The Goblin Threatens The Scholar
“Keep your people out of my way,” the goblin snarled. “I was shut up in that bottle for a punishment, and I have been kept there for such a length of time that I long ago vowed I would kill whoever let me out for not coming to release me sooner. So I shall break your neck.”
“Softly, softly!” the scholar responded, “that is quicker said than done. I don’t know whether to believe your word or not. You told me you were in that bottle. But how could such a giant as you are get into so small a space? Prove that you spoke the truth by retiring into the bottle, and afterward do what you please with me.”
Full of pride, the goblin boasted, “I can easily furnish you the proof you ask”; and he shrank and shrank until he was as small as before. Then he crept back into the bottle.
Instantly the scholar replaced the stopper, and put the bottle once more where it had been among the oak roots. He picked up his ax and was about to go back to his father when the goblin cried lamentably: “Oh, let me out! Do let me out.”
“No, not a second time,” the scholar said. “I shall not give you a chance to take my life again in a hurry, after I have got you safe.”
“Free me,” the goblin pleaded, “and I will give you wealth that will last you your life-time.”
“No, no, you will only deceive me!” the scholar declared.
“You are disregarding your own best interests,” the goblin said. “Instead of harming you I will reward you richly.”