Peter Pan

The play and its novelisation differ in some details of the story, but have much in common. In both versions, Peter Pan makes night-time calls on the Darlings' house in Bloomsbury, listening in on Mrs. Mary Darling's bedtime stories by the open window. One night Peter is spotted and, while trying to escape, he loses his shadow. On returning to claim it, Peter accidentally wakes Mary's daughter, Wendy. She succeeds in re-attaching his shadow to him using thread and needle, and Peter learns that she knows many bedtime stories. He invites her to Neverland to be a mother to his gang, the Lost Boys, children who were lost when they fell out of their prams. Wendy agrees, and her younger brothers John and Michael go along.

After their magical flight to Neverland, the children are blown out of the air by a pirate cannon. Wendy is nearly shot and killed by the Lost Boy Tootles because Peter's fairy companion, Tinker Bell, is jealous of her and tricks him into thinking that she is a bird. The only reason that Wendy is spared is because she is protected by an acorn pendant she wears around her neck given to Wendy by Peter in exchange for a "kiss" (actually a thimble) she gave him. Peter and the Lost Boys build a little house for Wendy to live in while she recuperates. Soon John and Michael adopt the ways of the Lost Boys and all three of the Darling siblings begin to forget their parents and home.

Peter welcomes Wendy to his underground home, and she assumes the role of mother figure. Peter takes the Darlings on several adventures. At Mermaids' Lagoon, Peter and the Lost Boys save the Redskin Chief's daughter, Tiger Lily, from Marooner's Rock and become involved in a battle with the pirates, including Captain Hook, Peter's nemesis. He is named after the hook that replaced his right hand that Peter cut off in a fight. From thereon, Hook has been hunted by the crocodile which ate his hand after it fell into the water and now wants to eat the rest of him.

The crocodile also swallowed a ticking clock, so Hook is wary of all ticking sounds. Peter is wounded when Hook claws him. He believes he will die, as the tide rises and Marooner's Rock will become submerged. However, "the Neverbird", a nearby mother bird, allows him to use her nest as a boat and Peter sails home.

In gratitude for Peter saving Tiger Lily, her tribe guards his home from the next imminent pirate attack. Meanwhile, Wendy begins to fall in love with Peter and asks him what kind of feelings he has for her. Peter says that he has "those of a devoted son", disappointing Wendy. One day, while telling stories to the Lost Boys and her brothers, Wendy recalls her parents and decides to return to England. Unbeknownst to Peter, Wendy and the boys are captured by Captain Hook, who massacres the Redskins and poisons Peter's "medicine" while the boy is asleep.

When Peter awakes, he learns from Tinker Bell that Wendy has been kidnapped – in an effort to please Wendy, he goes to drink his medicine. Peter does not believe Tink about the poison (as he is confident the pirate could not have entered their secret lair without him noticing), so instead she drinks it herself, causing her near death. Tink says that she could be saved if children believed in fairies. In the play, Peter turns to the audience and begs those who believe in fairies to clap their hands. In the novel, Peter speaks to all the children currently asleep and dreaming of the Neverland.

En route to the ship, Peter encounters the crocodile, which is silent and Peter concludes the clock must have run down; Peter decides to copy the creature's tick, so any animals will recognise it and leave him unharmed. He does not realise that he is still mimicking the ticking as he boards the ship, where Hook and his crew cower, mistaking him for the crocodile. While the pirates search for the creature, Peter sneaks into the cabin to steal the keys and frees the Lost Boys. When the pirates investigate a noise in the cabin, Peter defeats them.

When Peter reveals himself, he and Hook begin to battle, and Peter easily wins. He kicks Hook into the jaws of the waiting crocodile, and Hook dies with the satisfaction that Peter literally kicked him off the ship, which Hook considers "bad form". Peter takes control of the ship, and sails the seas back to London.

Before Wendy and her brothers arrive at their house, Peter flies ahead, to try and bar the window so Wendy will think her mother forgot her. However, after learning of Mrs. Darling's distress, he bitterly leaves the window open and flies away. The Darlings reunite with their parents. Wendy then presents all the lost boys to her parents, who decide to adopt them. Peter returns briefly, and meets Mrs. Darling. She offers to adopt Peter as well, but Peter refuses, afraid they will "catch him and make him a man." It is hinted that Mary knew Peter when she was a girl; she always has a kiss in the corner of her mouth no one can reach, but Peter takes it with him as he leaves.

Peter promises to return for Wendy and take her to Neverland for a week every spring. The play's final scene takes place a year later when Wendy is preparing to return there, after the spring cleaning has taken place. Tinker Bell has died during this year since fairies are short-lived creatures. However, Peter has already forgotten about Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys and even Hook when Wendy returns, and he does not understand Wendy's wistful wish that she could take him back with her.

Epilogue

Four years after the premiere of the original production of Peter Pan, Barrie wrote an additional scene entitled When Wendy Grew Up, An Afterthought, later included in the final chapter of Peter and Wendy, and later still published as a separate work in 1957.

In this scene, Peter returns for Wendy years later, but she is now grown up with a daughter of her own named Jane. It is also revealed that Wendy married a Lost Boy, although this is not mentioned in the novel, and it is never revealed which one she did marry. When Peter learns that Wendy "betrayed" him by growing up, he is heartbroken until Jane agrees to come to Neverland as Peter's new mother. In the novel it is mentioned that when Jane grows up, Peter takes her daughter Margaret to Neverland. This cycle will go on forever as long as children are "gay and innocent and heartless".