What they had been brought together to hear , said Solomon , was this : their young friend , Peter Pan , as they well knew , wanted very much to be able to cross to the Gardens , and he now proposed , with their help , to build a boat . At this the thrushes began to fidget , which made Peter tremble for his scheme . Solomon explained hastily that what he meant was not one of the cumbrous boats that humans use ; the proposed boat was to be simply a thrush 's nest large enough to hold Peter . But still , to Peter 's agony , the thrushes were sulky . `` We are very busy people , '' they grumbled , `` and this would be a big job . '' `` Quite so , '' said Solomon , `` and , of course , Peter would not allow you to work for nothing . You must remember that he is now in comfortable circumstances , and he will pay you such wages as you have never been paid before . Peter Pan authorises me to say that you shall all be paid sixpence a day . '' Then all the thrushes hopped for joy , and that very day was begun the celebrated Building of the Boat . All their ordinary business fell into arrears . It was the time of year when they should have been pairing , but not a thrush 's nest was built except this big one , and so Solomon soon ran short of thrushes with which to supply the demand from the mainland . The stout , rather greedy children , who look so well in perambulators but get puffed easily when they walk , were all young thrushes once , and ladies often ask specially for them . What do you think Solomon did ? He sent over to the housetops for a lot of sparrows and ordered them to lay their eggs in old thrushes ' nests and sent their young to the ladies and swore they were all thrushes ! It was known afterward on the island as the Sparrows ' Year , and so , when you meet , as you doubtless sometimes do , grown-up people who puff and blow as if they thought themselves bigger than they are , very likely they belong to that year . You ask them . Peter was a just master , and paid his work-people every evening . They stood in rows on the branches , waiting politely while he cut the paper sixpences out of his bank-note , and presently he called the roll , and then each bird , as the names were mentioned , flew down and got sixpence . It must have been a fine sight . And at last , after months of labor , the boat was finished .
Oh , the deportment of XXXXX as he saw it growing more and more like a great thrush 's nest !
Gardens Pan Peter Sparrows bank-note evening labor perambulators thrushes year