Peter Pan (adapted), J. M. Barrie
Peter Pan (adapted)
J. M. Barrie
Category: Novels
Genres: Fantasy,Adventure
Level 2.951:17 h33.2 mb
Peter Pan never wants to grow up, and he knows the perfect place for adventure! One night, he takes Wendy and her brothers flying to Neverland, a magical island full of fairies, mermaids, and lost boys. But not everything is fun and games, especially with the dangerous Captain Hook nearby! This is an adapted version of legendary novel, shortened and simplified to A2 level.

Peter Pan

[adapted]

by
J.M. Barrie

Peter Pan (adapted)

Chapter 1.
Peter Comes In

All children grow up, except one. Wendy Darling learned this when she was two years old. One day she picked a flower and brought it to her mother. Mrs. Darling looked at her and cried, “Oh, why can’t you stay like this forever!” From that moment, Wendy knew that one day she must grow up.

Mrs. Darling was a lovely woman, with a warm smile and a special kiss at the corner of her mouth that Wendy could never catch. Many men had wanted to marry her, but Mr. Darling reached her house first. He was a serious man who knew a great deal about money, or at least seemed to.

When Wendy was born, Mr. Darling sat beside his wife and counted the cost of raising a child. “Can we afford it?” he asked. Mrs. Darling was sure they could, but he worried about food and illness. At last he decided that they could keep Wendy. Later came John and then Michael, and there was the same trouble with numbers each time.

The children had a nurse called Nana, who was really a large dog. Nana cared for them wonderfully. She gave them baths, watched over them at night, and walked beside them on their way to school. Mr. Darling sometimes worried that the neighbours might laugh at a dog working as a nurse. He also feared that Nana did not admire him. But the family was happy, and they often danced together in the evenings. Everything was peaceful until Peter Pan came.

Every night, after her children went to sleep, Mrs. Darling liked to tidy their minds, as if they were little rooms. She put their angry thoughts away and left the happy ones ready for morning. In each child’s mind she found an island called the Neverland. It was full of wonderful adventures. John’s island had a lake with birds flying above it. Wendy had a house made of leaves, and Michael had his own strange ideas. By day the Neverland was a lovely place to play, but in the dark it could seem very real and frightening.

Mrs. Darling often found the name Peter in the children’s thoughts, especially Wendy’s. “Who is he?” she asked.
“He is Peter Pan, Mother,” Wendy replied.

Mrs. Darling remembered hearing about Peter Pan when she was a little girl. People said he lived with the fairies. “But he must be grown up now,” she said.
“Oh no,” Wendy answered. “He is just my size.”

Mr. Darling thought Peter was only one of Nana’s strange stories, but one morning Mrs. Darling found some unusual leaves on the nursery floor, close to the window.

“I think Peter came again,” Wendy said. She explained that he sometimes visited at night, sat at the foot of her bed, and played music on his pipes.
“He cannot come through the window,” Mrs. Darling said. “We are three floors above the street.”

But the leaves were real, and they came from no tree she knew. Mrs. Darling searched the room and found no way for anyone to climb up. She tried to believe Wendy had been dreaming.

The very next night, Nana was away. Mrs. Darling put the children to bed, sang to them, and sat by the fire with her sewing. Soon she fell asleep and dreamed that the Neverland had come close to her home. A strange boy had found a way through, and she saw Wendy, John, and Michael looking through the opening.

While she dreamed, the window suddenly opened. A boy dropped into the room, followed by a small, bright light that moved like a living thing. Mrs. Darling woke and knew at once that the boy was Peter Pan. His clothes were made of dry leaves and something sticky from trees, and he still had all his baby teeth. When he saw that she was grown up, he showed those little white teeth angrily.

Chapter 2.
The Shadow

Mrs. Darling screamed, and Nana rushed into the nursery. She jumped at Peter Pan, but he escaped through the window. Nana shut it quickly, and although she missed the boy, she caught his shadow. Mrs. Darling ran into the street, afraid Peter had fallen, but she could not find him anywhere.

When she returned, Nana was holding the shadow in her mouth. Nana wanted to hang it outside the window so Peter could come back for it. But Mrs. Darling thought it looked too much like washing. Instead, she rolled it up and put it in a drawer, planning to show it to her husband later.

A week passed. Then came a Friday that Mr. and Mrs. Darling would never forget. Later, they often sat in the empty nursery, wishing they had done things differently. But that evening had begun like any other.

Nana was preparing Michael for his bath, and he was shouting, “I won’t go to bed!” Mrs. Darling came in wearing her beautiful white evening dress. Wendy and John were playing at being their parents when Wendy was born. Michael wanted to join the game as another baby, but John said they did not want any more children.

“Nobody wants me,” Michael said sadly.
“I do,” Mrs. Darling answered, opening her arms. “I want another child. A boy!” Michael happily jumped into her arms.

Just then Mr. Darling came rushing in. He was angry because he could not tie his necktie. “If I cannot tie this, we cannot go to dinner!” he cried. Mrs. Darling calmly tied it for him, and soon the family was laughing and dancing together.

But then Mr. Darling bumped into Nana, and her hair covered his new trousers. He began complaining about having a dog for a nurse. Mrs. Darling told him about Peter Pan and showed him the shadow. He looked at it with interest, but before they could talk any more, Nana brought Michael his medicine.

“Be brave, Michael,” said Mr. Darling. “I always took my medicine when I was young.”

Wendy remembered that her father had medicine too. He had hidden the bottle, but it had been found, and Wendy quickly brought it to him. Mr. Darling looked unhappy.
“Mine tastes much worse,” he complained.

“Why don’t you both take it at the same time?” Wendy suggested.
She counted to three. Michael swallowed his medicine, but Mr. Darling hid his glass behind his back. The children stared at him.

