--- title: The Wind in the Willows, chapter VIII, part 1: Toad's Adventures (the gaoler's daughter and the buttered toast) — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The Wind in the Willows, chapter VIII, part 1: Toad's Adventures (the gaoler's daughter and the buttered toast)», a lesson of the books course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: The gaoler's kind daughter, who loves animals, asks to look --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/) [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 VIII,… # The Wind in the Willows, chapter VIII, part 1: Toad's Adventures (the gaoler's daughter and the buttered toast) Lesson 52 of the books course of Mova's primary school: 23 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/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/). - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/1/) — The gaoler's kind daughter, who loves animals, asks to look after him. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/2/) — She brings him bubble-and-squeak, and the smell of hot cabbage makes him dream of meadows, gardens and the cheerful dinners at Toad Hall. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/3/) — Later she brings tea and thick, hot buttered toast; Toad sits up, eats, and soon starts boasting about himself, his house and how important he is. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/5/) — Tell me something real about it.» So he tells her about the boathouse, the gardens, the banqueting-hall and his animal friends. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/6/) — By bedtime he is his old cheerful, self-satisfied self, sings a little song and sleeps well; as the days pass the girl feels sorry for him, and vain Toad thinks she admires him enormously. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/9/) — Now he praises his friends: «O wise old Badger! ... - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/10/) — O clever, intelligent Rat and sensible Mole!» In chapter VI he had called the Rat a fellow with «very little intelligence and absolutely no education». - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/11/) — For several weeks he refuses «his meals or intermediate light refreshments» (snacks between meals). - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/14/) — She keeps a canary, «several piebald mice» (patchy black and white) and «a restless revolving squirrel» (in a turning cage); at night the canary's cage is covered with an antimacassar (a cloth for the back of a chair). - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/15/) — She says to her father: «Father! - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/16/) — I can't bear to see that poor beast so unhappy ... - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/17/) — You let me have the managing of him.» - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/18/) — She says: «I'll make him eat from my hand, and sit up, and do all sorts of things»: she thinks of him rather like a pet, but wisely never tells him so. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/19/) — Her first dish is bubble-and-squeak (fried leftover cabbage and potato); the smell of hot cabbage gives Toad «new and inspiring thoughts». - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/21/) — Toad describes his house like an estate agent's advert: «an eligible self-contained gentleman's residence very unique ... - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/22/) — Five minutes from church, post-office, and golf-links». - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/24/) — She laughs: «Bless the animal ... - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/25/) — I don't want to take it. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/26/) — Tell me something real about it.» - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/27/) — She lets him talk on and on, because she sees that talking about himself does him as much good as the tea. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/28/) — He tells her about the boathouse, the fish-pond, the walled kitchen-garden, the pig-styes, the stables, the dairy, the linen-presses («she liked that bit especially») and the banqueting-hall. - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/30/) — Toad thinks «the social gulf between them was so very wide», because he is rich and she is a gaoler's daughter: an old, snobbish idea that some people are «above» others, which is wrong. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/52-willows-ch8-part1-the-gaolers-daughter/31/) — Talk in this lesson: «mardy» (Midlands) = sulky; «peng» (London) = tasty, great; «ate» = did brilliantly; «dreich» (Scotland) = dreary; «don't have a cow» (older US) = calm down. - ← previous: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter VII, part 3: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (the gift of forgetfulness)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/51-willows-ch7-part3-the-gift-of-forgetfulness/) - next →: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter VIII, part 2: Toad's Adventures (the washerwoman's dress)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/53-willows-ch8-part2-the-washerwoman/) - ↑ back to [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/)