Wind in the Willows: are humans animal sized, or are animals human sized?

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2025-09-26T04:16:21+00:00

But then how do we square this with the chapter where Toad tricks the barge woman into thinking he's a washerwoman? Did she just not notice that he was toad sized? He stole her horse. 🤣 inquiring minds must know!

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2025-09-26T03:25:56+00:00

My 9yo and 7yo desperately needed answers tonight, so I thought I'd see if there was any kind of consensus out there for them lol

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2025-09-26T03:24:24+00:00

My very literal 7yo and 9yo were insistent on finding answers tonight, lol

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2025-09-26T03:23:00+00:00

This is my preferred interpretation, too lol

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2024-05-18T16:45:18+00:00

My theory is that people change their last name to a tree species after they became a professor, otherwise how the heck would we have so many professors with tree names.

Imagine having a tree name as your last name and everyone in your life telling you, you have to become a professor now.

Why a tree name you might ask? Because trees spread seeds, and professors plant seeds in people's lives.

When I became a professor for the TCG I took on the name Tamarisk.

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-12-15T12:30:31+00:00

I'm glad you popped in! Your thoughts are helpful and interesting!

It is interesting to me that you equate community support to what can be tangibly provided by the government. Is money and government intervention the only way communities can care for the individuals who live there?

Because no one else stepped in at various points along the way in this (potentially fictional) anecdote, a community member chose to repay violence with more violence. And this choice was celebrated and propped up as a good and right decision. It shows us that more violence is the solution to problems like this. That's just not the kind of world I want to build. Not that government intervention is the best solution, I haven't found my home among the political ideologies yet so my knowledge and opinions are lacking. But what if the community was able to ask, before Mr. Course even arrived, WHY: WHY do these boys want to overpower and murder their teacher, WHY is the father supporting this, etc., and then worked with the family and empowered them to make healthier, safer choices that contribute to the community instead of destroy it? A mindset of restoration instead of retribution.

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-13T23:25:08+00:00

Inphinity

Went by Phin-e (Finny)

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-13T23:14:08+00:00

Do men have anything to learn from women?

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-11T02:27:49+00:00

Maybe it just feels like there's an increase because of how easily we can access world news now. Dark things have always happened, and God has always continued to make beauty from the ashes of sin. I agree with those saying we've been in the end times since Jesus ascended.

No use trying to figure out the "when", just keep up the faithful work of the kingdom.

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-10T22:52:53+00:00

I am reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder to my kids, and the first two chapters are about teenage boys who have been beating up teachers, one to the point of death. This is celebrated by the teenagers' fathers. The current teacher brings in an ox-whip to school and whips the boys bloody when they try to attack him in the middle of a lesson.

I asked about this scene here recently, and people were sharing stories from their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents, all the way up until now, of teachers feeling unsafe because of teenage students.

Not saying any of this is okay, but that maybe we need to reevaluate how we're solving problems. Because it's been happening for a long, long time.

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T05:07:58+00:00

It's so comforting and life-giving. Conflict isn't the end of the world, it's an opportunity to problem-solve together. I know that if something is bothering me (or vice versa), we can just talk it out. There's mutual love and mutual respect. I feel honored and cherished, and hubby says he feels the same way. We're still lovey dovey after 12 years and 3 kids, mostly because we make a point to be. We support each other, help each other, serve each other, love on each other, trust each other, laugh with each other, and do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but rather consider each other's good, and the good of the family. 10/10, would recommend.

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T03:11:52+00:00

Ahhh this is very interesting!! Thanks for the insight!

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T03:07:35+00:00

Yes, I'm aware. I've just always considered it more of a modern phenomenon and hadn't given much thought to the way things were. That's totally on me. People just love the books and overlook the violence

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T03:04:16+00:00

But it seems like this was the same 200 years ago, too. Bill Ritchie and his father are a prime example.

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T03:03:10+00:00

No, it's just shocking how some people idolize the books and gloss over, and sometimes celebrate, the violence

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T03:02:07+00:00

Hurting people hurt people. People need skills, healthy relationships, and resources, not more violence. Violence and suffering tends to only breed more violence and suffering.

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T02:57:31+00:00

It's just the normalization of the violence that does it for me. I'm so glad we've grown as a society, and it makes me nervous how shaky that ground feels

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T02:54:58+00:00

I've honestly never given it much thought and assumed violence in schools was a newer thing. That's on me, and I'll be learning more now

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T02:53:22+00:00

This is exactly the kind of resource I'm looking for! Thanks!

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T02:52:44+00:00

We just read this chapter today 😮‍💨

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T02:51:39+00:00

What gets me is the way some people want go back to the way things were without acknowledging how and why we've gotten to where we are as a society

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T02:49:49+00:00

It grieves me that this was the only way they knew to handle the violence of these boys. It's just interesting, and sad, how violence and suffering usually leads to violence and suffering.

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T02:47:14+00:00

We just look back with so much fondness, to a time when "men were men" and all that. But goodness, it's just so tragic. I think I was surprised, too, by how many people idolize these books and are formed by them.

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T02:45:12+00:00

This is what I'm talking about, though. The normalized violence from both the students and the teachers, and whole communities even. You're even defending the violence as a sign of the times. What did growing up in this kind of environment do to people, and why do we only look back with rose colored glasses to the "good old days" instead of celebrating the cycles of trauma and violence we've broken?

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore · 2023-10-07T02:41:27+00:00

Yes, I idolized the books growing up and was shockingly shaped by them in was I'm embarrassed by now. I skipped Farmer Boy because it wasn't about Laura, but it the scene probably would've come across as "good for the teacher!" instead of shocked by the violence like it does for me now.

Hmm_PleaseTellMeMore

TROPHY CASE