Mole

Mole

The Mole is a very special animal for several reasons. The first of these is that he lives underground. This is important because it leads to all the other reasons.

When you live underground, you can’t see much because the ground blocks all the light. So the mole’s eyes are very small and his eyesight is very poor. But he doesn’t mind because his sense of smell tells him all he needs to know about what is happening underground.

The mole also has very big and strong front paws and claws. These make it so easy to dig tunnels through the earth that, for him, it’s just like swimming is for us. And he also has the darkest, smoothest, shiniest, softest fur you’ve ever felt. This is so that he can slide through his tunnels with the greatest of ease.

These things make him faster at moving underground than any animal that wants to catch him. But they also mean that, above ground, he is almost helpless and is easily caught. He can’t see enemies coming and they can run much faster above ground than he can.

I had a dog named Bunty once and she loved to try to catch moles. She would shove her muzzle into the heap of earth that moles leave behind when they start their tunnels. If she could smell that the mole had been there recently, she would start to dig frantically. Of course, she never caught one. Even if the mole had only just begun to dig his new tunnel, he would be far away by the time she got her head under the ground.

But she never stopped trying. Dogs seem to enjoy digging almost as much as they do catching things.

One day, when I was out for a walk with Bunty, we met a man who had caught a mole. It was still alive and he showed it to us, although he would not let Bunty too close to it. It was only as big as his hand and very dark in colour. Its eyes were tiny pin-pricks in the sides of its head but its claws looked far too big for the rest of it.

The man let me feel how soft was the mole’s fur and I have never forgotten what a wonderful feeling it was to stroke it. Long ago, they used to make ladies’ coats out of mole’s fur because it feels so smooth and luxurious. It was called moleskin, although really it was the fur that made the coat so nice to wear. They have stopped making those coats because we have ways to make such things out of other materials now.

After a while, the man left, taking the mole with him. I never found out what he did with it but I do hope he let it go when safely out of Bunty’s range. Maybe one day you too will be able to feel how soft and smooth a mole is.


Word count: 498
For Writing 4 Kids Contest, June 2023
Prompt: As per illustration.