05 - Dulce Dolmum. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.

05 - Dulce Dolmum. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.  
This much-loved story follows a group of animal friends in the English countryside as they pursue adventure ... and as adventure pursues them! The chief characters - Mole, Rat, and Toad - generally lead upbeat and happy lives, but their tales are leavened with moments of terror, homesickness, awe, madcap antics, and derring-do.  
Although classed as children's literature, The Wind in the Willows holds a gentle fascination for adults too. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. This recording is by Mark Smith
of Simpsonville, South Carolina. The Wind in the Willows by
Kenneth Graham, Chapter five Dulce Doman. The sheep ran huddling

(00:29):
together against the hurdles, blowing out thin nostrils and stamping
with delicate forefeet, their heads thrown back, and a light
steam rising from the crowded sheep pen into the frosty
air as the two animals hastened by in high spirits,
with much chatter and laughter. They were returning across country
after long days outing with otter, hutting and exploring on

(00:53):
the wide umphlets, where certain streams tributary to their own
river had their first small beginnings, and the shades of
the short winter day were closing in on them, and
they still had some distance to go, Plotting at random
across the plow they had heard the sheep and had
made for them, and now leading from the sheep pen,

(01:14):
they found a beaten track that made walking a lighter business,
and responded moreover to that small inquiring something which all
animals carry inside them, saying unmistakably, yes, quite right, this
leads home. It looks as if we were coming to
a village, said the mole, somewhat dubiously, slackening his pace,

(01:39):
as the track that had in time become a path
and then had developed into a lane, now handed them
over to the charge of a well mettled road. The
animals did not hold with villages and their own highways,
thickly frequented as they were, took an independent course, regardless
of church, post off us or public house. Oh never mind,

(02:03):
said the rat. At this season of the year, they're
all safe indoors by this time, sitting around the fire men,
women and children, dogs and cats and all. We shall
slip through all right, without any bother or unpleasantness. And
we can have a look at them through their windows,
if you like, and see what they're doing. The rapid

(02:26):
nightfall of mid December had quite beset the little village.
As they approached it on soft feet over a first
thin fall of powdery snow, little was visible but squares
of a dusky orange red on either side of the street,
where the firelight or lamplight of each cottage overflowed through
the casements into the dark world without. Most of the

(02:50):
low latticed windows were innocent of blinds, and to the
lookers in from outside. The inmates gathered round the tea table,
absorbed in handy work or talking with laughter and jesture,
had each that happy grace, which is the last thing
the skilled actor should capture, the natural grace which goes

(03:11):
with perfect unconsciousness of observation. Moving at will from one
theater to another, the two spectators, so far from home themselves,
had something of wistfulness in their eyes as they watched
a cat being stroked, a sleepy child picked up and
huddled off to bed, or a tired man's stretch and

(03:34):
knock out his pipe on the end of a smoldering log.
But it was from one little window with its blind
drawn down, a mere blank transparency on the night that
the sense of home and the little curtained world within walls,
the larger, stressful world of outside nature shut out and forgotten,

(03:56):
most pulsated close against the white blindung a bird cage
clearly silhouetted, every wire perch, and a pertinence distinct and
recognizable even to yesterday's dull edged lump of sugar on
the middle perch. The fluffy occupant head tucked well into feathers,

(04:17):
seemed so near to them as to be easily stroked
had they tried. Even the delicate tips of his plumped
out plumage penciled plainly on the illuminated screen. As they looked,
the sleepy little fellow stirred uneasily, woke, shook himself, and
raised his head. They could see the gape of his

(04:38):
tiny beak as he yawned in a bored sort of way,
looked round, and then settled his head into his back again,
while the ruffled feathers gradually subsided into perfect stillness. Then
a gust of bitter wind took them in the back
of the neck. A small sting of frozen sleet on
the skin woke them as from a dream, and they

(05:01):
knew their toes to be cold, and their legs tired,
and their own home distant a weary way. Once beyond
the village, where the cottages ceased abruptly on either side
of the road, they could smell through the darkness the
friendly fields again, and they braced themselves for the last

(05:21):
long stretch, the home stretch, The stretch that we know
was bound to end sometime in the rattle of the
door latch, the sudden firelight, and the sight of familiar
things greeting us as long absent travelers from far over sea.
They plodded along, steadily and silently, each of them thinking

(05:42):
his own thoughts. The moles ran a good deal on supper,
as it was pitch dark, and it was all a
strange country for him as far as he knew, and
he was following obediently in the wake of the rat,
leaving the guidance entirely to him. As for the rat,
he was walking a little way ahead, as his habit was,

