The Wind in the Willows
The
Wind in the Willows is a children's
novel by Scottish novelist Kenneth
Grahame, first published in 1908.
Alternatingly slow-moving and fast-paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animals: Mole, Rat (a European water vole),
Toad, and Badger.
They live in a pastoral
version of Edwardian England.
The novel is notable for its mixture of mysticism, adventure,
morality, and camaraderie, and celebrated for its evocation of the nature of the Thames
Valley.
In
1908, Grahame retired from his position as secretary of the Bank
of England. He moved back to Berkshire, where he had lived as a child, and spent his time by the River
Thames, doing much as the animal
characters in his book do – to quote, "simply messing about in
boats" – and expanding the bedtime
stories he had earlier told his son
Alastair into a manuscript for the book.
The
novel was in its 31st printing when playwright A.
A. Milne adapted part of it for the stage as
Toad of Toad Hall in 1929. In 1949, the first film adaptation was produced by
Walt
Disney as one of two segments in the package
film The Adventures of
Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
In
2003, The Wind in the Willows was listed at #16 in the BBC's survey The
Big Read.[1] More than a century after its original publication, it was
adapted again for the stage, as a 2014 musical by Julian
Fellowes.
Background
Main article: Kenneth
Grahame
Kenneth
Grahame was born on 8 March 1859 in Edinburgh. When he was 5, his mother died from puerperal
fever, and his father, who had a drinking
problem, gave the care of his four children over to their grandmother, who
lived in Cookham Dean
in Berkshire. There they lived in a spacious but dilapidated home, The Mount,
in extensive grounds by the River
Thames, and were introduced to the
riverside and boating by their uncle, David Ingles, curate at Cookham Dean
church.[2]
At
Christmas 1865 the chimney of the house collapsed and the children moved to
Fern Hill Cottage in Cranbourne, Berkshire. In 1866, their father tried to overcome his drinking
problem and took the children back to live with him in Argyll, Scotland, but after a year they returned to their
grandmother's house in Cranbourne, where Kenneth lived until he entered St Edward's School, Oxford in 1868.[3] During his early years at St. Edwards the boys were
free to explore the old city with its quaint shops, historic buildings, and
cobbled streets, St Giles' Fair,
the idyllic upper reaches of the River
Thames, and the nearby countryside.[4]
Grahame
married Elspeth Thomson in 1899, when he was 40; the next year they had their
only child, a boy named Alastair (whose nickname was "Mouse") born
premature, blind in one eye, and plagued by health problems throughout his
life.[5] When Alastair was about four years old, Grahame would tell
him bedtime stories, some of which were about a toad, and on his frequent
boating holidays without his family he would write further tales of Toad, Mole,
Ratty, and Badger in letters to Alastair.[3]
In
1908 Grahame took early retirement from his job at the Bank
of England and moved with his wife and son to
an old farmhouse in Blewbury,
where he used the bedtime stories he had told Alastair as a basis for the
manuscript of The Wind in the Willows.[3]
Plot summary
Mole meets Rat
With
the arrival of spring and fine weather outside, the good-natured Mole loses
patience with spring cleaning. He has fled his underground home, emerging to
take in the air and ends up at the river, which he has never seen before. Here
he meets Rat (a water vole),
who at this time of year spends all his days in, on and close by the river. Rat
takes Mole for a ride in his rowing boat. They get along well and spend many
more days boating, with “Ratty” teaching Mole the ways of the river, with the
two friends living together in Ratty's riverside home.
Toad
One
summer day, Rat and Mole disembark near the grand Toad Hall and pay a visit to Toad. Toad is rich, jovial, friendly and
kind-hearted, but aimless and conceited; he regularly becomes obsessed with
current fads, only to abandon them abruptly. Having recently given up boating,
Toad's current craze is his horse-drawn caravan. He persuades the reluctant Rat
and willing Mole to join him on a trip. Toad soon tires of the realities of
camp life, and sleeps in the following day to avoid chores. Later that day, a
passing motorcar scares the horse, causing the caravan to overturn into a
ditch. Rat threatens to have the law on the car driver, while Mole calms the
horse, but Toad's craze for caravan travel is immediately replaced by an
obsession with motorcars.
