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Summary
Chapter XII. The Return of Ulysses
In preparation for their attack, the Water Rat arms each of the animals with a sword, cutlass, pair of pistols, handcuffs, police baton, bandages, and snacks. The Badger finds this amusing and says that all he needs is his walking stick. They set out upriver to find the secret passage, with the Toad not keeping up and making noise and the Badger threatening to leave him behind. They can hear the weasels inside cheering and stamping. The friends enter the pantry through a trapdoor, where they hear a toast that mocks the Toad. As the Chief Weasel begins singing a rude song about the Toad, the Water Rat, Mole, Badger, and Toad burst through the pantry door into the dining hall. The four each make their own war cry and brandish their weapons, terrifying the weasels into believing they are a large army. The weasels escape from every exit they can find, and the Mole handcuffs the few that remain.
In the aftermath, the Badger sends the Mole to see about the stoat sentries and orders the Toad to put a supper together for them from the leftovers. The Badger and the Water Rat put the furniture back together. The Toad obeys, although he is envious of the praise the Badger gives the Mole. The Mole returns and reports that the stoats have all tumbled into the river, terrified by the noise and afraid they had been betrayed. The Badger asks the Mole to take the prisoners upstairs to clean and prepare the bedrooms before chasing them off. The Mole does this cheerfully and well. The Toad is finally grateful and thanks the Mole, which earns the Toad praise from the Badger.
The next day, the Toad wakes late to find some unappealing breakfast leftovers. He vows to get even with the others for abusing his hospitality, when the Badger informs the Toad that he needs to host a banquet to celebrate his return to Toad Hall. The Badger orders the food and instructs the Toad to write invitations. The toad is furious, so he plans a banquet program, featuring multiple speeches and songs that he will deliver in his own honor. He gives the invitations to a cowering weasel and welcomes his friends back from their morning on the river.
Toad’s friends, however, intercept the invitations. They corner the Toad and tell him that there will be no songs or speeches at the banquet. They explain that the songs are arrogant and that this banquet is his chance to let everyone know that he has changed his ways. Finally, the Toad agrees, and the Mole prepares new invitations. The Toad, alone in his room before the banquet, imagines he is surrounded by friends and sings a song praising his own return. Then, he goes downstairs and greets his guests. They cheer him and praise him, and instead of bragging the Toad responds humbly. Even when Otter attempts to parade him around the room, the Toad gives credit to the Badger, the Water Rat, and the Mole. When some animals ask the Toad to make a speech, he refuses, proving that he has finally changed. Afterward, he sends a thoughtful gift to the jailer’s daughter and compensates the engine driver and the barge woman for their trouble. The four friends are even able to walk peacefully through the Wild Wood, where they are respected and admired for their bravery and good deeds.
Analysis
The title of this chapter is an ironic allusion to The Odyssey by Homer. That epic ends when the warrior hero returns home after 20 years’ absence to reclaim his title, his castle, his wife, and his land. This chapter title exaggerates the Toad’s misadventures, much like the Toad tends to do. The only characteristic the Toad and Ulysses might truly share is their strategic use of deceit to get out of tight situations, but even here, the Toad falls short since he is always discovered. The “epic” battle is over in less than five minutes because the weasels and stoats are cowardly creatures who are incapable of working together. While the Toad does reclaim Toad Hall, his friends ensure that he appreciates their trouble in keeping it safe while he was in jail for theft. Without them, the Toad would never have been able to defeat the weasels and stoats and return home. However, the title does reflect the Toad’s self-image as the hero of his own journey.
As a fighting force, the Badger, the Mole, and the Water Rat make an unusual combination. Each brings a different skillset, with only the Badger having any real muscle to offer. The Water Rat thinks about the battle in poetic terms, drawing on his imagination and loading each of them with far more weapons than they can realistically carry, let alone use. As a small, underground dweller, the Mole can offer little in the way of direct attack. Instead, he skillfully uses trickery and deceit to set the groundwork for their plan by sowing disorder and confusion among the stoats. His foresight ensures that they will not come to the weasels’ defense. The Badger laughs each of them off, certain that his walking stick will take care of any attackers, but without the other three, he could not have made sufficient noise or mayhem to scatter the weasels. In preparing for battle, the Water Rat, Mole, Badger, and Toad rely on confusion more than violence, although they are prepared for the worse.
Like previous sections, this chapter raises questions about the three friends’ motivations in helping the Toad. On the surface, they are united in their desire to restore Toad Hall to its rightful owner. However, the Badger, the Water Rat, and the Mole exclude the Toad from much of the planning and execution. Once the plan is underway, they criticize him for his clumsiness. Certainly, the Toad is awkward and fearful, but he does just as well as the Mole, Badger, and Water Rat when it is time to launch their attack against the weasels. The Badger feels that the Toad owes them for the battle and for the damage he has done to the community’s reputation. This view seems outdated and self-interested, especially considering the friends’ appetites for recognition and the finer things in life. Their behavior forces the reader to think about where to draw the line when it comes to caring for our friends and bullying them.
Earlier in the novel, the creatures of the Wild Wood are held with awe, mystery, and a bit of terror. Before they appear in the book, they embody the wilder and more dangerous aspects of nature and seem like counterparts to the Piper’s secret benevolence. This chapter reveals the creatures of the Wild Wood to be neither mysterious nor supernatural. The weasels, stoats, and ferrets are quite similar to the Water Rat, Mole, Badger, and Toad in that they all enjoy comfortable quarters, delicious meals, and the camaraderie of their friends. Once they make their appearance, the Wild Wood’s inhabitants show that they can be petty, distrustful, and jealous, as seen in their envy of the Toad and his manor. Unlike nature and the Piper, the creatures of the Wild Wood do not inspire awe, intimidation, or any other deep emotion. They are small predators that the Badger, Mole, Water Rat, and Toad quickly defeat. By the end of the novel, the tables have turned and the creatures of the Wild Wood whisper about the Badger, Mole, Water Rat, and Toad with awe and fear.
