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[Illustration: Davy and the Goblin]
DAVY AND THE GOBLIN
OR
WHAT FOLLOWED READING "ALICE'S
ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND"
By
CHARLES E. CARRYL
_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY E.B. BENSELL._
[Illustration]
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
COPYRIGHT, 1884, 1885, 1912, AND 1913, BY THE CENTURY COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1885, BY TICKNOR AND COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY CHARLES E. CARRYL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
TO GUY.
DEAR LITTLE BOY, UPON THESE PAGES FIND
THE TANGLED FANCIES OF THY FATHER'S MIND,
BORN OF THE HOURS WHEN THOU, A LITTLE CHILD,
THRONED ON HIS KNEE IN BREATHLESS RAPTURE SMILED,
HEARING ENTRANCED THE MARVELS THAT WERE TOLD
OF FAY AND GOBLIN IN THE DAYS OF OLD.
WOULD THAT THE GLAMOUR OF THOSE CLOUDLESS DAYS
MIGHT CHEER THEE STILL, WHAT TIME THE TOILSOME MAZE
OF RIPER YEARS HATH BANISHED FAIRY LORE--
AND BLITHESOME YOUTH HATH FLED TO COME NO MORE!
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
HOW THE GOBLIN CAME 11
CHAPTER II.
THE BEGINNING OF THE BELIEVING VOYAGE 19
CHAPTER III.
IN THE SUGAR-PLUM GARDEN 28
CHAPTER IV.
THE BUTTERSCOTCHMEN 37
CHAPTER V.
JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK'S FARM 42
CHAPTER VI.
THE GIANT BADORFUL 53
CHAPTER VII.
THE MOVING FOREST 68
CHAPTER VIII.
SINDBAD THE SAILOR'S HOUSE 79
CHAPTER IX.
LAY-OVERS FOR MEDDLERS 96
CHAPTER X.
RIBSY 99
CHAPTER XI.
ROBINSON CRUSOE'S ISLAND 110
CHAPTER XII.
A WHALE IN A WAISTCOAT 123
CHAPTER XIII.
THE TALKING WAVES AND THE OLD SEA-DOG 134
CHAPTER XIV.
THE END OF THE BELIEVING VOYAGE 145
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
DAVY AND THE GOBLIN _FRONTISPIECE_
"'I'LL STEER,' SAID THE GOBLIN" 17
"NEXT CAME MARY FARINA" 20
THE RABBIT TAKES LIBERTIES WITH DAVY'S PROPERTY 21
"I'M A COCKALORUM," HE SOFTLY MURMURED 26
"THE CROWD BEGAN TO HUSTLE HIM ACROSS THE ROOM" 34
"BELLS WERE PEALING IN ALL DIRECTIONS" 38
"THE GOBLIN TURNED HIS TELESCOPE TOWARD HIM" 41
MOTHER HUBBARD SINGS A SONG 45
STANDING ON HIS HEAD 47
"CAREERING ON A GOAT" 48
"JUST LISTEN TO THIS" 55
"COCKALORUM HEMMED IN BY A RING OF PITCHFORKS" 61
"'VENISON IS DEER, ISN'T IT?' SAID DAVY, LOOKING UP
AT THE SIGN" 65
"'HOW MANY WATCHES DO YOU WANT?' SAID SHAM-SHAM,
IN A PEEVISH VOICE" 69
"SHAM-SHAM, EXCLAIMING, 'DON'T TELL ME A WATCHED
POT NEVER BOILS!' BEGAN FIRING AT THE WATCHES" 75
THE COCKALORUM IS ILL 77
"THE SAVAGE WAS SITTING IN THE SHADE OF ONE OF
THE DUSTERS" 85
"HE PLAYED HOP-SCOTCH WITH THE STARBOARD WATCH" 91
"HE GAVE ONE HAND TO DAVY AND THE OTHER TO THE
GOBLIN" 94
"JUST HOLD MY BASKET, LIKE A GOOD CHILD" 97
"THE CABMAN HAD CLIMBED UP ON THE TOP OF THE
CAB AND WAS THROWING STONES AT THE HORSE" 101
"ROBINSON REMARKED, 'HE HAS LEFT OUT THE GREATEST
LOT OF COMICAL THINGS'" 114
"IF THE ROADS ARE WET AND MUDDY, WE REMAIN AT
HOME AND STUDY" 117
"THE COCKALORUM CAREFULLY INSPECTED THE MARKING" 126
"'I'M PRETTY WELL, I THANK YOU,' SAID DAVY" 127
"'I'M AS NIMBLE AS A SIXPENCE,' SAID THE WHALE" 131
DAVY ASSISTS THE OLD SEA-DOG 137
