Goat

The goat almost got mentioned before Peter Pan. But J. M. Barrie knew better than that, first mentioning Peter a few paragraphs earlier, at the end of chapter 13 of The Little White Bird.

Then chapter 14 begins:"If you ask your mother whether she knew about Peter Pan when she was a little girl she will say, 'Why, of course, I did, child,' and if you ask her whether he rode on a goat in those days she will say, 'What a foolish question to ask; certainly he did.' Then if you ask your grandmother whether she knew about Peter Pan when she was a girl, she also says, 'Why, of course, I did, child,' but if you ask her whether he rode on a goat in those days, she says she never heard of his having a goat. Perhaps she has forgotten, just as she sometimes forgets your name and calls you Mildred, which is your mother's name. Still, she could hardly forget such an important thing as the goat. Therefore there was no goat when your grandmother was a little girl. This shows that, in telling the story of Peter Pan, to begin with the goat (as most people do) is as silly as to put on your jacket before your vest."

So, after being referred to in this way, the goat recedes into the background until chapter 18, when Maimie Mannering gives it to Peter. It is actually an imaginary goat, which she gives through a ritual to the fairies, asking them to make it into a real goat for Peter. "She also left a letter to Peter in a likely place, explaining what she had done, and begging him to ask the fairies to turn the goat into one convenient for riding on. Well, it all happened just as she hoped, for Peter found the letter, and of course nothing could be easier for the fairies than to turn the goat into a real one, and so that is how Peter got the goat on which he now rides round the Gardens every night playing sublimely on his pipe."

Peter's namesake Pan also had a special relationship with goats.