Who would think to liken the shape of a bud to the hooves of cattle? And that cuckoo singing all night!

‘The buds of the ash, sullen for so long in their coverings shaped like the black hooves of cattle, broke into browny-green sprays.  The cuckoo sang all night.’

Source: Henry Williamson, Tarka the Otter: His joyful water-life and death in the two rivers, illus. C.F. Tunnicliffe (Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, 1976 (1927)), p. 30

Photo credit: _Alicja_ at pixabay.com