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Willow Wormwood
Goblinling Song
“We like Willow! Willow we like!
They gives us sticks
Crystals go click-click!
Hit people with the stick!
Hide, jump, it's a trick…
Hitting people is our shtick
With the crystal-clicky-stick!
What's not to like?”
–A song popular with boisterous young goblins in a particular neighbourhood of the Goblin King's caverns
A Cottage Burns
“Jim! Come quick! Fire, down the end of the rill track!”
Hurried footsteps.
“Fire? Who's there? Is there a bucket line?”
“Too late for that, Jim… it's a bonfire. Look!”
An orange glow above the treeline.
“…The witch's cottage?”
“Yes. I ran when I heard a scream and the fire, but… it was too much… I got to the paddock, I let the donkey out, god knows where it'll be now…“
“All right, Mary, you did well.”
Thumping down the track.
“Hello? Hello? Is someone there?”
The bellow of hungry flames devouring dry, wormridden wooden beams.
“Oh, Farmer Jim. I came as soon as I saw that huge smoke plume.”
“Nobody else? From inside the cottage?”
“The Whittling Witch? No sight of her.”
Ferocious crackling.
“Hello! Hello!”
A throaty roar as a thatch roof collapses into fire.
“I can't even get near the house… it's too hot. Nobody can have survived in there. What started it, Mary?”
“I don't know. I just heard a scream.”
“Could be anything. Only takes one candle in a cottage like that. Did you see the little goblin the witch kept around?”
“Oh, no! The creature she kept to make those sticks and clean the place? Maybe it went to the market!”
“At midnight?”
Sympathetic sighs.
“The goblin'll be burnt to a crisp by now. Poor thing.”
“Poor thing. Miserable life, though. I always felt sorry for it, like it didn't even realise it was a slave. Hazel, right?”
“Yeah. Might be for the best.”
Sobs.
“Hey. The goblin's free now… come on, Mary. At least you saved the donkey.”
A Funeral
“As Willow has explained the volcano, and what happened to Mizzinx, it has been decided that we will have a barbecue to celebrate her life. Find and bring some cow and the biggest river fishie you can find. And potatoes. And worms. Everyone should have a full belly to take the memory of Mizzinx with them. We even have a special treat from the Harmony place that Willow brought with them for the funeral barbecue. A soft sweet tasty thing you set fire to before eating it, the marshed mellow will be an excellent addition to the send off for the goblin.”