Welcome to Sleep Stories with Steph,
Your go-to podcast that offers you a calm and relaxing transition into a great night's sleep.
It is time to relax and fully let go.
There is nothing you need to be doing now,
And nowhere you need to go.
Close your eyes and feel yourself sink into the support beneath you and let all the worries of the day drift away.
This is your time and your space.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and let it out with a long sigh.
There is nothing you need to be doing now,
And nowhere you need to go.
Happy listening.
Chapter 4 continued.
They had been flying apart but they huddled close to Peter now.
His careless manner had gone at last.
His eyes were sparkling and a tingle went through them every time they touched his body.
They were now over the fearsome island flying so low that sometimes a tree grazed their feet.
Nothing horrid was visible in the air,
Yet their progress had become slow and laboured,
Exactly as if they were pushing their way through hostile forces.
Sometimes they hung in the air until Peter had beaten on it with his fists.
They don't want us to land,
He explained.
Who are they?
Wendy whispered shuddering,
But he could not or would not say.
Tinkerbell had been asleep on Peter's shoulder,
But now he had wakened her up and sent her on in front.
Sometimes he poised himself in the air,
Listening intently with his hand to his ear,
And then he would stare down with his eyes so bright they seemed to bore two holes to earth.
Having done these things,
He went on again.
His courage now was almost appalling.
Do you want an adventure?
He asked casually to John,
Or would you like to have your tea first?
Tea first,
Said Wendy quickly,
And Michael pressed her hand in gratitude,
But the braver John hesitated.
What kind of adventure?
He said cautiously.
There's a pirate asleep in the pampas just down beneath us,
Peter told him.
If you like,
We'll go down and kill him.
I don't see him,
John said after a long pause.
I do.
Suppose,
John said a little huskily,
He were to wake up.
Peter spoke indignantly.
You don't think I'd kill him when he was sleeping,
Do you?
I'd wake him up first and then kill him.
That's the way I always do it.
I say,
Do you kill many?
Tons.
How ripping,
Said John,
Before deciding to have tea first.
Who is the captain?
Captain Hook,
Answered Peter.
His face became very stern as he said that.
Just Captain Hook?
Aye.
Then Michael began to cry and even John could speak in gulps only for they knew Captain Hook's reputation.
He was in Blackbeard's bosom,
John whispered.
He's the worst of them all.
He's the only man of whom Barbecue was afraid.
That's him,
Said Peter.
What's he like?
Is he big?
He's not so big as he was.
I cut a bit off him.
You?
Yes,
Me,
Said Peter sharply.
I wasn't meaning to be disrespectful.
All right,
Then.
What bit was it?
His right hand.
Oh,
So he can't fight now,
Then?
Can't he just?
He has an iron hook instead of a right hand and he claws with it.
Claws?
I say,
John,
Said Peter.
There is one thing,
Peter continued.
Every boy who serves under me has to promise and so must you.
If we meet Hook in an open fight,
You're going to have to leave him to me.
I promise,
John said loyally.
For the moment they were feeling less eerie because Tink was flying with them and in her light they could distinguish one another.
Unfortunately,
Though,
She could not fly as slowly as they and she had to go round and round in a circle in which they moved as in a halo.
Wendy quite liked it until Peter pointed out the drawback.
She tells me the pirates sighted us before the darkness came and they got long Tom out.
The big gun?
Yes,
That's it.
They must have seen her light.
If they guess we're near,
They'll be sure to let fly.
Tell Tink to go away at once,
Peter,
The three cried simultaneously,
But he refused.
She thinks we've lost the way,
He replied,
And she is rather frightened.
You don't think I'd send her away all by herself,
Do you?
For a moment,
The circle of light was broken and something gave Peter a loving little pinch.
Tell her to put out her light,
Wendy begged.
She can't put it out,
Said Peter.
That's about the only thing fairies can't do.
It just goes out of itself when she falls asleep,
The same as the stars.
Then tell her to sleep at once,
John almost ordered.
She can't sleep except when she's sleepy is the only other thing fairies can't do.
Seems to me,
Well,
John,
These are the only two things worth doing.
Here he got a pinch,
But not a loving one.
If only one of us had a pocket,
Peter said,
We could carry her in that.
However,
They'd all set off in such a hurry,
There was not a pocket between them.
But Peter had an idea,
John's hat.
Presently,
Wendy took the hat because John said it struck against his knee as he flew.
And this,
As we shall see,
Led to mischief.
For Tinkerbell hated to be under an obligation to Wendy.
They flew on in complete silence.
It was the stillest silence they had ever known.
To Michael,
The loneliness was dreadful.
Only something would make a sound,
He cried.
And as if in answer to his request,
The air was rent by the most tremendous crash they had ever heard.
The pirates had fired long Tom at them.
The roar of it echoed through the mountains and the echoes seemed to cry savagely.
Thus sharply did the terrified three learn the difference between an island of make-believe and the same island come true.
When at last the heavens were steady again,
John and Michael found themselves alone in the darkness.
John was treading the air mechanically and Michael,
Without knowing how to float,
Was floating.
Are you shot?
John whispered.
I haven't tried yet,
Michael whispered back.
But it would have been well for Wendy if at that moment she hadn't dropped the hat.
I don't know whether the idea came suddenly to Tink or whether she planned it on the way,
But she at once popped out of the hat and began to lure Wendy to her destruction.
Tinkerbell was not all bad.
Or rather,
She was all bad just now.
But on the other hand,
Sometimes she was all good.
Fairies have to be one thing or the other.
Sometimes she was all good.
And then,
When she was allowed to change,
It had to be a complete change.
At present she was full of jealousy.
What she said in her lovely tinkle,
Wendy could not of course understand.
Some of it,
I believe,
Was bad words.
But it sounded kind to Wendy.
As she flew back and forth,
Plainly meaning,
Follow me and all will be well.
And what else could poor Wendy do?
She called to Peter and John and Michael,
But only got mocking echoes in reply.
Wendy did not yet know that Tinkerbell hated her with a fierce hatred of a very woman.
And so bewildered,
And now staggering in her flight,
Wendy followed Tinkerbell to her doom.
