8 Peter Pan - Read By Stephanie Poppins

Peter Pan, written by J.M. Barrie, is a classic children's novel first published in the early 20th century. The story revolves around the beloved character Peter Pan and follows his adventures in the fantastical Neverland, along with a young girl named Wendy Darling and her brothers, John and Michael.

In this episode, we learn all about the inhabitants of Neverland.

Transcript

Welcome to Sleep Stories with Steph,

Your go-to podcast that offers you a calm and relaxing transition into a great night's sleep.

It is time to relax and fully let go.

There is nothing you need to be doing now,

And nowhere you need to go.

Close your eyes and feel yourself sink into the support beneath you and let all the worries of the day drift away.

This is your time and your space.

Take a deep breath in through your nose and let it out with a long sigh.

There is nothing you need to be doing now,

And nowhere you need to go.

Happy listening.

Chapter 5.

The Island Come True Feeling that Peter was on his way back,

The island had again woken to life.

We ought to use the pluperfect and say wakened,

But woke is better and was always used by Peter.

In his absence things are usually quiet on the island.

The fairies take an hour longer in the morning.

The beasts attend to their young.

The redskins feed heavily for six days and nights.

And when pirates and lost boys meet,

They merely bite their thumbs at each other.

But with the coming of Peter,

Who hates lethargy,

They are now under their way again.

If you put your ear to the ground now,

You would hear the whole island seething with life.

On this evening,

The chief forces of the island were disposed as follows.

The lost boys were out looking for Peter.

The pirates were out looking for the lost boys.

The redskins were out looking for the pirates.

And the beasts were out looking for the redskins.

They were all going round and around and around the island.

But they did not meet because they were all going at the same rate.

All wanted blood,

Except the boys,

Who liked it as a rule,

But tonight were out to greet their captain.

The boys on the island vary,

Of course,

In numbers,

According to as they get killed and so on.

And when they seem to be growing up,

Which is against the rules,

Peter thins them out.

But at this time there were six of them,

Counting the twins as two.

Let us pretend to lie here among the sugarcane and watch them as they steal in by single file,

Each with his hand on his dagger.

They are forbidden by Peter to look in the least like him and they wear the skins of bears slain by themselves,

In which they are so round and furry that when they fall they roll.

They have,

Therefore,

Become very sure-footed.

The first to pass is Tootles,

Not the least brave,

But the most unfortunate of that gallant band.

He'd been in fewer adventures than any of them because the big things constantly happened just when he'd stepped round the corner.

Or would be quiet.

He would take the opportunity of going off to gather a few sticks for firewood.

And then when he returned the others would be sweeping up the blood.

This ill luck had given a gentle melancholy to his countenance.

But instead of souring,

His nature had sweetened it so that he was quite the humblest of the boys.

Poor kind Tootles,

There is danger in the air for you tonight.

Take care lest an adventure is now offered you which,

If accepted,

Will plunge you into deepest woe.

Tootles,

The fairy tink who is bent on mischief,

Is looking for a tool and she thinks you are too the most easily tricked of the boys.

Beware Tinkerbell.

Would that he could hear us,

But we're not really on the island and he passes by biting his knuckles.

Next comes Nibs,

The gay and debonair,

Followed by Slightly who cuts whistles out of the trees and dances ecstatically to his own tunes.

Slightly is the most conceited of the boys.

He thinks he remembers the days before he was lost with their manners and customs and this has given his nose an offensive tilt.

Curly is fourth.

He is a pickle and so often he's had to deliver up his person when Peter said sternly,

Stand forth the one who did this thing,

So that now he stands forth automatically whether he's done it or not.

Last come the twins,

Who cannot be described because we should be sure to be describing the wrong one.

Peter never quite knew what twins were and his band were not allowed to know anything he did not know,

So these two were always vague about themselves and did their best to give satisfaction by keeping close together in a apologetic sort of a way.

As we watch the boys vanish in the gloom,

And after a pause,

But not a long pause because things go briskly on the island,

Come the pirates on their track.

We hear them before they seem and it's always the same dreadful song.

A vast belay,

A ho he too,

A pirate in we go,

And if we're parted by a shot we're sure to meet below.

A more villainous looking lot never hung in a row on execution dock.

