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The Wind in the Willows

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Author
  
Kenneth Grahame

Country
  
United Kingdom

Genre
  
Children's novel

Illustrator
  
E. H. Shepard

Language
  
English

Publisher
  
Methuen

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Adaptations
  
The Wind in the Willows (1987)

The wind in the willows full audiobook by kenneth grahame greatest audio books


The Wind in the Willows is a children's novel by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animals 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.

Contents

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 – as the book says, "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. Almost a century later, it was adapted again for the stage as a musical by Julian Fellowes. In 2003, The Wind in the Willows was listed at number 16 in the BBC's survey The Big Read.

Background

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. 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. During his early years at St. Edwards the boys had freedom 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.

Grahame married Elspeth Thomson in 1899; they had only one child, a boy named Alastair (whose nickname was "Mouse") born blind in one eye and plagued by health problems throughout his life. When Alastair was about four years old, Grahame would tell him bedtime stories, some of which were about a toad, and when Grahame holidayed alone he would write further tales of Toad, Mole, Ratty and Badger in letters to Alastair.

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.

Mole meets Rat

With the arrival of spring and fine weather outside, the good-natured Mole loses patience with spring cleaning. He flees 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 Rat teaching Mole the ways of the river.

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.

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, finding Mole gone, guesses his mission from the direction of Mole's tracks and, equipping himself with two pistols and a stout cudgel, 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 cozy underground home, providing them with hot food and dry clothes.

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 summer, 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 behaviour, to no avail. They put Toad under house arrest, with themselves as the guards, until Toad changes his mind. Feigning illness, Toad bamboozles the Water 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. He steals the car, 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 botching 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 passion 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 realises 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 via 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 dramatizations. The chapter "Dulce Domum" describes Mole's return to his home, accompanied by Rat, in which, despite finding it in a terrible mess after his abortive spring clean, he rediscovers, with Rat's help, a familiar comfort. "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: A mild-mannered, 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.
  • Rat: Known as "Ratty" to his friends (though actually a water vole), he is cultured, relaxed and friendly who 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.
  • Mr. Toad: The wealthy scion of Toad Hall who inherited his wealth from his late father. Although good-natured, kind-hearted and not without intelligence, he is also spoiled, conceited, and impulsive. He is prone to obsessions and crazes (such as punting, houseboats, and horse-drawn caravans). He gets bored with each of these in turn, and drops them. His motoring craze eventually sees him imprisoned for theft, dangerous driving and gross impertinence to the police. Several chapters of the book chronicle his daring escape from prison.
  • Mr Badger: Gruff and solitary, who "simply hates society", Badger embodies the "wise hermit" figure. A friend of Toad's late father, he is uncompromising with the disappointing Toad, yet remains optimistic 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 cudgel.
  • 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: The story's main antagonists. They plot to take over Toad Hall.
  • Pan: A god who makes a single, anomalous appearance in Chapter 7, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn".
  • 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").

    • Editions

    The book was originally published as plain text, but many illustrated, comic and annotated versions have been published over the years. Notable illustrators include Paul Bransom (1913), Ernest H. Shepard (1933), Arthur Rackham (1940), 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.

    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 color 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 abridged edition features text and illustrations paced so that a line of text, such as "oh my oh my", also serves as a caption.

    Barnes & Noble Classics featured an introduction by Gardner McFall in 2007. New York, ISBN 978-1-59308-265-9

    Belknap Press, of Harvard University Press, published Seth Lerer's annotated edition in 2009.

    W. W. Norton published Annie Gauger and Brian Jacques’s annotated edition in 2009.

    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.

    Reception

    A number of publishers rejected the manuscript, and it was not until October 1908, after some campaigning by President Theodore Roosevelt, that the book was finally published by Methuen and Co. The critics, who were hoping for a third volume in the style of Graham's earlier works; The Golden Age and Dream Days, generally gave negative reviews. The public loved it, however, and within a few years it sold in such numbers that many reprints were required. In 1909, 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".

    In The Enchanted Places, Christopher Robin Milne wrote of The Wind in the Willows:

    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.

    Stage

  • Toad of Toad Hall by A. A. Milne, produced in 1929
  • Wind in the Willows, a 1985 Tony-nominated Broadway musical with book by Jane Iredale, lyrics by Roger McGough and music by William P. Perry, starring Nathan Lane
  • The Wind in the Willows by Alan Bennett (who also appeared as Mole) in 1991
  • Mr. Toad's Mad Adventures by Vera Morris
  • Wind in the Willows (UK National Tour) by Ian Billings
  • The Wind in the Willows, two stage adaptations—a full musical adaptation and a small-scale, shorter, stage play version—by David Gooderson.
  • The Wind in the Willows, a musical theater adaption by Scot Copeland and Paul Carrol Binkley.
  • The Wind in the Willows by George Stiles, Anthony Drewe and Julian Fellowes which will open at Theatre Royal Plymouth in October 2016 before playing at The Lowry, Salford and then the West End.

