Andrew Lan's Twelve-Color Fairy Tale Series: Pink Fairy Tale Books

Chapter 2 Goblins and the Grocer

Once upon a time, there was a very hardworking student who lived in a small attic and was so poor that he had nothing.

On the first floor of his residence there was an equally industrious grocer, who lived in a house that was entirely his own.

The Elf Goblin prefers to be with the grocer, because every Christmas Eve, there will be a plate of jam waiting for him in the grocery store, and there is a big piece of butter in it!

The grocer has no problem paying for the jams and butter, so Elf Goblins love being in the grocery store.One evening, the students who lived in the attic came in through the back door of the grocery store to buy candles and cheese.No one would send him there, so he had to come by himself.

He paid and said goodnight with a nod to the grocer and his wife (the grocer's wife didn't just nod, she was chatty).

After saying goodbye, the student suddenly stopped and looked at the piece of paper wrapped in cheese in his hand.

It was torn from an old book—an old book of poetry.

"There's the rest of that old book over there!" said the grocer. "I traded it for a little coffee to an old lady, and if you like, give me twopence, and I'll take it all."

"Okay," said the student, "then I want the book, and I don't want the cheese. I can eat bread without cheese. It's a pity to leave such a good book here to be torn apart. You are very clever and very capable. But when it comes to poetry, you know as little as that wastebasket over there."

It sounds rude to say people are like wastebaskets, but the grocer laughed, and so did the students, and they were just kidding.

But the goblin was very angry. The grocer owned a house and sold the best butter, and someone dared to say such rude things to him!

At night the grocery store was closed and everyone was asleep except the student.The goblin took the grocer's wife's tongue, she couldn't use it when she was asleep.As long as the goblin puts his tongue on anything in the room, the thing can talk, and like the owner of the tongue, it is very good at expressing its thoughts and feelings.But it's good that only one thing can use its tongue at a time, otherwise it would be troublesome if they all spoke at the same time.

The goblin put his tongue on the wastebasket where there were some old newspapers.

"Is it true," he asked, "that you really don't know anything about poetry?"

"Of course I don't understand!" replied the wastebasket. "Poetry is what's printed on those papers, and it's often edited. I have a lot more paper with poems in it than that student's, but I'm just a clerk in the grocery store." Small wastebasket."

The goblin put his tongue on the coffee grinder, and then on the butter keg and the cash box, all of them on the same page as the wastebasket.Goblins can only trust the opinion of the majority.

"Now I'm going to tell that student!" After finishing speaking, he gently climbed upstairs to the small attic where the students lived.

There was still light in the room, and the goblin saw through the keyhole that the student was reading the tattered book he had bought from the grocery store.

Wow, it's amazing!The dazzling light is refracted in the book, forming a luxuriant tree of light above the students.This flowering tree, every leaf is so fresh; every flower is like a girl’s beautiful face, some with big black eyes, sparkling, some with blue eyes, so charming; Some places already bear fruit, and each fruit is like a shining star.There is still wonderful music playing in the room, how pleasant it is!The little goblin never even dreamed that there would be such a fascinating scene, let alone witnessed it with his own eyes!

He watched all this intently on tiptoe until the student blew out the candles and went to bed.But the goblin didn't want to leave yet, he was still standing outside listening to the music, the music was so soft and sweet, like a lullaby for the students.

"I've never seen such a wonderful sight!" said the goblin. "I didn't even think about it! I should be by this student's side."

But the goblin is still a sensible little thing. After thinking about it carefully, he sighed: "But the students don't have jam for me!"

So, he went back to the grocery store.Fortunately, he came back, the wastebasket was almost exhausting his tongue.He had read all the pages in it on one side and was about to turn around and read the other side!At this time, the goblin finally returned, and he returned his tongue to the grocer's wife.

But from that night on, everything in the grocery store, from the money box to the wood shavings, changed their minds about the wastebasket, and they came to respect him and look up to him.They adore the wastebasket so much that they sometimes see the grocer reading clippings of art and theater reviews from newspapers at night, and they attribute it to the wastebasket.

Goblins can no longer sit still and listen to all this talk of wisdom and lore in the shop, not anymore!At night, the candlelight from the attic was like a strong rope, pulling him upstairs. He couldn't control himself, and went upstairs to lie on the keyhole to secretly watch the students studying.Here he felt like standing on a stormy sea, with tears welling up in his eyes.The goblin didn't know why he was crying, but even though he was crying, he felt extremely happy.How wonderful it would be to sit with the students under that radiant tree of wisdom!But this was impossible, he could only watch secretly through the keyhole.This is also very happy!
The goblin stood on the cold ground at the door, and the cold wind blew in from the gap in the stairs.It was so cold, so cold, the candles in the room had been extinguished, and the music had stopped, and that was when he felt the cold.He felt that he was about to freeze, so he went back to his corner lightly, where it was warm and comfortable.

It's Christmas time, and the goblins have another jam with a hunk of butter, and it's so delicious!It's better to be with the grocer!
In the middle of the night, the goblin was awakened, and someone knocked hard on the shop door.The night watchman blew his whistle loudly: it's on fire, the whole town is on fire!
Is the grocery store on fire, or is the neighbor on fire?

The alarm sounded loudly and loudly.The grocer's wife was so frightened that she took off the earrings and put them in her bag so that there was something left.The grocer hastily clutched his ledger, while the maid took her black silk dress.

Everyone wants to keep their most valuable things, and so do goblins.He jumped upstairs and rushed into the student's room, grabbed the old book on the table, wrapped it in his red hat, and held the hat tightly with both hands.The most precious treasure in the house was kept, and the goblin climbed out of the roof and hid in the chimney.He was sitting on the chimney, the house opposite was burning with fire, and the flames illuminated his body, and he held tightly to the red hat with the baby in his hands; now he knew what was the most precious thing in his heart.

But after the fire was extinguished, the goblin thought it over again. "I'll divide myself in two," he said. "I can't leave the grocer, because he has jam for me!"

Think about it, are we the same as Goblins? Are we also inseparable from our "grocer"-because he has jam!
(End of this chapter)