(06:03):
his shoulders humped, his eyes fixed on the street gray
road in front of him, so he did not notice
poor mole when suddenly the summons reached him and took
him like an electric shock. We others, who have long
lost the more subtle of the physical senses, have not
even proper terms to express an animal's intercommunications with his surroundings,

(06:28):
living or otherwise, and have only the word smell, for instance,
to include the whole range of delicate thrills which murmur
in the noise of the animal night and day, summoning warning,
inciting repelling. It was one of these mysterious fairy calls

(06:48):
from out of the void that suddenly reached Mole in
the darkness, making him tingle through and through with its
very familiar appeal, even while yet he could not clearly
remember what it was. He stopped dead in his tracks,
his nose searching hither and thither in its efforts to
recapture the fine filament the telegraphic current that had so

(07:13):
strongly moved him a moment, and he had caught it again,
and with it this time came recollection in fullest flood. Home.
That was what they meant, those caressing appeals, those soft
touches wafted through the air, those invisible little hands pulling
and tugging all one way. Why it must be quite

(07:36):
close by him at this moment, his old home that
he had hurriedly forsaken and never sought again that day
when he first found the river, And now it was
sending out its scouts and its messengers to capture him
and bring him in. Since his escape on that bright morning,
he had hardly given it a thought, so absorbed had

(07:59):
he been in his new life, in all its pleasures,
its surprises, its fresh and captivating experiences. Now with a
rush of old memories, how clearly it stood up before
him in the darkness, shabby indeed, and small and poorly furnished,
and yet his, the home he had made for himself,

(08:22):
the home he had been so happy to get back
to after his day's work. And the home had been
happy with him too, evidently, and was missing him and
wanted him back, and was telling him so through his nose, sorrowfully, reproachfully,
but with no bitterness or anger, only with plaintive reminder

(08:44):
that it was there and wanted him. The call was clear,
the summons was plain. He must obey it instantly and go. Ready,
he called, full of joyful excitement. Hold on, come back,
I want you quick. Oh come along, maule do, replied

(09:05):
the rat, cheerfully, still plodding along. Please stop, Raddy, pleaded
the poor mole, in anguish of heart. You don't understand.
It's my home, my old home. I've just come across
the smell of it, and it's quite close by here,
really quite close. In A must go to it, I must,

(09:26):
I must oh come back, Raddy, please please come back.
The rat was by this time very far ahead, too
far to hear clearly what the mole was calling, too
far to catch the sharp note of painful appeal in
his voice, And he was much taken up with the weather,
for he too could smell something, something suspiciously like approaching snow. Moll,

(09:52):
we mustn't stop now, really, he called back. We'll come
forth tomorrow whatever it is you found. But I daren't
stop now. It's late, and the snow's coming on again,
and I'm not sure of the way, and I want
your nose, Mal, So come on quick. There's a good fellow.
And the rat pressed forward on his way without waiting

(10:12):
for an answer. Poor Mal stood alone in the road,
his heart torn asunder, and a big sob gathering gathering
somewhere low down inside him to leap up to the surface.
Presently he knew impassionate escape. But even under such a

(10:33):
test as this, his loyalty to his friend stood firm.
Never for a moment did he dream of abandoning him. Meanwhile,
the wafts from his old home pleaded, whispered, conjured, and
finally claimed him. Imperiously, he dared not tarry longer within
their magic circle. With a wrench that tore his very heartstrings.

(10:57):
He set his face down the road and followed submissively
in the track of the rat, while faint, thin little smells,
still dogging his retreating nose, reproached him for his new
friendship and his callous forgetfulness. With an effort, he caught
up to the unsuspecting rat, who began chattering cheerfully about

(11:19):
what they would do when they got back, and how
jolly a fire of logs in the parlor would be,
and what a supper he meant to eat, never noticing
his companion's silence and distressful state of mind. At last, however,
when they had gone some considerable way further and were
passing some tree stumps at the edge of a copse

(11:41):
that boarded the road, he stopped and said, kindly, look.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
Here them all, old chap.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
You seem dead tired, no talk left in you, and
your feet dragging like lead. We'll sit down here for
a minute and rest. The snow was held off so far,
and the best part of our journey is over. The
mole subsided forlornly on a stree stump and tried to
control himself, for he felt it surely coming. The sob

