The Wind in the Willows
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50 free The Wind in the Willows trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Wind in the Willows began as stories told to one small boy and grew into a classic of children's literature. More than a century on, readers still fall for shy Mole, easy-going Rat, gruff Badger and the gloriously conceited Mr. Toad. This quiz keeps things simple. Most of the questions follow the story itself: the riverbank picnic, the snowy night in the Wild Wood, Toad's motoring craze, his trial and escape, and the battle for Toad Hall. The rest look at the man who wrote the book and at the plays, films and theme-park ride it inspired. It suits families reading the book together, classes studying it, and anyone who met these animals years ago and wants to see how much has stuck. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you learn something even when you guess.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which offence earns Mr. Toad fifteen years, the longest part of his sentence, in The Wind in the Willows?
Cheek to the police
Cheek to the police cost him fifteen years, against one year for the theft and three for furious driving. The clerk then rounded the total up from nineteen to twenty to be safe.
Q 02Although everyone calls him Ratty, Mole's best friend in The Wind in the Willows is really which riverside mammal?
A water vole
A water vole is often informally called a water rat, which is how Ratty got his name. Unlike true rats, voles have rounder noses, chubby faces and furry tails.
Q 03Which British rock band named its 1967 debut album after the seventh chapter of The Wind in the Willows?
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd took the title The Piper at the Gates of Dawn from the book, a favourite of singer Syd Barrett. None of the songs on the album is actually about the story.
Q 04Which disguise, bought from his helper's aunt, lets Mr. Toad walk out of prison in The Wind in the Willows?
A washerwoman
A washerwoman who did the prison's laundry sold him her gown, apron, shawl and bonnet for cash. She asked to be tied up and gagged afterwards so that nobody would blame her.
Q 05Which Scottish-born author turned bedtime stories for his young son into The Wind in the Willows?
Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame began the tales at bedtime and carried them on in letters whenever he and his son were apart. Several publishers turned the finished book down before it appeared in 1908.
Q 06Which Disney park closed its Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in 1998 to make way for Winnie the Pooh?
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom in Florida shut its version in 1998, and a Winnie the Pooh ride took its place. Disneyland in California had opened with the original in 1955, sending guests on a reckless motorcar spree.
Q 07Which household chore does Mole abandon in the opening chapter of The Wind in the Willows to explore outdoors?
Spring cleaning
Spring cleaning leaves Mole splashed with whitewash and aching all over, so he flings down his brush and tunnels up into the sunshine. Soon afterwards he sees a river for the first time in his life.
Q 08In The Wind in the Willows, Rat tells Mole there is nothing better than pottering about in what?
Boats
Boats are Rat's whole life, and he says so while rowing Mole along the river for the first time. He gets so carried away that he crashes into the shore and lands on his back.
Q 09At which famous London institution did the author of The Wind in the Willows work for nearly thirty years?
The Bank of England
The Bank of England took him on as a clerk at nineteen, and he rose to Secretary, one of its three highest posts. In 1903 a gunman fired three shots at him there and missed every time.
Q 10Which author adapted The Wind in the Willows into the 1929 stage play Toad of Toad Hall?
A. A. Milne
A. A. Milne kept to Toad's adventures, about half of the book, because they were the easiest parts to put on a stage. The play opened in Liverpool four days before Christmas.
Q 11Which sound does a dazed Toad keep murmuring in the road after first seeing a motorcar in The Wind in the Willows?
Poop-poop
Poop-poop was the wail of the horn as the car tore past, and Toad sat repeating it in a trance. He announced that he had just discovered the only real way to travel.
Q 12Which canary-yellow vehicle is Toad's craze until a passing motorcar wrecks it in The Wind in the Willows?
A caravan
A caravan, fitted with bunks, a stove and a bird in a cage, was meant to carry Toad along the open road. He lost all interest in it within minutes of the crash.
Q 13Which small animals, led by one carrying a lantern, sing carols outside Mole's front door in The Wind in the Willows?
Field mice
Q 21Which food, served with tea, finally stops the imprisoned Toad sulking in The Wind in the Willows?
Hot buttered toast
Hot buttered toast, cut thick and dripping with butter, did what a plate of bubble and squeak had failed to do hours earlier. Its smell reminded Toad of warm kitchens and cosy firesides.
Q 22Who, being particularly fond of animals, takes pity on Toad and plans his escape from prison in The Wind in the Willows?
