So saying , he boldly leapt ashore , and they gathered around him with intent to slay him , but there then arose a great cry among the women , and it was because they had now observed that his sail was a baby 's nightgown . Whereupon , they straightway loved him , and grieved that their laps were too small , the which I can not explain , except by saying that such is the way of women . The men-fairies now sheathed their weapons on observing the behaviour of their women , on whose intelligence they set great store , and they led him civilly to their queen , who conferred upon him the courtesy of the Gardens after Lock-out Time , and henceforth Peter could go whither he chose , and the fairies had orders to put him in comfort . -LSB- Illustration : He passed under the bridge and came within full sight of the delectable Gardens -RSB- Such was his first voyage to the Gardens , and you may gather from the antiquity of the language that it took place a long time ago . But Peter never grows any older , and if we could be watching for him under the bridge to-night -LRB- but , of course , we ca n't -RRB- , I dare say we should see him hoisting his nightgown and sailing or paddling towards us in the Thrush 's Nest . When he sails , he sits down , but he stands up to paddle . I shall tell you presently how he got his paddle . Long before the time for the opening of the gates comes he steals back to the island , for people must not see him -LRB- he is not so human as all that -RRB- , but this gives him hours for play , and he plays exactly as real children play . At least he thinks so , and it is one of the pathetic things about him that he often plays quite wrongly . You see , he had no one to tell him how children really play , for the fairies are all more or less in hiding until dusk , and so know nothing , and though the birds pretended that they could tell him a great deal , when the time for telling came , it was wonderful how little they really knew . They told him the truth about hide-and-seek , and he often plays it by himself , but even the ducks on the Round Pond could not explain to him what it is that makes the pond so fascinating to boys . Every night the ducks have forgotten all the events of the day , except the number of pieces of cake thrown to them . They are gloomy creatures , and say that cake is not what it was in their young days . So Peter had to find out many things for himself . He often played ships at the Round Pond , but his ship was only a hoop which he had found on the grass . Of course , he had never seen a hoop , and he wondered what you play at with them , and decided that you play at pretending they are boats . This hoop always sank at once , but he waded in for it , and sometimes he dragged it gleefully round the rim of the pond , and he was quite proud to think that he had discovered what boys do with hoops . -LSB- Illustration : There now arose a mighty storm , and he was tossed this way and that -LRB- missing from book -RRB- -RSB- Another time , when he found a child 's pail , he thought it was for sitting in , and he sat so hard in it that he could scarcely get out of it . Also he found a balloon . It was bobbing about on the Hump , quite as if it was having a game by itself , and he caught it after an exciting chase .
But he XXXXX it was a ball , and Jenny Wren had told him that boys kick balls , so he kicked it ; and after that he could not find it anywhere .
comes explain find go makes observing seen stands thought watching