The Wild Wood and Badger
Mole
wants to meet the respected but elusive Badger, who lives deep in the Wild
Wood, but Rat – knowing that Badger does not appreciate visits –
tells Mole to be patient and wait for Badger to pay them a visit himself.
Nevertheless, on a snowy winter's day, while the seasonally somnolent Rat
dozes, Mole impulsively goes to the Wild Wood to explore, hoping to meet
Badger. He gets lost in the woods, sees many "evil faces" among the
wood's less-welcoming denizens, succumbs to fright and panic and hides, trying
to stay warm, among the sheltering roots of a tree.
Rat
wakes to find Mole gone. Guessing his mission from the direction of Mole's
tracks and equipping himself with two pistols and a stout cudgel, Rat goes in
search, finding him as snow begins to fall in earnest. Attempting to find their
way home, Rat and Mole quite literally stumble across Badger's home – Mole
barks his shin on the boot scraper on Badger's doorstep. Badger – en route
to bed in his dressing-gown and slippers – nonetheless warmly welcomes Rat
and Mole to his large and cosy underground home, providing them with hot food,
dry clothes, and reassuring conversation: "It takes all sorts to make a
world."
Toad and motorcars
Badger
learns from his visitors that Toad has crashed seven cars, has been in hospital
three times, and has spent a fortune on fines. Though nothing can be done at
the moment (it being winter), they resolve that when the time is right they
will make a plan to protect Toad from himself; they are, after all, his
friends, and are worried about his well-being.
With
the arrival of spring, Badger visits Mole and Rat to take action over Toad's
self-destructive obsession. The three of them go to Toad Hall, and Badger tries
talking Toad out of his behavior, to no avail. They put Toad under house
arrest, with themselves as the guards,
until Toad changes his mind. Feigning illness, Toad bamboozles Rat (who is on
guard duty at the time) and escapes.
Badger
and Mole are cross with Rat for his gullibility, but draw comfort because they
need no longer waste their summer guarding Toad. However, Badger and Mole
continue to live in Toad Hall in the hope that Toad may return. Meanwhile, Toad
orders lunch at The Red Lion Inn, and then sees a motorcar pull into the
courtyard. Taking the car, he drives it recklessly and is caught by the police.
He is sent to prison for 20 years.
Toad escapes from prison
In
prison, Toad gains the sympathy of the gaoler's daughter, who helps him to
escape disguised as a washerwoman. Though free again, Toad is without money or
possessions other than the clothes upon his back. He manages to board a railway
engine manned by a sympathetic driver, which is then pursued by a special train
loaded with policemen, detectives and prison warders. Toad jumps from the train
and, still disguised as a washerwoman, comes across a horse-drawn
barge. The barge's female owner offers
him a lift in exchange for Toad's services as a washerwoman. After he botches
the wash, Toad gets into a fight with the barge-woman, who tosses him into the
canal. In revenge, Toad makes off with the barge horse, which he then sells to
a gypsy.
Toad
subsequently flags down a passing car, which happens to be the very one he
stole earlier. The car owners, not recognising Toad in his disguise, permit him
to drive their car. Once behind the wheel, he is repossessed by his former
exuberance and drives furiously, declaring his true identity to the passengers
who try to seize him. This leads to the car landing in a horse-pond, after which Toad flees once more. Pursued by police, he
runs accidentally into a river, which carries him by sheer chance to the house
of Rat.
