The Wind in the Willows is a children's novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It tells the story of Mole, Ratty and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and gets into trouble.
It also contains short stories about them that are disconnected from the main narrative. The novel was based on bedtime stories that Grahame told his son Alastair.
Although The Wind in the Willows received negative reviews upon its initial publication, the public loved it and it has since become a classic of British literature. It was listed at No. 16 in the BBC's survey The Big Read and has been adapted multiple times in different media.
Background
In 1899, Kenneth Grahame (age 40) married Elspeth Thomson, the daughter of Robert William Thomson. The next year, their only child, a son, Alastair, was born prematurely. Nicknamed "Mouse", he was blind in one eye and had health problems throughout his life. When Alastair was about four years old, his father told him bedtime stories, some of which were about a toad, and on his frequent boating holidays without his family, Grahame wrote further tales of Toad, Mole, Ratty and Badger in letters to Alastair.
In 1908, Grahame retired early from his position as Secretary of the Bank of England. The family moved to an old farmhouse in Blewbury, Berkshire. There Grahame used the bedtime stories he had told Alastair as a basis for the manuscript of The Wind in the Willows.
Plot summary The novel's characters are anthropomorphized animals. With the arrival of spring and fine weather outside, the good-natured Mole loses patience with spring cleaning, exclaiming, "Hang spring cleaning!" He leaves his underground home and comes up at the bank of the river, which he has never seen before. Here he meets Water Rat, a water vole, who takes Mole for a ride in his row boat. They get along well and spend many more days boating. "Ratty" teaches Mole the ways of the river, and the two friends live together in Ratty's riverside home.
One summer day, Rat and Mole disembark near the grand Toad Hall and pay a visit to Toad. Toad is wealthy, jovial, friendly and kindhearted, but sometimes arrogant and rash; he regularly becomes obsessed with fads, only to abandon them abruptly. His current craze is his horse-drawn caravan. When a passing automobile scares his horse and causes the caravan to overturn into a ditch, Toad's craze for caravan travel is immediately replaced by an obsession with motorcars.
Mole goes to the Wild Wood on a snowy winter's day, hoping to meet the elusive but wise and virtuous Badger. Mole becomes lost in the woods, succumbs to fright and hides among the sheltering roots of a tree. Rat finds him as snow begins to fall in earnest. As they attempt to find their way home, Mole barks his shin on the bootscraper on Badger's doorstep. Badger welcomes Rat and Mole into his large, cosy underground home, providing them with hot food, dry clothes and reassuring conversation. Badger learns from his visitors that Toad has crashed seven cars, has been in hospital three times, and has been issued numerous fines resulting in great expense.
With the arrival of spring, the three of them place Toad under house arrest with themselves as guards. However, Toad pretends to be sick, tricking Ratty into leaving for a doctor, and escapes. Badger and Mole continue residing at Toad Hall in the hope that Toad may return. Toad orders lunch at The Red Lion Inn and then sees a motorcar pull into the courtyard. He takes the car, drives it recklessly, and is caught by the police. He is sent to prison for 20 years, most of which is for "gross impertinence" to his captors.
In prison, Toad gains the sympathy of the gaoler's daughter. With her help, he escapes, disguised as a washerwoman. After a long series of misadventures he returns to the hole of the Water Rat. Rat hauls Toad inside and informs him that Toad Hall has been taken over by weasels, stoats and ferrets from the Wild Wood, who have driven out Mole and Badger. 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 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 happily ever after.
In addition to the main narrative, the book contains several independent short stories featuring Rat and Mole, such as an encounter with the wild god Pan while they are searching for Otter's son Portly, and Ratty's meeting with a Sea Rat. These appear for the most part between the chapters chronicling Toad's adventures, and they are often omitted from adaptations of the story as well as from some abridged versions.
