The Wind in the Willows

The River Bank (1)

THE Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home.
First with brooms, then with dusters; then on ladders and steps and chairs, with a
brush and a pail of whitewash; till he had dust in his throat and eyes, and splashes of
whitewash all over his black fur, and an aching back and weary arms. Spring was
moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his
dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing. It was small
wonder, then, that he suddenly flung down his brush on the floor, said 'Bother!' and 'O
blow!' and also 'Hang springcleaning!' and bolted out of the house without even
waiting to put on his coat.
Something up above was calling him imperiously, and he made for the steep little
tunnel which answered in his case to the gravelled carriage-drive owned by animals
whose residences are nearer to the sun and air. So he scraped and scratched and
scrabbled and scrooged and then he scrooged again and scrabbled and scratched and
scraped, working busily with his little paws and muttering to himself, 'Up we go! Up
we go!' till at last, pop! his snout came out into the sunlight, and he found himself
rolling in the warm grass of a great meadow.
'This is fine!' he said to himself. 'This is better than whitewashing!' The sunshine struck
hot on his fur, soft breezes caressed his heated brow, and after the seclusion of the
cellarage he had lived in so long the carol of happy birds fell on his dulled hearing
almost like a shout. Jumping off all his four legs at once, in the joy of living and the
delight of spring without its cleaning, he pursued his way across the meadow till he
reached the hedge on the further side.
'Hold up!' said an elderly rabbit at the gap. 'Sixpence for the privilege of passing by the
private road!' He was bowled over in an instant by the impatient and contemptuous
Mole, who trotted along the side of the hedge chaffing the other rabbits as they peeped
hurriedly from their holes to see what the row was about.
'Onion-sauce! Onion-sauce!' he remarked jeeringly, and was gone before they could
think of a thoroughly satisfactory reply. Then they all started grumbling at each other.
'How stupid you are! Why didn't you tell him-' 'Well, why didn't you say-' 'You might
have reminded him-' and so on, in the usual way; but, of course, it was then much too
late, as is always the case.
It all seemed too good to be true. Hither and thither through the meadows he rambled
busily, along the hedgerows, across the copses, finding everywhere birds building,
flowers budding, leaves thrusting- everything happy, and progressive, and occupied.
And instead of having an uneasy conscience pricking him and whispering 'whitewash!'
he somehow could only feel how jolly it was to be the only idle dog among all these
busy citizens. After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting
yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working.
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.
As he sat on the grass and looked across the river, a dark hole in the bank opposite, just
above the water's edge, caught his eye, and dreamily he fell to considering what a nice
snug dwelling-place it would make for an animal with few wants and fond of a bijou
riverside residence, above flood level and remote from noise and dust. As he gazed,
something bright and small seemed to twinkle down in the heart of it, vanished, then
twinkled once more like a tiny star. But it could hardly be a star in such an unlikely
situation; and it was too glittering and small for a glow-worm. Then, as he looked, it
winked at him, and so declared itself to be an eye; and a small face began gradually to
grow up round it, like a frame round a picture.
A brown little face, with whiskers.
A grave round face, with the same twinkle in its eye that had first attracted his notice.
Small neat ears and thick silky hair.
It was the Water Rat!
Then the two animals stood and regarded each other cautiously.
'Hullo, Mole!' said the Water Rat.
'Hullo, Rat!' said the Mole.
'Would you like to come over?' enquired the Rat presently.
'Oh, its all very well to talk,' said the Mole, rather pettishly, he being new to a river and
riverside life and its ways.
The Rat said nothing, but stooped and unfastened a rope and hauled on it; then lightly
stepped into a little boat which the Mole had not observed. It was painted blue outside
and white within, and was just the size for two animals; and the Mole's whole heart
went out to it at once, even though he did not yet fully understand its uses.
The Rat sculled smartly across and made fast. Then he held up his forepaw as the Mole
stepped gingerly down. 'Lean on that!' he said. 'Now then, step lively!'
and the Mole to his surprise and rapture found himself actually seated in the stern of a
real boat.
'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 Iwhat 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 fascinating fittings, and felt the boat sway lightly under him.
'Nice? It's the only thing,' said the Water Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his
stroke. 'Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing- absolute nothinghalf 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 the 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,' the Rat went on composedly, picking himself up with a

pleasant laugh. 'In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter,

that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive

at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get

anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and

when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like,

but you'd much better not. 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?' The

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!' 'Hold hard a minute, then!' said the Rat. He looped the

painter through a ring in his landing-stage, climbed up into his hole above, and after a

short interval reappeared staggering under a fat, wicker luncheon-basket.

'Shove that under your feet,' he observed to the Mole, as he passed it down into the

boat. Then he untied the painter and took the sculls again.

'What's inside it?' asked the Mole, wriggling with curiosity.

'There's cold chicken inside it,' replied the Rat briefly;

'coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenchrolls

resssandwichespottedmeatgingerbeerlemonadesodawater-' 'O stop, stop,' cried the

Mole in ecstacies: 'This is too much!' 'Do you really think so?' enquired the Rat

seriously. 'It's only what I always take on these little excursions; and the other animals

are always telling me that I'm a mean beast and cut it very fine!'

The Mole never heard a word he was saying. Absorbed in the new life he was entering

upon, intoxicated with the sparkle, the ripple, the scents and the sounds and the

sunlight, he trailed a paw in the water and dreamed long waking dreams.

The Water Rat, like the good little fellow he was, sculled steadily on and forebore to

disturb him.

'I like your clothes awfully, old chap,' he remarked after some half an hour or so had

passed. 'I'm going to get a black velvet smoking-suit myself some day, as soon as I can

afford it.' 'I beg your pardon,' said the Mole, pulling himself together with an effort.

'You must think me very rude; but all this is so new to me. So- this- is- a- River!' 'The

River,' corrected the Rat.

'And you really live by the river? What a jolly life!' 'By it and with it and on it and in

it,' said the Rat. 'It's brother and sister to me, and aunts, and company, and food and

drink, and (naturally) washing. It's my world, and I don't want any other. What it

hasn't got is not worth having, and what it doesn't know is not worth knowing. Lord!

the times we've had together! Whether in winter or summer, spring or autumn, it's

always got its fun and its excitements. When the floods are on in February, and my

cellars and basement are brimming with drink that's no good to me, and the brown

water runs by my best bedroom window; or again when it all drops away and shows