"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."