    • Film and television

  • Toad of Toad Hall the first live action film of the novel. Adapted by Michael Barry for BBC Television and transmitted live in 1946. The film featured (in alphabetical order) Julia Braddock as Marigold, Kenneth More as Mr. Badger, Jack Newmark as Mole, Andrew Osborn as Water Rat, Jon Pertwee as the Judge, Alan Reid as Mr. Toad, John Thomas and Victor Woolf as Alfred the Horse, Madoline Thomas as Mother, and an uncredited Pat Pleasanse as various Rats, Weasels and Mice.
  • The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, a 1949 animated adaptation produced by Walt Disney Productions for RKO Radio Pictures, narrated by Basil Rathbone. One half of the animated feature was based on the unrelated short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
  • The Wind in the Willows, a 1969 adaptation of the story produced by Anglia Television, told by still illustrations by artist John Worsley. The story was adapted, produced and narrated by Paul Honeyman and directed by John Salway.
  • The Reluctant Dragon and Mr. Toad Show, a 1970 TV animated series produced by Rankin/Bass Productions and animated by Japanese studio Mushi Productions, based on both The Reluctant Dragon and The Wind in the Willows.
  • The Wind in the Willows, a 1983 animated film version with stop-motion puppets by Cosgrove Hall.
  • The Wind in the Willows, a 1984–1990 TV series following the 1983 film, using the same sets and characters in mostly original stories but also including some chapters from the book that were omitted in the film, notably "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn". The cast included David Jason, Sir Michael Hordern, Peter Sallis, Richard Pearson and Ian Carmichael.
  • The Wind in the Willows, a 1985/1987 animated musical film version for television, produced by Rankin/Bass Productions with animation by Wang Film Productions (also known as Cuckoo's Nest Studios) in Taiwan. This version was very faithful to the book and featured a number of original songs, including the title, "Wind in the Willows", performed by folk singer Judy Collins. Voice actors included Eddie Bracken as Mole, Jose Ferrer as Badger, Roddy McDowell as Ratty, and Charles Nelson Reilly as Toad.
  • Wind in the Willows, a 1988 animated made for TV film by Burbank Films Australia and adapted by Leonard Lee.
  • The Adventures of Mole, a 1995 animated made for TV film with a cast including Hugh Laurie as Toad, Richard Briers and Peter Davison as Ratty and Mole respectively and Paul Eddington as Badger. Was followed by The Adventures of Toad.
  • The Wind in the Willows, a 1995 animated film adaptation narrated by Vanessa Redgrave (in the live action scenes) with a cast led by Michael Palin and Alan Bennett as Ratty and Mole, Rik Mayall as Toad and Michael Gambon as Badger; followed by an adaptation of The Willows in Winter produced by the now defunct TVC (Television Cartoons) in London.
  • The Wind in the Willows, a 1996 live-action film written and directed by Terry Jones starring Steve Coogan as Mole, Eric Idle as Rat, and Terry Jones as Mr. Toad.
  • The Wind in the Willows, another live-action film in 2006 with Lee Ingleby as Mole, Mark Gatiss as Ratty, Matt Lucas as Toad, Bob Hoskins as Badger, and also featuring Imelda Staunton, Anna Maxwell Martin, Mary Walsh and Michael Murphy
  • In 2003, Guillermo del Toro was working on an adaptation for Disney. It was to mix live action with CG animation, and the director explained why he had to leave the helm. "It was a beautiful book, and then I went to meet with the executives and they said, 'Could you give Toad a skateboard and make him say, 'radical dude' things,' and that's when I said, 'It's been a pleasure...'"
  • In 2014, Classic Alice took the titular character on a 6 episode reimagining of The Wind in the Willows. Reid Cox played Toad, Kate Hackett and Tony Noto served as loose Badger/Ratty/Mole characters.

    • Radio

    The BBC has broadcast a number of radio productions of the story.