"'AVAST!' SAYS HE, 'WE'LL BEAR AWAY'" 140
HE PLAYED WITH DOLLS AND HUMMING-TOPS 141
DAVY FALLS INTO THE ELASTIC SPRING 151
"'FRECKLES,' SAID THE GOBLIN, 'WHAT TIME IS IT?'" 154
"DAVY FELT MORALLY CERTAIN THERE WAS GOING TO BE
A SCENE" 157
THE END OF THE BELIEVING VOYAGE 161
DAVY AND THE GOBLIN;
_OR, WHAT FOLLOWED READING "ALICE'S ADVENTURES
IN WONDERLAND."_
CHAPTER I.
HOW THE GOBLIN CAME.
It happened one Christmas eve, when Davy was about eight years old, and
this is the way it came about.
That particular Christmas eve was a snowy one and a blowy one, and one
generally to be remembered. In the city, where Davy lived, the storm
played all manner of pranks, swooping down upon unwary old gentlemen and
turning their umbrellas wrong side out, and sometimes blowing their hats
quite out of sight; and as for the old ladies who chanced to be out of
doors, the wind came upon them suddenly from around corners and blew the
snow into their faces and twisted their petticoats about their ankles,
and even whirled the old ladies themselves about in a very painful way.
And in the country, where Davy had come to pass Christmas with his dear
old grandmother, things were not much better; but here people were very
wise about the weather, and stayed in-doors, huddled around great
blazing wood fires; and the storm, finding no live game, buried up the
roads and the fences, and such small fry of houses as could readily be
put out of sight, and howled and roared over the fields and through the
trees in a fashion not to be forgotten.
Davy, being of the opinion that a snow-storm was a thing not to be
wasted, had been out with his sled, trying to have a little fun with the
weather; but presently, discovering that this particular storm was not
friendly to little boys, he had retreated into the house, and having put
his hat and his high shoes and his mittens by the kitchen fire to dry,
he began to find his time hang heavily on his hands. He had wandered
idly all over the house, and had tried how cold his nose could be made
by holding it against the window-panes, and, I am sorry to say, had even
been sliding down the balusters and teasing the cat; and at last, as
evening was coming on, had curled himself up in the big easy-chair
facing the fire, and had begun to read once more about the marvellous
things that happened to little Alice in Wonderland. Then, as it grew
darker, he laid aside the book and sat watching the blazing logs and
listening to the solemn ticking of the high Dutch clock against the
wall.
Then there stole in at the door a delicious odor of dinner cooking
downstairs,--an odor so promising as to roast chickens and baked
potatoes and gravy and pie as to make any little boy's mouth water; and
presently Davy began softly telling himself what he would choose for
his dinner. He had quite finished fancying the first part of his feast,
and was just coming, in his mind, to an extra large slice of apple-pie
well browned (staring meanwhile very hard at one of the brass knobs of
the andirons to keep his thoughts from wandering), when he suddenly
discovered a little man perched upon that identical knob, and smiling at
him with all his might.
