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The Engine Driver
Toad encounters the woman on a barge when he escapes from jail. She’s a stout woman, with big arms and mottled skin. The woman kindly offers to take Toad down the river when she believes Toad is actually a human washerwoman. However, the woman forces Toad to prove he’s a washerwoman by asking him to do some laundry for her in exchange for the ride—and when she discovers he’s neither a washerwoman nor a human, she throws him into the river. Toad steals her horse, but he later compensates her for it.
The Woman Quotes in The Wind in the Willows
The The Wind in the Willows quotes below are all either spoken by The Woman or refer to The Woman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter Eleven Quotes
“Now, Toady, I don’t want to give you pain, after all you’ve been through already; but, seriously, don’t you see what an awful ass you’ve been making of yourself? On your own admission you have been handcuffed, imprisoned, starved, chased, terrified out of your life, insulted, jeered at, and ignominiously flung into the water—by a woman, too! Where’s the amusement in that? Where does the fun come in? And all because you must needs go and steal a motor car.”
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Get the entire The Wind in the Willows LitChart as a printable PDF.
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The Woman Character Timeline in The Wind in the Willows
The timeline below shows where the character The Woman appears in The Wind in the Willows. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter Ten
...a bend, Toad sees a horse plodding along and pulling a barge. There’s a stout woman on the barge, and she greets Toad with a “good morning.” Toad laments that it...
(full context)
The woman asks Toad about the washing business, which he airily deems the best work in the...
(full context)
There’s no way for Toad to escape. The woman won’t let him steer, and it’s too far to leap to the bank. He decides...
(full context)
Toad loses control. He shouts that the woman can’t speak that way to her “betters,” insults her weight, and snaps that he’s a...
(full context)
...to recover, Toad gathers up his skirts and races after the barge. He ignores the woman’s taunts, unties the horse, and leaps on, galloping away. The horse gallops for a bit,...
(full context)
Chapter Twelve
...and he sends money to the engine driver. Badger encourages Toad to compensate the barge woman for her horse (fortunately, the horse is valued at exactly what Toad sold him for)....
(full context)
