WENDY (her fingers to her ears, for their chatter and clatter are deafening). Silence! Is your mug empty, Slightly?
SLIGHTLY (who would not say this if he had a mug). Not quite empty, thank you.
NIBS. Mummy, he has not even begun to drink his poe-poe.
SLIGHTLY (seizing his chance, for this is tale-bearing). I complain of Nibs!
(JOHN holds up his hand.)
WENDY. Well, John?
JOHN. May I sit in Peter's chair as he is not here?
WENDY. In your father's chair? Certainly not.
JOHN. He is not really our father. He did not even know how to be a father till I showed him.
(This is insurbordination.)
SECOND TWIN. I complain of John!
(The gentle TOOTLED raises his hand.)
TOOTLES (who has the poorest opinion of himself). I don'tsuppose Michael would let me be baby?
MICHAEL. No, I won't.
TOOTLES. May I be dunce?
FIRST TWIN (from his perch). No. It's awfully difficultto be dunce.
TOOTLES. As I can't be anything important would any of you like to see me do a trick?
OMNES. No.
TOOTLES (subsiding). I hadn't really any hope.
(The tale-telling breaks out again.)
NIBS. Slightly is coughing on the table.
CURLY. The twins began wiih tappa rolls.
SLIGHTLY. I complain of Nibs!
NIBS. I complain of Slightly!
WENDY. Oh dear, I am sure I sometimes think that spinsters are to be envied.
MICHAEL. Wendy, I am too big for a cradle.
WENDY. You are the littlest, and a cradle is such a nice homely thing to have about a house. You others can clear away now. (She sits down on a pumpkin near the fire to her usual evening occupation, darning.) Every heel with a hole in it!
(The boys clear away with dispatch, washing dishes they don't have in a non-existent sink and stowing them ina cupboard that isn't there. Instead of sawing the table-leg to-night they crush it into the ground like a concertina, and are now ready for play, in which they indulge hilariously.
A movement of the Indians draws our attention to the scene above. Hitherto, with the exception of PANTHER, who sits on guard on top of the little house, they have been hunkering in their blankets, mute but picturesque; now all rise and prostrate themselves before the majestic figure of PETER, who approaches through the forest carrying a gun and game bag. It is not exactly a gun. He often wanders away alone with this weapon, and when he comes back you are never absolutely certain whether he has had an adventure or not. He may have forgotten it so completely that he says nothing about it; and then when you go out you find the body. On the other hand he may say a great deal about it, and yet you never find the body. Sometimes he comes home with his face scratched, and tells WENDY, as a thing of no importance, that he got these marks from the little people for cheeking them at a fairy wedding, and she listens politely, but she is never quite sure, you know; indeed theonly one who is sure about anything on the island is PETER.)
PETER. The Great White Father is glad to see the Piccaninny braves protecting his wigwam from the pirates.
TIGER LILY. The Great White Father save me from pirates. Me his velly nice friend now; no let pirates hurt him.
BRAVES. Ugh, ugh, wah!
TIGER LILY. Tiger Lily has spoken.
PANTHER. Loola, loola! Great Big Little Panther has spoken.
PETER. It is well. The Great White Father has spoken.
(This has a note of finality about it, with the implied ,'And now shut up' which is never far from the courteous receptions of well-meaning inferiors by born leaders of men. He descends his tree, not unheard by WENDY.)
WENDY. Children, I hear your father's step. He likes you to meet him at the door. (PETER scatters pretend nuts among them and watches sharply to see that they crunch with relish.) Peter, you just spoil them, you know!
JOHN (who would be incredulous if he dare). Any sport, Peter?
PETER. Two tigers and a pirate.
JOHN (boldly). Where are their heads?
PETER (contracting his little brows.) In the bag.
JOHN. (No, he doesn't say it. He backs away.)
WENDY (peeping into the bag). They are beauties'. (She has learned her lesson.)
FIRST TWIN. Mummy, we all want to dance.
WENDY. The mother of such an armful dance!
SLIGHTLY. As it is Saturday night?
(They have long lost count of the days, but always if they want to do anything special they say this is Saturday night, and then they do it.)
WENDY. Of course it is Saturday night, Peter? (He shrugs an indifferent assent.) On with your nighties first.
(They disappear into various recesses, and PETER and WENDY with her darning are left by the fire to dodder parentally. She emphasises it by humming a verse of 'John Anderson my Jo,' which has not the desired effect on PETER. She is too loving to be ignorant that he is not loving enough, and she hesitates like one who knows the answer to her question.)
What is wrong, Peter?
PETER (scared). It is only pretend, isn't it, that I am their father?
WENDY (drooling). Oh yes.
(His sigh of relief is without consideration for her feelings.)
But they are ours, Peter, yours and mine.
PETER (determined to get at facts, the only things that puzzle him). But not really?
WENDY. Not if you don't wish it.
PETER. I don't.
WENDY (knowing she ought not to 'probe but driven to it by something within.) What are your exact feelings for me, Peter?
PETER (in the class-room). Those of a devoted son,Wendy.
WENDY (turning away). I thought so.
PETER. You are so puzzling. Tiger Lily is just the same; there is something or other she wants to be to me, but she says it is not my mother.
WENDY (with spirit). No, indeed it isn't.
PETER. Then what is it?
WENDY. It isn't for a lady to tell.
(The curtain of the fairy chamber opens slightly, and TINK, who has doubtless been eavesdroping, tinkles a laugh of scorn.)
PETER (badgered). I suppose she means that she wants to be my mother.
(TINK'S comment is 'You silly ass.')
WENDY (who has picked up some of the fairy words). I almost agree with her!
(The arrival of the boys in their nightgowns turns WENDY'S mind to practical matters, for the children have to be arranged in line and passed or not passed for cleanliness. SLIGHTLY is the worst. At last we see how they sleep, for in a babel the great bed which stands on end by day against the wall is unloosed from custody and lowered to the floor. Though