    Dramatisations include:

  • Eight episodes from 4 to 14 April 1955, BBC Home Service. With Richard Goolden, Frank Duncan, Olaf Pooley and Mary O'Farrell.
  • episodes from 27 September to 15 November 1965, BBC Home Service. With Leonard Maguire, David Steuart and Douglas Murchie.
  • Single 90-minute play, dramatised by A.A. Milne under the name Toad of Toad Hall, on 21 April 1973, BBC Radio 4. With Derek Smith, Bernard Cribbins, Richard Goolden and Cyril Luckham.
  • Six episodes from 28 April to 9 June 1983, BBC Schools Radio, Living Language series. With Paul Darrow as Badger.
  • Six episodes, dramatised by John Scotney, from 13 February to 20 March 1994, BBC Radio 5. With Martin Jarvis, Timothy Bateson, Willie Rushton, George Baker and Dinsdale Landen.
  • Single two-hour play, dramatised by Alan Bennett, on 27 August 1994, BBC Radio 4.

    • Abridged readings include:

  • Ten-part reading by Alan Bennett from 31 July to 11 August 1989, BBC Radio 4.
  • Twelve-part reading by Bernard Cribbins from 22 December 1983 to 6 January 1984, BBC channel unknown.
  • Three-hour reading by June Whitfield, Nigel Anthony, James Saxon, and Nigel Lambert; Puffin audiobook, 1996.

    • Kenneth Williams also did a version of the book for radio.

    In 2002 Paul Oakenfold produced a Trance Soundtrack for the story, aired on the Galaxy FM show Urban Soundtracks. These mixes blended classic stories with a mixture of dance and contemporary music.

    Sequels and alternative versions

    In 1983 Dixon Scott published A Fresh Wind in the Willows, which not only predates Horwood's sequels (see below) by several years but also includes some of the same incidents, including a climax in which Toad steals a Bleriot monoplane.

    William Horwood created several sequels to The Wind in the Willows: The Willows in Winter, Toad Triumphant, The Willows and Beyond, and The Willows at Christmas.

    Jacqueline Kelly published "Return to the Willows" in 2012.

    Jan Needle's Wild Wood was published in 1981 with illustrations by William Rushton (ISBN 0-233-97346-X). It is a re-telling of the story of The Wind in the Willows from the point of view of the working-class inhabitants of the Wild Wood. For them, money is short and employment hard to find. They have a very different perspective on the wealthy, easy, careless lifestyle of Toad and his friends.

    Awards

  • Mr. Toad was voted Number 38 among the 100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900 by Book magazine in their March/April 2002 issue.

    • Inspiration

    Mapledurham House in Oxfordshire was an inspiration for Toad Hall, although Hardwick House also makes this claim.

    The village of Lerryn, Cornwall claims to be the setting for the book.

    Simon Winchester suggested that the character of Ratty was based on Frederick Furnivall, a keen oarsman and acquaintance of Kenneth Grahame. However, Grahame himself said that this character was inspired by his good friend, the writer Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. Grahame mentions this in a signed copy he gave to Quiller-Couch's daughter, Foy Felicia.

    The Scotsman and Oban Times suggested The Wind in the Willows  was inspired by the Crinan Canal because Grahame spent some of his childhood in Ardrishaig.

    There is a theory that the idea for the story arose when its author saw a water vole beside the River Pang in Berkshire, southern England. A 29 hectare extension to the nature reserve at Moor Copse, near Tidmarsh Berkshire, was acquired in January 2007 by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust.

  • Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is the name of a ride at Disneyland in Anaheim, California and a former attraction at Disney's Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, inspired by Toad's motorcar adventure. It is the only ride with an alternate Latin title, given as the inscription on Toad's Hall: Toadi Acceleratio Semper Absurda ("Toad's Ever-Absurd Acceleration").
  • The first album by psychedelic rock group Pink Floyd, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967), was named by former member Syd Barrett after chapter 7 of The Wind in the Willows. However, the songs on the album are not directly related to the contents of the book. The same chapter was the basis for the name and lyrics of "Piper at the Gates of Dawn", a song by Irish singer-song writer Van Morrison from his 1997 album The Healing Game. The song "The Wicker Man" by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden also includes the phrase. British extreme metal band Cradle of Filth released a special edition of their album Thornography, called Harder, Darker, Faster: Thornography Deluxe; on the song "Snake-Eyed and the Venomous", a pun is made in the lyrics "... all vipers at the gates of dawn" referring to Chapter 7 of the book.
  • Wind in the Willows is a fantasy for flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon, narrated by John Frith (2007).
  • Dutch composer Johan de Meij wrote a music piece for concert band in four movements, named after and based on The Wind in the Willows.
  • A messabout, often organized online, is a social event inspired by the book's quote: "There is nothing — absolute nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
  • The Edinburgh-based record label Song, by Toad Records takes its name from a passage in The Wind in the Willows.
  • In 2016, an English Historian, who owned a rare first edition, was tortured and murdered in his home by a thief intent on finding the book's location hidden somewhere in the house.

    • References

    The Wind in the Willows Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA