It is a strange chapter though, mystical and somewhat pagan, placed there in the middle of the book and not at all essential to the story.
Monday, 15 September 2025
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn Goes Missing
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7 comments:
I enjoyed that video. It remined me of the myths of the Green Man - indeed they may be related.
I do wonder if Pan and/or the Green Man are echoes of a prior Divinity of Nature archetype? Weakened by reason, science, and the immediacy of modern life.
DJ - I enjoyed it too, echoes of a past which seems to be fading rapidly. Maybe Pan is related to the Green Man, it's easy to imagine how large forests could have sustained ideas of various Nature divinities, supernatural beings or just an eerie presence late at night.
The best children's books are always for adults! See also https://figures-of-speech.com/2025/08/just-so.htm
djc, The same is also true for radio and tv programmes for chidren. And film. Although they seem to have stopped producing such gems in recent decades.
Early film cartoons, Noggin, Ivor the Engine, Pugwash, Magic Roundabout,
After hearing The Wind In The Willows in various wireless forms I was pleasantly surprised when I read the book with that chapter. It was not a scary tale to this young boy.
djc - I agree and The Wind in the Willows is a good example of that. Adults want to read it to children, possibly more so than children wanting to hear it read. Thanks for the link, I've bookmarked it.
Doonhamer - yes, many tv programmes for children have something for adults embedded in them to at least make them watchable for adults.
I'm sure you're right about "Piper...", it's an echo of pre-Christian beliefs and traditions in the countryside which were disappearing even then and are now gone beyond recall. Laurie Lee alludes to similar things in "As I walked out...".
WInd in the Willows has another beautiful chapter - "Wayfarers All" - which is also not really part of the story, but rather of the atmosphere. When I was a child I used to skip both of these, but by the time I was a teenager I came to realise that the writing is wonderful, even moving. I am so glad I have a paper copy that nobody can remove bits of, or bowdlerise, on the quiet.
My copy, I see from a written dedication, was given to me as a Christmas present when I was seven. I don't know when I first read it right through (there and then, probably) but I'm pretty sure nobody ever read it to me.
Peter - yes, Wayfarers All isn't really part of the story but it is part of the atmosphere. Perhaps intended to show that Rat isn't entirely content to ignore the world beyond the river. I don't know when I read it right through either. I must have because I know the story in some detail, so it must have made a lasting impression too.
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