nk was the first thing
he did? Sitting on the rail at the foot of the bed, he played a
beautiful lullaby to his mother on his pipe. He had made it up himself
out of the way she said 'Peter,' and he never stopped playing until she
looked happy.

He thought this so clever of him that he could scarcely resist wakening
her to hear her say, 'O Peter, how exquisitely you play!' However, as
she now seemed comfortable, he again cast looks at the window. You
must not think that he meditated flying away and never coming back. He
had quite decided to be his mother's boy, but hesitated about beginning
to-night. It was the second wish which troubled him. He no longer
meant to make it a wish to be a bird, but not to ask for a second wish
seemed wasteful, and, of course, he could not ask for it without
returning to the fairies. Also, if he put off asking for his wish too
long it might go bad. He asked himself if he had not been hard-hearted
to fly away without saying good-bye to Solomon. 'I should like awfully
to sail in my boat just once more,' he said wistfully to his sleeping
mother. He quite argued with her as if she could hear him. 'It would
be so splendid to tell the birds of this adventure,' he said coaxingly.
'I promise to come back,' he said solemnly, and meant it, too.

[Illustration: Butter is got from the roots of old trees (missing from
book)]

And in the end, you know, he flew away. Twice he came back from the
window, wanting to kiss his mother, but he feared the delight of it
might waken her, so at last he played her a lovely kiss on his pipe,
and then he flew back to the Gardens.

Many nights, and even months, passed before he asked the fairies for
his second wish; and I am not sure that I quite know why he delayed so
long. One reason was that he had so many good-byes to say, not only to
his particular friends, but to a hundred favourite spots. Then he had
his last sail, and his very last sail, and his last sail of all, and so
on. Again, a number of farewell feasts were given in his honour; and
another comfortable reason was that, after all, there was no hurry, for
his mother would never weary of waiting for him. This last reason
displeased old Solomon, for it was an encouragement to the birds to
procrastinate. Solomon had several excellent mottoes for keeping them
at their work, such as 'Never put off laying to-day because you can lay
to-morrow,' and 'In this world there are no second chances,'