Betty Kamer - Snørgl The Forest Goblin

But now I'd better go and see why he scolded me so. Galdur lives in the same tree as I do. We are neighbors, even though the entrance to his apartment is on the other side of the trunk. But first let me tell you what the trees are all about:

Well, we Goblin have been living together with animals in mixed forests for a very long time. You see, these are forests where there are many deciduous trees, such as beech, birch, maple, oak, and also conifers like fir, larch and spruce.

In the forests, all the inhabitants stick together very tightly because we can help each other.

Friendship is very important not only for Goblin, but also for people. I think whoever is without friends must be very lonely and even if you don't see each other every day or talk to each other, it is important to always think of each other and be there for each other. Vegard, one of the head Goblin, claims that the word 'important' comes from gnome. Funny, isn't it?

So the Goblin have always maintained a very thick friendship with the birds, which also live in these forests. Some of them even have their nesting places actually in the trees and not in a nest on a branch. Really. These are real great caves inside the tree trunks. These birds are called 'cavity breeders'.

For example, that's the titmouse, the starling, the great spotted woodpecker, the great tit, and the tawny owl, just to name you a few birds.

I'm talking, I'm talking, I'm talking. I actually wanted to tell you something else. - You see, that's what my scribe line meant when she asked me to tell you that I'm talkative. She's probably right about that.

But I still have to tell you something:

Well, we Goblin used to live in small, somewhat warped houses at the bottom of the forest. However, it used to happen that people would walk their dogs in the woods and let them off the leash. Irresponsible, if you ask me. They were constantly sniffing the forest floor with their wet noses, digging holes in the ground and often even destroying our houses. And I tell you, it happened not only once that we had to hide from the adult humans who were looking for their four-legged friends. They are not allowed to see us at all!

You ask why?

Well, some of the adult people have no imagination anymore and do not believe that we really exist. And when they discover us, we lose our abilities for a few days and can't go on dream journeys during that time. Why this is so none of us knows.

So we Goblin consulted with the animals of the forest and the perfect solution was found for us: with the help of the starlings, the spotted woodpeckers, the robins and the tawny owls, we built our dwellings exactly as the cave-breeders build their nests. Only not high up in the trees, but at the very bottom in the trunks. And we even got little windows and doors.

But back to what I wanted to tell you: Wait a minute, siblings one more time. What was that again? Oh yeah, now I remember:

So ... up until the moment Dellingur offered me a move to this tree apartment of the banished wretch, I was living with Tamin the tailor. It was really nice with him, but I was very happy to have my own place. Not that we didn't get along. On the contrary, I always found it exciting to talk to him about all sorts of things while he sewed something for the rest of us wretches. A little shirt here, a pair of pants there. He dyes the fabrics for it in the most beautiful colors, which Gulltoppur mixes especially for him. However, his fabrics, the sewing machine and the large table on which he cut the fabrics, needed more and more space over time and I had to store my books - you must know, I am an absolute reading gnome - even under the bed. That's when Dellingur's offer came in handy.

After the banishment of Böggvir, Amur and Allsvartur, two tree apartments had become free.

What do you ask? Why only two apartments, when there were three wretches?

You know, it's because Böggvir and Amur had also shared a tree apartment. So did Tamin and I. Their apartment was very big, so we decided in a meeting that after their banishment Gosi should set up his workshop there. I tell you, if we didn't have Gosi, we would probably all be sitting on the floor, sleeping and eating. After all, it is he who makes us such beautiful furniture and can always fix anything that has broken. We all love him very much for that.

Quite often Reifur embellishes our furniture with moss. He is a real master at that.

But at first I was a bit skeptical when I heard that it was about Allsvartur's tree apartment. Everything about Allsvartur was black. His clothes and also the furnishings of his apartment. How awful, don't you think? It is much nicer to have colorful clothes and also colorful pictures on the walls, isn't it?

He called himself 'Allsvartur', which translated into human language means 'the deep black one'. And let me tell you, when I first entered the apartment, my hair stood on end under my wight cap.

He had blackened everything with the coal from the cooled campfire. And I really mean everything: his bed, the table, the walls, his shelf, and even his chair. Horrible, really horrible. To make the paint last and not rub off every time he touched it, he covered everything in his apartment with the resin from the trees. It was always so dark in his house that none of us wanted to visit him.

Everyone talked me through it and with the active support of my dear friends we were able to turn this dark place into a truly 'golden' home for me. Gosi, for example, built me a new table with two matching chairs and, at my request, a really great shelf in my reading corner, where all my books have found their place.

Even the shy Styggur (he is pronounced Stügur in human language), who actually does not like to be active with the rest of us, gave me a self-made lamp.

The gift from Reifur, however, was the big hit: He had covered his old wing chair, which Gosi had previously repaired, with fresh moss especially for me and presented me with two cushions embroidered by him to go with it. Oh, I love to snuggle into the armchair with the high back and the thick cushions. The cover is so wonderfully soft that I have fallen asleep many a time while reading.

And Pokki gave me a big plate full of homemade cookies for moving in, which we all had to snack on. Some tasted like wild strawberries, others like nuts. But once again, the most delicious were the cookies that tasted like herbs. He is always trying out new recipes and has already written a very thick book about them. Of course, he is very proud of this and lets us try his new delicacies every now and then. But I'll tell you a secret now:

Sometimes they don't taste at all or are totally charred and when he asks us in his great joy if we like them, we usually just nod so as not to fib. But please don't tell him.

Oh dear, I actually wanted to tell you why my home is 'golden'. Please forgive me, I am sometimes a bit scatterbrained and ramble on while telling you.

Well, word got around that I would be moving into Allsvartur's tree apartment, and quite a few people were horrified. So Gulltoppur's suggestion to help me with the renovation was most welcome. Gulltoppur has an absolute knack for mixing paint. Especially nice, is the golden color. He claims to make it from an ancient and secret fairy recipe from his great-great-grandmother.

So there he was, standing in the middle of my new apartment: with a big bucket of this impossibly beautiful paint in one hand and a second bucket of white paint in the other. He could not be dissuaded from painting the walls white, as well as many a piece of furniture gold. I already knew the golden color, but was once again deeply impressed. At the second bucket, however, my gaze was really stuck.