The Wind in the Willows (1908)
by Kenneth Grahame

Novel

165 pages

Beginning:

“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 a small wonder, then, that he suddenly flung down his brush on the floor, and said ‘Bother!’ and ‘O blow!’ and also ‘Hang spring-clearning!’ and blolted our of the house without even waiting to put on his coat,” (7).

Somewhere in the middle:

“Those were golden days and balmy nights! In and out of the harbour all the time—old friends everywhere—sleeping in some cool temple or ruined cistern during the heat of the day—feasting and song after sundown, under great stars set in a velvet sky! Thence we turned and coasted up the Adriatic, its shores swimming in an atmosphere of amber, rose, and aquamarine; we lay in wide land-locked harbours, we roamed through ancient and noble cities, until at last one morning as the sun rose royally behind us, we rode into Venice down a path of gold,” (111).

End:

“This was a base libel on Badger, who, though he cared little about Society, was rather fond of children; but it never failed to have its full effect,” (165).