Curious about tomorrow’s weather? Just ask these starving, beleaguered peasants…

I once mocked the Disney iteration of this old-fashioned weather forecaster, mainly because it (as was Disney’s inexplicable wont) had poor Donald Duck getting rained on while the utterly useless Mickey Mouse basked in glorious sunshine. This one is a bit more striking, though. Why? Well, according to the copy, the lady on the right is a witch, and she’d signal bad weather, while the kids on the left would signal fair skies. But the lady doesn’t look like a witch. In fact, she looks like she’s probably the two kids’ mother, and they all, even in this small detail, look very depressed. Perhaps she’s widowed and now struggling to make ends meet, with a thin harvest not enough to fill her childrens’ bellies and the lord of the manor threatening to evict them from their meager lodgings. At least that’s what I see.

Bad weather all around is what I’m trying to say.

Also, I’m pretty sure the Magic Leaf would turn out to be an advance scout for the Triffids.