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 theatricals 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 glimmered 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 mingled 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
