Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Part 4.
Watch on KineScope.
The next morning the Toad was still sleeping deeply when the other two got up. They shook him very hard but couldn’t wake him, so they had to do all the work. The Rat took care of the horse, lit the fire, and did last night’s washing-up. The Mole walked to the nearest village, a long way away, to get milk and eggs and bread, which the Toad had, of course, forgotten to bring. And when at last the Toad got up, he said what a pleasant easy life it was on the open road.
The day passed happily as they travelled over green hills and along narrow country roads. But the next morning the Rat and the Mole got Toad out of bed and made sure that he did some of the work. Because of this, Toad said very little about a pleasant easy life. Later, he even tried to get back into bed, but the Mole and the Rat pulled him out again.
The end of their journey came very suddenly. In the afternoon they were travelling along a big road. The Mole was walking beside the horse, and the Toad and the Water Rat were walking behind the caravan, talking together. Actually, the Toad was talking, and the Rat was listening – some of the time.
Then they heard a noise behind them, and looking back, they saw a small cloud of dust. It made a ‘Poop-poop! ’ sound, and it was coming towards them very fast indeed.
Seconds later, the peace of the afternoon was destroyed in a storm of noise and wind and dust. The ‘poop-poop’ rang with a shout in their ears, and an enormous, long, shining motor-car roared past them and disappeared over the hill.
The old grey horse, wild with fear, tried to get off the road. The caravan’s wheels began to go down into the ditch at the edge of the road. Then there was a terrible crash – and the beautiful yellow and green caravan lay helplessly on its side.
The Rat jumped up and down in the road, shouting angrily. ‘Stupid, dangerous people! The police should lock you up in prison!’
He and the Mole managed to calm the horse, and then they went to look at the caravan. Two wheels had come off, the windows were broken, and bits of wood lay everywhere. They tried to pull it out of the ditch, but they couldn’t move it.
‘Hi! Toad!’ they cried. ‘Come and help us, can’t you!’
The Toad never answered a word, so they went to see what was the matter with him. They found him sitting in the middle of the road, with a dreamy smile on his face and happily whispering, ‘Poop-poop!’
The Rat shook him, not very gently. ‘Are you coming to help us, Toad?’ he asked crossly.
‘Oh, what happiness!’ whispered Toad to himself. ‘The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here one minute – miles away in seconds! Wonderful! Poop-poop!’
‘Oh, do stop being so silly, Toad!’ cried the Mole.
‘And I never knew’ the Toad went on dreamily. ‘I never dreamt’. What clouds of dust will fly up behind me as I drive like the wind! I’ve finished with silly old caravans for ever. Poop-poop!’
‘What are we going to do with him?’ the Mole asked the Water Rat.
‘Nothing,’ replied the Rat. ‘There’s nothing that we can do. I know Toad. When he gets a new idea into his head, he always goes crazy at first. He’ll be like this for some days now. Come on, we’ll have to do everything by ourselves.’
They had to leave the caravan in the ditch and walk to the nearest town, five or six miles away. There they asked somebody to take care of the horse, and found somebody who agreed to fetch the broken caravan. Then they caught a train to a station near Toad Hall, took Toad home, went down to the boat, and then at last they sat down to a late supper in Rat’s comfortable little home by the river.
The next day was a lazy one. In the evening the Mole was sitting on the river bank fishing, when the Rat, who had been to visit friends, came to find him.
‘Heard the news?’ the Rat said. ‘Everybody’s talking about it, all along the river bank. Toad went up to town by an early train this morning. And he has ordered a large and very expensive motor-car.’