(Thank goodness) we’re nearing the end of our marathon Flora & Fauna alphabet reading picks! However, our ‘W’ one was a delight. I was lucky to be able to read Grahame’s 1908 classic in a 2003 Methuen edition (that matches my A.A. Milne set of poems & Pooh books) with the full-colour illustrations by E.H. Shepard which are just enchanting. This book gave us such a good discussion too. For most of us, it was the first time we’ve read it since childhood, but as adults, it was rewarding to revisit.
One of our group has been reading Sam Leith’s book The Haunted Wood: a history of childhood reading, and found the section on WitW great for providing some extra context. One of the things Leith discusses is ‘scale’ in that none of the animals is true to life size-wise. They are big enough to interact with humans – children-sized. Of course there are the issues that they talk, wear clothes, can drive a car (sort of!) etc. yet they are not totally anthropomorphized, they retain their animal characteristics. There is also a class thing going on, readily portrayed in Badger, who is quite rough around the edges, but has the moral authority which makes everyone a little scared of him. Toad, meanwhile, has inherited his wealth, and born into privilege has turned out to be an amoral, spoilt little brat, a buffoon (someone suggested he’s a bit of a BoJo-type!). He claims to have turned over a new leaf at the end of the story, but we know he’ll soon be back to his naughty ways. We basically didn’t like Toad, illustrated by the nasty things he says,
“You common, low, fat barge-woman!” he shouted; “don’t you dare to talk to your betters like that! Washer-woman indeed! …”
Adaptations of WitW tend to concentrate on the initial story of Mole meeting Ratty, then Badger, and the threesome dealing with Toad and his misadventures. I saw both casts in the National Theatre’s production of Alan Bennett’s adaptation directed by Nicolas Hytner, (featuring a memorable Richard Briers as Ratty, David Bamber as Mole, Michael Bryant as Badger and Griff Rhys-Jones as Toad in 1990; Des Barrit as Toad and Adrian Scarborough as Ratty in 1991). It used the Olivier Theatre’s revolving and lifting stage to great effect to reveal Badger’s home. The music was by Jeremy Sams, who was the star of the music dept at my brother’s school a couple of years ahead of me, and has gone on to great things!
Back to the book! We were surprised to rediscover bits we’d totally forgotten – the Water Rat’s adventure in particular, and the search for Portly, the young otter who goes missing, which includes the encounter with Pan, ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ (giving its name to Pink Floyd’s first album). I very much enjoyed Grahame’s bucolic turn of phrase when describing the settings, and loved the whimsy of this particular metaphor:
Nature’s Grand Hotel has its Season, like the others. As the guests one by one pack, pay, and depart, and the seats at the table d’hôte shrink pitifully at each succeeding meal; as suites of rooms are closed, carpets taken up, and waiters sent away; those boarders who are staying on, en pension, until the next year’s full reopening, cannot help being somewhat affected by all these flittings and farewells, this eager discussion of plans, routes, and fresh quarters, this daily shrinkage in the stream of comradeship.
We couldn’t help wondering if Enid Blyton got her lashings of ginger beer from the animals’ joy of picnics. We all went off on reveries about spreading a rug out for a picnic and questioning whether people still do picnics properly in the scheme of things, (Glyndebourne and the Races excepted). However, Ratty and Mole cement their friendship over one right at the start of the novel.
“There’s cold chicken inside it,” replied the Rat briefly; “coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenchrollscressandwidgespottedmeatgingerbeerlemonadesodawater-“
“O stop, stop,” cried the Mole in ecstasies: “This is too much!”
Although totally lacking in female characters apart from the barge-woman, the animals do show us the value of male friendship, camaraderie, kindness and inclusion, even if you can never quite trust a weasel or a ferret! This is a delightful children’s classic that does stand the test of time.
Source: Own copy. Grahame, The WitW, 1908, Methuen hardback 2003, illus, 262 pages. BUY at Amazon – 90th Anniversary paperback with the illustrations, via my affiliate link.
I so enjoy this book too! I listened to a fabulous narration of it by Andrew Wincott
Funnily enough, I just read the chapter on The Wind in the Willows in Reading My Mother Back: A Memoir in Childhood Animal Stories by Timothy C. Baker. It made me hanker to reread the original!