THERE was once a regular student, who lived in a garret,
and had no possessions. And there was also a regular huckster,
to whom the house belonged, and who occupied the ground floor.
A goblin lived with the huckster, because at Christmas he
always had a large dish full of jam, with a great piece of
butter in the middle. The huckster could afford this; and
therefore the goblin remained with the huckster, which was
very cunning of him.
One evening the student came into the shop through the
back door to buy candles and cheese for himself, he had no one
to send, and therefore he came himself; he obtained what he
wished, and then the huckster and his wife nodded good evening
to him, and she was a woman who could do more than merely nod,
for she had usually plenty to say for herself. The student
nodded in return as he turned to leave, then suddenly stopped,
and began reading the piece of paper in which the cheese was
wrapped. It was a leaf torn out of an old book, a book that
ought not to have been torn up, for it was full of poetry.
"Yonder lies some more of the same sort," said the
huckster: "I gave an old woman a few coffee berries for it;
you shall have the rest for sixpence, if you will."
"Indeed I will," said the student; "give me the book
instead of the cheese; I can eat my bread and butter without
cheese. It would be a sin to tear up a book like this. You are
a clever man; and a practical man; but you understand no more
about poetry than that cask yonder."
This was a very rude speech, especially against the cask;
but the huckster and the student both laughed, for it was only
said in fun. But the goblin felt very angry that any man
should venture to say such things to a huckster who was a
householder and sold the best butter. As soon as it was night,
and the shop closed, and every one in bed except the student,
the goblin stepped softly into the bedroom where the
huckster's wife slept, and took away her tongue, which of
course, she did not then want. Whatever object in the room he
placed his tongue upon immediately received voice and speech,
and was able to express its thoughts and feelings as readily
as the lady herself could do. It could only be used by one
object at a time, which was a good thing, as a number speaking
at once would have caused great confusion. The goblin laid the
tongue upon the cask, in which lay a quantity of old
newspapers.
"Is it really true," he asked, that you do not know what
poetry is?"
"Of course I know," replied the cask: "poetry is something
that always stand in the corner of a newspaper, and is
sometimes cut out; and I may venture to affirm that I have
more of it in me than the student has, and I am only a poor
tub of the huckster's."
Then the goblin placed the tongue on the coffee mill; and
how it did go to be sure! Then he put it on the butter tub and
the cash box, and they all expressed the same opinion as the
waste-paper tub; and a majority must always be respected.
"Now I shall go and tell the student," said the goblin;
and with these words he went quietly up the back stairs to the
garret where the student lived. He had a candle burning still,
and the goblin peeped through the keyhole and saw that he was
reading in the torn book, which he had brought out of the
shop. But how light the room was! From the book shot forth1 a
ray of light which grew broad and full, like the stem of a
tree, from which bright rays spread upward and over the
student's head. Each leaf was fresh, and each flower was like
a beautiful female head; some with dark and sparkling eyes,
and others with eyes that were wonderfully blue and clear. The
fruit gleamed like stars, and the room was filled with sounds
of beautiful music. The little goblin had never imagined, much
less seen or heard of, any sight so glorious as this. He stood
still on tiptoe, peeping in, till the light went out in the
garret. The student no doubt had blown out his candle and gone
to bed; but the little goblin remained standing2 there
nevertheless, and listening to the music which still sounded
on, soft and beautiful, a sweet cradle-song for the student,
who had lain down to rest."
"This is a wonderful place," said the goblin; "I never
expected such a thing. I should like to stay here with the
student;" and the little man thought it over, for he was a
sensible little spirit. At last he sighed, "but the student
has no jam!" So he went down stairs again into the huckster's
shop, and it was a good thing he got back when he did, for the
cask had almost worn out the lady's tongue; he had given a
description of all that he contained on one side, and was just
about to turn himself over to the other side to describe what
was there, when the goblin entered and restored the tongue to
the lady. But from that time forward, the whole shop, from the
cash box down to the pinewood logs, formed their opinions from
that of the cask; and they all had such confidence in him, and
treated him with so much respect, that when the huckster read
the criticisms on theatricals3 and art of an evening, they
fancied it must all come from the cask.
But after what he had seen, the goblin could no longer sit
and listen quietly to the wisdom and understanding down
stairs; so, as soon as the evening light glimmered4 in the
garret, he took courage, for it seemed to him as if the rays
of light were strong cables, drawing him up, and obliging him
to go and peep through the keyhole; and, while there, a
feeling of vastness came over him such as we experience by the
ever-moving sea, when the storm breaks forth; and it brought
tears into his eyes. He did not himself know why he wept, yet
a kind of pleasant feeling mingled5 with his tears. "How
wonderfully glorious it would be to sit with the student under
such a tree;" but that was out of the question, he must be
content to look through the keyhole, and be thankful for even
that.
There he stood on the old landing, with the autumn wind
blowing down upon him through the trap-door. It was very cold;
but the little creature did not really feel it, till the light
in the garret went out, and the tones of music died away. Then
how he shivered, and crept down stairs again to his warm
corner, where it felt home-like and comfortable. And when
Christmas came again, and brought the dish of jam and the
great lump of butter, he liked the huckster best of all.
Soon after, in the middle of the night, the goblin was
awoke by a terrible noise and knocking against the window
shutters and the house doors, and by the sound of the
watchman's horn; for a great fire had broken out, and the
whole street appeared full of flames. Was it in their house,
or a neighbor's? No one could tell, for terror had seized upon
all. The huckster's wife was so bewildered that she took her
gold ear-rings out of her ears and put them in her pocket,
that she might save something at least. The huckster ran to
get his business papers, and the servant resolved to save her
blue silk mantle6, which she had managed to buy. Each wished to
keep the best things they had. The goblin had the same wish;
for, with one spring, he was up stairs and in the student's
room, whom he found standing by the open window, and looking
quite calmly at the fire, which was raging at the house of a
neighbor opposite. The goblin caught up the wonderful book
which lay on the table, and popped it into his red cap, which
he held tightly with both hands. The greatest treasure in the
house was saved; and he ran away with it to the roof, and
seated himself on the chimney. The flames of the burning house
opposite illuminated7 him as he sat, both hands pressed tightly
over his cap, in which the treasure lay; and then he found out
what feelings really reigned8 in his heart, and knew exactly
which way they tended. And yet, when the fire was
extinguished, and the goblin again began to reflect, he
hesitated, and said at last, "I must divide myself between the
two; I cannot quite give up the huckster, because of the jam."
And this is a representation of human nature. We are like
the goblin; we all go to visit the huckster "because of the
jam."
THE END