(12:11):
he had fought with so long, refused to be beaten.
Up and up, it forced its way to the air,
and then another, and another, and others, thick and fast,
till a poor mole at last gave up the struggle
and cried freely and helplessly and openly, now that he

(12:33):
knew it was all over and he'd lost what he
could hardly be said to have found. The rat, astonished
and dismayed at the violence of Mole's paroxysm of grief,
did not dare to speak for a while. At last
he said, very quietly and sympathetically, what is it, old fellow,

(12:55):
Whatever can be the matter? Tell us your trouble. Let
me see what I can do. Poor Maul found it
difficult to get any words out between the upheavals of
his chest that followed one upon another so quickly, and
held back speech and choked it as it came.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
Oh uh, and know it's a shabby, dingy little place,
he sobbed force at last, brokenly, not like your cozy quarters,
or Toad's beautiful hall, or Badger's great house.

Speaker 4 (13:32):
But it was my own little home, and I was
fond of it. And I went away and forgot about it,
and I smelt it suddenly on the road.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
When I called it, you wouldn't listen, rat, And everything
came back to me with a rush, and I wanted it,
oh dear, oh dear, And when you wouldn't turn back ready,
and I had to leave it though it was smelling
it all the time, I thought my heart would break.

Speaker 4 (14:10):
We might have just gone and had one look at
it ready, only one look. It was close by, but
you wouldn't turn back ready, You wouldn't turn back.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Old recollection brought fresh waves of sorrow, and sobs again
took full charge of him, preventing further speech. The rat
stared straight in front of him, saying nothing, only patting
Mole gently on the shoulder. After a while, he muttered, gloomily.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
I see it all now. What a pig I have
been a pig. That's me, just a pig, A plain pig.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
He waited until Mole's sobs became gradually less stormy and
more rhythmical. He waited till at last sniffs were frequent
and sobs only intermittent. Then he rose from his seat
and remarking carelessly, well, now we'd really better be getting
on old chap set off up the road again, over

(15:17):
the toilsome way they had come. Whatever you go in to, ready,
cried the tearful mole, looking up in alarm. We're gonna
find that home of yours, old fellow, replied the rat pleasantly.
So you'd better come along, for it will take some finding,

(15:38):
and we shall want your nose. Oh come back, ready, do,
cried the mole, getting up and hurrying after him. It's
no good, I tell you.

Speaker 4 (15:49):
It's too late and too dark, and the places too
far off, and the snow's coming. And I never meant
to let you know I was feeling that way about it.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
It was all an accident and a mistake. And think
of riverbank in your supper. Hang, river bank and supper too,
said the rat heartily. I tell you I'm going to
find this place now if I stay out all night.
So cheer up, all chap, take my arm, and we'll
very soon be back there again. Still snuffling, pleading and reluctant,

(16:26):
mole suffered himself to be dragged back along the road
by his imperious companion, who, by a flow of cheerful
talk an anecdote, endeavored to beguile his spirits back and
make the weary way seem shorter. When at last it
seemed to the rat that they must be nearing that
part of the road where the mole had been held up,

(16:46):
he said, now, no more talking business, use your nose
and give your mind to it. They moved on in
silence for some little way, when suddenly the rat was conscious,
through his arm that was linked in moles, of a
faint sort of electric thrill that was passing down that

(17:09):
animal's body. Instantly he disengaged himself, fell back a pace,
and waited all attention. The signals were coming through. Mole
stood a moment rigid while his uplifted nose quivering slightly
felt the air. Then a short quick run forward, a fault,

(17:31):
a check, a try back, and then a slow, steady,
confident advance. The rat, much excited, kept close to his
heels as the mole, with something of the air of
a sleepwalker, crossed a dry ditch, scrambled through a hedge,
and nosed his way over a field, open and trackless

(17:51):
and bare in the faint starlight. Suddenly, without giving warning,
he dived, But the rat was on the alert and
promptly followed him down the tunnel to which his unerring
nose had faithfully led him. It was close and airless,
and the earthy smell was strong, and it seemed a
long time to rat. Ere The passage ended, and he

(18:14):
could stand erect and stretch and shake himself. The mole
struck a match, and by its light the rat saw
that they were standing in an open space, neatly swept
and sanded underfoot, and directly facing them was mole's little
front door, with mole end painted in Gothic lettering over

(18:34):
the bell pull. At the side. Moule reached down a
lantern from a nail on the wall and lit it,
and the rat, looking round him, saw that they were
in a sort of forecourt. A garden seat stood on
one side of the door, and on the other a
roller for the mole, who was a tidy animal went
at home, could not stand having his ground kicked up

