The Wind in the Willows is a book for those 'who keep the spirit of youth alive in them'. So wrote Kenneth Grahame of his timeless tale of Toad, Mole, Badger, and Rat in their beautiful and benevolently ordered world. But it is also a world under siege, threatened by dark and unnamed forces, and defended by the mysterious Piper at the Gates of Dawn. The Wind in the Willows has achieved an enduring place in our literature: it succeeds at once in arousing our anxieties and in calming them by giving perfect shape to our desire for peace and escape.