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"Oh, that's just the Wild Wood. We don't go there much, we River bankers."
"Aren't they - very nice people in there?" asked Mole nervously.
"Well - the squirrels are all right. The rabbits are a mixed lot. And Badger's all right. Nobody interferes with him. They'd better not!"
"Why, who should interfere with him?" asked Mole.
"There are others - weasels-and stoats-and foxes and so on. All right in a way. But you can't trust them, and that's a fact."
"And beyond the Wild Wood again? Where it's all blue and dim and there's hills-and something like the smoke from towns?"
"Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wide World/' said Rat, "and that's something that doesn't matter to you or me."
"Aren't they - very nice people in there?" asked Mole nervously.
"Well - the squirrels are all right. The rabbits are a mixed lot. And Badger's all right. Nobody interferes with him. They'd better not!"
"Why, who should interfere with him?" asked Mole.
"There are others - weasels-and stoats-and foxes and so on. All right in a way. But you can't trust them, and that's a fact."
"And beyond the Wild Wood again? Where it's all blue and dim and there's hills-and something like the smoke from towns?"
"Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wide World/' said Rat, "and that's something that doesn't matter to you or me."
THE RIVER BANK
