J. M. Barrie

Name: The Little White Bird — Chapter 18: Peter's Goat
Author: J. M. Barrie

The Little White Bird — Chapter 18… (1902)

Summary

“The Little White Bird — Chapter 18: Peter's Goat”, published in 1902, is a work by J. M. Barrie. It explores elements such as Maimie, Peter and goat.

Quotes from The Little White Bird — Chapter 18… (J. M. Barrie)

J. M. Barrie, The Little White Bird — Chapter 18… (1902)

“ Though Peter still remembers Maimie he is become as gay as ever, and often in sheer happiness he jumps off his goat and lies kicking merrily on the grass. Oh, he has a joyful time! But he has still a vague memory that he was a human once, and it makes him especially kind to the house-swallows when they revisit the island, for house-swallows are the spirits of little children who have died. They always build in the eaves of the houses where they lived when they were humans, and sometimes they try to fly in at a nursery window, and perhaps that is why Peter loves them best of all the birds. ”

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Source: Wikisource

J. M. Barrie, The Little White Bird — Chapter 18… (1902)

“ Every lawful night (that is to say, every night except ball nights) the fairies now build the little house lest there should be a human child lost in the Gardens, and Peter rides the marshes looking for lost ones, and if he finds them he carries them on his goat to the little house, and when they wake up they are in it and when they step out they see it. The fairies build the house merely because it is so pretty, but Peter rides round in memory of Maimie and because he still loves to do just as he believes real boys would do. ”

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Source: Wikisource

J. M. Barrie, The Little White Bird — Chapter 18… (1902)

“ But she often talked lovingly of Peter and she knitted a kettle- holder for him, and one day when she was wondering what Easter present he would like, her mother made a suggestion.
"Nothing," she said thoughtfully, "would be so useful to him as a goat."
"He could ride on it," cried Maimie, "and play on his pipe at the same time!"
"Then," her mother asked, "won't you give him your goat, the one you frighten Tony with at night?"
"But it isn't a real goat," Maimie said.
"It seems very real to Tony," replied her mother. ”

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Source: Wikisource

J. M. Barrie, The Little White Bird — Chapter 18… (1902)

“ She said, out of pity for him, "I shall give you a kiss if you like," but though he once knew he had long forgotten what kisses are, and he replied, "Thank you," and held out his hand, thinking she had offered to put something into it. This was a great shock to her, but she felt she could not explain without shaming him, so with charming delicacy she gave Peter a thimble which happened to be in her pocket, and pretended that it was a kiss. ”

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Source: Wikisource

J. M. Barrie, The Little White Bird — Chapter 18… (1902)

“ If the bad ones among the fairies happen to be out that night they will certainly mischief you, and even though they are not, you may perish of cold and dark before Peter Pan comes round. He has been too late several times, and when he sees he is too late he runs back to the Thrush's Nest for his paddle, of which Maimie had told him the true use, and he digs a grave for the child and erects a little tombstone and carves the poor thing's initials on it. ”

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Source: Wikisource

J. M. Barrie, The Little White Bird — Chapter 18… (1902)

“ She was somewhat indignant at this.
"They are always thinking of their nests," he said apologetically, "and there are some bits of you"—he stroked the fur on her pelisse—"that would excite them very much." ”

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Source: Wikisource

J. M. Barrie, The Little White Bird — Chapter 18… (1902)

“ Well, it all happened just as she hoped, for Peter found the letter, and of course nothing could be easier for the fairies than to turn the goat into a real one, and so that is how Peter got the goat on which he now rides round the Gardens every night playing sublimely on his pipe. And Maimie kept her promise and never frightened Tony with a goat again, though I have heard that she created another animal. Until she was quite a big girl she continued to leave presents for Peter in the Gardens (with letters explaining how humans play with them) , and she is not the only one who has done this. ”

J. M. Barrie

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Quotes from The Little White Bird — Chapter 18… (J. M. Barrie)

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