Sandmans Goodnight Stories | Page 3

the Goblin before she flew into her lover's outstretched arms.
"Now tell him where your wand is," said the River God.
"I have left it behind me in the dell," she said, blushing and hanging her head.
"What! are you not going back to the Queen?" asked the Goblin, in astonishment. "Are you to become a river sprite?"
"You have guessed it," said the River God. "This night we are to be married at the bottom of the river. Farewell, you little tell-tale Goblin. I hope your silver cap fits your peaked little head."
The Goblin watched the Fairy and her lover as they slowly sank from sight, and then he ran off as fast as he could to the dell to tell the Queen what he had seen. "I'll get a red coat, too," he said. "I did not promise not to tell to-night."
The tell-tale Goblin was so bent on telling the Queen what he knew that he quite forgot his new silver cap until he reached the dell where the fairies were dancing; then throwing away his old cap, he clapped the silver cap on his head so hard he cried out with pain.
For a second he saw stars, and the cold silver felt very different from his soft, warm peaked cap which he had tossed aside.
The little fairies, seeing the Goblin hopping about in the moonlight, called to the Queen: "Oh, look, dear Queen. Drive away the Goblin; he acts quite mad and may mean mischief."
The Queen, knowing that Goblins, when they were quite sane, were not friendly to her fairies, held up her wand and cast a ray of light straight into the Goblin's eye. "Leave our dell," she said, "or something will happen to you that you will not like."
"Oh, wait, wait and hear what I have to tell!" called the Goblin. "I know a secret you must hear."
"Oh, don't listen to him, dear Queen!" said all the little fairies. "It is wrong to tell secrets. Go away, we will not listen."
But the Goblin would not go; he wanted to win a red coat, and he was sure the Queen would give it to him for the secret he could tell.
"If you will give me a new red coat I will tell you something about one of your fairies you would like to know," said the Goblin.
"Oh, what a funny head he has!" said a fairy as the Goblin lifted off the silver cap, because it was so uncomfortable.
All the fairies began to laugh, and on his head he clapped the cap again to hide his queer peaked head, and again the cap made him see stars until he jumped with pain.
"Oh, he is quite mad, you may be sure!" said the Queen.
"I am not mad. Listen and I will tell you the secret, and you will know then I am very clever to have discovered it," said the Goblin. "But first I must know if you will give me the red coat. I shall not tell you if you do not."
The tell-tale Goblin did not think for a minute the Queen of the fairies would refuse to pay to hear a secret, and when the Queen told him he was a bad, mad fellow and to be off, he was quite surprised.
"You will be sorry," he said as he hopped away, and then he thought he would tell it, anyway, for what was the use of knowing a secret if you did not surprise others by showing how much you know.
Back he ran, but the fairies and their Queen put their fingers in their ears and ran away, so they could not hear. The telltale Goblin, however, was bound to tell, and he ran until he was near enough to shout: "She has married a River God and she left her wand in the dell; they gave me this silver cap not to tell."
When the Queen and the fairies heard this they stopped and the Goblin thought they wished to hear more, so he went to them and said he would help them hunt for the wand, if they would come to the dell.
The Queen put her finger on her lips to warn the fairies not to speak, and back they went to the dell, following the Goblin, who was hopping and jumping along before them.
"Here it is," he said, stooping to pick up a little gold wand.
"Hold!" cried the Queen; "do not touch it. I will pick it up, and now that you have told us the secret you shall have your reward."
The Goblin hopped with delight, for he was sure the Queen would touch him with the wand and he would have a new red coat at once.
"You shall wear the silver cap the rest of your life," she said, and before the Goblin could jump away