Story Transcript: docs, pub
Youtube videos HERE, HERE and HERE (This is a compilation of 3 previous worksheets--HERE, HERE and HERE)
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (1911)
Video Part 1: https://youtu.be/lsq2zjMgubY
Video Part 2: https://youtu.be/dmvR-7hqn5c
Video Part 3: https://youtu.be/-AngllUZVV8
Mr. Darling--the father
Mrs. Darling--the mother
Nana--the Nursemaid
Wendy--the oldest child
John--the middle child
Michael--the youngest child
Liza--the servant
Chapter 1 Questions:
1. Who is Nana?
2. What was Nana's job?
3. Where did Nana sleep?
4. How did Mr. Darling feel about Nana? What did he worry about?
From Chapter 1
Mrs. Darling loved to have everything arranged in just a certain way, and Mr. Darling had a passion for being exactly like his neighbors; so, of course, they had a nurse [in this case, a nurse, or nursemaid, refers to someone who looks after the children when the parents are busy]. As they were poor, because of the huge amount of milk the children drank, this nurse was a prim Newfoundland dog, called Nana, who had belonged to no one in particular until the Darlings hired her.
Nana had always thought children were important, however, and the Darlings had become acquainted with her in Kensington Gardens, where she spent most of her spare time peeping into baby carriages, and was much hated by careless nursemaids, whom Nana actually followed to their homes and complained of to their mistresses. She proved to be quite a treasure of a nurse. She was very thorough at bath-time, and she would jump up at any moment of the night if one of the children made the slightest cry. Of course her kennel [a small bed for dogs] was in the nursery [a place where the children sleep].
Nana had a genius for knowing when a cough is a thing not to worry about and when a cough means the child needs a warm scarf around his throat. She believed strongly in old-fashioned cures like rhubarb-leaves, and she made sounds of contempt over all this new talk about germs, and so on. It was a lesson in propriety to see her taking the children to school, walking calmly by their side when they were well behaved, and butting them back into line if they strayed. On John's football days she never once forgot his sweater, and she usually carried an umbrella in her mouth in case of rain. There is a room in the basement of Miss Fulsom's school where the nurses wait. They sat on chairs, while Nana lay on the floor, but that was the only difference. The other nurses pretended to ignore Nana as someone of an inferior social status to themselves, and she despised their light talk. She resented visits to the nursery from Mrs. Darling's friends, but if they did come she first whipped off Michael's pinafore [an apron] and put him into the shirt with blue braiding, and smoothed out Wendy and made a dash at John's hair.
No nursery could possibly have been conducted more correctly, and Mr. Darling knew it, yet he sometimes wondered uneasily whether the neighbors talked.
He had his position in the city to consider.
Nana also troubled him in another way. He had sometimes a feeling that she did not admire him. "I know she admires you tremendously, George," Mrs. Darling would assure him, and then she would sign to the children to be especially nice to father.
From Chapter 2
[Summary of the previous chapter: One night, Mrs. Darling, on Nana’s night off, sat with the children as they slept. Drowsing, she was awakened by a slight draft from the window, and, looking around, she saw a strange boy in the room. She screamed, and Nana, who had just returned home, lunged for the intruder, but the boy leapt out the window, leaving only his shadow behind. He had been accompanied also by a ball of light, but it too had escaped. Mrs. Darling rolled up the boy’s shadow and put it in a drawer, thinking that the boy would come back for it sometime soon and thus may be caught. When Mr. Darling was told of the incident he considered the whole thing very silly, and refused to be concerned.]
The scene: Mr. Darling and Mrs. Darling are getting ready to go out for the night to an office dinner party (a dinner party held by Mr. Darling's office). Meanwhile, Nana is busy preparing the three children for bed.
It had begun so uneventfully, so precisely like a hundred other evenings, with Nana putting on the water for Michael's bath and carrying him to it on her back.
