But Grandmother said, “They aren’t going to throttle you in your sleep. They just wanted their baby back. Now sit down and hush!”
And Mistress Peevish did.
After a while, the mayor came looking for her. “What’s this?” he cried. “A picnic? With goblins? What’s going on?”
“Sit down and hush!” said Mistress Peevish.
And he did.
Pretty soon Peter and his parents came to see what was going on. “It’s a goblin invasion!” said Jacob the Baker.
“But look!” cried Peter. “Everyone is smiling and laughing!”
“So they are! And the little goblin has stopped screeching!” said Jacob the Baker. “Hurray!” He went and fetched three trays of muffins from his shop and brought them to share.
Then the ten town councilors showed up. They came to make sure that the baby goblin was leaving. But when they got there, instead of one baby goblin, there was a whole gathering of goblins. They saw their spears and shields lying on the ground.
“It’s a war party!” said one.
“This is terrible!” said another.
“Horrible!” said a third.
“It mustn’t be allowed!” said the rest.
But the mayor said, “Listen! There’s no more screeching! The baby goblin’s people have come to find him. Look at all the happy faces. This is not a war party. It’s just a party! Isn’t it, cupcake?” he said, turning to his wife.
Mistress Peevish smiled at them. “Why don’t you sit down and join us?” she said.
And so they did.
They watched as Burdock taught himself to do somersaults in the garden. Just as the fun was getting started, Mistress Peevish’s golden-furred dog, Foof, peeked out of the bushes. Mistress Peevish was delighted. She called to her. Foof slowly crept out of the bushes. Then she barked three times, and three little puppies followed along behind her. Poof came up behind them and barked happily. Burdock and the puppies were running and rolling and doing somersaults. Before long, the goblins and the humans were laughing together over their antics.
* * *
And that is the story of how the humans of Broomsweep got to be friends with the forest goblins, and how Branwen found her confidence. After the goblins took Burdock home, things settled down at Grandmother’s cottage. Grandmother told Ivy that she must never again go off into the Dark Forest alone, and Ivy promised that she wouldn’t. She was not allowed to go outside of the garden again for a long time.
Grandmother’s ankle got all better, and before long, she didn’t need her crutch anymore.
Branwen never again asked Grandmother to erase her spots. “I am a real, one-of-a-kind, black-and-yellow-and-blue-spotted unicorn,” she said, holding her head up high. And Ivy and Grandmother agreed.
Mistress Peevish said she couldn’t break up a family, so Foof and her puppies stayed on in the garden. No one ever found their hiding place.
After all the racket stopped, Balthazar got some sleep and his cold got better. Cedric greeted Ivy every day with a “Good, good, good morning!” After a while, the rabbit with the earache came scratching at Grandmother’s back door again. Later, the porcupine came back. Then the mole with the toothache came back too and brought along a groundhog with a wounded paw and a turtle with a chipped shell. Grandmother and Ivy took care of them all, and that made Ivy happy.
Still, Ivy missed Burdock. She missed his warm, little body and his big, round eyes. She missed the excitement when he would run all around in the cottage, jumping on things. She missed how sweet he looked when he finally went to sleep.
But every month, Mulberry and Thistle brought Burdock back to Broomsweep for a visit. Everyone was glad to see him. Sometimes, Mistress Peevish would come too. Since she had taken care of Baby Burdock, her nice side had grown several sizes. They all took turns singing the goblins’ song, and there was no more screeching. As Burdock grew, so did the friendship between the goblins and the humans.
But still, something was missing.
Every day, after Ivy had taken care of all the creatures in the garden, she put a fresh cup of honey in the hole in the oak tree. She hoped and hoped that the pixies would come back.
And then, one day, they did!
Ivy was scattering some seeds for the birds, and suddenly a tiny girl pixie landed on her right shoulder. Ivy stood very still, and said softly, “Hello, little pixie. I’m so delighted to see you! I’m sorry if the noise scared you away. We missed you!” Then the air started buzzing with pixies. Soon they were alighting on her head and arms and shoulders. It was their special greeting. The pixies were back!
And Ivy was living happily ever after once again.
Katherine Coville is the author of Ivy as well as The Cottage in the Woods. She has also illustrated more than thirty books, many written by her husband, Bruce Coville. Katherine lives in Syracuse, New York, with Bruce and an assortment of pets (none of them magical…to the best of her knowledge).
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Ivy and the Goblins Page 7