A Mole, Under a Mushroom, in the Rain

Last week someone posted the following charming picture to Twitter:

I found it lovely. In part, this is because he’s a perfectly British mole, in a waistcoat, enjoying tea in the rain. But also because I have a spot where I can enjoy the very same lifestyle and mood, weather permitting. The house has a built-in deep alcove with a bench. In fact, you can comfortably fit two people in there and both stay perfectly dry.

I liked the picture so much that I thought I might find a higher resolution version and print out a copy to pin in the house. Unfortunately, Google Reverse-Image Search wasn’t super-helpful on that front. After pointing to that picture, it suggested about 6 other instances — all variations on the same tweet, some screen-capturing the tweet plus text, others reposting the image with different captions. Fortunately, one of those tweets had a big bunch of responses, one of which pointed to the source. Right there on page 37 of A Great Big Ugly Man Came Up and Tied His Horse To Me, a British book for children, is the full uncropped image.

Page 37 in all its glory.

It’s even better with the verse, and not just because it dunks on Devon.

Rain on the green grass,
And rain on the tree,
Rain on the house-top,
But not on me.

Pinned to my chalk board.