There he stood out on the cold landing, the autumn wind blowing
through the cracks of the floor. It was cold--very cold, but he
first found it out when the light in the attic was put out and
the music in the wood died away. Ah ! then it froze him, and he
crept down again into his warm corner; there it was comfortable
and cosy.

When Christmas came, and with it the jam with the large lump of
butter, ah! then the grocer was first with him.

But in the middle of the night the Goblin awoke, hearing a great
noise and knocking against the shutters--people hammering from
outside. The watchman was blowing his horn: a great fire had
broken out; the whole town was in flames.

Was it in the house? or was it at a neighbour's? Where was it?

The alarm increased. The grocer's wife was so terrified that she
took her gold earrings out of her ears and put them in her pocket
in order to save something. The grocer seized his account books.
and the maid her black silk dress.

Everyone wanted to save his most valuable possession; so did the
Goblin, and in a few leaps he was up the stairs and in the
student's room. He was standing quietly by the open window
looking at the fire that was burning in the neighbour's house
just opposite. The Goblin seized the book lying on the table, put
it in his red cap, and clasped it with both hands. The best
treasure in the house was saved, and he climbed out on to the
roof with it--on to the chimney. There he sat, lighted up by the