The gaoler's daughter
The gaoler's daughter keeps a canary and a squirrel of her own, and cannot bear to see Toad pining away in his cell. Toad, vain as ever, decides that she must admire him very much.
Q 23Which birds does Rat tease while swimming, then write a ditty about, in The Wind in the Willows?
Field mice go carolling round the neighbourhood every year and always call on Mole last of all. Rat sends the lantern-bearer to the shops with a basket to buy supper for the whole choir.
Q 14What does Toad knot into a rope to flee Toad Hall while Rat fetches a doctor in The Wind in the Willows?
His bedsheets
His bedsheets, tied to the window frame, got him to the ground after he had fooled Rat by pretending to be dying. He even asked for a lawyer, which convinced Rat that it was serious.
Q 15Which snow-covered object cuts Mole's shin and tells Rat that Badger's home is near in The Wind in the Willows?
A door-scraper
A door-scraper meant a doorway had to be close, so Rat kept digging in the snow until he found it. Mole had only grumbled that some careless person had left the thing lying about.
Q 16Which way in, shown to Badger by Toad's late father, lets the friends retake Toad Hall in The Wind in the Willows?
An underground passage
An underground passage ran from the riverside to just beneath the butler's pantry, next to the dining-hall. Toad's father kept it from his son because Toad could never hold his tongue.
Q 17In The Wind in the Willows, which name is painted beside the door of the old home Rat's companion sniffs out?
Mole End
Mole End had stood empty for months when its smell stopped its owner in his tracks on a winter walk. He broke down sobbing until Rat insisted they turn back and find it.
Q 18In The Wind in the Willows, Rat warns Mole never to mention which place lying beyond the Wild Wood?
The Wide World
The Wide World is somewhere Rat has never been and says he never will go. All Mole can make out of it is a distant blur that might be the smoke of towns.
Q 19Which young otter's disappearance sends Rat and Mole rowing through the night in The Wind in the Willows?
Portly
Portly had strayed before, but this time he had been missing for days and could not yet swim well. His father kept watch every night at the ford where he had given him his first swimming lesson.
Q 20Whose birthday banquet are the Wild Wooders holding when four friends storm Toad Hall in The Wind in the Willows?
The Chief Weasel
The Chief Weasel was in the middle of a mocking song about Toad when Badger led the charge in. Because it was a party, none of the guests in the dining-hall had a weapon to hand.
Ducks
Ducks get their necks tickled by Rat whenever they upend themselves to feed, until they beg him to go away. They think his poem is nonsense and wish he would stop watching them.
Q 24What does Toad steal from the barge-woman who has just thrown him into the canal in The Wind in the Willows?
Her horse
Her horse was towing the barge, so Toad untied the rope, jumped on its back and galloped off. He later sold the animal for six shillings and sixpence and all the breakfast he could eat.
Q 25Who lets the penniless, disguised Toad ride without a ticket after his prison escape in The Wind in the Willows?
An engine driver
An engine driver took Toad aboard after hearing a tearful tale of lost money and hungry children at home. When a second train gave chase, he braked beyond a tunnel so Toad could jump off and hide.
Q 26Which young animals, lost in snow on the way to school, eat porridge at Badger's table in The Wind in the Willows?
Hedgehogs
Hedgehogs, two youngsters, had lost themselves in the drifts and knocked at Badger's back entrance for help. Billy, the younger one, had been so frightened that he burst into tears.
Q 27Which pieces of furniture does the locked-up Toad arrange into a pretend motorcar in The Wind in the Willows?
Chairs
Chairs from his bedroom became the car, and Toad would crouch on the front one making ghastly noises. Each pretend drive ended with a somersault and a crash among the wreckage.
Q 28In The Wind in the Willows, Badger says his home under the Wild Wood stands on the buried remains of what?
A human city
A human city once stood on the spot, built by people who thought it would last for ever. Badger explains that the people left, the trees grew over the ruins, and the badgers moved back in.
Q 29What does Mole place at Rat's elbow to cure his urge to run away to sea in The Wind in the Willows?
A pencil and paper
A pencil and paper tempt Rat back to writing poetry, and soon he is scribbling away, deaf to everything else. A seafaring stranger's tales of southern ports had left him in a trance.
Q 30At which inn does Toad order lunch just before driving off in a stranger's motorcar in The Wind in the Willows?
The Red Lion
The Red Lion's sign reminded Toad, fresh from his escape from Toad Hall, that he had not eaten all day. He told himself there could be no harm in only looking at the car in the yard.