Recapture of Toad Hall
Toad
now hears from Rat that Toad Hall has been taken over by weasels and stoats
from the Wild Wood, who have driven out Mole and Badger. Although upset at the
loss of his house, Toad realizes what good friends he has and how badly he has
behaved. Badger then arrives and announces that he knows of a secret tunnel
into Toad Hall through which the enemies may be attacked. Armed to the teeth, Badger,
Rat, Mole and Toad enter through the tunnel and pounce upon the unsuspecting
Wild-Wooders who are holding a celebratory party. Having driven away the
intruders, Toad holds a banquet to mark his return, during which (for a change)
he behaves both quietly and humbly. He makes up for his earlier excesses by
seeking out and compensating those he has wronged, and the four friends live
out their lives happily ever after.
Short stories
In
addition to the main narrative, the book contains several independent short
stories featuring Rat and Mole. These appear for the most part between the
chapters chronicling Toad's adventures, and are often omitted from abridgements
and dramatisations. The chapter "Dulce Domum" describes Mole's return
to his home with Rat where he rediscovers, with Rat's help, a familiar comfort,
despite finding it in a terrible mess after his abortive spring clean.
"The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" tells how Mole and Rat search for
Otter's missing son Portly, whom they find in the care of the god Pan. (Pan removes their memories of this meeting "lest
the awful remembrance should remain and grow, and overshadow mirth and pleasure".)
Finally, in "Wayfarers All", Ratty shows a restless side to his
character when he is sorely tempted to join a Sea
Rat on his travelling adventures.
Main characters
- Mole: known as "Moly" to his friends. An altruistic, humble, loyal, polite, home-loving animal, and the first character introduced in the story. Fed up with spring cleaning in his secluded home, he ventures into the outside world. Initially overawed by the hustle and bustle of the riverbank, he eventually adapts. He proves intelligent as shown with his trickery against the Wild Wooders before the assault to retake Toad Hall.
- Rat: known as "Ratty" to his friends (though actually a water vole), he is cultured, relaxed and friendly, and enjoys a life of leisure; when not spending time on the river, he composes doggerel. Ratty loves the river and takes charge of Mole. He can be stubborn when it comes to doing things outside his riverside lifestyle, but can do which must be done as shown when he risks his safety to help Mole in the Wild Wood and to help free Toad Hall from the weasels.
- Mr. Toad: known as "Toady" to his friends, the wealthy scion of Toad Hall who inherited his wealth from his late father. Although good-hearted and optimistic, he is also arrogant, conceited, and impulsive. He is prone to obsessions and crazes (such as punting, houseboats, and horse-drawn caravans). Having a short-attention-span, he gets bored with each of these activities in turn and drops them, finally settling on motorcars. His motoring craze degenerates into a sort-of addiction that lands him in the hospital a few times, subjects him to stiff fines for his unlawfully reckless driving, and eventually gets him imprisoned for theft, dangerous-driving, and gross impertinence to the police. Two chapters of the book chronicle his daring escape from prison and subsequent adventures before meeting up with the Water Rat.
- Mr. Badger: a gruff-but-benevolent soul, Badger embodies the "wise hermit" figure. A friend of Toad's deceased father, he is uncompromising with the irresponsible Toad, yet hopes that his good qualities will prevail. He lives in a vast underground sett, part of which incorporates the remains of a buried Roman settlement. A brave and a skilled fighter, Badger helps clear the Wild-Wooders from Toad Hall with his large stick.
Supporting characters
- Otter and Portly: a friend of Ratty with a stereotypical "Cockney costermonger" character. The extrovert Otter is tough and self-sufficient. Portly is his young son.
- The weasels, ferrets, and stoats: the story's main antagonists. They plot to take over Toad Hall. Although they are unnamed, the leader is referred to as "Chief Weasel".
- Pan: a benevolent and wise god of the wild who makes a single, anomalous appearance in Chapter 7, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" when he helps Portly and looks after him until Ratty and Mole come.
- The Gaoler's Daughter: the only major human character; a "good, kind, clever girl", she helps Toad escape from prison.
- The Wayfarer: a vagabond seafaring rat, who also makes a single appearance. Ratty briefly considers following his example, before Mole persuades him otherwise.
