-- by Mehr
The Wind In The Willows, by Kenneth Grahame, is a classic children’s novel, and is based on the bedtime stories Grahame told his son, Alastair.
When innocent and amiable Mole wanders away from his secluded home and makes his way to the riverbank, he encounters Rat, a wonderful character, fond of writing poetry, making up songs, and messing about in boats. Rat introduces Mole to the riverbank life - the fun to be had on boats, the great palatial abode of his friend Toad, and Rat’s own warm fireside where he often writes bits of poetry late into the night. Soon, Mole finds himself well settled among the riverbank folk. He is acquainted with the moorhens, otters, and ducks, and becomes great friends with Rat’s gregarious and well-meaning friend, Toad, who with the help of Rat and Mole and the sagacious and generous, (if reserved and misanthropic) Mr. Badger, is rescued from the clutches and consequences of his various expensive obsessions.
Grahame’s descriptions are wonderful and evocative. Mole wanders out of his secluded home in spring, as the sounds of nature outside his burrow, waking up to the world after the winter, make Mole want to abandon his spring cleaning for a bit, to go out into the fresh, warm sunshine, and explore the world outside his home:
“He thought his happiness was complete when, as he meandered aimlessly along, suddenly he stood by the edge of a full-fed river. Never in his life had he seen a river before - this sleek, sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping things with a gurgle and leaving them with a laugh, to fling itself on fresh playmates that shook themselves free, and were caught and held again. All was a-shake and a-shiver— glints and gleams and sparkles, rustle and swirl, chatter and bubble. The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spell-bound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.”
Mole sat down in the grass when a small hole in the riverbank above the water level caught his eye, and, inside the hole, something shiny, like a star seemed to twinkle. It soon declared itself to be an eye. Soon, the Water Rat (with that same twinkle in his eye) emerged from the hole:
"Would you like to come over?" inquired the Rat presently.
This moment turns out to be the beginning of their long, adventurous and exciting friendship - as Rat introduces Mole to his much loved activity of ‘messing about in boats’:
"This has been a wonderful day!" said he, as the Rat shoved off and took to the sculls again. "Do you know, I've never been in a boat before in all my life."
"What?" cried the Rat, open-mouthed: "Never been in a - you never- well I - what have you been doing, then?’"
“Is it so nice as all that?" asked the Mole shyly, though he was quite prepared to believe it as he leant back in his seat and surveyed the cushions, the oars, the rowlocks, and all the fast fittings, and felt the boat sway lightly under him.
"Nice? It's the only thing," said Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his stroke. "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing," he went on dreamily: "messing-about—in—boats; messing-
"Look ahead, Rat!" cried Mole suddenly.
It was too late. The boat struck the bank full tilt. The dreamer, the joyous oarsman, lay on his back at the bottom of the boat, his heels in the air.
"-about in boats—or with boats," Rat went on composedly, picking himself up with a pleasant laugh. "In or out of it doesn't matter.” Look here! If you’ve really nothing else on hand this morning, supposing we drop down the river together, and have a long day of it?”
Mole waggled his toes from sheer happiness, spread his chest with a sigh of full contentment and leaned back blissfully into the soft cushions, “what a day I’m having!” He said “ let us start at once!”
Rat and Mole go on to have one of those pleasant and memorable days when you do nothing in particular with your best friend.
Grahame’s next feat of description I loved was when he describes the fulfilled feeling of being in a warm, dry house, sipping something warm by the fire after a long, cold, and tiring night wandering through the scary woods in winter:
“In the embracing light and warmth, warm and dry at last, with weary legs propped up in front of them, and a suggestive clink of plates being arranged on the table behind, it seemed to the storm-driven animals, now in safe anchorage, that the cold and trackless Wild Wood just left outside was miles and miles away, and all that they had suffered in it a half-forgotten dream.”
And finally, Grahame describes the familiar relief of coming back home after a long day, or a long, exciting and tiring time away - to see all your possessions, just as you left them. Because even though you’ve been gone, and much has changed since then, home remains the same, and one has the comfort of knowing it will always be there - whether after a long day or a long year - you have a self satisfied feeling of being a good host in your own home, when everyone is sat around your table, eating your food, having a good time, laughing, in your warm and cozy home on Christmas Eve.
[Welcome to Mehr's Corner on the Luna blog. Mehr is a fourteen-year-old who loves to read. She has been a frequent visitor to Luna ever since we opened two years ago and we always love seeing her. Mehr is interning at Luna during her summer break this year and is helping us with a bunch of things around the bookshop, including writing about the books she loves. She enjoys an eclectic range of books - some of her favourite authors are Neil Gaiman, Ann Patchett, Ray Bradbury, Madeline Miller, David Grann, Ashley Schumacher, and JRR Tolkien.]
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