Peter Pan - The Never Bird

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Chapter nine of Peter Pan. This is a LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
by Becky Miller. Peter Pan by J. M. Barry, Chapter nine,

(00:26):
The Never Bird. The last sound Peter heard before he
was quite alone, were the mermaids retiring one by one
to their bed chambers under the sea. He was too
far away to hear their doors shut, but every door
in the coral caves where they live rings a tiny
bell when it opens or closes, as in all the

(00:47):
nicest houses on the mainland, and he heard the bells steadily.
The waters rose till they were nibbling at his feet,
and to pass the time until they made their final gulp,
he watched the only thing on the life lagoon. He
thought it was a piece of floating paper, perhaps part
of the kite, and wondered idly how long it would
take to drift ashore. Presently, he noticed, as an odd

(01:11):
thing that it was undoubtedly out upon the lagoon with
some definite purpose, for it was fighting the tide and
sometimes winning, and when it won. Peter, always sympathetic to
the weaker side could not help clapping. It was such
a gallant piece of paper. It was not really a

(01:32):
piece of paper. It was the never bird making desperate
efforts to reach Peter on the nest by working her
wings in a way she had learned since the nest
fell into the water. She was able to some extent
to guide her strange craft. But by the time Peter
recognized her, she was very exhausted. She had come to

(01:53):
save him, to give him her nest, though there were
eggs in it. I rather wonder at the for though
he had been nice to her, he had also sometimes
tormented her. I can suppose only that, like Missus Darling
and the rest of them, she was melted because he
had all his first teeth. She called out to him

(02:15):
what she had come for, and he called out to
her what she was doing there. But of course neither
of them understood the other's language. In fanciful stories, people
can talk to the birds freely. And I wish for
the moment I could pretend that this were such a
story and say that Peter replied intelligently to the never bird.

(02:35):
But truth is best, and I want to tell you
only what really happened. Well, not only could they not
understand each other, but they forgot their manners. I want
you to gather into the nest, the bird called, speaking

(02:55):
as slowly and distinctly as possible, and then you can
drift ashore. But I am too tired to bring it
any nearer, so you must try to swim to it.

(03:18):
What are you quacking about? Peter answered, why don't you
let the nest drift as usual? I want you, the
bird said, and repeated it all over. Then Peter tried,
slow and distinct what are you quacking about? And so on?

(03:39):
The never bird became irritated. They have very short tempers,
you dunderheaded little jay, she screamed, why don't you do
as I tell you? Peter felt that she was calling
him names, and at adventure he retorted hotly, so are you. Then,
rather curiously, they both snapped out the same remark, shut up,

(04:02):
shut up. Nevertheless, the bird was determined to save him
if she could, and by one last mighty effort, she
propelled the nest against the rock. Then up she flew,
deserting her eggs so as to make her meaning clear.
Then at last he understood and clutched the nest and

(04:25):
waved his thanks to the bird as she fluttered overhead.
It was not to receive his thanks, however, that she
hung there in the sky. It was not even to
watch him get into the nest. It was to see
what he did with her eggs. There were two large
white eggs, and Peter lifted them up and reflected. The

(04:46):
bird covered her face with her wings so as not
to see the last of them, but she could not
help peeping between the feathers. I forgot whether I have
told you that there was a stave on the rock,
driven into it by so buccaneers of long ago to
mark the sight of buried treasure. The children had discovered
the glittering Horde, and when in a mischievous mood, used

(05:09):
to fling showers of moidores, diamonds, pearls, and pieces of
eight to the gulls, who pounced upon them for food,
and then flew away, raging at the scurvy trick that
had been played upon them. The stave was still there,
and on it Starkey had hung his hat, a deep
tarpaulin watertight with a broad brim. Peter put the eggs

(05:32):
into this hat and set it on the lagoon. It
floated beautifully. The never bird saw at once what he
was up to, and screamed her admiration of him, and
alas Peter crowed his agreement with her. Then he got
into the nest, reared the stave in it as a mast,
and hung up his shirt for a sail. At the

(05:54):
same moment the bird fluttered down upon the hat and
once more sat snugly on her eggs. She drifted in
one direction, and he was borne off in another, both cheering,
of course. When Peter landed, he beached his bark small
ship actually the never bird's nest in this particular case,

(06:16):
in point in a place where the bird would easily
find it. But the hat was such a great success
that she abandoned the nest. It drifted about till it
went to pieces and often. Starkey came to the shore
of the lagoon, and with many bitter feelings, watched the
bird sitting on his hat. As we shall not see

(06:36):
her again, it may be worth mentioning here that all
never birds now build in that shape of nest, with
a broad brim on which the youngsters take an airing.
Great were the rejoicings when Peter reached the home under
the ground almost as soon as Wendy, who had been
carried hither and thither by the kite. Every boy had

(06:58):
adventures to tell, but perhaps the biggest adventure of all
was that they were several hours late for bed. This
so inflated them that they did various dodgy things to
get staying up still longer, such as demanding bandages. But Wendy,
though glorifying and having them all home again safe and sound,

(07:20):
was scandalized by the lateness of the hour, and cried
to bed to bed in a voice that had to
be obeyed. Next day, however, she was awfully tender and
gave out bandages to every one, and they played till
bedtime at limping about and carrying their arms in slings.

(07:41):
End of Chapter nine.