Here is the handsome Italian,

Cecco.

He cut his name in letters of blood on the back of the governor of the prison.

That gigantic man behind him has had many names since he dropped the one.

And there is Bill Dukes,

Every inch of him tattooed.

And Cookson,

Said to be Black Murphy's brother.

And Gentleman Starkey,

Once an usher in a public school and still dainty in his ways of killing.

And Skylights.

And the Irish,

Bosun Smee.

Then Noodler,

Whose hands were fixed on backwards,

And Robert Mullins,

And Alf Mason,

And many other ruffian long known and feared on the Spanish Main.

In the midst of them all,

The blackest and largest in that dark setting,

Reclined Captain Hook.

Hook lay at ease in a rough chariot drawn and propelled by his men.

And instead of a right hand,

He had the iron hook,

Which ever and anon he encouraged them to increase their pace.

As dogs,

This terrible man,

Hook,

Treated them.

And as dogs they obeyed.

In person he was cadaverous and blackavised.

And his hair was dressed in long curls.

Which,

At a little distance,

Looked like black candles and gave him a singularly threatening expression to his handsome countenance.

His eyes were of the blue of the forget-me-not and a profound melancholy,

Save when he was plunging his hook into you.

At which time two red spots appeared in them and lit them up horribly.

In manner,

Something of the grand seigneur still clung to him,

So that he even ripped you up with an air.

And I've been told he was a raconteur of repute.

He was never more sinister than when he was most polite,

Which is probably the truest test of breeding.

And the elegance of his diction,

Even when he was swearing,

No less than the distinction of his demeanour,

Showed him one of a different cast from his crew.

Hook is a man of indomitable courage.

The only thing he shies away at is the sight of his own blood,

Which is thick and of an unusual colour.

In dress he somewhat apes the attire associated with the name of Charles II,

Having heard it said in some earlier period of his career that he bore a strange resemblance to the ill-fated Stuarts.

And in his mouth he had a holder of his own contrivance,

Which enabled him to smoke two cigars at once.

But undoubtedly the grimmest part of Captain Hook was his iron claw.

Such is the terrible man against whom Peter Pan is pitied.

So which will win?

On the trail of the pirates,

Stealing noiselessly down the warpath,

Which is not visible to inexperienced eyes,

Come the Redskins.

Every one of them has his eyes peeled.

They carry tomahawks and knives,

And their naked bodies gleam with paint and oil.

Strung about them are scalps of boys as well as pirates,

For these are the Picaninny tribe,

And not to be confused with the soft-hearted Delawares or the Hurons.

In the van on all fours is Great Big Little Panther,

A brave of so many scalps that in his present position they somewhat impede his progress.

Bringing up the rear,

The place of greatest danger,

Comes Tiger Lily,

Proudly erect a princess in her own right.

She is the most beautiful of dusky Dianas and the belle of the Picaninnies.

Coquettish,

Cold and amorous by turns,

There is not a brave who would not have the wayward thing to wife.

But she staves off the altar with a hatchet.

Observe how they pass over fallen twigs without making the slightest noise.

The only sound to be heard is their somewhat heavy breathing.

The fact is they were all a little fat just now after the heavy gorging,

But in time they'll work this off.

For the moment,

However,

It constitutes their chief danger.

When they have passed,

Here comes the last figure of all,

A giant crocodile.

The crocodile passes,

But soon the boys appear again,

For the procession must continue indefinitely until one of the parties stops or changes its pace.

Then quickly they will all be on top of each other.

The first of all out of the moving circle was the boys.

They flung themselves down on the swat close to their underground home.

I do wish Peter would come back,

Every one of them said.

Then they talked of Cinderella,

And Tootles was confident his mother might have been very like her.

They only talked of their mothers in Peter's absence,

For the subject was being forbidden by him as silly.

All I remember about my mother,

Nibs said,

Is she often said to father,

How I wish I had a checkbook of my own.

I don't know what a checkbook is,

But I should love to give my mother one.

Then while they talked,

They heard a distant sound.

It was a grim song,

The pirate song.

So dart away to their home,

They must.

Reviews

Hi Steph, Doing g a great job ŵ all of your stories, dear. Enjoyed every one. Thankyou warmly. 🪷😃🤗😘🐈‍⬛🐆