The Wind in the Willows: The Open Road

One bright summer morning, Mole asked the Rat, “Will you take me to meet Mr. Toad? I’ve heard so much about him.”“Of course,” said the Rat. “Toad is always glad to see his friends, and he is very kind — though he is not very clever.”They rowed up the river until they saw a fine old house of red brick, with green lawns running down to the water: it was Toad Hall.

Toad jumped up from a garden chair when he saw them. “Hooray! You’ve come at just the right time!”Toad was rich, and he was always crazy about some new hobby; first it had been boating, but now he had given that up.He led them to the stable yard and proudly showed them a caravan — a little house on wheels, painted canary-yellow and green, with red wheels.

“There’s real life for you!” cried Toad. “The open road, the dusty highway — travel, change, excitement!”The Rat did not want to leave his river, but Mole was so excited that the Rat finally agreed to come along.That afternoon an old grey horse pulled the caravan along the country lanes, and in the evening they camped on a wide, open common far from home.

Toad talked happily about all the places they would see, but the next morning he slept late while the Rat and Mole did all the work.In the afternoon they reached the high road, and suddenly they heard a faint warning sound behind them: “Poop-poop!”A magnificent motor-car rushed past in a cloud of dust, and it was gone in a moment.

The frightened horse reared up, and the caravan fell over into a deep ditch with a terrible crash.The Rat shook his fist and shouted at the road, but Toad simply sat down in the middle of it, staring after the car.“Poop-poop!” he murmured with a dreamy smile. “What a glorious sight! That is the only way to travel!”

“Toad, what about your lovely caravan?” asked Mole, but Toad no longer cared about it at all.So the Rat and Mole walked to the nearest town, sent someone to fetch the broken caravan, and took the train home with Toad.The next evening the Rat told Mole the news: Toad had gone to town on an early train and ordered a large and very expensive motor-car.