Long, long ago, in the island of Ceylon, there was a large city full
of nothing but Goblins. They were all She-goblins, too; and if they
wanted husbands, they used to get hold of travellers and force them
to marry; and afterwards, when they were tired of their husbands,
they gobbled them up.
One day a ship was wrecked upon the coast near the goblin city,
and five hundred sailors were cast ashore. The She-goblins came down
to the seashore, and brought food and dry clothes for the sailors,
and invited them to come into the city. There was nobody else there
at all; but for fear that the sailors should be frightened away,
the Goblins, by their magic power, made shapes of people appear all
around, so that there seemed to be men ploughing in the fields, or
shepherds tending their sheep, and huntsmen with hounds, and all the
sights of the quiet country life. So, when the sailors looked round,
and saw everything as usual, they felt quite secure; although, as
you know, it was all a sham.
The end of it was, that they persuaded the sailors to marry them,
telling them that their own husbands had gone to sea in a ship, and
had been gone these three years, so that they must be drowned and lost
for ever. But really, as you know, they had served others in just
the same way, and their last batch of husbands were then in prison,
waiting to be eaten.
In the middle of the night, when the men were all asleep, the
She-goblins rose up, put on their hats, and hurried down to the prison;
there they killed a few men, and gnawed their flesh, and ate them up;
and after this orgie they went home again. It so happened that the
captain of the sailors woke up before his wife came home, and not
seeing her there, he watched. By-and-by in she came; he pretended
to be asleep, and looked out of the tail of his eye. She was still
munching and crunching, and as she munched she muttered:
"Man's meat, man's meat,
That's what Goblins like to eat!"
She said it over and over again, then lay down; and soon she was
snoring loudly.
The captain was horribly frightened to find he had married a
Goblin. What was he to do? They could not fight with Goblins, and
they were in the Goblins' power. If they had a ship they might have
sailed away, because Goblins hate the water worse than a cat; but
their ship was gone. He could think of nothing.
However, next morning, he found a chance of telling his mates what
he had discovered. Some of them believed him, and some said he must
have been dreaming; they were sure their wives would not do such a
thing. Those who believed him agreed that they would look out for a
chance of escape.
But there was a kind fairy who hated those Goblins; and she determined
to save the men. So she told her flying horse to go and carry them
away. And accordingly, as the men were out for a walk next day,
the captain saw in the air a beautiful horse with large white and
gold wings. The horse fluttered down, and hovered just above them,
crying out, in a human voice:
"Who wants to go home? who wants to go home? who wants to go home?"
"I do, I do!" called out the sailors.
"Climb up, then!" said the horse, dropping within reach. So one
climbed up, and then another, and another; and, although the horse
looked no bigger than any other horse, there was room for everybody
on his back. I think that somehow, when they got up, the fairy made
them shrink small, till they were no bigger than so many ants, and thus
there was plenty of room for all. When all who wanted to go had got up
on his back, away flew the beautiful horse and took them safely home.
As for those who remained behind, that very night the Goblins set
upon them and mangled them, and munched them to mincemeat.