"I won't go to bed," he shouted, like one who still believed that he had the last word on the subject, "I won't, I won't. Nana, it isn't six o'clock yet. Oh dear, oh dear, I shan't love you any more, Nana. I tell you I won't be bathed, I won't, I won't!"
Then Mrs. Darling came in, wearing her white evening-gown. She had dressed early because Wendy so loved to see her in her evening-gown, with the necklace George had given her. She was wearing Wendy's bracelet on her arm; she had asked for the loan of it. Wendy loved to lend her bracelet to her mother.
Mrs Darling had found her two older children playing at being herself and father on the occasion of Wendy's birth, and John was saying:
"I am happy to inform you, Mrs. Darling, that you are now a mother," in just such a tone as Mr. Darling himself may have used on the real occasion.
Wendy had danced with joy, just as the real Mrs. Darling must have done.
Then John was born, with the extra pomp that he imagined due to the birth of a male, and Michael came from his bath to ask to be born also, but John said brutally that they did not want any more children.
Michael had nearly cried. "Nobody wants me," he said, and of course Mrs. Darling could not stand that.
"I do," she said, "I do so want a third child."
"Boy or girl?" asked Michael, not too hopefully.
"Boy."
Then he leapt into her arms.
It was then that Mr. Darling rushed in like a tornado.
Perhaps there was some excuse for him. He, too, had been dressing for the party, and all had gone well with him until he came to his tie. It is an astounding thing to have to tell, but this man, though he knew about stocks and shares, had no real mastery of his tie. Sometimes the thing yielded to him without a contest, but there were occasions when it would have been better for the house if he had swallowed his pride and used a clip-on tie.
This was such an occasion. He came rushing into the nursery with the crumpled little brute of a tie in his hand.
"Why, what is the matter, father dear?"
"Matter!" he yelled; he really yelled. "This tie, it will not tie." He became dangerously sarcastic. "Not round my neck! Round the bed-post! Oh yes, twenty times have I made it up round the bed-post, but round my neck, no! Oh dear no! begs to be excused!"
He thought Mrs. Darling was not sufficiently impressed, and he went on sternly, "I warn you of this, mother, that unless this tie is round my neck we don't go out to dinner tonight, and if I don't go out to dinner tonight, I never go to the office again, and if I don't go to the office again, you and I starve, and our children will be flung into the streets."
Even after this, Mrs. Darling was still calm. "Let me try, dear," she said, and indeed that was what he had come to ask her to do, and with her nice cool hands she tied his tie for him, while the children stood around to see their fate decided. Some men would have resented her being able to do it so easily, but Mr. Darling had far too fine a nature for that; he thanked her carelessly, at once forgot his rage, and in another moment was dancing round the room with Michael on his back.
The dance ended with the appearance of Nana, and most unluckily Mr. Darling collided against her, covering his pants with dog hairs. They were not only new pants, but they were the first pants Mr. Darling had ever had with braid on them, and he had to bite his lip to prevent the tears coming. Of course Mrs. Darling brushed the hair off of his pants for him, but he still began to talk again about it being a mistake to have a dog for a nurse.
"George, Nana is a treasure," said Mrs. Darling.
"No doubt, but I have an uneasy feeling at times that she thinks the children are puppies.
"Oh no, dear one, I feel sure she knows they have souls."
"I wonder," Mr. Darling said thoughtfully, "I wonder."
They were still discussing it when Nana came in with Michael's medicine.
Strong man though Mr. Darling was, there is no doubt that he always behaved rather foolishly over the medicine. If he had a weakness, it was for thinking that all his life he had taken medicine boldly, and so now, when Michael dodged the spoon in Nana's mouth, he said reprovingly, "Be a man, Michael."
"Won't; won't!" Michael cried naughtily. Mrs. Darling left the room to get a chocolate for Michael, but Mr. Darling thought that this was not being strict enough.
"Mother, don't pamper him," he called after her. "Michael, when I was your age I took medicine without a murmur. I said, `Thank you, kind parents, for giving me bottles to make me well.'"
