'You say so, dad. I think myself I'm all right. But I could carry
ten times as much if it wasn't for my feet.'

'That is your weak point, I confess, my boy.'
'Ain't it yours too, father?'

'Well, to be honest, it's a goblin weakness. Why they come so
soft, I declare I haven't an idea.'

'Specially when your head's so hard, you know, father.'

'Yes my boy. The goblin's glory is his head. To think how the
fellows up above there have to put on helmets and things when they
go fighting! Ha! ha!'

'But why don't we wear shoes like them, father? I should like it
- especially when I've got a chest like that on my head.'

'Well, you see, it's not the fashion. The king never wears shoes.'

'The queen does.'

'Yes; but that's for distinction. The first queen, you see - I
mean the king's first wife - wore shoes, of course, because she
came from upstairs; and so, when she died, the next queen would not
be inferior to her as she called it, and would wear shoes too. It
was all pride. She is the hardest in forbidding them to the rest
of the women.'