I’ve been wondering about this for years, ever since the '80s when I read the first Adrian Mole book/s (in the US the first two were an omnibus). Adrian’s mom gives birth to a girl who she names Rosie Germaine Mole. Okay, Germaine for Germaine Greer, but no reason given for Rosie. At any rate, she’s known as Rosie Mole.
And immediately I thought of a story I’d read years before that. A prince and princess are in love, but they squabble over something and break up. The prince is told that if he wants to win back the princess, he has to find the rosy mole. The princess is told to look for something equally unlikely, for the same purpose. And of course, they cross paths while searching, and all is forgiven and wedding bells chime. A recent Google search tells me that this was in the Green Fairy Book. What I couldn’t find out from Google, though, is whether or not Sue Townsend’s Rosie Mole was inspired by Andrew Lang’s rosy mole.
I suppose it depends on how well the small-m mole is known. There were ten or more of those [Color] Fairy Books, and I think there are about three stories, total, from them that I really remember. Does it sound familiar to anyone else? If it’s not well-known, then it was probably just Townsend trying to be funny with the name for the sake of it, not an homage. But I wonder.