The Wind In The Willows (The Wild Wood)

Hi guys, here admin will tell you third chapter that contains "The Wild Wood". Oke, please read bellow.

THE WIND IN THE WILLOS

Chapter 3: The Wild Wood

The long, hot summer had ended at last. Now it was winter. Mole was still staying with Ratty, on the River Bank. One cold afternoon, the Mole decided to go to the Wild Wood, and visit Mr. Badger. He was the only one of Rat's friends that the Mole had not met properly, as he was not very sociable. In the winter most animals stay at home and rest, after an active summer. Some of them go to sleep for most of the time, and you cannot persuade them to do very much. So Mole knew that if he wanted to see Mr Badger, he would have to call on him. He slipped out of Ratty's warm parlor into the open air. The sky was steely. The countryside was bare. Twigs crackled under Mole's feet. Trees took on ugly, crouching shapes. The light faded. Mole began to feel frightened. Then the faces began - little, evil, wedge-shaped faces, looking out of holes, and then vanishing. Mole kept up his pace and, looking round, saw every hole with a face in it, all fixing him with evil, sharp looks. Then the whistling began. Very faint and shrill, behind, and then ahead of him. Mole was alone, and far from help, and night was closing in. Then the pattering began. Tiny feet pursuing him, rustling through the fallen leaves. He ran, and started bumping into trees. Meanwhile, Rat had discovered Mole was not at home. He saw his footprints outside, leading to the Wild Wood. Seizing a stout stick, he set out at a smart pace to track him. At last he found the Mole, in the shelter of an old beech tree, trembling all over, and so glad his friend had come. And then it began to snow, thick and fast. Soon a white carpet covered the ground and all the paths and landmarks were lost. Rat and Mole made their way with difficulty through the Wild Wood. Then Mole fell against something hard that cut his leg. It was a doorscraper. "Where there's a door-scraper, there must be a door!" said Ratty sensibly. Digging down, they found a doormat, and then a very solid front door, with a brass plate with "MR BADGER" on it, and an old-fashioned bell pull. They tugged at it. They could hear the bell clanging a long way down. Badger took some time to come to the door, wearing his old slippers and a thick dressing gown. He was rather grumpy at first at being disturbed, but welcomed them in to his fire lit kitchen. Great smoked hams and strings of fat brown onions hung from the rafters overhead. Badger gave them a good supper and they sat talking by the fire, about Toad and his craze for motorcars. Something would have to be done about that, said Badger, when the winter was over. In the morning they had porridge for breakfast, with two young hedgehogs that had got lost on their way to school. Badger showed them all the back door out of his lair, through a maze of tunnels that led to the edge of the wood. Looking back, Mole and Rat saw the Wild Wood, black, threatening and grim, against the snow, and made their way quickly home, safe once more on the friendly River Bank.