off the table, and so on, but after a bit they are not so
well-behaved and stick their fingers into the butter, which is got from
the roots of old trees, and the really horrid ones crawl over the
tablecloth chasing sugar or other delicacies with their tongues. When
the Queen sees them doing this she signs to the servants to wash up and
put away, and then everybody adjourns to the dance, the Queen walking
in front while the Lord Chamberlain walks behind her, carrying two
little pots, one of which contains the juice of wallflower and the
other the juice of Solomon's seals. Wallflower juice is good for
reviving dancers who fall to the ground in a fit, and Solomon's seals
juice is for bruises. They bruise very easily, and when Peter plays
faster and faster they foot it till they fall down in fits. For, as
you know without my telling you, Peter Pan is the fairies' orchestra.
He sits in the middle of the ring, and they would never dream of having
a smart dance nowadays without him. 'P. P.' is written on the corner
of the invitation-cards sent out by all really good families. They are
grateful little people, too, and at the princesses coming-of-age ball
(they come of age on their second birthday and have a birthday every
month) they gave him the wish of his heart.

[Illustration: _Peter Pan is the fairies' orchestra._]

The way it was done was this. The Queen ordered him to kneel, and then
said that for playing so beautifully she would give him the wish of his
heart. Then they all gathered round Peter to hear what was the wish of
his heart, but for a long time he hesitated, not being certain what it
was himself.

'If I chose to go back to mother,' he asked at last, 'could you give me
that wish?'

Now this question vexed them, for were he to return to his mother they
should lose his music, so the Queen tilted her nose contemptuously and
said, 'Pooh! ask for a much bigger wish than that.'

'Is that quite a little wish?' he inquired.

'As little as this,' the Queen answered, putting her hands near each
other.

'What size is a big wish?' he asked.

She measured it off on her skirt and it was a very handsome length.

Then Peter reflected and said, 'Well, then, I think I shall have two
little wishes instead of one big one.'

Of course, the fairies had to agree, though his cleverness rather
shocked them, and he said that his first wish was to go to his mother,
but with the right to return to the Gardens if he fou