He really thought this was true, and Wendy, who was now in her night-gown, believed it also, and she said, to encourage Michael, "That medicine you sometimes take, father, is much nastier than Michael's medicine, isn't it?"
"Ever so much nastier," Mr. Darling said bravely, "and I would take it now as an example to you, Michael, if I hadn't lost the bottle."
He had not exactly lost it. He had climbed in the dead of night to the top of the wardrobe and hidden it there. What he did not know was that the faithful Liza had found it, and had put it back on his wash-stand.
"I know where it is, father," Wendy cried, always glad to be of service. "I'll bring it," and she was off before he could stop her. Immediately Mr. Darling's spirits sank in the strangest way.
"John," he whispered, shuddering, "it's most beastly stuff. It's that nasty, sticky, sweet kind."
"It will soon be over, father," John said cheerily, and then in rushed Wendy with the medicine in a glass.
"I have been as quick as I could," she panted.
"You have been wonderfully quick," her father retorted, with a nasty politeness that Wendy didn't even notice. "Michael first," Mr. Darling said doggedly.
"Father first," said Michael, who was of a suspicious nature.
"I shall be sick, you know," Mr. Darling said threateningly.
"Come on, father," said John.
"Hold your tongue, John," his father yelled.
Wendy was quite confused. "I thought you took your medicine quite easily, father."
"That is not the point," he retorted. "The point is, that there is more in my glass than in Michael's spoon." His proud heart was nearly bursting. "And it isn't fair: I would say it though it were with my last breath; it isn't fair."
"Father, I am waiting," said Michael coldly.
"It's all very well to say you are waiting; so am I waiting."
"Father's a cowardly custard."
"So are you a cowardly custard."
"I'm not frightened."
"Neither am I frightened."
"Well, then, take it."
"Well, then, you take it."
Wendy had a splendid idea. "Why not both take it at the same time?"
"Certainly," said Mr. Darling. "Are you ready, Michael?"
Wendy gave the words, one, two, three, and Michael took his medicine, but Mr. Darling slipped his behind his back.
Once Michael realized what his father had done, he yelled with rage.
"O father!" Wendy exclaimed, in a scolding voice.
"What do you mean by `O father'?" Mr. Darling demanded. "Stop that noise, Michael. I meant to take my medicine, but I--I missed it."
Mr Darling thought it was dreadful the way all the three were looking at him, just as if they did not admire him. "Look here, all of you," he said entreatingly, as soon as Nana had gone into the bathroom. "I have just thought of a splendid joke. I shall pour my medicine into Nana's bowl, and she will drink it, thinking it is milk!"
It was the color of milk; but the children did not have their father's sense of humor, and they looked at him reproachfully as he poured the medicine into Nana's bowl. "What fun!" he said doubtfully, and they did not dare expose him when Mrs. Darling and Nana returned.
"Nana, good dog," he said, patting her, "I have put a little milk into your bowl, Nana."
Nana wagged her tail, ran to the medicine, and began lapping it. Then she gave Mr. Darling such a look, not an angry look: she showed him the great red tear that makes us so sorry for noble dogs, and crept into her kennel.
Mr. Darling was frightfully ashamed of himself, but he would not give in. In a horrid silence Mrs. Darling smelt the bowl. "O George," she said, "it's your medicine!"
"It was only a joke," he roared, while she comforted her boys, and Wendy hugged Nana. "Much good," he said bitterly, "my wearing myself to the bone trying to be funny in this house."
And still Wendy hugged Nana. "That's right," he shouted. "Coddle her! Nobody coddles me. Oh dear no! I am only the breadwinner, why should I be coddled--why, why, why!"
"George," Mrs. Darling entreated him, "not so loud; the servants will hear you." Somehow they had got into the habit of calling Liza "the servants", even though Liza was only one person.
