`` I suppose , '' said Peter huskily , `` I suppose I can still fly ? '' You see , he had lost faith . `` Poor little half-and-half , '' said Solomon , who was not really hard-hearted , `` you will never be able to fly again , not even on windy days . You must live here on the island always . '' `` And never even go to the Kensington Gardens ? '' Peter asked tragically . `` How could you get across ? '' said Solomon . He promised very kindly , however , to teach Peter as many of the bird ways as could be learned by one of such an awkward shape . `` Then I sha 'n' t be exactly a human ? '' Peter asked . `` No . '' `` Nor exactly a bird ? '' `` No . '' `` What shall I be ? '' `` You will be a Betwixt-and-Between , '' Solomon said , and certainly he was a wise old fellow , for that is exactly how it turned out . The birds on the island never got used to him . His oddities tickled them every day , as if they were quite new , though it was really the birds that were new . They came out of the eggs daily , and laughed at him at once , then off they soon flew to be humans , and other birds came out of other eggs , and so it went on forever . The crafty mother-birds , when they tired of sitting on their eggs , used to get the young one to break their shells a day before the right time by whispering to them that now was their chance to see Peter washing or drinking or eating .
Thousands gathered round him XXXXX to watch him do these things , just as you watch the peacocks , and they screamed with delight when he lifted the crusts they flung him with his hands instead of in the usual way with the mouth .
Betwixt-and-Between Gardens Peter Solomon daily day days half-and-half mother-birds right