- Squirrels and rabbits, who are generally good (although rabbits are described as "a mixed lot").
- Inhabitants of the Wild Wood: weasels, stoats, and foxes who are described by Ratty as: "All-right in a way but well, you can't really trust them".
Editions
The
original publication of the book was plain text, with a frontispiece illustrated
by Graham Robertson, but many illustrated, comic, and annotated versions have
been published over the years. Notable illustrators include Paul
Bransom (1913), Nancy Barnhart (1922),
Wyndham Payne (1927), Ernest
H. Shepard (1931), Arthur
Rackham (1940), Richard
Cuffari (1966), Tasha
Tudor (1966), Michael
Hague (1980), Scott
McKowen (2005), and Robert
Ingpen (2007).
- The most popular illustrations are probably by E. H. Shepard, originally published in 1931, and believed to be authorised as Grahame was pleased with the initial sketches, though he did not live to see the completed work.[6]
- The Wind in the Willows was the last work illustrated by Arthur Rackham. The book with his illustrations was issued posthumously in a limited edition by the Folio Society with 16 colour plates in 1940 in the US. It was not issued with the Rackham illustrations in the UK until 1950.
- The Folio Society 2006 edition featured 85 illustrations, 35 in colour, by Charles van Sandwyk. A fancier centenary edition was produced two years later.
- Michel Plessix created a Wind in the Willows watercolour comic album series, which helped to introduce the stories to France. They have been translated into English by Cinebook Ltd.
- Patrick Benson re-illustrated the story in 1994 and HarperCollins published it in 1994 together with the William Horwood sequels The Willows in Winter, Toad Triumphant and The Willows and Beyond. It was published in the US in 1995 by St. Martin's Press.
- Inga Moore's edition, abridged and illustrated by her, is arranged so that a featured line of the text also serves as a caption to a picture.
- Barnes & Noble Classics featured an introduction by Gardner McFall in 2007. New York, ISBN 978-1-59308-265-9
- Egmont Press produced a 100th Anniversary paperback edition, with Shepard's illustrations, in 2008. ISBN 978-1-4052-3730-7
- Belknap Press, a division of Harvard University Press, published Seth Lerer's annotated edition in 2009.[7]
- W. W. Norton published Annie Gauger's and Brian Jacques's annotated edition in 2009.[7]
- Jamie Hendry Productions published a special edition of the novel in 2015 and donated it to schools in Plymouth and Salford to celebrate the World Premiere of the musical version of The Wind in the Willows by Julian Fellowes, George Stiles, and Anthony Drewe.[8]
- IDW Publishing published an illustrated edition of the novel in 2016.[9] The hardcover novel features illustrations from Eisner Award-winning artist David Petersen, who is best known for creating and drawing the comic series Mouse Guard.
Reception
A
number of publishers rejected the manuscript. It was published in the UK by Methuen and Co.,
and later in the US by Scribner.
The critics, who were hoping for a third volume in the style of Grahame's
earlier works; The Golden Age and Dream
Days, generally gave negative reviews.[3] The public loved it, however, and within a few years it
sold in such numbers that many reprints were required. In 1909, then sitting US
President Theodore Roosevelt
wrote to Grahame to tell him that he had "read it and reread it, and have
come to accept the characters as old friends".[10]
A
book that we all greatly loved and admired and read aloud or alone, over and
over and over: The Wind in the Willows. This book is, in a way, two
separate books put into one. There are, on the one hand, those chapters
concerned with the adventures of Toad; and on the other hand there are those
chapters that explore human emotions – the emotions of fear, nostalgia,
awe, wanderlust. My mother was drawn to the second group, of which "The
Piper at the Gates of Dawn" was her favourite, read to me again and again
with always, towards the end, the catch in the voice and the long pause to find
her handkerchief and blow her nose. My father, on his side, was so captivated
by the first group that he turned these chapters into the children's play, Toad
of Toad Hall. In this play one emotion only is allowed to creep in:
nostalgia.
No comments:
Post a Comment