Whistles, eh?

When I was a kid, I had this show I watched called Wind in the Willows. It was the Rankin and Bass animated version - very hard to find now (they also did The Last Unicorn, Flight of Dragons, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and so much I loved as I child). But I entered every detail about it in the search and found it on amazon a few years ago and bought myself a VHS copy. It has magic to it - like Kenny Loggins's voice does. There's something to it that just calms. Ratty's voice was Roddy McDowall, probably one of my favorite people. There's a part where Mole decides he is going into the Wild Wood to visit Badger and that's it and he leaves while Ratty is sleeping. When Ratty wakes up, he realizes where Mole has gone and immediately gets dressed, gets his weird flare gun, and goes after him. Mole gets lost and terrified in the Wood and hides under leaves. Ratty searches for Mole diligently. Anything that tries to scare him, he stands up to. He hears strange whistling noises and instead of getting scared, he says, "Whistles, eh?" and fires his gun into the air, silencing the whistles. He finds Mole, it snows, they get lost together and Mole hurts his leg, but they find Badger's place and hammer on the door and ring the bell until Badger finally lets them in. (Badger hates company, as explained by the songs he sings. haha)
Well. Thus far in my life I have been Mole and John has been Ratty. I've been scared and hiding in the leaves and he has intimidated the terrors. He always told me that he is scarier than anything out there could be. =) So, I didn't need to be afraid. But, now, I want to be Ratty. He's a simple creature. He writes poetry and loves the river he lives by. He likes life to be simple, but when it gets complicated (meaning Toad did something stupid again) Rat is very brave and takes care of the animals he cares about (even dopey Toad - I was greatly annoyed by Toady as a child; everything would be happy if he'd behave hahaha).
I also want to be a little like Badger - except the whole cranky recluse thing. But, he lives in the scariest place in the forested area they live in. He's like John - he's scarier than that stuff. And he knows the secrets of the Wild Wood. There is a spirit there, the Piper, the Friend and Helper, a Pan-like creature that watches over the animals of the forest. The gift he gives the animals is being able to forget the horrors of the Wild Wood so that they don't overshadow the good things in the lives of the animals and they can be happy now that they have been helped out of trouble. Badger has seen the Piper a few times. He and Ratty and Mole end up seeing him in the story.
Actually, now that I think of it. It's ok if I'm Mole. Because Mole, as I remember now, becomes much braver and stronger. He becomes accustomed to the forest and he is no longer afraid of the mirthful demons of the Wild Wood. And he knows of that demon of the moonlight, the Piper, who flits across the shadows of night in the glints of moon you see out of the corners of your eyes. He's there to protect you and help you forget. Evil can be as overwhelming as Tolkien showed us in Lord of the Rings, but good can be unquenchable as C.S. Lewis portrays in the Chronicles of Narnia. I found out as I grew up that Wind in the Willows is one of my dad's favorite books. (Also Ivanhoe which is a good read, as well, might I add.)
So, I'm in the Wild Wood hiding in the leaves. And my Ratty is helping me. And the Piper is there with us and I'm going to become very strong. I just know it.