The Wind in the Willows, Chapter 7 summary

What happens

1. Rat tells Mole that Portly has been missing for days and that Otter watches each night beside the old ford.
2. Mole and Rat take their boat upstream and search the banks through the moonlit night.
3. Near dawn, extraordinary piping draws Rat, then Mole, toward an island beside the weir.
4. They find Portly asleep between a horned demigod’s hooves, bow in worship, and forget the encounter after the figure disappears.
5. They comfort Portly, take him toward the ford, and watch his joyful reunion with Otter.
6. Drifting downstream, Rat hears words about rescue and forgetting in the reeds, then falls asleep.

In this chapter

What to notice

The breeze removes the searchers’ memory of the divine encounter. This explains why they can rescue Portly yet cannot account for their strange feelings afterward.

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