What nonsense you talk precious No one can get into the house without knocking He comes in by the window, she said. My love, it is three floors up. Were not the leaves at the foot of the window, mother? It was quite true the leaves had been found very near the window. Mrs. Darling did not know what to think, for it all seemed so natural to Wendy

Starting point is 00:23:50 that you could not dismiss it by saying she had been dreaming. My child the mother cried Why did you not tell me of this before? I forgot, said Wendy lightly. She was in a hurry to get her breakfast. Oh surely she must have been dreaming, but on the other hand there were the leaves. Mrs. Darling examined them very carefully.

Starting point is 00:24:20 They were skeleton leaves, but she was sure they did not come from any tree that grew in England. She crawled about the floor, peering at it with a candle for marks of a strange foot. She rattled the poker up the chimney and tapped the walls. She let down a tape from the window to the pavement, and it was a sheer drop of 30 feet without so much as a spout to climb up by. Certainly Wendy had been dreaming, but Wendy had not been dreaming. As the very next night showed, the night on which the extraordinary adventures of these children may be said to have begun. On the night we speak, of all the children were once more in bed.

Starting point is 00:25:13 It happened to be Nana's evening off, and Mrs. Darling had bathed them and sung to them till one by one they had let go of her hand and slid away into the land of sleep. looking so safe and cosy, that she smiled at her fears now and sat down tranquilly in the fire to sew. It was something for Michael, who on his birthday was getting into shirts. The fire was warm, however, and the nursery dimly lit by three nightlights, and presently the sewing lay on misty. Mrs Darling's lap, I had nodded, oh, so gracefully, she was asleep. Look at the four of them, Wendy and Michael over there, John here, and Mrs. Darling by the fire. There should have been a fourth night light.

Starting point is 00:26:25 While she slept, she had a dream. She dreamt that the Netherlands had came too near, and that a strange, boy had broken through from it. He did not alarm her, for she thought she had seen him before in the faces of many women who have no children. Perhaps he is to be found in faces of faces of some mothers also. But in her dreams, he had rent the film that obscures the Neverland, and she saw Wendy and John and Michael peeping through the gap. The dream by itself would have been trifle, but while she was dreaming the window of the nursery blew open, and a boy did drop on the floor. He was accompanied by a strange light,

Starting point is 00:27:21 no bigger than your fist, which darted around the room, like a living thing, and I think it must have been the night, the wakened Mrs. Darling. She startled up with a cry and saw the boy, and somehow she knew at once he was Peter Pan, if you or I or Wendy had been there. You would have seen that he was very like Mrs. Darling's kiss. He was a lovely boy, clad in skeleton leaves, and the juices that ooze out of trees. But the most entrancing thing about him was that he had all his first teeth. When he saw she was a grown-up,

Starting point is 00:28:11 he gnashed the little pearls at her. The second part of the podcast is sponsored by Stitch Fix. Stitch Fix is an online personal styling service for men and women where an expert stylist picks clothes just for you based on your taste, size and price preferences and sends them straight to your door. Perfect if you want to discover something new or have someone to do the hard work shopping for you. How does it work? Well, it's easy and fun.

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Starting point is 00:29:43 Mrs. Darling screamed, 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, as she ran into the street to look for his little body. But it was not there, as she looked up, and in the black of night she could see nothing. But what she thought was a shooting star. She returned to the nursery and found Nana with something in her mouth, which proved to be the boy's shadow. As he leapt out of the window, Nana had closed it quickly, too late to catch him, but his shadow

Starting point is 00:30:41 had not time to get out. Slam went the window and it snapped off. You may be sure Mrs. Darling examined the shadow carefully, but it was quite the ordinary kind. Nana had no doubt of what was the best thing to do with this shadow She hung it out of the window meaning He is sure to come back for it Let us put it there where he can get it easily Without disturbing the children But unfortunately Mrs Darling could not leave it hanging out of the window

Starting point is 00:31:18 It looks so like the washing And lowered the whole tone of the house She thought of showing it to Mr Darling But he was totting up winter greatcoats for John and Michael With a wet towel around his head to keep his brain clear And it seemed a shame to trouble him Besides, she knew exactly what he would say It all comes of having a dog for a nurse

Starting point is 00:31:45 She decided to roll the shadow up And put it away carefully in a drawer until a fitting opportunity came for telling her husband, ah me. The opportunity came a week later. On that never to be forgotten Friday. Of course it was a Friday. I ought to have been specially careful on a Friday,

