Peter Pan plays panpipes in J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.
The 1906 book expands Peter’s early history after his appearance in Barrie’s 1902 novel The Little White Bird. In this version, Peter is a baby who flies from his nursery to Kensington Gardens and becomes a partly supernatural figure associated with birds, fairies, and the park.
Panpipes suit the character’s name and his connection with nature. The instrument also recalls the Greek god Pan, whose name helped inspire Barrie’s character. Peter’s music contributes to the image of him as a wild, ageless child outside ordinary human society.
Readers sometimes associate Peter Pan with a flute because later illustrations, films, and stage productions vary in how the instrument is depicted. Barrie’s text specifically identifies panpipes in Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, rather than a modern orchestral flute.