Characters Main Mole: known as "Moley" to his friends. An independent, timid, genial, thoughtful, home-loving animal and the first character introduced in the story. Discontent with spring cleaning in his secluded home, he ventures into the outside world. Initially intimidated by the hectic life of the riverbank, he eventually adapts to it with the support of his new friend Rat. He has a spontaneous intelligence moment with his trickery against the Wild Wooders before the battle to retake Toad Hall. Rat: known as "Ratty" to his friends (though actually a water vole), he is astute, charming and affable. He enjoys a life of leisure; when he is not spending time on the river, he composes doggerel. Ratty loves the river and befriends Mole. He can be very unsettled about subjects and endeavours outside his preferred routine, but is persistently loyal and does the right thing when needed, such as when he risks his life to save Mole in the Wild Wood, and helps to rid Toad Hall of the unruly weasels. Ratty is the free and easy sort, as well as a dreamer, and he has a poetic thought process, finding deeper meaning, beauty and intensity in situations others may see through more practical eyes. Mr. Toad: known as "Toady" to his friends, the wealthy scion of Toad Hall who inherited his wealth from his late father. He is gregarious and well-meaning, but as a fixated control freak, he is sometimes inclined to boast lavishly and make outrageous outbursts when he is held back by another character, regardless of their intentions towards him. He is prone to obsessions (such as punting, houseboats, and horse-drawn caravans) but gets dissatisfied with each of these activities and drops them fairly quickly, 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 expensive fines for his unlawfully erratic driving, and eventually gets him imprisoned for theft, dangerous-driving, and severe impertinence to the police. Two chapters of the book chronicle his daring escape from prison. Mr. Badger: a firm but considerate animal, Badger embodies the "wise hermit" figure. A friend of Toad's deceased father, he is strict with the immature Toad, yet hopes that his good qualities will prevail through his shortcomings. He lives in a vast underground network of tunnels, part of which incorporates the remains of a buried Roman settlement. A fearless and powerful fighter, Badger helps clear the Wild-Wooders from Toad Hall with his large stick.
Supporting Otter and Portly: a good friend of Ratty with a stereotypical "Cockney costermonger" character, Otter is confident, respected and headstrong. 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 gentle 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 find him. The Gaoler's Daughter: the only major human character, she embodies the youth perspective toward the situation faced by Toad whilst he is incarcerated in prison; a "good, kind, clever girl", she helps Toad escape. The Wayfarer: a vagabond seafaring rat, who also makes a single appearance in Chapter 9, "Wayfarers All". Ratty briefly contemplates accompanying him on his adventures, before Mole convinces him otherwise. Squirrels and rabbits, who are generally good-natured (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". The Engine Driver: An unnamed man who drives a steam engine on the railway. When Toad is in his washerwoman disguise and unable to purchase a ticket to the station nearest to Toad Hall, the driver takes sympathy upon hearing Toad's false tale of woe and gives him a free ride on the engine, with the promise that he wash a few of the driver's clothes. During the journey, the driver becomes aware that Toad isn't really a washerwoman, upon sighting a single engine that is following them and carrying officials of the law who try to get his attention. Once Toad confesses his actions, the driver thinks he should turn Toad in, but not having a fancy for motorcars nor being ordered about on his own engine, he allows Toad to escape after the train has passed through a tunnel. The Barge Woman: An unnamed woman who owns a barge. Like the Engine Driver, she is briefly fooled by Toad's washerwoman disguise and offers Toad a ride, with the promise that he wash her clothes. Upon realising that he is actually a toad, she throws him off the barge and into a river flowing by. Toad gets infuriated and decides to take revenge by leaving the river and stealing the horse of the barge woman.
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), E. H. Shepard (1931), Arthur Rackham (1940), Richard Cuffari (1966), Tasha Tudor (1966), Michael Hague (1980), Scott McKowen (2005), and Robert Ingpen (2007).
The 1927 edition illustrated by Wyndham Payne was noted for its use of a distinctive colour of yellow, described by some cultural commentators as canary yellow. The most popular illustrations are probably those by E. H. Shepard, originally published in 1931, and believed to be authorised as Grahame was pleased with the initial sketches, although he did not live to see the completed work.E. H. Shepard ill. ed, Charles Scribner's Sons, US, introduction. 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, Egmont Press produced a 100th Anniversary paperback edition, with Shepard's illustrations, in 2008.