Translated from the German of Hans Andersen.



There was once a hard-working student who lived in an attic, and
he had nothing in the world of his own. There was also a
hard-working grocer who lived on the first floor, and he had the
whole house for his own.

The Goblin belonged to him, for every Christmas Eve there was
waiting for him at the grocer's a dish of jam with a large lump
of butter in the middle.

The grocer could afford this, so the Goblin stayed in the
grocer's shop; and this teaches us a good deal. One evening the
student came in by the back door to buy a candle and some cheese;
he had no one to send, so he came himself.


He got what he wanted, paid for it, and nodded a good evening to
the grocer and his wife (she was a woman who could do more than
nod; she could talk).

When the student had said good night he suddenly stood still,
reading the sheet of paper in which the cheese had been wrapped.

It was a leaf torn out of an old book--a book of poetry

'There's more of that over there!' said the grocer 'I gave an old
woman some coffee for the book. If you like to give me twopence