To make them laugh, he poured his medicine into Nana’s bowl. “She will think it is milk!” he said.
Nana drank it, then looked at him sadly and went into her little house. Mrs. Darling smelled the bowl. “George! That is your medicine!”

Mr. Darling felt ashamed, but he became angry instead. “Everyone cares about Nana, but nobody cares about me!” he shouted. He took Nana out of the nursery and tied her up in the yard. Mrs. Darling reminded him about Peter Pan, but he would not listen.

Soon the children were in bed. Outside, Nana barked again and again.
“She is unhappy,” John whispered.
“No,” said Wendy. “That is the sound she makes when there is danger.”

Mrs. Darling went to the window. It was closed, but she felt afraid. Michael asked, “Can anything hurt us when the night-lights are on?”
“Nothing, dear,” she answered. “They are a mother’s eyes, watching over her children.”
She sang to them once more, and Michael hugged her. “Mother, I’m glad of you,” he said.

Then Mr. and Mrs. Darling left for a dinner party at number 27. The stars watched them walk through the quiet street. The little stars loved fun, and when the door closed behind the parents, the smallest star cried, “Now, Peter!”

Chapter 3.
Come Away, Come Away!

After Mr. and Mrs. Darling left the house, the three night-lights went out. But another light was moving quickly around the nursery. It came from a tiny fairy named Tinker Bell, who wore a dress made from a leaf. She was searching the drawers for Peter’s shadow. Then the window opened, and Peter Pan flew in, with fairy dust still on his hands.

Tinker Bell made a sound like little bells. This was how fairies spoke. She told Peter that his shadow was in a drawer. Peter found it, but he forgot that he had shut Tinker Bell inside. He tried to put his shadow back on, but it would not stay. He even tried using soap. At last he sat on the floor and cried.

His crying woke Wendy. She sat up and saw a strange boy on the floor.
“Why are you crying?” she asked kindly.

Peter stood up and bowed. They told each other their names, and Wendy asked where he lived.
“Second to the right,” said Peter, “and then straight on till morning.”
“What a funny address!” Wendy said.

She asked about his mother, but Peter told her he had no mother.
“Oh, Peter, is that why you are crying?”
“No! I am crying because my shadow won’t stay on.”

Wendy looked at the shadow and smiled. “You must sew it on,” she said. She took out her sewing things and carefully sewed the shadow to Peter’s foot.
Peter jumped about happily. “How clever I am!” he cried.

Wendy was hurt because he had forgotten her help. She returned to bed and covered her face. Peter tried to make her happy again.
“Wendy, one girl is more useful than twenty boys,” he said.

Wendy smiled and offered him a kiss, but Peter did not know what a kiss was. To avoid making him feel foolish, she gave him a small metal sewing cap called a thimble. Peter gave her an acorn button in return, believing that it was a kiss. Wendy put it on a chain around her neck. One day, that little button would save her life.

Then Wendy asked how old he was.
“I don’t know,” Peter replied. “I ran away the day I was born. I heard my parents talking about what I would become when I grew up. But I never want to grow up. I want to be a little boy and have fun forever.”

He told her that he had lived among the fairies in Kensington Gardens. Wendy was delighted and asked him many questions.
“When the first baby laughed,” Peter explained, “the laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they became fairies.”
He also told her that every time a child said, “I don’t believe in fairies,” a fairy died somewhere.

Suddenly Peter remembered Tinker Bell. He heard her angry little voice coming from the drawer and let her out. Wendy was excited to see a real fairy, but Tinker Bell did not like her.
“She says you are an ugly girl,” Peter explained, “and that she is my fairy.”

Tinker Bell flew away angrily. Peter explained that she was called Tinker Bell because she repaired pots and kettles.

Wendy asked where Peter lived now.
“With the lost boys,” he replied. “They fell out of their baby carriages, and nobody came to find them. They live in the Neverland now, and I am their captain.”

Peter told Wendy that the lost boys had no girls to look after them. He also explained why he came to her window at night. He wanted to hear the stories her mother told. He especially loved the story about the girl who lost her glass slipper.
“That is Cinderella!” Wendy cried. “The prince found her, and they lived happily ever after.”

Peter was delighted and wanted to tell the lost boys. Wendy begged him to stay because she knew many more stories.
“Then come with me!” Peter said. “You can tell stories to the boys and help us at home.”

Wendy hesitated. She could not leave her mother, and besides, she could not fly.
“I’ll teach you,” Peter promised. He told her about flying among the stars, beautiful mermaids, and wonderful adventures. He also said she could put the boys to bed at night and sew pockets into their clothes.

At last Wendy agreed, but only if John and Michael could come too. She woke her brothers and told them Peter would teach them to fly.

Suddenly they heard someone coming. The children and Peter hid behind the curtains as Liza entered with Nana. Nana knew something was wrong, but Liza saw the empty-looking beds in the darkness and believed the children were sleeping. She took Nana away and tied her up again.

Nana continued barking until she broke her chain and ran to the dinner party. Mr. and Mrs. Darling understood that their children were in danger and hurried home.

Meanwhile, Peter showed the children how to fly. He moved easily through the air, and they tried to follow him, but they kept falling.
“Think lovely, wonderful thoughts,” Peter told them.

Still they could not fly. Then Peter remembered the fairy dust on his hands. He blew some over each child and told them to move their shoulders.

Michael flew first, followed by John and Wendy. Soon all three were flying around the nursery, laughing with joy.

“Why shouldn’t we go outside?” John cried.
Wendy was still unsure, but Peter reminded her of the mermaids. When he mentioned pirates, John was ready to leave at once.