THE GREEDY GOBLIN

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 62, 4 June 1927, Page 27 (Supplement)

THE GREEDY GOBLIN

Popkin was a little goblin who cared for nothing but eating, so he was as round as an orange. He hated being so fat; it prevented him from climbing down mouse-holes, and besides, the fairies laughed at him, but he was too greedy to stop eating. One day he was climbing in an oaktree—eating, of course—and looking for acorn cups to drink from, when he heard a sad, “Peep, peep!” And there, in a pretty nest all lined with downy feathers, he saw three poor baby birds. “Wliat’s the matter?” asked Popkin. “Mother was put in a cage!” said the baby birds sadly, “and we’ve had no food for a long time. Peep, peep!” Popkin looked at the jam tart he was holding. Could he spare a few crumbs? “Peep, peep!” cried the poor little birds.

“Here, then!” cried Popkin. All the birds opened their beaks wide, and Popkin fed them till all his tart was gone. “More! More!” cried the little birds. Popkin went home and begged his mother for another tart.

“Greedy boy!” said his mother, but she gave him one. It was a beauty—short crust and strawberry jam. Popkin had a struggle to part with it, but he couldn’t let the babies starve.

After this he fed them every day. His mother thought he was* greedier than ever, for he begged for so many tarts and buns. She little knew that he gave them away and nearly all his breakfast, dinner, and tea, too! And he began to get quite thin. One evening when Popkin had fed the birds and was going home hungry, he saw the sweetest little fairy flying by his side, and She wasn’t laughing at him either, which was something new. “Why don’t you laugh at me?” asked Popkin. “I only laugh at fat, greedy goblins,” said the sweet little fairy. “And you are not fat and greedy!” Popkins was too pleased to say aword. He was met at the door by Mrs. Goblin, who threw her arms round him and cried: “Oh. Popkin, how I have misjudged you! Mrs. Thrush has been telling me everything. A fairy who freed her from her cage has watched you feeding her baby thrushes every day. There, eat every one of these jam tarts I have ipade for you!” “I think,” said Popkin, as he remembered the sweet little fairy, “one will be enough!”