The Shadow

But Wendy had not been dreaming. The very next night Mrs Darling was sewing by the nursery fire, and had almost fallen asleep. The window blew open and a boy dropped in on the floor.

He was dressed all in leaves. strange little light followed him, darting around the room like a living thing. It woke up Mrs Darling, who knew at once that the boy was Peter Pan.

She cried out in alarm. Nana came growling at once, She sprang at the boy, who leaped back through the window. Nana closed it, but not quickly enough to catch Peter. She did get his shadow though. Slam, went the window, and cut it off at the feet.

Nana picked it up in her mouth and took it to Mrs Darling. She rolled it up carefully and put it in a drawer.

The following Friday, Mr and Mrs Darling were invited to an evening party at a house a few doors away. Mr Darling had been very cross with nana. He decided she had to be chained up in the yard outside. Mrs Darling was worried because Nana kept barking.

"That's not her usual bark!" she said. "She only barks like that when there's danger!"

"Nonsense!" said Mr Darling. "Hurry up, or we'll be late for the party."

After the front door closed, the little guardian night lights quietly went out, one after another ...

mysterious bright light suddenly appeared in the nursery, darting into all the drawers and cupboards, and even into a jug on the washstand. When it stayed still for a moment, you could see it was not a light at all, but a fairy, Tinker Bell.

The next moment Peter himself dropped in at the window. [bad word] out of that jug, Tink!" he said. "And show me where my shadow is!"

Tinker Bell told him it was in the chest of drawers. She spoke in a golden tinkle, like a chime of tiny bells.

Peter pulled out his shadow. Then he shut the drawer, forgetting that Tinker Bell was still inside. He sat down on the floor and tried to stick his shadow back on again. He tried water, and then soap, but they did not work. He was in despair, when Wendy woke up.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"My shadow won't stick [bad word] Peter.

"Give it to me. I'll sew it on for you!" said practical Wendy, fetching her work basket.

Peter was so excited to have his shadow back, he forgot to thank her. He jumped up and down, crowing, "What a clever boy I am!"

Wendy was a kind little girl, so she was not offended. She offered him a kiss. Peter had never heard of a kiss, but thought it must be a present, so he held out his hand for it. Wendy gave him her silver thimble instead, and ever after, he called a kiss a "thimble". Which was very confusing!

In return, Peter gave Wendy an acorn button from his coat. She put it on a chain round her neck. Later on it was to save her life!

Wendy found out all about Peter Pan, how he [bad word] away and lived with the fairies in Kensington Gardens, and always stayed the same age. (She noticed that he still had his first teeth.) Now he lived in the Neverland, with the Lost Boys.

The Lost Boys were children who had fallen out of their prams, when their nurses were not looking. Nobody claimed them, so they were sent to the Neverland.

Wendy asked about the fairies.

"Once a baby's laugh broke into a thousand pieces," explained Peter. "Each piece became a fairy. But children nowadays don't believe in them so much. Every time a child says "I don't believe in fairies", a fairy somewhere drops down dead!"

That reminded Peter of Tinker Bell, who was still shut up in the drawer! She flew out in a furious temper, and buzzed round and round the room, so fast that Wendy could not see her. She settled for a moment on the cuckoo clock, and Wendy cried, "Oh! She's lovely!"

But Tink hated Wendy. She was jealous