Starting point is 00:32:13 she used to say afterwards to her husband, while perhaps Nana was on the other side of her holding her hand. No, no, Mr Darling always said, I am responsible for it all. I, George Darling did it, mere culper, mea culper. He had had a classical education. They sat thus night after night recalling that fatal Friday, till every detail of it was stamped on their brains and came through on the other side like the fatal Friday. on a bad quenage. If only I had not accepted that invitation to dine at 27, Mrs. Darling said,

Starting point is 00:32:58 If only I had not poured my medicines into Nana's bowl, said Mr. Darling. If only I had pretended to like the medicine was what Nana's wet eyes said. My liking for parties, George, my fatal gift of humour dearest. My touchiness about trifles near master and mistress. Then one or more of them would break down altogether.

Starting point is 00:33:28 Nana at the thought, It's true, it's true. They ought not to have had a dog for a nurse. Many a time it was Mr. Darling who had put the handkerchief to Nana's eyes. That fiend to Mr. Darling would cry, and Nana's bark was the echo of it. but Mrs Darling had never unbraided Peter there was something on the right corner of her mouth

Starting point is 00:33:53 that wanted her not to call Peter names they would sit in that empty nursery recalling fondly every smallness detail of that dreadful evening it had begun so uneventfully so precisely like a hundred other evenings with Nana putting on the water for Michael's bath and carrying him to it on her buck.

Starting point is 00:34:20 I won't go to bed, he shouted. Like one who still believed that he had the last word on the subject. I won't, I won't. Nana, it isn't six o'clock yet. Oh dear, oh dear, I shan't love you anymore, Nana. I tell you, I won't be bathed, I won't, I won't. Then Mrs. Darling came in, wearing her white evening gown. She had dressed early because Wendy so loved to see her in her evening gown, with a necklace George had given her.

Starting point is 00:34:54 She was wearing Wendy's bracelet on her arm. She had asked for the loan of it. Wendy loved to lend her bracelet to her mother. She found her two older children playing it being herself and father on the occasion of Wendy's birth. And John was saying, I am happy to inform you, Mrs Darling, that you are now a mother, in just such a tone as Mr Darling himself would have used on the real occasion. Wendy had dant with joy, just as the real Mrs. Darling must have done. Then John was born with the extra pomp that he conceived due to the birth of a male, and Michael came from his bath to ask to be born also.

Starting point is 00:35:42 But John said brutally, that they did not want any more. Michael had nearly cried. Nobody wants me, he said. And of course the lady in the evening dress could not stand that. I do, she said. I so want a third child.

Starting point is 00:36:01 Boy or girl, asked Michael, not too hopefully. Boy. Then he had leapt into her arms. Such a little thing for a Mr. and Mrs. Darling and Nana to recall now, but not so little if that was to be Michael's last night in the nursery. They'd go on with their recollections. It was then that I rushed in like a tornado, wasn't it? Mr Darling would say, scorning himself, and indeed he had been like a tornado.

Starting point is 00:36:37 Perhaps there was some excuse for him. He too had been dressed for the party, and all had been. had gone well with him until he came to his tie. It is an outstanding thing to have to tell that this man, though he knew about stocks and chairs, had no real mastery of the tie. Sometimes the thing yielded to him without a contest, but there were occasions when it would have been better for the house if he had swallowed his bride and used a made-up tie. There was such an occasion He came rushing into the nursery With a crumpled little brute of a tie in his hand

Starting point is 00:37:18 Why, what is the matter, Father dear? Matter, he yelled He really yelled This tie, it will not tie He became dangerously sarcastic Not round my neck Round the bedpost Oh yes, 20 times I've made it round the bedpost

Starting point is 00:37:38 But round my neck, no Oh dear, no begs to be excused. He thought Mrs. Darling was not sufficiently impressed, and he went on sternly. I warn you of this, Mother, that unless this ties round my neck, we don't go out to dinner tonight,

Starting point is 00:37:59 and if I don't go out to dinner tonight, I will never go to the office again, and if I don't go to the office again, you and I starve, and our children will be flung into the streets. Even then Mrs. Darling was placard. Let me try dear, she said. And indeed, that was what he had come to ask her to do. And with her nice cool hands, she tied his tie for him, while the children stood around to see

Starting point is 00:38:30 their fate decided. Some men would have resented her being able to do it so easily, but Mr. Darling had far too fine a nature for that. He thanked her carelessly and at once forgot his rage, and in another moment was dancing round the room with Michael on his back. How wildly we romped, says Mrs. Darling now recalling it. Our last romp, Mr. Darling groaned. Oh George, do you remember Michael suddenly said to me, How do you get to know me, mother? I remember.

