When Bet is first asked to go into the meadow and read a passage aloud from a book - apparently to no-one - she wonders why.

But then she realises that her audience is a little mole, who listens attentively.

This isn't just any mole. This mole can speak, he is more than 300 years old and he has an amazing tale to tell.

So begins an extraordinary friendship between a lonely little girl and The Little Gentleman in Black Velvet.