The Wind in the Willows: Toad's Adventures

Toad lay in the dark dungeon, crying, and he would not eat. “Oh, foolish Toad,” he cried. “I will never see Toad Hall again!”But the jailer’s daughter, a kind girl, felt sorry for him and brought him hot tea and buttered toast.Toad soon felt better, and he told her all about Toad Hall, his boats, and his fine dinners.

One day she said, “My aunt is a washerwoman, and she washes the prisoners’ clothes. You could put on her clothes and walk out as her!”Toad paid the washerwoman well, and she gave him her cotton dress, her shawl, and her old black bonnet.Dressed like this, Toad walked right past all the guards, and soon he was outside the castle walls, free!

He hurried to the railway station, but then he remembered that his money was still in his coat, back in the prison.He began to cry, and the kind engine-driver asked, “What’s the trouble, mother?”“If you wash a few of my shirts when you get home,” said the driver, “you can ride with me on the engine.”

Toad climbed up happily, and the train rushed through the night toward Toad Hall.But soon the driver saw another engine behind them, full of police and guards shouting, “Stop, stop, stop!”Toad fell on his knees and cried, “I am not a washerwoman! I am Toad, and I have escaped from prison. Please save me!”

The driver looked at him sternly, but he said, “I don’t like policemen giving me orders on my own engine. I’ll help you.”When the train came out of a long tunnel, the driver slowed down, and Toad jumped off and rolled into a wood.A moment later, the other engine roared past, full of shouting police, and Toad laughed for the first time since he went to prison.

But the night was cold, the wood was dark, and Toad was alone and hungry.A fox looked at him and laughed, “Hello, washerwoman! Half a pair of socks missing this week!”At last he found a hollow tree, made a bed of branches and dead leaves, and slept soundly until morning.