--- title: The Wind in the Willows, chapter V, part 1: Dulce Domum (the village windows and the call of home) — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The Wind in the Willows, chapter V, part 1: Dulce Domum (the village windows and the call of home)», a lesson of the books course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: It is mid-December, nearly dark, and Rat and Mole are tramping home acros --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/) [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 V, pa… # The Wind in the Willows, chapter V, part 1: Dulce Domum (the village windows and the call of home) Lesson 41 of the books course of Mova's primary school: 22 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/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/0/) — It is mid-December, nearly dark, and Rat and Mole are tramping home across frosty fields after a long day out with Otter. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/1/) — A track turns into a path, the path into a lane, the lane into a road, and the road leads through a little village. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/3/) — Behind one drawn blind they see the shadow of a bird-cage and a little bird who wakes, yawns and tucks his head back in. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/4/) — It feels so cosy that they forget they are outside — until a sting of icy sleet reminds them how cold their toes are and how far they still have to go. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/5/) — Out on the dark road again, the Rat walks ahead. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/6/) — Suddenly a smell reaches the Mole like an electric shock: it is HOME — his own old home, the one he ran out of on that spring morning and has hardly thought of since. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/7/) — It is calling him, sad but not angry, wanting him back. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/8/) — It's my home!» he cries. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/9/) — But the Rat is far ahead, worried about the coming snow, and calls back, «Come on, Mole, we'll come for it tomorrow!» So poor Mole, his heart torn in two, turns his back on his home and follows his friend. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/10/) — «Dulce Domum» is Latin for «sweet home» — the name of an old school song about going home for the holidays. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/12/) — Rat and Mole were coming back «after a long day's outing with Otter, hunting and exploring on the wide uplands» where small streams that feed their River begin. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/13/) — «The animals did not hold with villages» (did not like or approve of them). - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/14/) — The Rat says: «At this season of the year they're all safe indoors by this time, sitting round the fire.» - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/17/) — Inside, the people have the «natural grace which goes with perfect unconsciousness of observation» — they look natural because they don't know anyone is watching. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/18/) — The two friends, «so far from home themselves, had something of wistfulness in their eyes» (wistful = sad and longing). - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/20/) — Then «a small sting of frozen sleet on the skin woke them as from a dream». - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/21/) — The Mole's thoughts «ran a good deal on supper»; the Rat walks ahead «his shoulders humped, his eyes fixed on the straight grey road». - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/22/) — People, says the writer, have only the word «smell» for all the «delicate thrills which murmur in the nose of the animal night and day, summoning, warning, inciting, repelling». - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/23/) — The smell is «the fine filament, the telegraphic current» (a thin thread, like a telegraph wire's signal). - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/24/) — That was what they meant». - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/25/) — His home had called him «sorrowfully, reproachfully, but with no bitterness or anger; only with plaintive reminder that it was there, and wanted him». (Plaintive = sad-sounding.) - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/41-willows-ch5-part1-the-call-of-home/29/) — Talk in this lesson: «nesh» (North and Midlands England) = feeling the cold easily; «ginnel» (North England) = narrow alley between houses; «I'm dead» = that's so funny; «toque» (Canada) = woolly winter hat; «bairn» (Scotland, North East) = child. - ← previous: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter IV, part 4: Mr. Badger (the city under the Wild Wood, and the way home)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/40-willows-ch4-part4-the-city-under-the-wood/) - next →: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter V, part 2: Dulce Domum (the Mole's sobs, the Rat turns back, and Mole End)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/42-willows-ch5-part2-mole-end/) - ↑ back to [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/)