A little bit over a year ago, a statue of the Gruffalo and the mouse was unveiled in our town. I went back to have a look how the two have fared since.

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Not too bad, it seems. The photo on the left is from a year ago.

Beltz and Gelberg publishes the Gruffalo books in German and their headquarters are in Weinheim. When an old oak tree was hit by lightning the idea to use the wood for a sculpture came up.

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For the unveiling the illustrator, Alex Scheffel, came to the Windeck, a castle ruin above the place where the sculpture now stands, and he let his young audience have a glimpse of his art.

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But who is this creature? With terrible claws

And terrible teeth in his terrible jaws?

He has knobbly knees and turned out toes, and a poisonous wart at the end of this nose.

His eyes are orange.  His tongue is black.

He has purple prickles all over his back.

Oh help, oh no. It’s a gruffalo.

And a final view of the Gruffalo, as seen by the mouse:

Linked to I’m a fan of … #86. More fanatical posts can be found here.