she must not be disturbed.THE TRUTH IS A LEMON MERINGUE!â he yelled at the top of his lungs, as he sometimes liked to do.
At once Mrs Lovelyâs eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright in bed like a startled panda caught shoplifting bamboo.
âWhaa? Eh? Boing?!â she gabbled, looking around in confusion. âWhere am I?â
âFear not, Mrs L,â exclaimed Friday, âFor âtis I, your beloved husband, me.â
âOh, hello, Friday,â said Mrs Lovely weakly. âWhatâs going on?â
But suddenly she caught her breath and drew the bedcover to her cheek in terror.
âGoblin Mountain!â she murmured in the flickering candlelight. âNow I remember!â
âTell us your tale, dearest wife-face,â said Friday, tenderly clasping her nose to his. âBut will you do it as a song?â he asked eagerly.
âNow is not the time for songs, my love,âreplied Mrs Lovely. âBesides, Iâm all weak and feeble. Iâm just going to say it normally.â
âBah,â sulked Friday â but Mrs Lovely was determined to tell her tale her own way.
âIt was like this,â she began. âYou know how Iâm always after unusual herbs to make my sweets? Well, the best ones grow up on Goblin Mountain. So, early this morning, up I did climb to get at those herbs. But soon a blizzard whipped up. I couldnât see a thing â and then,suddenly, I found myself under attack from creatures unknown! They bit and scratched and I thought I was doomed, but somehow I fought my way loose and escaped. After that I donât remember anything and now here I am safe and sound, hooray.â
âWhat do you thinks them creatures was?â asked Polly.
âIâm not sure,â said Mrs Lovely. âThatâs why they were creatures unknown. But like I say, it happened on Goblin Mountain, just outside the Goblin Cave, where the Goblin River runs swift and blue.â
âHmm,â said Friday thoughtfully, twirling his famous imaginary detectiveâs moustache . . .
âGoblin
Mountain . . .
Goblin
Cave . . . Hmm . . . Goblins . . . Goblins . . . It all points to one thing. Mrs Lovely,â he announced triumphantly, âit was badgers who attacked you. A gang of wild badgers driven mad by the cold winter and too much sugar!â
âWeâll gets âem!â cried Polly, sticking her head out of the window towards Goblin Mountain. âOi! Badgers!â she shouted, just in case they could hear over long distances like whales or telephones. âYou gone too far this time, you stripy rascals! We gonna come anâ sort you out!â
During all this Alan Taylor had been sitting in an ashtray on the bedside table, listening carefully. And now it was his turn to speak.For he knew all about the natural world, and that was why he was the headmaster of Saint Pterodactylâs School For The Poor .
âI donât think it was badgers,â he said. âYou see, badgers mainly come out at night and Mrs Lovely was attacked by day. Also, badgers tend to attack small mammals such as stoats, voles and marmots (a type of large ground squirrel). They hardly ever attack Mrs Lovely. You know what I think it was?â
âBadgers?â asked Friday, who hadnât really been listening properly.
âNo,â said Alan Taylor, âI think it was goblins.â
âGoblins?!â whispered Polly in fright.
âGoblins?!â moaned Mrs Lovely fearfully.
âGoblins,â nodded Alan Taylor gravely, and the moon slid out from behind a cloud and its light spilled into the room like a long skeletal finger. And from up high on Goblin Mountain,they seemed to hear horrible laughter, it was probably just their imagination but it gave âem goosebumps all the same.
Chapter 3
In the Court of the Goblin King
S o let us go now, far, far from the room at the tavern where our heroes sit covered in
Alexandra Amor
The Duke Next Door
John Wilcox
Clarence Major
David Perlmutter M. D., Alberto Villoldo Ph.d.
Susan Wiggs
Vicki Myron
Mack Maloney
Stephen L. Antczak, James C. Bassett
Unknown