At the Back of the North Wind

Diamond follows the North Wind down the ladder but pauses to pet the horse that is his namesake. When he arrives at the lawn outside, he discovers that the North Wind has vanished and he cries, missing her. Afterwards, he finds his bravery and goes to look for her, but a cold wind drives him into the yard belonging to the Colemans. The Colemans employ Diamond’s father and own the horses, stable, and carriage house; they also employ their daughter’s old nurse, Mrs. Crump, although their daughter does not need a nurse anymore.

The women of the house have stayed up late, and the light in the window draws Diamond closer. When they put out the light to go to bed, he begins to cry, overwhelmed with loneliness. The noise attracts Mrs. Crump, who believes that he is sleepwalking and guides him inside. Diamond mistakes Miss Coleman, the daughter, for the North Wind and hugs her. He then cries once again from embarrassment, but the women feed him cake and Mrs. Crump takes him back home. His mother puts him to bed, and he falls asleep listening to her and Mrs. Crump talk.

Diamond wakes up the next morning and has a hard time deciding whether the night before was real or a dream. He climbs down the ladder and onto the back of Old Diamond, the horse, who almost bucks him off before he recognizes the boy. Diamond’s mother must help him down, and Diamond decides that it was all just a dream.

The next week, Diamond is stuck inside because the weather is poor, but when his mother purchases him new shoes he goes outside. He watches the sunset and decides that if he couldn’t live with his parents, he would want to live in the clouds. His father arrives with the horses, and Diamond steps out of the way so they can go into the stable. As he stands in the Coleman yard, he realizes that the North Wind was not a dream and spots a single primrose growing in the hollow of a tree despite the cold wind. He believes that the flower is saying its prayers and leaves it alone, going to help his father with the horses.

Diamond’s mother and father talk quietly about Miss Coleman, who isn’t feeling well. Diamond goes to bed and wakes up when the North Wind whispers to him. The two briefly argue about her leaving him behind the week before, but the North Wind insists that it was his fault: A gentleman never leaves a lady waiting. Diamond removes the paper his mother re-glued over the hole after the North Wind tells him that she considers his father a gentleman. She emerges from the hole looking like a young girl and invites Diamond to go with her.

Diamond dresses and joins the North Wind in the yard, where she waits beside the primrose. They hold hands and she teaches him how to jump with her, enabling them to jump higher and move faster than Diamond thought possible. The North Wind grows extremely tall and carries Diamond, confessing she has “disagreeable” work to take care of before she goes out to sea. They reach a house, and the North Wind takes the shape of a wolf, leaping up the stairs. Diamond, afraid that she is hurting someone when he hears a scream and a thump, tries to follow her, but he meets her at the top of the stairs in the form of a girl. She takes his hand and leads him from the house. Outside, she explains that a nurse was drinking and verbally abusing the child she takes care of. The North Wind scared her so that she fell over, drawing the attention of the others in the house to her drinking so that they would fire her. The North Wind assures Diamond that no child was scared and tells him not to let go of her hand as they look out over the city of London. 

Diamond notices that the North Wind is shaking and asks if she is cold. She says no and grows larger and larger until she is impossibly big, and then shrinks back down to the size of a tall woman. She braids her hair into a pocket for Diamond to sit inside. She begins to fly, and Diamond peeks out into the night as they fly over London, but her thick hair blocks the sky. There is an extremely loud noise that the North Wind explains is her “besom”—her broom. She is sweeping the streets of London clean.

Diamond sees a little girl with a broom struggling against the wind and asks the North Wind to help her, but the North Wind claims she is helping by sweeping away the bad smells of the city and that “[e]verybody is not ready for the same thing” (21). They pass by the little girl again and Diamond insists on helping her, even though the North Wind warns him that she cannot promise to take him home if he leaves her hair. He insists anyway and she places him on the street before vanishing. He runs against the wind and finds the little girl, grabbing her and helping her lean against a lamppost. He promises to escort her home, but the wind is so bad that they are frozen in place until a police officer passes and tells them they must leave.

The little girl lives with “Old Sal,” a woman who locks her cellar door and prevents the little girl from getting inside if she is out too late. Diamond escorts the little girl home, and they find the door locked. They wander the streets of London together; Diamond is filled with regret because not only is he lost, but he also has not helped the little girl at all. They crawl into a barrel to get warm, and Diamond tells the little girl about the North Wind. The girl speaks disparagingly, but then a gust of wind pushes the barrel so hard that the children roll around and fall out. They resume walking until they reach the outskirts of London, walking past fields. The wind pushes Diamond forward until he stumbles through a gate, finding himself in the Coleman lawn. He instructs the girl to bore a hole in her wall and ask the North Wind for help, but the girl is disbelieving. She declines Diamond’s offer for breakfast and the two part ways, with Diamond gratefully falling into his bed.

Diamond doesn’t tell anyone about his adventures, partially because he believes that the North Wind is friends with his mother and partially because he worries no one would believe him. A week later, Diamond’s father lets the boy ride Old Diamond as they go to a blacksmith for new horseshoes. Diamond slowly grows more confident, and his father lets go of the bridle. As they pass through town, Diamond spots the sweeping girl sweeping the street in front of Mrs. Coleman. Mrs. Coleman doesn’t pay the girl, so Diamond leaps off the horse’s back to pay her a penny. The girl watches him leave and assumes that “North Wind” is the name of the horse Diamond is riding on.

Summer begins and Miss Coleman begins to feel better, working in the garden. She and Diamond chat, growing closer until she gives the boy permission to play in the garden if he doesn’t pick flowers. Diamond decides that the night in London with the North Wind was a dream. He sits in the “summer house,” a small building at the bottom of the lawn, with Miss Coleman.

One day, Miss Coleman gets cold and returns home, but Diamond stays to watch bumble bees. He hears a voice from the base of the tulips and sees a minuscule creature. He initially mistakes it for a fairy but then recognizes the North Wind in a diminutive form. She announces that she must sink a ship that night and that Diamond must accompany her. She briefly references her sister, the East Wind, claiming that she is “naughty.” She guides Diamond to a wall, looking over it at the river where a man in a boat is sailing. The North Wind, by blowing mist, helps him wake up and make his way to shore. She vanishes before Diamond can question her about what she did. Feeling confused about the world, he decides to go inside for tea. His mother sends him to bed, and he falls asleep while watching the moon. He awakes much later to terrible thunder and wind rushing over him. The North Wind calls to him, extending a gigantic hand that he accepts without hesitation. 

The North Wind lifts Diamond out into the storm. The wind is blowing extremely hard, and he calls out to the North Wind, who tells him not to be frightened because she will keep him safe. She cradles him to her chest, and he promises to be brave as long as she holds him there. The two debate the North Wind’s true nature; Diamond insists that she is kind and good, claiming that sinking a ship is cruel and “not like you” (36). Diamond grows upset when the North Wind tells him “kindness might be only a pretense for the sake of being more cruel afterwards” (38). Diamond insists that she is kind and loves him and resolves to go with her. The North Wind cradles him close, and the two leap off the roof of the stables, flying out into the storm and towards the sea.