Everyone knows the story of Peter Pan. The pirates, the pixie dust, the never growing up. I love the drama too, but I love the story of Peter before the play. J.M. Barrie's "Peter in Kensington Gardens" (1906) is a short work about how the part bird, part boy came to be and his adventures living "in the wild" of the famous London gardens. It's sweet and heartbreaking (and you can find it for free here and here).
A taste:
"The window was wide open, just as he knew it would be, and he fluttered, and there was his mother lying asleep. Peter alighted softly on the wooden rail at the foot of the bed and had a good look at her. She lay with her head on her hand, and the hollow in the pillow was like a nest lined with her brown wavy hair. He remembered, though he had long forgotten it, that she always gave her hair a holiday at night. How sweet the frills of her nightgown were! He was very glad she was such a pretty mother."
all images by photograper Jan von Holleben
Yea! I love the first story, too. It has a lot of the same gut-wrenching heartbreaks as the more well-known tale with Wendy and Hook, but the issues are presented differently. :)
ReplyDeleteYou might also want to check out THIS Pan story, it's different from the rest - just click my name. ;)
BELIEVE!