Goblins are mischievous and malicious creatures that live in small caves and underground caverns. Sometimes goblins attach themselves to houses or families – they can be heard at night, banging pots and pans, dragging furniture around, rapping at doors and windows, or even snatching the bedclothes off sleeping people. Sometimes goblins help parents in disciplining their children: they give presents to children who have been good, and punish and play wicked tricks on those who have been naughty.

Goblins feature in many books and works of literature. In George Macdonald’s The Princess and the Goblin, written in 1871, Curdie, the miner’s lad, helps to rescue Princess Irene and the royal household from goblins. George Macdonald probably based his goblins on the Dark Elves of the Icelandic Eddas, the 13th century collection of poems and stories that are our main source of Norse mythology. The goblins in his book live in caves beneath the earth, and mine for precious gold and silver. The goblins are also very ugly. They have no toes on their feet, and look down on toe-possessing humans. The goblins’ feet are the most sensitive part of their bodies, while their heads are hard as stone.

J.R.R. Tolkien based the goblins in his book The Hobbit (1937) on George Macdonald’s portrayal of the creatures in The Princess and the Goblin. He coined the word ‘Orcs’ for such creatures in The Lord of the Rings (1954-55).

Christina Rossetti’s poem, Goblin Market, published in 1862, tells the story of two sisters, Laura and Lizzie who hear the cry of goblins selling fruit. Laura buys the fruit and eats it, but only longs for more, and almost dies with the longing. Lizzie finally manages to cure Laura. Though the book was not originally written for children, many have read it and enjoyed it.