The Wind in the Willows

Sleepy and grumpy, Badger answers the door. When he sees Rat, he welcomes them both in. Wearing a robe and slippers, and holding a candle, he takes them down a dark passageway, past several tunnels and doors, to the well-stocked kitchen. Badger brings them dry robes and slippers, and they sit and toast themselves before the fireplace while their host prepares a meal.

They move to the long, rough main table and gorge themselves on a huge meal. Then, they describe for Badger the adventure they had in the Wild Wood. Badger asks after Toad, and Rat reports that the adventurous amphibian has just smashed up his seventh automobile: “[H]e’s convinced he’s a heaven-born driver, and nobody can teach him anything; and all the rest follows” (39). Mole adds that Toad has been in the hospital three times and has paid hefty fines.

Badger says that when the cold season is over, they’ll have to take Toad in hand and force him to behave. For now, he guides his guests to a bedroom half-filled with winter provisions, plus two cozy beds in which Rat and Mole promptly fall asleep.

Late the next morning, they rise and go to the kitchen, where they find two young hedgehogs eating porridge. As Rat and Mole prepare their own breakfast, the hedgehogs explain that their mother sent them to school but they got lost in the snow and happened onto Badger’s back door.

The doorbell rings, and Otter enters. He reports that everyone along the river has been worried because of the news that Mole got lost in the Wild Wood and was being hunted by “Them.” Otter tried at first to get some news from the local rabbits, but they’re not very smart: It occurred to none of them to give Mole shelter in one of their many rabbit holes. Otter finally came to Badger’s place, knowing that lost animals often visit there.

Mole and the hedgehogs prepare some breakfast for Otter, who discusses “river-gossip” with Rat. Badger, yawning, enters and invites Otter to stay for lunch. He then sends the hedgehogs home to their mother. Mole and Badger agree that life underground is very satisfying: They can dig new tunnels as needed, no neighbors peer at them, and there’s no weather down there. Badger thinks Toad and Rat aren’t nearly as fortunate.

Badger gives Mole a tour of the place, with its many tunnels and rooms. Mole is impressed at all the work it must have required, but Badger explains that he did almost none of it. In the past, a great city sprang up in the area, and the badgers moved out. When the people finally left, and the woods took over once again, the badgers returned and found many of their old homes largely intact.

Badger adds that he’ll get the word out that Mole isn’t to be harmed: “Any friend of MINE walks where he likes in this country, or I’ll know the reason why!” (45). Rat feels restless in this underground place and anxious to return to his own home, so Badger shows them out at the end of a long tunnel that empties at the edge of the Wild Wood.

Mole is happy to be back in his neighborhood. He resolves to limit his adventures to places he knows and to avoid visiting scary places where he gets lost, or worse.

Later in December, Rat, Mole, and Otter do some hunting in a nearby region of upland streams. On their way back, as the sun sets, Rat and Mole’s path leads through a village. Rat decides that because it’s a wintry evening, people will be indoors and won’t bother them. As they pass the human homes, they look through the windows and see people doing handiwork or talking and laughing or stroking a pet or putting an infant to bed. Seeing these visions, the two animals grow wistful.

Somewhere past the village, Mole feels a thrill of familiarity. Sniffing the air, he realizes they’re passing near his old home, the one he abandoned when he took up with Rat. It seems to call to him, wanting him back, as if it misses him. He asks Rat to stop so that he can find his old home, but Rat insists that they hurry to his house: He senses snow in the air, isn’t entirely sure of the route, and needs Mole’s nose to help with directions.

Loyalty wins out over yearning. Mole tears himself away and continues toward Rat’s home, while Rat goes on about how nice it’ll be to get back to the warmth of his own place. Rat notices that Mole seems sad, so they stop to rest. Mole suddenly bursts into tears and, sobbing, blurts out that he misses his old home. Rat feels like a pig for not realizing this and decides they’ll search forthwith for Mole’s home. Mole protests: He feels embarrassed by his own selfish bawling. Rat insists that they do the search.

They walk until, once again, Mole feels a thrill like an electric current. Hypnotically, he follows a scent through a hedge, across a ditch, and over a field until suddenly he dives into the ground. Rat follows him down a tunnel. They stop at an underground forecourt and a front door. Mole lights a lantern; Rat sees benches, some statues of famous people, and a goldfish pond.

They go inside the house. It’s dusty, and Mole feels ashamed to bring his friend to such a poor place, but Rat rushes about, lighting lanterns and exclaiming at how nice it is: “So compact! So well planned! Everything here and everything in its place!” (53) Rat lights a fire in the fireplace and then he and Mole search the cupboards and find sardine tins, a cracker box, and some sausage. Rat locates the cellar and from it pulls some bottles of beer.

He compliments Mole: “This is really the jolliest little place I ever was in” (54). He asks how Mole managed to put it all together. Mole describes how he collected windfalls and bargains and saved up to assemble his household things.

They’re just sitting down to eat when they hear a commotion outside. Rat opens the front door to a choir of field mice who’ve come to sing carols. Mole says they do this every year. The mice sing a lovely tune that ends by intoning how animals in Jesus’s manger sang the first Noel. Rat and Mole welcome them inside to sit by the fire. Rat gives one of them money and a basket and sends him to the village to collect various foods.

Mole gets the mice to talk about their families. He remembers that they’ve also performed plays, and he tries to coax one of them to recite a few lines, but the little mouse is too struck with stage fright to utter a word. The errand mouse returns from the village, his basket heavy with food. The mice help set up the table, and all sit eagerly and eat a fine dinner.

Their pockets filled with small treats for their siblings at home, the mice finally depart. Rat admits he’s exhausted, and they both climb into bunk beds. Rat soon is asleep, but Mole, lying there, realizes how much he loves his humble home. He knows he’ll continue his adventures above ground, but “it was good to think he had this to come back to” (58).