(18:57):
by other animals. In the little runs that ended in
earth heaps. On the walls hung wire baskets with ferns
in them, alternating with brackets carrying plaster statuary Garibaldi and
the Infant Samuel and Queen Victoria and other heroes of
modern Italy. Down on one side of the forecourt ran

(19:19):
a skittle alley with benches along it and little wooden
tables marked with rings that hinted at beer mugs. In
the middle was a small round pond containing goldfish, and
surrounded by a cockle shell border. Out of the center
of the pond rose a fanciful erection, clothed in more
cockle shells, and topped by a large silver glass ball

(19:44):
that reflected everything all wrong and had a very pleasing effect.
Mole's face beamed at the sight of all these objects
so dear to him, and he hurried rat through the door,
lit a lamp in the hall, and took one glance
round his old home. He saw the dust lying thick

(20:04):
on everything, saw the cheerless, deserted look of the long
neglected house, and its narrow, meager dimensions, its worn and
shabby contents, and collapsed again on a hall chair, his
nose to his paws.

Speaker 4 (20:21):
Already he cried dismally, Why ever did I do it?
Why did I bring you to this poor, cold little
place on a night like this, when you might have
been at Riverbank by this time, toasting your toes before
blazing fire, with all your own nice things about you.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
The rat papd no heed to his doleful self reproaches.
He was running here and there, opening doors, inspecting rooms
and cupboards, and lighting lamps and candles and sticking them
up everywhere.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
What a capital little house this.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
Is, he called out, cheerily, So compact, so well planned,
everything here and everything in its place. We'll make a
jolly night of it. The first thing we want is
a good fire. I'll see to that. I always know
where to find things, So this is the parlor. Splendid
your own idea, Those little sleeping bunks in the wall capital.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
Now I'll fetch the.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Wood and the coals, and you get a duster mole.
You'll find one in the drawer of the kitchen table,
and try and smarten things up a bit.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
Bustle about old chap.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
Encouraged by his inspiriting companion, the mole roused himself and
dusted and polished with energy and heartiness, while the rat,
running to and fro with armfuls of fuel, soon had
a cheerful blaze roaring up the chimney. He hailed the
mold to come and warm himself, but Moe promptly had
another fit of the blues, dropping down on a couch

(21:57):
in dark despair and burying his in his duster. What
he moaned, how about your.

Speaker 4 (22:06):
Supper, you poor cold, hungry, weary animal.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
I've nothing to give you, nothing, not a crumb. What
a fellow you are for giving in? Said the rat reproachfully.
Why only just now I saw a sardine opener on
the kitchen dresser, quite distinctly, and everybody knows that means
there are sardines about somewhere in the neighborhood. Rouse yourself,

(22:33):
pull yourself together, and come with me in forage. They
went and foraged accordingly, hunting through every cupboard and turning
out every drawer. The result was not so very depressing
after all, though, of course it might have been better
a tin of sardines, a box of Captain's biscuits nearly full,

(22:54):
and a German sausage encased in silver paper. There's a
banquet for you, of the rat, as he arranged the table.
I know some animals who would give their ears to
be sitting down to supper with us tonight. No bread,
groaned the mole dolorously. No butter, no.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
No pote de foi gras.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
No champagne, continued the rat grinning, And that reminds me,
what's that little door at the end of the passage.
You're a cellar, of course, every luxury in this house.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Just you wait a minute.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
He made for the cellar door, and presently reappeared, somewhat dusty,
with a bottle of beer in each paw and another
under each arm. Self indulgent, beggar, you seem to be
mull he observed, Deny yourself nothing. This is really the
jolliest little place I ever was in. Now, wherever did
you pick up those prints? Makes the place look so

(23:54):
homelike they do? No wonder you're so fond of it, moule.
Tell us all about it and how you came to
make it what it is. Then, while the rat busied
himself fetching plates and knives and forks and mustard, which
he mixed in an egg cup, the mole, his bosom,
still heaving with the stress of his recent emotion, related

(24:16):
somewhat shyly at first, but with more freedom as he
warmed to his subject how this was planned, and how
that was thought of, and how this was got through
a windfall from an ant, and that was a wonderful
find and a bargain, and this other thing was bought
out of laborious savings and a certain amount of going

(24:37):
without his spirits finally quite restored, he must needs go
and caress his possessions and take a lamp and show
off their points to his visitor and expatiate on them,
quite forgetful of the supper they both so much needed. Rat,
who was desperately hungry but strove to conceal it, nodded seriously,

(25:00):
aboning with a puckered brow, and say wonderful and most
remarkable at intervals when the chance for an observation was
given him. At last, the rat succeeded in decoying him
to the table, and had just got seriously to work
with the sardine opener when sounds were heard from the forecourt,

(25:22):
without sounds like the scuffling of small feet in the
gravel and a confused murmur of tiny voices, while broken
sentences reached.

