So he went and lifted off the stone; and the terrified goblins scuttled away in all directions like so many wild cats, and ran away into the woods and never came back to the ledge any more.
None stayed behind, but only the one black as a mole and with big horns, because he did not dare to leave Quest for fear of Rampogusto.
But even he sobered down a little from that day forward, and had more respect for Quest than before.
And so these two came to a sort of arrangement between them; they got used to one another and lived side by side on the stony ledge.
In that way close on to a year slipped by, and Quest was no nearer remembering what All-Rosy had really truly told him.
When the year was almost gone the goblin began to be most horribly bored.
“How much longer have I got to stick here?” thought he. So one evening, just as Quest was about to fall asleep, the imp wriggled up to him and said:
“Well, my friend, here you’ve been sitting for close on a year and a day, and what’s the good of it? Who knows but perhaps in the meantime your old grand-dad has died all alone in his cabin.”
A pang shot through Quest’s heart as if he had been struck with a knife, but he said: “There, I have made up my mind not to budge from here until I remember the truth, because truth comes before all things.” Thus said Quest, because he was upright and of good parts.