--- title: The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 3: Wayfarers All (the Sea Rat from Constantinople) — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 3: Wayfarers All (the Sea Rat from Constantinople)», a lesson of the books course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: As the Rat lies by the lane, a tired, dusty traveller comes along: another rat, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/) [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 IX, p… # The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 3: Wayfarers All (the Sea Rat from Constantinople) Lesson 58 of the books course of Mova's primary school: 19 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/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/0/) — As the Rat lies by the lane, a tired, dusty traveller comes along: another rat, lean and sharp-faced, with gold ear-rings, a faded blue jersey and his things tied up in a blue handkerchief. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/1/) — He sits down beside the Water Rat, and the two rest in friendly silence. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/3/) — He is a seafaring rat from Constantinople; his ancestor came there from Norway with King Sigurd's sixty ships, and any harbour feels like home to him. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/6/) — So the Sea Rat tells of his last trip: family troubles, then the Greek islands, warm nights under the stars, up the Adriatic and into Venice «down a path of gold», with music on the Grand Canal and gondolas packed side by side. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/7/) — The traveller greets the Rat «with a gesture of courtesy that had something foreign about it»; the Rat lets him rest «unquestioned», knowing «the value all animals attach at times to mere silent companionship». - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/9/) — He reads the countryside with his nose and ears: «That was clover»; cows «cropping the grass»; «distant reapers»; cottage smoke; and «the call of a moorhen» tells him the river is near. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/11/) — «It is a goodly life that you lead, friend; no doubt the best in the world, if only you are strong enough to lead it!» The Water Rat answers «Yes, it's the life, the only life, to live», but «without his usual whole-hearted conviction». - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/13/) — Upalong in that direction» (upalong = up that way, in country talk), and now is «tramping southward, following the old call, back to the old life». - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/14/) — «I'm a seafaring rat, I am, and the port I originally hail from is Constantinople» (hail from = come from). - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/15/) — Constantinople is the old name of Istanbul in Turkey. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/17/) — King Sigurd's visit really happened, about nine hundred years ago. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/18/) — Any port is home to him: «Set me down on any of their quays or foreshores, and I am home again» (a quay is a stone landing-place for ships). - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/19/) — He is not a deep-ocean sailor: «I'm in the coasting trade, and rarely out of sight of land. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/20/) — It's the jolly times on shore that appeal to me». - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/21/) — The Water Rat confesses: «my life, I confess to you, feels to me to-day somewhat narrow and circumscribed» (circumscribed = closed in, limited). - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/22/) — His last voyage began with «Family troubles, as usual. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/23/) — The domestic storm-cone was hoisted», so he shipped on a small trading vessel bound from Constantinople — a storm-cone is a signal hung up in harbours to warn of a storm, so this is a joke meaning there were quarrels at home. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/25/) — Then «up the Adriatic» (the sea between Italy and the Balkans) and «into Venice down a path of gold», as the sun rose behind them. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/27/) — Well, well, we won't linger over that now.» - ← previous: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 2: Wayfarers All (the swallows and the call of the South)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/57-willows-ch9-part2-the-swallows/) - next →: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 4: Wayfarers All (the voyage and lunch by the road)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/59-willows-ch9-part4-lunch-by-the-road/) - ↑ back to [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/)