Father mole decides his daughter is too perfect to marry a mere mole. Against her wishes, he approaches the sky. The sky professes to be honoured, but claims the sun is more powerful, as it controls day and night. The sun suggests the mole talk to a cloud, as clouds can cover the sun. The cloud suggests the wind, as it moves the clouds, and the wind tells the mole to consider a stone wall that the wind is unable to move. The mole grows discouraged, and his daughter more alarmed with each suggestion, but they decide to at least look at the wall. While they look, a handsome young mole pops up. He has just tunnelled under the wall. The daughter convinces her father that this mole is more powerful than the wall, therefore more powerful than anything in the world, and the two are wed.

This Oriental tale, which sometimes features mice, is retold from a Korean version, accompanied by Gukova’s illustrations. Like many folktales, this one endures because it is a good story. The mole’s vanity is a source of gentle humour, which is captured in a tongue-in-cheek way that will appeal to adult narrators. Child listeners are more likely to be captivated by the plight of the daughter who saves herself by using her wits. Gukova’s illustrations are colourful, and very young children may have fun trying to find in them the faces of the sky, cloud, wind, and sun. One possible complaint is that the vocabulary may be too advanced for the intended audience of four- to seven-year-olds. Words like extraordinary, singular, exquisite, matrimony, and supreme may be digestible, but when the wall is described as “a massive, ancient stone structure of awe-inspiring height and depth,” many preschoolers will stop the show to demand a plain English translation. This problem aside, The Mole’s Daughter is a charming book.