Peter Pan and Tinker Bell

"Tap, tap, tap." Somebody was knocking at the door.

"Who's there?" asked Peter sleepily.

"Tap, tap, tap."

He got up and opened the door. Tinker Bell, tinkling excitedly, flew into the room.

"The Pirates have captured them!" she tinkled, " the Pirates have captured them!" As Peter excitedly snatched up his dagger and sharpened it on the grindstone, he caught sight of Tinker Bell in his glass of medicine. He soon learned the reason when his little fairy told him in a weak voice that it was poisoned, and that she had drunk the poison as the only way to save his life. It was indeed an act of sell-sacrifice; for too well did Tink know how much Peter loved Wendy, and that no warning of hers would prevent him from keeping his promise.

Poor Tinker Bell was dying! She would most certainly have died if Peter, in a frenzy of grief and with tears in his eyes, had not made this passionate appeal to all children: "Do you believe in fairies? If you do, clap your hands and that will save poor Tinker Bell." There were no children there and it was night time, but he addressed all who might be dreaming of the Ncver-Land and who were therefore nearer to him than you think. "Do you believe?" he cried.

As his plea rang round the world, there came an echo of sound as of millions of little hands clapping, as if all the children throughout the world knew suddenly that of course they believed in fairies.

The result was magical. Tinker Bell was saved; her light, which had been getting fainter and fainter, grew brighter and brighter again; the merry sound of tinkling (her way of speaking to Peter) which had almost died away, now grew stronger and stronger. She was once more the bright little fairy that escorted Peter to the Darling nursery, and again under her guidance, Peter set forth to rescue the Boys and Wendy.

He swore this terrible oath: "Hook or me this time!"

This Image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1923 are copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF from the U.S. Copyright Office. Works published before 1923, in this case 1916, are now in the public domain.

This inage however MAY NOT be in the public domain in countries that figure copyright from the date of death of the artist (post mortem auctoris), in this case Alice Bolingbroke Woodward, (1862–1951) , and that most commonly runs for a period of 50 to 70 years from that date. It may be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works. If your use will be outside the United States please check your local law.

TEXT and IMAGE CREDIT: Peter Pan: the boy who would never grow up to be a man Author: James Matthew Barrie. Editor: Frederick Orville Perkins. Publisher: Silver, Burdett & company, 1916. Original from: Harvard University. Digitized: Jul 17, 2008. Length: 79 pages. Subjects: Literary Criticism › Children's Literature, Children, Fairies, Literary Criticism / Children's Literature, Mermaids, Peter Pan (Fictitious character), Pirates, Social Science / Children's Studies.