Not long after, when Mole and Rat are out late, Mole suddenly senses his former underground home calling for him. In the morning, Otter arrives and walks Mole and Rat home. They also decide that since Toad has now crashed seven cars, they’ll stage an intervention in the spring. Badger ushers them in, feeds them, and invites them to stay the night. They wander around, trying to get home, but end up discovering Badger’s front door by accident. The two rest for a while, during which time it starts to snow. When Rat realizes where Mole went, he tracks Mole into the wood and finds him in a hollow tree. Mole is soon lost and terrified-there are faces and odd sounds everywhere. Since Rat won’t take Mole to meet Badger, Mole decides to venture into the Wild Wood one winter day to call on Badger. But Toad doesn’t care about caravans anymore he only cares about cars. Several days into the journey, a car races up behind the caravan, scaring the horse so badly that the horse dumps the caravan into the ditch. Toad’s newest hobby is traveling in a caravan-and he expects Mole and Rat to go with him on his first adventure. Toad has a reputation for picking up expensive hobbies and then moving onto something new when the hobby proves too difficult. One day, he asks Rat to take him to meet Toad, who’s wealthy and conceited. Over the next few months, Mole learns a lot about boating and river life. Rat good-naturedly puts the boat back together, takes Mole back home with him, and invites him to stay for a while. When Rat refuses to let Mole row, Mole snatches the oars and promptly capsizes the boat.

On the way back after the picnic, he becomes jealous-he wants to row. Mole immediately loves everything about boating and life on the riverbank. Rat invites Mole to go on a picnic with him, so they take Rat’s boat down the river. There, he meets Rat, who lives in a home built into the riverbank. He trots along until he comes to a river, the first he’s ever seen. Suddenly, seemingly for no reason, Mole throws down his broom and whitewash and scrabbles his way to the surface. Mole has been spring-cleaning his small underground home all morning.

The willows story