Starting point is 00:39:12 They were rather sweet, don't you think, George? And they were hours, hours, and now they are gone. The romp had ended with the appearance of Nana, and most unluckily, Mr Darling collided against her, covering his trousers with hairs. There were not only new trousers, but they were the first he had with braid on them, and he had to bite his lip to prevent the tears come.

Starting point is 00:39:43 Of course Mrs Darling brushed him, but he began to talk again about it being a mistake to having a dog for a nurse. George, Nana is a treasure, no doubt, but I have an easy feeling at times that she looks at the children as puppies. Oh no, dear one, I feel sure she knows they have souls. I wonder, Mr Darling said thoughtfully. I wonder. It was an opportunity his wife felt, but telling him about the boy. At first he poo-pooed the story, but he became thoughtful when she showed him the shadow. It is no one I know, he said, exclaiming it carefully, but it does look like a scoundrel.

Starting point is 00:40:36 We were discussing it, you remember, says Mr Darling. When Nana came in with Michael's medicine, You will never carry that bottle in your mouth again, Nana, and it is all my fault. Strong man, though he was, there was no doubt that he had behaved rather foolishly over the medicine. If he had a weakness, it was for thinking that all his life he had taken medicine boldly. And now, when Michael dodged the spoon in Nana's mouth, he said, reprovingly, be a man, Michael. Won't, won't, Michael cried naughtily. Mrs. Darling left the room to get a chocolate for him,

Starting point is 00:41:22 and Mr. Darling thought this showed want of firmness. Mother, don't pamper him, he called after her. Michael, when I was your age, I took medicine without a murmur, I said. Thank you, kind parents, for giving me bottles to make me well. You really thought this was true. and Wendy, who was now in her nightgown, believed it also, as she said to encourage Michael, that medicine you sometimes take, father, is much nastier, isn't it?

Starting point is 00:41:56 Ever so much nastier, Mr Darling said bravely. I would take it now as an example to you, Michael, if I hadn't lost the bottle. He had not exactly lost it. He had climbed in the dead of night to the top of the wardrobe, and hidden it there. What he did not know was that the faithful Liza

Starting point is 00:42:16 had found it and put it back on his washstand. I know where it is father, Wendy cried. Always glad to be of service. I'll bring it. As she went off

Starting point is 00:42:28 before he could stop her. Immediately his spirit sank in the strangest way. John, he said shuddering, it's most beastly stuff. It's that nasty, sticky. sweet kind. It will soon be over, Father, John said cheerily,

Starting point is 00:42:47 and then in rushed Wendy with the medicine in glass. I've been as quick as I could, she panted. You have been wonderfully quick, her father retorted, with a vindictive politeness that was quite thrown away upon her. Michael first, he said doggedly. Father first, said Michael, who was of a suspicious nature. I shall be sick, you know, Mr. darling said threateningly.

Starting point is 00:43:15 Come on, father, said John. Hold your tongue, John, his father wrapped out. Wendy was quite puzzled. I thought you took it quite easily, father. That is not the point he retorted. The point is that there is more in my glass than in Michael's spoon. His proud heart was a lady bursting, and it isn't fair, I would say, though, it were, with my last breath.

Starting point is 00:43:41 It isn't fair. Father, I am waiting, said Michael coldly. It is all very well to say you are waiting, so am I waiting? Fathers are cowardly custard. So are you a cowardly custard. I'm not frightened. Neither am I frightened. Well then take it.

Starting point is 00:44:03 Well then you take it. Wendy had a splendid idea. Why not both take it at the same time? Certainly, said Mr. Darling, are you ready, Michael? Wendy gave the words one, two, three, and Michael took his medicine, but Mr. Darling slipped his behind his back. There was a yell of rage from Michael, and, oh father, Wendy exclaimed. What do you mean by, oh father, Mr. Darling demanded? Stop that round, Michael. I meant to take mine, but I, I missed it.

