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 Peter as he saw it growing more and more like a great thrush 's nest ! From the very beginning of the building of it he slept by its side , and often woke up to say sweet things to it , and after it was lined with mud and the mud had dried he always slept in it . He sleeps in his nest still , and has a fascinating way of curling round in it , for it is just large enough to hold him comfortably when he curls round like a kitten . It is brown inside , of course , but outside it is mostly green , being woven of grass and twigs , and when these wither or snap the walls are thatched afresh . There are also a few feathers here and there , which came off the thrushes while they were building . The other birds were extremely jealous and said that the boat would not balance on the water , but it lay most beautifully steady ; they said the water would come into it , but no water came into it .
Next they said that XXXXX had no oars , and this caused the thrushes to look at each other in dismay , but Peter replied that he had no need of oars , for he had a sail , and with such a proud , happy face he produced a sail which he had fashioned out of this night-gown , and though it was still rather like a night-gown it made a lovely sail .
Pan Peter Solomon Sparrows Year evening housetops labor sixpence thrushes