--- title: The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII, part 2: The Return of Ulysses (four Heroes, five minutes and clean sheets) — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII, part 2: The Return of Ulysses (four Heroes, five minutes and clean sheets)», a lesson of the books course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: What a squealing and squeaking fills the hall! --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/) [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 XII,… # The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII, part 2: The Return of Ulysses (four Heroes, five minutes and clean sheets) Lesson 71 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/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/0/) — What a squealing and squeaking fills the hall! - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/1/) — Weasels dive under the tables and leap for the windows; ferrets rush for the fireplace and get stuck in the chimney; chairs tip over and china crashes. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/2/) — In stride the four friends: Badger with his great stick, Mole shouting his war-cry «A Mole! - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/3/) — A Mole!», Rat with his belt bulging with weapons, and Toad puffed up to twice his size, whooping «I'll pleasure 'em!» and going straight for the Chief Weasel. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/5/) — They flee through the windows, up the chimney, anywhere away from those sticks. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/6/) — In five minutes the hall is empty except for about a dozen weasels lying on the floor, whom Mole handcuffs. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/7/) — Mole goes out to check on the stoat sentries; Badger wants supper, and Toad, a little hurt that nobody praises him, hunts out cold chicken, trifle and lobster salad. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/8/) — Mole comes back with an armful of rifles. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/9/) — The stoats, already jumpy from his morning trick, heard the uproar; some threw down their guns and ran, and the rest thought the weasels had betrayed them. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/10/) — Stoats and weasels wrestled and rolled about until most of them rolled into the river! - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/11/) — Badger trusts Mole with one more job: march the prisoners upstairs and make them clean the bedrooms properly, with clean sheets, hot water and fresh soap. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/12/) — Mole does it, and lets the sorry weasels go home with a bread roll each. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/15/) — Well might the ferrets rush wildly for the fireplace and get hopelessly jammed in the chimney!» - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/20/) — «They were but four in all, but to the panic-stricken weasels the hall seemed full of monstrous animals, grey, black, brown and yellow» (panic-stricken = filled with sudden fear). - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/21/) — «The affair was soon over»: in five minutes the room was cleared; about a dozen enemies lay on the floor, and Mole fitted them with handcuffs. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/22/) — Badger: «Mole, you're the best of fellows! - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/24/) — Badger: «I want some grub, I do» — the book calls this «that rather common way he had of speaking». - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/25/) — Looking down on a country way of talking is an old snobbish idea; every dialect is fine. - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/30/) — I'd send Rat, if he wasn't a poet.» - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/31/) — The prisoners must make the bedrooms comfortable: «sweep under the beds... clean sheets and pillow-cases... a can of hot water, and clean towels, and fresh cakes of soap». - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/33/) — Mole did not punish them: «they had had licking enough for one night». - [36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/71-willows-ch12-part2-the-battle-of-toad-hall/36/) — «Won back by matchless valour, consummate strategy, and a proper handling of sticks.» (valour = bravery; consummate = perfect; strategy = a clever plan) - ← previous: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII, part 1: The Return of Ulysses (dressing for battle, the dark passage and «Good Toad, modest Toad»)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/70-willows-ch12-part1-the-secret-passage-at-night/) - next →: [The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII, part 3: The Return of Ulysses (the invitations, «SPEECH BY TOAD» and «not one little song»)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/72-willows-ch12-part3-no-speeches-and-no-songs/) - ↑ back to [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/)