"Let them!" he answered recklessly. "Bring in the whole world. But I refuse to allow that dog to lord it in my nursery for an hour longer."
The children wept, and Nana ran to him beseechingly, but he waved her back. He felt he was a strong man again. "In vain, in vain," he cried; "the proper place for you is the yard, and there you go to be tied up this instant."
"George, George," Mrs. Darling whispered, "remember what I told you about that boy?"
Answers for Chapter 1:
1. Who is Nana?
A dog
2. What was Nana's job?
The nursemaid--she looked after the children
3. Where did Nana sleep?
In the nursery with the children
4. How did Mr. Darling feel about Nana? What did he worry about?
He felt uneasy about Nana. He worried that the neighbors were talking. He also worried that Nana did not admire him.
Vocabulary: Match the underlined words with the definitions on the next page.
1. Then John was born, with the extra pomp that he imagined due to the birth of a male,
2. . It is an astounding thing to have to tell, but this man, though he knew about stocks and shares, had no real mastery of his tie.
3. He became dangerously sarcastic.
4. you and I starve, and our children will be flung into the streets
5. while the children stood around to see their fate decided
6. Mr. Darling collided against her, covering his pants with dog hairs
7. "George, Nana is a treasure," said Mrs. Darling.
8. "Oh no, dear one, I feel sure she knows they have souls."
9. he said reprovingly, "Be a man, Michael."
10. "Mother, don't pamper him,"
11. Michael, when I was your age I took medicine without a murmur.
12. "Father first," said Michael, who was of a suspicious nature.
13. they looked at him reproachfully
14. they did not dare expose him
15. That's right," he shouted. "Coddle her! Nobody coddles me
16. I am only the breadwinner
17. "not so loud; the servants will hear you."
18. But I refuse to allow that dog to lord it in my nursery for an hour longer.
19. Nana ran to him beseechingly
20. "In vain, in vain," he cried
Definitions:
______________unsuccessful or useless; of no value
______________splendid and colourful ceremony, especially traditional ceremony on public occasions
______________what happens to a particular person or thing, especially something final or negative, such as death or defeat
______________to become very weak or die because there is not enough food to eat
______________one of the equal parts into which the ownership of a company is divided and which can be bought by members of the public
______________a person who is employed in another person's house, doing jobs such as cooking and cleaning, especially in the past
______________to be brave enough to do something difficult or dangerous
______________the member of a family who earns the money that the family needs
______________to make public something bad or dishonest
______________to protect someone or something too much
______________a manner of doing something in which you are asking or begging someone for something
______________to behave as if you are better than someone and have the right to tell them what to do
______________feeling doubt or no trust in someone or something
______________a manner of doing something which expresses criticism
______________to complain about something that you disagree with or dislike, but not in a public way
______________to treat a person or an animal in a special way by making them as comfortable as possible and giving them whatever they want
______________the use of remarks which clearly mean the opposite of what they say, and which are made in order to hurt someone's feelings or to criticize something in a humorous way
______________in a manner that lets someone know that you disapprove of their bad or silly behaviour
______________the spiritual part of a person which some people believe continues to exist in some form after their body has died, or the part of a person which is not physical and experiences deep feelings and emotions. In the Christian religion, humans are believed to have this, but not animals.
