The Wind in the Willows
Complete textMole abandons spring cleaning and discovers the pleasures of the river through his friendship with Rat. Their life among Badger, Toad and other neighbors combines boating and hospitality with adventures prompted by Toad's restless enthusiasm for new forms of excitement.
Continue readingAbout The Wind in the Willows
The book alternates between quiet attention to home and landscape and expansive comic action. Friendship involves both shared pleasure and the less agreeable work of confronting a companion's recklessness. Changes of season give each place a different emotional character, making belonging something sustained through visits, memory and practical care.
Reading focus
Compare the river's quiet pleasures with Toad's appetite for novelty and the demands both place on friendship.
This reading edition contains 58,713 words in 12 original sections. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.
Author: Kenneth Grahame. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.
Opening excerpt
The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home. First with brooms, then with dusters; then on ladders and steps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of whitewash; till he had dust in his throat and eyes, and splashes of whitewash all over his black fur, and an aching back and weary arms. Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing. It was small wonder, then, that he suddenly flung down his brush on the floor, said “Bother!” and “O blow!” and also “Hang spring-cleaning!” and bolted out of the house without even waiting to put on…
Contents
All sections- I. THE RIVER BANK20 min
- II. THE OPEN ROAD20 min
- III. THE WILD WOOD21 min
- IV. MR. BADGER22 min
- V. DULCE DOMUM24 min
- VI. MR. TOAD21 min
- VII. THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN18 min
- VIII. TOAD’S ADVENTURES22 min
- IX. WAYFARERS ALL27 min
- X. THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF TOAD27 min
- XI. “LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS CAME HIS TEARS”28 min
- XII. THE RETURN OF ULYSSES22 min
Reading & download help
Is this the complete The Wind in the Willows?
This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 12 sections and 58,713 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.
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A4 is designed for 210 × 297 mm paper; US Letter for 8.5 × 11 inch paper. Both contain the same complete text, selectable text and section bookmarks.
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