Spring cleaning is hard work, and young Mole finally tires of it. Throwing down his brush, he cries, “‘Bother!’ and ‘O blow!’ and also ‘Hang spring-cleaning!’” (7) He hurries up the tunnel from his burrow and digs his way out of the upper section to the open air above. Ecstatic with the warm sunlight after living so long underground, Mole rolls in the grass and then heads for the meadow’s edge.

A rabbit stops him and demands sixpence to pass through the hedge. Mole brushes impatiently past him, knocking him over. Other rabbits peer from their holes and argue with each other about why they didn’t stop Mole.

He comes to a large river. He’s never seen one before, and he marvels at how it glimmers and chatters, as if the water plays with the things it moves past. A water rat emerges from a hole high in the opposite bank. They say hello, and the water rat invites Mole to visit. Before Mole can object because of the water between them, Rat launches a small blue-and-white rowboat and sculls across.

He helps Mole into the boat—Mole has never been in one, and he loves it—and oars back toward his side.