--- title: The Wind in the Willows, chapter III, part 2: The Wild Wood (the faces, the whistling, the pattering — and the Rat sets out) — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The Wind in the Willows, chapter III, part 2: The Wild Wood (the faces, the whistling, the pattering — and the Rat sets out)», a lesson of the books course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Dusk falls fast. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/) / The Wind in the Willows, chapter III,… # The Wind in the Willows, chapter III, part 2: The Wild Wood (the faces, the whistling, the pattering — and the Rat sets out) Lesson 34 of the books course of Mova's primary school: 27 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/0/) — Dusk falls fast. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/1/) — Then the faces begin: a little evil wedge-shaped face in a hole, gone when the Mole turns; then another; then it seems every hole has a hard-eyed face glaring at him. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/2/) — He leaves the path to get away from the holes. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/3/) — Then the whistling begins — faint and shrill, behind him, then ahead, then on both sides, passed along through the whole wood. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/4/) — They are awake and ready, whoever they are, and he is alone and far from help. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/5/) — Then the pattering begins: little feet, closing in from every side like hail. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/6/) — A rabbit dashes past him: «Get out of this, you fool, get out!» The Mole panics, runs blindly, falls over things, and at last crawls into the hollow of an old beech tree, trembling. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/8/) — Back home, a coal slips in the fire and the Rat wakes up. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/9/) — The Mole is gone. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/10/) — His cap is missing from its peg and his new goloshes from beside the umbrella-stand. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/11/) — Outside, the fresh tracks in the mud lead straight to the Wild Wood. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/12/) — The Rat looks very grave, and stands «in deep thought for a minute or two». - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/13/) — Then he straps on a belt, pushes two pistols into it, takes a big stick, and sets off for the Wild Wood at a smart pace. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/15/) — When he turned and confronted it, the thing had vanished.» - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/16/) — He told himself «not to begin imagining things, or there would be simply no end to it»; then «every hole, far and near, and there were hundreds of them, seemed to possess its face ... all hard-eyed and evil and sharp». - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/17/) — «Then the whistling began.» — first «far behind him», then «far ahead of him», then «on either side», passed along the whole wood. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/18/) — «And he—he was alone, and unarmed, and far from any help; and the night was closing in.» - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/19/) — «Then the pattering began.» He thought at first it was falling leaves, but «he knew it for nothing else but the pat-pat-pat of little feet». - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/20/) — A rabbit «almost brushed him as it dashed past, his face set and hard, his eyes staring. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/24/) — «he knew it at last, in all its fullness ... that thing which the Rat had vainly tried to shield him from—the Terror of the Wild Wood!» (vainly = without success). - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/25/) — Meanwhile the Rat dozed, «his paper of half-finished verses slipped from his knee ... and he wandered by the verdant banks of dream-rivers» (verdant = green). - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/26/) — «Then a coal slipped, the fire crackled and sent up a spurt of flame, and he woke with a start»; he wanted to ask the Mole «if he knew a good rhyme for something or other». - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/28/) — «The Mole's cap was missing from its accustomed peg. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/29/) — His goloshes, which always lay by the umbrella-stand, were also gone.» (goloshes = rubber overshoes for mud and snow). - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/30/) — «The goloshes were new, just bought for the winter, and the pimples on their soles were fresh and sharp» — so the tracks were easy to read, «leading direct to the Wild Wood». - [32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/32/) — In this old story the Rat carries them to scare off enemies. - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/34-willows-ch3-part2-the-terror-of-the-wild-wood/33/) — Old words: «confronted» = turned to face; «braced himself up» = got ready to be brave; «hearken» = listen; «slacken pace» = slow down; «grave» = serious and worried; «at a smart pace» = quickly. - ← previous: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter III, part 1: The Wild Wood (winter, and the Mole sets out alone)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/33-willows-ch3-part1-winter-and-the-way-to-the-wood/) - next →: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter III, part 3: The Wild Wood (the Rat finds the Mole, and the snow comes)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/35-willows-ch3-part3-snow-in-the-wild-wood/) - ↑ back to [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/)