______________someone who is very helpful and valuable to you
______________to throw something or someone suddenly and with a lot of force
______________to hit something violently
Definitions: Answers
vain unsuccessful or useless; of no value
pomp splendid and colourful ceremony, especially traditional ceremony on public occasions
fate what happens to a particular person or thing, especially something final or negative, such as death or defeat
starve to become very weak or die because there is not enough food to eat
stocks and shares one of the equal parts into which the ownership of a company is divided and which can be bought by members of the public
servant a person who is employed in another person's house, doing jobs such as cooking and cleaning, especially in the past
dare to be brave enough to do something difficult or dangerous
breadwinner the member of a family who earns the money that the family needs
expose to make public something bad or dishonest
coddle to protect someone or something too much
beseechingly a manner of doing something in which you are asking or begging someone for something
lord to behave as if you are better than someone and have the right to tell them what to do
suspicious feeling doubt or no trust in someone or something
reproachfully a manner of doing something which expresses criticism
murmur to complain about something that you disagree with or dislike, but not in a public way
pamper to treat a person or an animal in a special way by making them as comfortable as possible and giving them whatever they want
sarcastic the use of remarks which clearly mean the opposite of what they say, and which are made in order to hurt someone's feelings or to criticize something in a humorous way
reprovingly in a manner that lets someone know that you disapprove of their bad or silly behavior
soul the spiritual part of a person which some people believe continues to exist in some form after their body has died, or the part of a person which is not physical and experiences deep feelings and emotions. In the Christian religion, humans are believed to have this, but not animals.
treasure someone who is very helpful and valuable to you
fling to throw something or someone suddenly and with a lot of force
collide to hit something violently
Vocabulary:
Kennel
(a place for dogs to sleep)
Cab. A cab is a form of public transportation . People pay the cab to take them where they want to go. Nowadays, cabs look like this.
But, back in 1911, cabs looks like this:
![[HansomCab.jpg]](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/513KpI9OuNn_iGW6DSz5aYnU8_DGTEPBUKJ7VKYS29BxdqnO38-QuzoO9iAMaJ4IzdVz1KYZOQAmhHKosWwpj6zcXYwxXWj9Jpze8vJyB-FbDcok5dYKsSoFIivhiWLpJixw_Nlo=s0)
Selections from Peter Pan
From Chapter Two
[Summary of the story: After Mr. Darling ties Nana outside in the yard, he and Mrs. Darling go out to their office party, leaving the three children alone in the nursery. While Mr. and Mrs. Darling were away, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell came in and visited the nursery. The three children flew away to Never-Never Land to go and live with Peter Pan and have adventures with him. But Mr. Darling and Mrs. Darling were devastated when they returned home and found that their beloved children were gone.]
Mr. and Mrs. Darling never quite got over the loss of their children. For weeks afterwards, they used to talk about that night, and all the things they did wrong.
"I ought to have been specially careful on a Friday," Mrs. Darling used to say afterwards to her husband, while perhaps Nana was on the other side of her, holding Mrs. Darling's hand with her paw.
"No, no," Mr. Darling always said, "I am responsible for it all. I, George Darling, did it. MEA CULPA, MEA CULPA." Mea culpa means "my fault" in the ancient Latin language. Mr. Darling, being a well-respected man, had had a classical education.
They sat in this same way night after night recalling that fatal Friday, till every detail of it was stamped on their brains and they could remember it backwards and forwards.
"If only we had not accepted that invitation to the dinner party," Mrs. Darling said.
"If only I had not poured my medicine into Nana's bowl," said Mr. Darling.
Nana was a dog. She couldn't talk. But she looked at Mr. and Mrs. Darling, and her eyes seemed to send a message. "If only I had pretended to like the medicine," was what Nana's wet eyes said.
"My liking for parties, George."
"My fatal gift of humour, dearest."
"My touchiness about trifles, dear master and mistress."
Then one or more of them would break down into tears altogether. Nana would always cry when she thought, "It's true, it's true, they ought not to have had a dog for a nurse." And when Nana cried, many a time it was Mr. Darling who put the handkerchief to Nana's eyes.
From Chapter Sixteen
[Summary of the story: It has now been many weeks that the children have been gone. They have had many adventures with Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, and fought many pirates in Never Never Land. But their parents are still miserable at home.]
The children had been away for many weeks, but the house was more or less exactly as they had left it all those nights ago. The only change to be seen in the night-nursery is that between nine and six the kennel was no longer there. When the children had flown away, Mr. Darling had felt in his bones that all the blame was his for having chained Nana up, and that from first to last Nana had been wiser than he. Of course, as we have seen, he was quite a simple man, but he had also a noble sense of justice and a lion's courage to do what seemed right to him. If the dog had been smarter than he was, then his punishment would be to trade places with the dog. And having thought the matter out with anxious care, he went down on all fours and crawled into the kennel.
