He was quite unaware already that he had ever been human , and thought he was a bird , even in appearance , just the same as in his early days , and when he tried to catch a fly he did not understand that the reason he missed it was because he had attempted to seize it with his hand , which , of course , a bird never does . He saw , however , that it must be past Lock-out Time , for there were a good many fairies about , all too busy to notice him ; they were getting breakfast ready , milking their cows , drawing water , and so on , and the sight of the water-pails made him thirsty , so he flew over to the Round Pond to have a drink . He stooped , and dipped his beak in the pond ; he thought it was his beak , but , of course , it was only his nose , and , therefore , very little water came up , and that not so refreshing as usual , so next he tried a puddle , and he fell flop into it . When a real bird falls in flop , he spreads out his feathers and pecks them dry , but Peter could not remember what was the thing to do , and he decided , rather sulkily , to go to sleep on the weeping beech in the Baby Walk . At first he found some difficulty in balancing himself on a branch , but presently he remembered the way , and fell asleep . He awoke long before morning , shivering , and saying to himself , `` I never was out in such a cold night ; '' he had really been out in colder nights when he was a bird , but , of course , as everybody knows , what seems a warm night to a bird is a cold night to a boy in a nightgown . Peter also felt strangely uncomfortable , as if his head was stuffy , he heard loud noises that made him look round sharply , though they were really himself sneezing . There was something he wanted very much , but , though he knew he wanted it , he could not think what it was . What he wanted so much was his mother to blow his nose , but that never struck him , so he decided to appeal to the fairies for enlightenment . They are reputed to know a good deal . There were two of them strolling along the Baby Walk , with their arms round each other 's waists , and he hopped down to address them . The fairies have their tiffs with the birds , but they usually give a civil answer to a civil question , and he was quite angry when these two ran away the moment they saw him . Another was lolling on a garden-chair , reading a postage-stamp which some human had let fall , and when he heard Peter 's voice he popped in alarm behind a tulip . To Peter 's bewilderment he discovered that every fairy he met fled from him . A band of workmen , who were sawing down a toadstool , rushed away , leaving their tools behind them . A milkmaid turned her pail upside down and hid in it . Soon the Gardens were in an uproar . Crowds of fairies were running this way and that , asking each other stoutly , who was afraid , lights were extinguished , doors barricaded , and from the grounds of Queen Mab 's palace came the rubadub of drums , showing that the royal guard had been called out . A regiment of Lancers came charging down the Broad Walk , armed with holly-leaves , with which they jog the enemy horribly in passing . Peter heard the little people crying everywhere that there was a human in the Gardens after Lock-out Time , but he never thought for a moment that he was the human .
He was feeling stuffier and stuffier , and more and more wistful to learn what he wanted done to his nose , but he pursued them with the vital question in vain ; the timid creatures ran from him , and even the Lancers , when he approached them up the Hump , turned swiftly into a side-walk , on the pretence that they XXXXX him there .
asking called felt flew give knows saw sneezing struck tried