436 THE GOBLIN AND THE HUCKSTER.

out of an old book, a book that ought not to have been torn up,
a book that was full of poetry.

“Yonder lies some more of the same sort,” said the huckster;
“T gave an old woman a little coffee for the books; give me two
groschen, and you shall have the remainder.”

“Yes,” said the student, “give me the book instead of the
cheese: I can eat my bread and butter without cheese. It would
be a sin to tear the book up entirely. You are a capital man, a
practical man, but you understand no more about poetry than
does that cask yonder.”

Now, that was an insulting speech, especially towards the cask;
but the huckster laughed and the student laughed, for it was only
said infun. But the Goblin was angry that any one should dare
to say such things to a huckster who lived in his own house and
sold the best butter.

When it was night, and the shop was closed and all were in bed,
the Goblin came forth, went into the bed-room, and took away
the good lady’s tongue; for she did not want that while she was
asleep; and whenever he put this tongue upon any object in the
room, the said object acquired speech and language, and could
express its thoughts and feelings as well as the lady herself could,
have done; but only one object could use it at a time, and that
was a good thing, otherwise they would have interrupted each
other.

And the Goblin laid the tongue upon the Cask in which the
old newspapers were lying.

“Is it true,” he asked, “that you don’t know what poetry
means?” :

“ Of course I know it,” replied the Cask : “ poetry is something
that always stands at the foot of a column in the newspapers,
and is sometimes cut out. I dare swear I have more of it in
me than the student, and I’m only a poor tub compared to the
huckster !”.

Then the Goblin put the tongue upon the coffee-mill, and,
mercy! howit began to go! And he put it upon the butter-cask,
and on the cash-box: they were all of the waste-paper Cask’s
opinion, and the opinion of the majority must be respected.

“Now I shall tell it to the student!”

And with these words the Goblin went quite quietly up the back
Stairs to the garret, where the student lived. The student had
still a candle burning, and the Goblin peeped through the key-
hole, and saw that he was reading in the torn book that he had
carried up out of the shop downstairs.

But how light it was in his room! Out of the book shot a clear
beam, expanding into a thick stem, and into a mighty tree, which
grew upward and spread its branches far over the student. Each
leaf was fresh, and every blossom was a beautiful female head,
some with dark sparkling eyes, others with wonderfully clear blue