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 forth 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 standing there