Speaker 5 (25:31):
Them, now all in a line, hold the lanyard up
a bit, Tommy, clear your throats first, no coughing after
I say one, two, three.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
Where's young Bill here? Come on, come on, we're all awaiting.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
What's up?

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Inquired the rat, pausing in his labors. Oh, I think
it must be the field mice, replied the mole, with
a touch of pride in his manner. They go round carols,
singing regularly at this time of the year. They're quite
an institution in these ports, and they never pass me over.
They come to mole in last of all. And I

(26:12):
used to give them hot drinks and supper too, sometimes
when I could afford it. It will be like old
times to hear them again. Let's have a look at em,
cried the rat, jumping up and running to the door.
It was a pretty sight, and a seasonable one that
met their eyes when they flung the door open. In

(26:33):
the little forecourt, lit by the dim rays of a
horn lantern, some eight or ten little field mice stood
in a semicircle, red worsted comfanters round their throats, their
forepaws thrust deep into their pockets, their feet jigging for warmth.
With bright beady eyes, they glanced shyly at each other,

(26:54):
sniggering a little, sniffing, and applying coat sleeves a good deal.
As the door opened, one of the elder ones that
carried the ladder was just saying, now then one, two,
three and forthwith their shrill little voices uprose on the air,
singing one of the old time carols that their forefathers

(27:14):
composed in fields that were fallow and held by frost,
or when snow bound in chimney corners and handed down
to be sung in the miry street to lamp lit
windows at Yule time.

Speaker 6 (27:30):
The villages, all these frosty tide, lad your door swinging
open wide. The wind may follow when snow beside. Ye,
draw us in by your fire to bide joy shall
be yours in the mollarning.

Speaker 1 (27:54):
Here we stand in.

Speaker 6 (27:56):
The cold, and the sleet blowing fail, hungers and stamping
feet come from far away. You two greet you by
the fire, and we in the street, bidding you joy
in the morning. For ere one half of the night

(28:21):
was gone sodden a star as lad us on raining
bliss a banner's son, bliss to morrow a more n
on joy for every moarning good man Joseph toiled through

(28:45):
the snort, saw the star, or a stable low marry.
She might not further go. Welcome thatch and let her
be low. Joy was hers in the alling. And then

(29:07):
they are the angels, Tell who were the first to cry,
no well, animal soul, as it be fell in the
stable with they did twell, joy shall be there's in

(29:28):
the morey.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
The voices ceased, and the singers, bashful but smiling, exchanged
sidelong glances, and silence succeeded, but for a moment only.
Then from up above and far away down the tunnel
they had so lately traveled, was borne to their ears
in a faint musical hum, the sound of distant bells

(29:57):
ringing a joyful and a clangorous piece. Very well sung, boys,
cried the rat heartily. And now come along in, all
of you, and warm yourselves by the fire and have
something hot. Yes, come along field mice, cried the mole eagerly.
This is quite like old times. Shut the door after

(30:20):
you pull up that settle to the fire. Now you
just wait a minute while we already, he cried in despair,
plumping down on a seat with tears impending. Whatever are
we doing? We've nothing to give 'em.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
You leave that all to me, said the masterful rat.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
Here you with a ladder, and come over it this way.
I want to talk to you. Now, tell me, are
there any shops open at this hour of the night?