Mrs. Darling tried many times to convince him to come out, but in response to all Mrs. Darling's dear invitations to him to come out he replied sadly but firmly: "No, dear one, this is the place for me."
In the bitterness of his remorse he swore that he would never leave the kennel until his children came back. Of course this was a pity; but whatever Mr. Darling did, he had to do in excess, otherwise he soon gave up doing it. And although Mr. Darling had once been very proud, now he was the most humble man ever as he sat in the kennel, and every evening talked with his wife about their children and all their children's pretty ways.
Very touching was Mr. Darling's deference to Nana. He now obeyed Nana in everything, and always followed her wishes. The one exception was the kennel. Mr. Darling refused to allow Nana to come back into the kennel, which he said was now his own home.
Every morning the kennel was carried, with Mr. Darling in it, to a cab, which brought him to his office, and he returned home in the same way at six. If we remember how sensitive Mr. Darling used to be to the opinion of his neighbours, we can see how much of a sacrifice this was for him, and marvel at his new strength of character. In the past, Mr. Darling would have been horrified if he knew the neighbours were talking about him. But now that he lived in a kennel, his every movement attracted surprised attention. Inwardly he must have suffered torture; but he preserved a calm exterior even when the young criticised his little home, and he always lifted his hat courteously to any lady who looked inside the kennel
It may have been misguided, but it was magnificent. At first everyone laughed at the man in the kennel, but then a strange thing happened. The story of the Darling family became known to the public. People learned that he was living in the kennel because he was punishing himself for his children's disappearance. And once the inward meaning of the kennel leaked out, the great heart of the public was touched. Crowds began following Mr. Darling's cab, cheering it lustily. Beautiful young girls climbed into Mr. Darling's cab to get his autograph. Stories about Mr. Darling began appearing in the high class newspapers. Everyone was eager for an interview with Mr. Darling, and he was at once a hero of high class society. Mr. Darling soon began being invited to the finest society dinner parties, and the invitations added, "Do come in the kennel."
One Thursday afternoon, Mrs. Darling was in the night-nursery awaiting George's return home. She was now a very sad-eyed woman. The gaiety of her old days was all gone now because she has lost her children. There was no one else in the room but Nana.
Nana and Mrs. Darling were sitting together, Nana's paw on Mrs. Darling's hand, when the kennel was brought back. Mr. Darling puts his head out of the kennel to kiss his wife. His face is older than before, but it now has a softer expression.
Mr.Darling gave his hat to Liza, who took it scornfully. Liza was a woman with no imagination, and she was completely incapable of understanding the motives of Mr. Darling. Outside, the crowd, who had accompanied the cab home, were still cheering, and Mr. Darling was naturally not unmoved.
"Listen to them," he said; "it is very gratifying."
"It's a lot of little boys," sneered Liza.
"That's not true. There were several adults today," Mr. Darling assured her with a faint blush; but when Liza tossed her head in disgust he had not a word of reproof for her. Social success had not spoilt him; it had made him sweeter. For some time he sat with his head out of the kennel, talking with Mrs. Darling of the great crowds who had cheered him on. She said he hoped his head would not be turned by all of this attention he was getting from society, and he pressed her hand reassuringly.
"No of course not," he assured her. "I'll never let it go to my head. I'm much too strong for that. Of course it would be different if I had been a weak man. Good heavens, if I had been a weak man, just think what all of this attention could do to me!"
"And, George," she said timidly, "you are as full of remorse as ever, aren't you?"
"Full of remorse as ever, dearest! See my punishment: living in a kennel."
"But it is punishment, isn't it, George? You are sure you are not enjoying it?"
"My love!" he exclaimed. "How could you say such a thing?"