Starting point is 00:44:43 It was dreadful the way all three were looking at him, just if they did not admire him. Look here all of you, he said, entreatingly. As soon as Nana has gone to the bathroom, I have just thought of a splendid joke. I shall pour my medicine into Nana's bowl, and she would drink it, thinking it is milk. It was the colour of milk, but the children did not have their father's sense of humour. and they looked at him reproachfully as he pulled the medicine into Nana's bowl. What fun, he said doubtfully, and they did not dare expose him when Mrs. Darling and Nana returned.

Starting point is 00:45:28 Nana, good dog, he said, patting her. I've put a little milk into your bowl, Nana. Nana wapped her tail, ran to the medicine and began lapping it. Then she gave Mr. Darling such a look. Not an angry look. She showed him the great red tear that makes her so sorry for noble dogs and crept into her kennel.

Starting point is 00:45:53 Mr. Darling was frightfully ashamed of himself, but he would not give in. In a horrid silence, Mrs. Darling smelt the bowl. Oh, George, she said, It's your medicine. It was only a joke you ruled. While she comforted her boys

Starting point is 00:46:12 and Wendy Hugged Nana. Much good, he said bitterly. My wearing myself to the bone, trying to be funny in this house. And still Wendy Huggedana. That's right, he shouted. Cuddle her. Nobody coddles me.

Starting point is 00:46:30 Oh dear, no. I am only the breadwinner. Why should I be coddled? Why, why, why? George, Mrs. Darling and treated him. Not so loud. the servants will hear you. Somehow they had got into the way

Starting point is 00:46:46 of calling Liza the servants. Let them, he answered recklessly. Bring in the whole world, but I refuse to allow that dog to lord it in my nursery for an hour longer. The children wept and Nana ran into him beseechingly

Starting point is 00:47:05 but he waved her back. He felt he was a strong man. in vain in vain he cried the proper place for you is in the yard and there you go to be tied up this instant george george mrs darling whispered remember what i told you about the boy alas he would not listen he was determined to show who was the master in that house and when commands would not draw nana from the kennel he lured her out with honeyed words and seizing her roughly, dragged her up from the nursery, he was ashamed of himself, and yet he did it. It was all owing to his too affectionate nature which crave for admiration. When he tied her back up in the yard, the wretched father went and sat in the passage with his knuckles to his eyes.

Starting point is 00:48:04 In the meantime, Mrs. Darling had put the children to bed, in unwontent silence and lit their nightlights. They could hear Nana barking and John whimpered. It is because he is chaining her up in the yard. But Wendy was wiser. That is not Nana's an happy bark, she said, little guessing what it was about to happen. That is her bark when she smells danger.

Starting point is 00:48:36 Danger. Are you sure, Wendy? Oh yes Mrs Darling quivered and went to the window It was securely fastened She looked out and the night was peppered with stars They were crowding round the house As if curious to see

Starting point is 00:48:56 What was to take place there But she did not notice this Nor that one or two of the smaller ones winked at her Yet a nameless fear clutched at her heart and made her cry, Oh, I wish that I wasn't going to a party. Even Michael already half asleep, knew that she was perturbed,

Starting point is 00:49:20 and he asked, Can anything harm his mother after the nightlights are lit? Nothing precious, she said. There are the eyes and mother leaves behind to guard her children. She went from bed to bed, singing enchantments over them and little Michael flung his arms around her

Starting point is 00:49:42 mother he cried I'm glad of you they were the last word she was to hear from him for a long time number 27 was only a few yards distant but there had been a slight fall of snow

Starting point is 00:49:59 and mother and father darling picked their way over it deftly not to soil their shoes They were already the only persons in the street And all the stars were watching them Stars are beautiful But they may not take an active part in anything

Starting point is 00:50:18 They may just look On forever It is a punishment Put on them But something they did not so long ago Then no star Now knows what it was So the older ones have become

Starting point is 00:50:34 Glassy-eyed and seldom spit speak. Winking is the star language, but the little ones still wonder, they are not really friendly to Peter, who had a mischievous way of stealing up behind them and trying to blow them out, but they are so fond of fun that they were on his side tonight, and anxious to get grown-ups out of the way. Soon as the door of 27 closed on Mr and Mrs Darling there was a commotion in the firmament and the smallest of all the stars in the Milky Way screamed out now Peter

Guided Sleep Meditation & Sleep Hypnosis from Sleep Cove - Sleep Story - Peter Pan

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