Speaker 2 (30:51):
Why certainly, sir.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Replied the field mouse, respectfully.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
At this time of the year, our shops.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
Keep open to all sorts of Then look here, said
the rat. You'll go off at once, you and your lantern,
and you get me here. Much muttered conversation ensued, and
the mole only heard bits of it, such as fresh mind, No,
a pound of that will do. See you get bugginses,

(31:20):
for I won't have any other. No, only the best.
If you can't get it there, try somewhere else. Oh yes,
of course, homemade, no tin stuff. Well, then do the
best you can. Finally there was a chink of coin
passing from paw to paw. The field mouse was provided

(31:42):
with an ample basket for his purchases, and off he hurried,
he and his lantern. The rest of the field mice
perched in a row on the settle, their small legs swinging,
gave themselves up to enjoyment of the fire, and toasted
their chilblaines till they tingled, while the mole, failing to
draw them into easy conversation, plunged into family history and

(32:06):
made each of them recite the names of his numerous
brothers who were too young. It appeared to be allowed
to go out of caroling this year, but look forward
very shortly to winning the parental consent. The rat, meanwhile,
was busy examining the label on one of the beer bottles.
I perceive this to be Old Burton, he remarked, approvingly, sensible, mole,

(32:30):
the very thing. Now we shall be able to mulse
some ale. Get the things ready, mole, while I draw
the corks. It did not take long to prepare the
brew and thrust the tin heater well into the red
heart of the fire, And soon every field mouse was
sipping and coughing and choking for a little mulled ale

(32:51):
goes a long way and wiping his eyes and laughing,
and forgetting he had ever been cold in all his life.
They act polished too, Oh these fellows, the mole explained
to the rat. Make them all up by themselves, and
act them afterwards. And very well they do it too.

(33:11):
They gave us a capital one last year about a
field mouse who was captured at sea by a barbary
corsair and made to row in a galley. And when
he escaped and got home again, his lady love had
gone into a convent. Here you you were in it,
I remember. Get up and recite a bit. The field mouse, addressed,

(33:34):
got up on his legs, giggled, shyly, looked round the room,
and remained absolutely tongue tied. His comrades cheered him on,
Mole coaxed and encouraged him, and the rat went so
far as to take him by the shoulders and shake him.
But nothing could overcome his stage fright. They were all
busily engaged on him like watermen, applying the Royal Humane

(33:59):
Society's relations to a case of long submersion. When the
latch clicked, the door opened, and the field mouse with
the lantern reappeared, staggering under the weight of his basket.
There was no more talk of play acting. Once the
very real and solid contents of the basket had been
tumbled out on the table under the generalship of rat,

(34:21):
everybody was set to do something or to fetch something.
In a very few minutes, supper was ready, and Mole,
as he took the head of the table, in a
sort of a dream, saw a lately barren board set
thick with savory comforts, saw his little friend's faces brighten
and beam as they fell to without delay and then

(34:43):
let himself loose, for he was famished indeed on the
prevendor so magically provided, thinking what a happy homecoming this
had turned out after all. As they ate, they talked
of old times and the field mice, gave him the
low uncle gossip up to date, and answered as well
as they could the hundred questions he had to ask them.

(35:06):
The rat said little or nothing, only taking care that
each guest had what he wanted, and plenty of it,
and that Mole had no trouble or anxiety about anything.
They clattered off at last, very grateful and showering wishes
of the season, with their jacket pockets stuffed with remembrances
for the small brothers and sisters at home. When the

(35:30):
door had closed on the last of them, and the
chink of the lanterns had died away, Mole and rat
kicked the fire up, threw their chairs in, brewed themselves
a last night cap of mouldale, and discussed the events
of the long day. At last, the rat, with a
tremendous yawn, said, Mule, oh Chap, I'm ready to drop.

(35:56):
The sleep is simply not the word. That's your own.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
Bunk over on that side, very well, then I'll take
this one.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
What a ripping little house. This is everything so handy.
He clambered up into his bunk and rolled himself well
up in the blankets, and slumber gathered him forthwith as
a swathe of barley is folded into the arms of
the reaping machine. The weary mole also was glad to

(36:25):
turn him without to delay, and soon had his head
on the pillow in great joy and contentment. But ere
he closed his eyes, he let them wander round his
old room, mellow in the glow of the firelight that
played or rested on familiar and friendly things which had
long been unconsciously a part of him, and now smilingly

(36:49):
received him back without rancor. He was now in just
the frame of mind that the tactful rat had quietly
worked to bring about in him. He saw clearly how
plain and simple, how narrow even it all was, but
clearly too how much it all meant to him, and
the special value of some such anchorage in one's existence.

(37:14):
He did not at all want to abandon the new
life and its splendid spaces, to turn his back on
sun and air and all they offered him. In creep
home and stay there. The upper world was all too strong.
It called to him still, even down there, and he
knew he must return to the larger stage. But it

(37:36):
was good to think he had this, to come back to,
this place which was all his own, these things which
were so glad to see him again, and could always
be counted upon for the same simple welcome. The end
of chapter five