She begged his pardon at once; and then, feeling drowsy, he curled round in the kennel.
"Won't you play me to sleep," he asked, "on the nursery piano?" and as she was crossing to the day-nursery he added thoughtlessly, "And shut that window. I feel a cold wind."
"O George, never ask me to do that. The window must always be left open for them, always, always."
Now it was his turn to beg her pardon; and she went into the day-nursery and played, and soon he was asleep; and while he slept, Wendy and John and Michael flew into the room, returning at last from all their adventures in Never-Never Land
Wendy and John and Michael found the window open for them, which of course was more than they deserved. They landed on the floor. Perhaps they should have felt ashamed for all the worry they had caused their parents, but actually they were quite unashamed of themselves. They were, after all, only children, and were naturally careless and thoughtless as all children are.
They had been away for so long that they had almost forgotten their home. And in fact the youngest one, Michael, actually had already forgotten.
"John," he said, looking around him doubtfully, "I think I have been here before."
"Of course you have, you silly. There is your old bed."
"So it is," Michael said, but not with much conviction.
"I say," cried John, "the kennel!" and he dashed across to look into it.
"Perhaps Nana is inside it," Wendy said.
But John whistled. "Hullo," he said, "there's a man inside it."
"It's father!" exclaimed Wendy.
"Let me see father," Michael begged eagerly, and he took a good look. "He is not so big as the pirate I killed," he said with such frank disappointment that I am glad Mr. Darling was asleep; it would have been sad if those had been the first words he heard his little Michael say.
Wendy and John had been taken aback somewhat at finding their father in the kennel.
"Surely," said John, like one who had lost faith in his memory, "he didn't use to sleep in the kennel, did he??"
"John," Wendy said falteringly, "perhaps we don't remember the old life as well as we thought we did."
A chill fell upon them; and serve them right.
"It is very careless of mother," said that young scoundrel John, "not to be here when we come back."
It was then that Mrs. Darling began playing the piano again.
"It's mother!" cried Wendy, peeping.
"So it is!" said John. "Let us creep in," John suggested, "and put our hands over her eyes."
But Wendy, who saw that they must break the joyous news more gently, had a better plan.
"Let us all slip into our beds, and be there when she comes in, just as if we had never been away."
And so when Mrs. Darling went back to the night-nursery to see if her husband was asleep, all the beds were occupied. The children waited for her cry of joy, but it did not come. She saw them, but she did not believe they were there. You see, she saw them in their beds so often in her dreams that she thought this was just the dream hanging around her still.
She sat down in the chair by the fire, where in the old days she had nursed them.
They could not understand this, and a cold fear fell upon all the three of them.
"Mother!" Wendy cried.
"That's Wendy," she said, but still she was sure it was the dream.
"Mother!"
"That's John," she said.
"Mother!" cried Michael. He remembered her now.
"That's Michael," she said, and she stretched out her arms for the three little selfish children they would never hug again. Yes, they did, they went round Wendy and John and Michael, who had slipped out of bed and run to her.
"George, George!" she cried when she could speak; and Mr. Darling woke to share her bliss, and Nana came rushing in. There could not have been a lovelier sight; but there was none to see it except a little boy who was staring in at the window. He had had ecstasies innumerable that other children can never know; but he was looking through the window at the one joy from which he must be forever barred.
Vocabulary: Match the underlined words with the definitions on the next page.
1. Mr. and Mrs. Darling never quite got over the loss of their children
2. They sat in this same way night after night recalling that fatal Friday, till every detail of it was stamped on their brains and they could remember it backwards and forwards.
3. "My fatal gift of humour, dearest."
4, "My touchiness about trifles, dear master and mistress."
