All this happened before, it will happen again. It could happen anywhere, but this time it happened in London, to a girl Named Wendy Darling and her brothers, John and Michel.

Wendy had a shadow, which she kept in a drawer in the nursery. It wasn’t her shadow,

though. It belonged to a boy named Peter Pan.

Peter had left it at Wendy’s house, the way you might leave a sock, except that instead of a sock, it was a shadow. This was one of the things that made Peter a different kind of boy. Another was that he could fly. Also, he has a fairy friend named Tinker Bell.

One night, Peter and Tinker Bell returned to Wendy’s house to get the shadow back. Wendy sewed it onto Peter. He was so pleased that he invited the Darlings to fly with him to Never Land. But there was a problem. Even though they were very bright children, Wendy, John and Michael did not know how to fly.

“Just think of something wonderful,” Peter said.

So Wendy thought of a mermaid lagoon, John thought of a pirate cave and little Michael thought about being a brave Indian warrior. And off they flew.

They flew across the sea to Never Land, which was a beautiful island and quite different from London. It didn’t have teachers or nannies. It did have everything the children had dreamed of – Mermaids, Indians and Pirates.

But they soon discovered that having pirates around is not always such a good thing…The leader of the pirates was a particularly nasty man known as Captain Hook. He was called that because he had a hook in place of one of his hands. His first mate was a man known as Smee. He was called that because he looked like a Smee.

Hook hated Peter Pan. This was because Peter had cut off Hook’s hand in a sword fight. Peter had no choice: Hook was trying to kill him at the time. But that didn’t matter to Hook. He was always trying to figure out how to get even.

So when Hook and the pirates saw Peter and the Darlings flying over Never Land, they fired cannonballs straight at them. Peter told Tink to take Wendy and her brothers to Peter’s friends, the Lost Boys. He stayed in the clouds, dodging the cannonballs and being brave and valiant. Peter loved being valiant.

Unfortunately, Tink as a jealous sort of fairy. She did not care of Wendy. So she flew ahead and told the Lost Boys to shoot Wendy down with their slingshots. Being boys, they thought this was a fine idea. Wendy was hit! She began to fall from the sky…

Luckily, Peter caught her just in time. Peter was very angry. He told Tink he wanted nothing to do with her and sent her away.

(Don’t worry – she’ll be back)

The Lost Boys and Peter showed the Darlings their lair. It was a secret underground

hideaway, where the pirates couldn’t find them. It was a very comfortable lair. It was like a fine hotel, except that it was underground, so it had dirt floors. And some worms.

John and Michael, being boys themselves, quickly made friends with the Lost Boys. They decided, for an adventure, to go off in search of Indians.

When they finally arrived the Indians captured them. They thought the boys had kidnapped Tiger Lily, the Indian Chief’s daughter. It turns out Hook had kidnapped her. This was all part of his plan to get back at Peter. The trouble is, the Indians didn’t know that. We told you Hook was nasty.

While the boys were off being captured, Peter took Wendy to visit the mermaids. They were very beautiful, and excellent swimmers. But they were not always nice.

The mermaids were quite fond of Peter. Wendy tried to make friends with them, but they did not like her – perhaps because she didn’t have a tail.

Suddenly, the lagoon grew a particularly nasty shade of dark…

Captain Hook has arrived!

He was rowing Tiger Lily past Skull Rock, which got its name because, well, just LOOK at it.

Peter saw that Tiger Lily was Hook’s prisoner. Being valiant, Peter decided to save her,

which was just as Hook had hoped. From high on a rock, Peter tried to scare Hook by shouting, “Hook!” in a spooky voice. But Hook, besides being nasty, was clever. He followed the voice and found Peter.

He drew his sword.

Hook and Peter duelled. Their swords clanged as they moved back and forth. But Peter was too fast for Hook. Hook lunged, missed and fell. Dangling from a rock, he lost his pants! Only one thing could have made Hook’s situation worse, and that was the crocodile waiting below. You see, this crocodile had eaten Hook’s hand before and thought it was quite tasty.

Now it was circling in the water, hoping for a Hookburger.

Somehow, Hook managed to escape. When he returned to his ship, Smee told him about Peter’s argument with Tinker Bell. Hook ordered Smee to bring the fairy to the ship. He had a plan. Needless to say, it was a nasty plan.

Back at the Indian Village, the chief thanked Peter for saving Tiger Lily. The Indians danced a special “Thank you, Peter Pan, for saving Tiger Lily” dance.

Hook tricked Tinker into telling him where Peter lived. Then he trapped her in a lantern. Next, Hook and the pirates sneaked up on the boys’ lair in their sneaky pirate manner. They captured Wendy and the boys and took them to the pirate ship.

When Peter returned to the hideaway, it was empty. But somebody had left a package for him, with a note telling him not to open it until six o’clock.

On the pirate ship, Hook told Wendy that the package he’d left for Peter contained a bomb. At six o’clock, it would explode and kill Peter! (Hook was REALLY nasty).But Tink overheard Hook. She escaped from the lantern and flew off to warn Peter.

Tink arrived at the laid just as Peter was opening the package. Tink fought him for it, telling him it was a bomb. At the last moment, Peter tossed the bomb away, but it blew up. It was a huge explosion that sounded like BOOM!!! But with much bigger letters. When it was over, Tink was missing.

Peter searched everywhere, desperate to find Tink. Finally he did – but her light was dim and growing dimmer. Tink was dying. Peter was very sad. He told Tink how much he loved her. That was wheat Tink had been waiting to hear. Suddenly, her light shone brightly. She was well again!

Peter and Tink flew to the ship to fight the pirates. It was a big, terrific fight with swords and sails and pirates and, at one point, a very unhappy crab.

The Lost Boys and Wendy and John and Michael, all of whom were valiant, fought too.

Peter and Hook duelled high up in the rigging. Somehow Peter managed to tie Hook in the pirate flag. Peter had won. Hook admitted defeat and promised to leave Never Land forever. But pirates lie. And Hook was a pirate.

When Peter turned his back, Hook tried to stab him, which was totally against the rules. But once again, Peter was faster and of course more valiant. Before you could say “Splash”, Hook was over the side of the ship, swimming for his life with a hungry crocodile right behind him.

Peter was now the captain of the pirate ship and that meant he could make the ship fly. Back to London they went, through the clouds and over the sea.

Wendy and her brothers returned to their home. It did not have pirates or mermaids, but it did have comfortable beds. And no worms.

On a nearby rooftop stood a flying boy, dreaming of adventures yet to come. And come they would. Because as we told you in the beginning, this story has happened before and it will happen again.

THE END