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 Peter 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 . And that night , the moon being full , and all the birds asleep , he did enter his coracle -LRB- as Master Francis Pretty would have said -RRB- and depart out of the island . And first , he knew not why , he looked upward , with his hands clasped , and from that moment his eyes were pinned to the west . He had promised the thrushes to begin by making short voyages , with them to his guides , but far away he saw the Kensington Gardens beckoning to him beneath the bridge , and he could not wait . His face was flushed , but he never looked back ; there was an exultation in his little breast that drove out fear .
Was Peter the least gallant of the English mariners who have sailed westward to XXXXX the Unknown ?
balance belong caused doubtless drove flushed meet mentioned sent stood