5. Mr. Darling had felt in his bones that all the blame was his for having chained
6. In the bitterness of his remorse he swore that he would never leave the kennel until his children came back.
7. Of course this was a pity; but whatever Mr. Darling did, he had to do in excess, otherwise he soon gave up doing it
8. And although Mr. Darling had once been very proud, now he was the most humble man ever as he sat in the kennel
9. Very touching was Mr. Darling's deference to Nana.
10. The one exception was the kennel
11. If we remember how sensitive Mr. Darling used to be to the opinion of his neighbours, we can see how much of a sacrifice this was for him
12. his every movement attracted surprised attention
13. Inwardly he must have suffered torture; but he preserved a calm exterior
14. he always lifted his hat courteously to any lady who looked inside the kennel
15. It may have been misguided, but it was magnificent.
16. And once the inward meaning of the kennel leaked out, the great heart of the public was touched.
17. The gaiety of her old days was all gone now because she has lost her children
18. Mr.Darling gave his hat to Liza, who took it scornfully.
19. she was completely incapable of understanding the motives of Mr. Darling.
20. Outside, the crowd, who had accompanied the cab home, were still cheering
Definitions:
______________________to get better after an illness, or feel better after something or someone has made you unhappy
______________________To know something extremely well
______________________respect and politeness
______________________In a manner that shows a very strong feeling of no respect for someone
______________________something is disappointing or not satisfactory
______________________easily upset by the things people say or do, or causing people to be upset, embarrassed or angry
______________________a reason for doing something
______________________to pull or draw someone or something towards them, by the qualities they have, especially good ones
______________________unreasonable or unsuitable because of being based on bad judgment or on wrong information or beliefs
______________________to allow secret information to become generally known
______________________to go with someone
______________________to believe something strongly although you cannot explain why
______________________when you feel very guilty and sad about something you have done
______________________not proud or not believing that you are important
______________________to keep something as it is, especially in order to prevent it from decaying or being damaged or destroyed
______________________In a polite or respectful manner
______________________the outside part of something or someone
______________________When a man holds onto the top part of his hat, and lifts it off his head slightly. In old times, this was something gentleman did as a sign of respect for people.
______________________easily offended or upset
______________________to give up something that is valuable to you in order to help another person
______________________happiness and excitement
______________________very serious and having an important bad effect in the future
______________________a matter or object of little value or importance
______________________a feeling of anger and unhappiness
______________________an amount which is more than acceptable, expected or reasonable
______________________When something is permanently engraved into your brain.
______________________making you feel sadness, sympathy, etc.
______________________someone or something that is not included in a rule, group or list or that does not behave in the expected way
Definitions Answers
get over to get better after an illness, or feel better after something or someone has made you unhappy
backwards and forwards To know something extremely well
deference respect and politeness
scornfully In a manner that shows a very strong feeling of no respect for someone
pity something is disappointing or not satisfactory
sensitive easily upset by the things people say or do, or causing people to be upset, embarrassed or angry
motive a reason for doing something
attract to pull or draw someone or something towards them, by the qualities they have, especially good ones
misguided unreasonable or unsuitable because of being based on bad judgment or on wrong information or beliefs
leak out to allow secret information to become generally known
accompany to go with someone
feel in your bones to believe something strongly although you cannot explain why
remorse when you feel very guilty and sad about something you have done
humble not proud or not believing that you are important
preserve to keep something as it is, especially in order to prevent it from decaying or being damaged or destroyed
courteously In a polite or respectful manner
exterior the outside part of something or someone
lift his hat When a man holds onto the top part of his hat, and lifts it off his head slightly. In old times, this was something gentleman did as a sign of respect for people.
touchiness easily offended or upset
sacrifice to give up something that is valuable to you in order to help another person
gaiety happiness and excitement
fatal very serious and having an important bad effect in the future
trifle a matter or object of little value or importance
bitterness a feeling of anger and unhappiness
excess an amount which is more than acceptable, expected or reasonable
stamped on their brains When something is permanently engraved into your brain.
touching making you feel sadness, sympathy, etc.
exception someone or something that is not included in a rule, group or list or that does not behave in the expected way
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