07.1-CHAPTER 7 THE HOME UNDER THE GROUND part1-kv

CHAPTER 7 THE HOME UNDER THE GROUND  part1

One of the first things Peter did nextday was to measure Wendy and John and Michael for hollow trees. Hook, youremember, had sneered at the boys for thinking they needed a tree apiece, butthis was ignorance, for unless your tree fitted you it was difficult to go upand down, and no two of the boys were quite the same size. Once you fitted, youdrew in (let out) your breath at the top, and down you went at exactly theright speed, while to ascend you drew in and let out alternately, and sowriggled up. Of course, when you have mastered the action you are able to dothese things without thinking of them, and nothing can be more graceful.

But you simply must fit, and Petermeasures you for your tree as carefully as for a suit of clothes: the onlydifference being that the clothes are made to fit you, while you have to be madeto fit the tree. Usually it is done quite easily, as by your wearing too manygarments or too few, but if you are bumpy in awkward places or the onlyavailable tree is an odd shape, Peter does some things to you, and after thatyou fit. Once you fit, great care must be taken to go on fitting, and this, asWendy was to discover to her delight, keeps a whole family in perfectcondition.

Wendy and Michael fitted their trees atthe first try, but John had to be altered a little.

After a few days' practice they could goup and down as gaily as buckets in a well. And how ardently they grew to lovetheir home under the ground; especially Wendy. It consisted of one large room,as all houses should do, with a floor in which you could dig (for worms) if youwanted to go fishing, and in this floor grew stout mushrooms of a charmingcolour, which were used as stools. A Never tree tried hard to grow in thecentre of the room, but every morning they sawed the trunk through, level withthe floor. By tea-time it was always about two feet high, and then they put adoor on top of it, the whole thus becoming a table; as soon as they clearedaway, they sawed off the trunk again, and thus there was more room to play.There was an enormous fireplace which was in almost any part of the room whereyou cared to light it, and across this Wendy stretched strings, made of fibre,from which she suspended her washing. The bed was tilted against the wall byday, and let down at 6:30, when it filled nearly half the room; and all the boysslept in it, except Michael, lying like sardines in a tin. There was a strictrule against turning round until one gave the signal, when all turned at once.Michael should have used it also, but Wendy would have a baby, and he was thelittlest, and you know what women are, and the short and long of it is that hewas hung up in a basket.

It was rough and simple, and not unlikewhat baby bears would have made of an underground house in the samecircumstances. But there was one recess in the wall, no larger than abird-cage, which was the private apartment of Tinker Bell. It could be shut offfrom the rest of the house by a tiny curtain, which Tink, who was mostfastidious, always kept drawn when dressing or undressing. No woman, howeverlarge, could have had a more exquisite boudoir and bed-chamber combined. Thecouch, as she always called it, was a genuine Queen Mab, with club legs; andshe varied the bedspreads according to what fruit-blossom was in season. Hermirror was a Puss-in-Boots, of which there are now only three, unchipped, knownto fairy dealers; the washstand was Pie-crust and reversible, the chest ofdrawers an authentic Charming the Sixth, and the carpet and rugs the bestperiod of Margery and Robin. There was a chandelier from Tiddlywinks for thelook of the thing, but of course she lit the residence herself. Tink was verycontemptuous of the rest of the house, as indeed was perhaps inevitable, andher chamber, though beautiful, looked rather conceited, having the appearance ofa nose permanently turned up.

I suppose it was all especiallyentrancing to Wendy, because those rampageous boys of hers gave her so much todo. Really there were whole weeks when, except perhaps with a stocking in theevening, she was never above ground. The cooking, I can tell you, kept her noseto the pot, and even if there was nothing in it, even if there was no pot, shehad to keep watching that it came aboil just the same. You never exactly knewwhether there would be a real meal or just a make-believe, it all depended uponPeter's whim: he could eat, really eat, if it was part of a game, but he couldnot stodge just to feel stodgy, which is what most children like better thananything else; the next best thing being to talk about it. Make-believe was soreal to him that during a meal of it you could see him getting rounder. Ofcourse it was trying, but you simply had to follow his lead, and if you couldprove to him that you were getting loose for your tree he let you stodge.

Wendy's favourite time for sewing and darningwas after they had all gone to bed. Then, as she expressed it, she had abreathing time for herself; and she occupied it in making new things for them,and putting double pieces on the knees, for they were all most frightfully hardon their knees.