This little man was a very curious-looking person indeed. He was only
about a foot high, but his head was as big as a cocoanut, and he had
great, bulging eyes, like a frog, and a ridiculous turned-up nose. His
legs were as slender as spindles, and he had long pointed toes to his
shoes, or rather to his stockings, or, for that matter, to his
trousers,--for they were all of a piece,--and bright scarlet in color,
as were also his little coat and his high-pointed hat and a queer little
cloak that hung over his shoulder. His mouth was so wide that when he
smiled it seemed to go quite behind his ears, and there was no way of
knowing where the smile ended, except by looking at it from behind,
which Davy couldn't do, as yet, without getting into the fire.
Now, there's no use in denying that Davy was frightened. The fact is, he
was frightened almost out of his wits, particularly when he saw that the
little man, still smiling furiously, was carefully picking the hottest
and reddest embers out of the fire, and, after cracking them like nuts
with his teeth, eating them with great relish. Davy watched this
alarming meal, expecting every moment to see the little man burst into
a blaze and disappear; but he finished his coals in safety, and then,
nodding cheerfully at Davy, said:--
"I know you!"
"Do you?" said Davy, faintly.
"Oh, yes!" said the little man. "I know you perfectly well. You are the
little boy who doesn't believe in fairies, nor in giants, nor in
goblins, nor in anything the story-books tell you."
Now the truth was that Davy, having never met any giants when he was out
walking, nor seen any fairies peeping out of the bushes in the garden,
nor found any goblins sitting on the bedposts about the house, had come
to believe that all these kinds of people were purely imaginary beings,
so that now he could do nothing but stare at the little man in a
shamefaced sort of way and wonder what was coming next.
"Now, all that," said the little man, shaking his finger at him in a
reproving way,--"all that is very foolish and very wrong. I'm a goblin
myself,--a hobgoblin,--and I've come to take you on a Believing Voyage."
"Oh, if you please, I can't go!" cried Davy, in great alarm at this
proposal; "I can't, indeed. I haven't permission."
"Rubbish!" said the Goblin. "Ask the Colonel."
Now, the Colonel was nothing more nor less than a silly-looking little
man, made of lead, that stood on the mantel-shelf holding a clock in his
arms. The clock never went, but, for that matter, the Colonel never
went either, for he had been standing stock-still for years, and it
seemed perfectly ridiculous to ask _him_ anything about going anywhere,
so Davy felt quite safe in looking up at him and asking permission to go
on the Believing Voyage. To his dismay the Colonel nodded his head, and
cried out, in a little, cracked voice:--
"Why, certainly!"
At this the Goblin jumped down off the knob of the andiron, and skipping
briskly across the room to the big Dutch clock, rapped sharply on the
front of the case with his knuckles, when, to Davy's amazement, the
great thing fell over on its face upon the floor as softly as if it had
been a feather-bed. Davy now saw that, instead of being full of weights
and brass wheels and curious works, as he had always supposed, the clock
was really a sort of boat, with a wide seat at each end; but, before he
had time to make any further discoveries, the Goblin, who had vanished
for a moment, suddenly reappeared, carrying two large sponge-cakes in
his arms. Now, Davy was perfectly sure that he had seen his grandmother
putting those very sponge-cakes into the oven to bake, but before he
could utter a word of remonstrance the Goblin clapped one into each
seat, and scrambling into the clock sat down upon the smaller one,
merely remarking:--
"They make prime cushions, you know, and we can eat 'em afterwards."
For a moment Davy had a wild idea of rushing out of the room and
calling for help; but the Goblin seemed so pleased with the arrangements
he had made, and, moreover, was smiling so good-naturedly, that the
little boy thought better of it, and, after a moment's hesitation,
climbed into the clock and took his seat upon the other cake. It was as
warm and springy, and smelt as deliciously, as a morning in May. Then
there was a whizzing sound, like a lot of wheels spinning around, and
the clock rose from the floor and made a great swoop toward the window.
"I'll steer," shouted the Goblin, "and do you look out sharp for cats
and dogs," and Davy had just time to notice that the Colonel was hastily
scrambling down from the mantel-shelf with his beloved timepiece in his
arms, when they, seated in the long Dutch clock, dashed through the
window and out into the night.
[Illustration: "'I'LL STEER,' SAID THE GOBLIN."]