Moses Supposes His Toeses Are Roses

Sleeping Moses - Moses or Sleeping Beauty?

This is the last picture in a set of illustrations created by Nancy Patz for this rhyme. In the first illustrations, a number of people are making the blanket that Moses later has on his bed. Moses is also shown playing with the people on the finished blanket, and finally he is shown sleeping in the last picture. It is only this final picture in which Moses is depicted with roses in his toes.

Here Moses is not actually looking at the roses between his toeses. Rather than bunches of roses, a single large red rose is placed between Moses' first two toes on each foot. Moses is sound asleep, with the blankets drawn all the way to his neck so that only his head and toes show. There are two birds sitting on the bed posts on each side of his head, and two vases of flowers on the floor at the foot of the bed. Moses' blanket also has a pattern of star shaped flowers decorating it. The sleeping Moses has a pirate hat on his head. The image of the sleeping Moses suggests that the vision of his toes as roses may be a dream image. He is already surrounded by real flowers, so the roses add a whimsical quality to the picture.