he said]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration: Fairy Queen]

[Illustration: Boy and Rabbit]

The windows rattled, the moonbeams tattled
A tale so strange and queer.
They told how at night, in dire affright
The Moon had hid in fear.

[Illustration]

That he'd called in sport his elfish court
Of spooks and witches gay,
Each Elfin child, by glee beguiled,
Brought scores of others, they say.

Then a man appeared, with flowing beard,
In a sled with a reindeer fleet;
They gathered about with din and shout,
To bind him hands and feet.

[Illustration: Witch with Broom]

Then the Moon laughed loud at the gathering crowd,
While he held his sides in mirth,
To see old Kris in a plight like this,
Toiling o'er the earth.

[Illustration: Elf and Spider]

[Illustration]

But alas for the Moon, he had laughed like a loon,
For Kris is a hero of old,
Yes, Kris is a seer; with his small reindeer,
He captured the Goblins bold.

And he changed them, they say in a wonderful way,
To toys, for his Christmas cheer.
The big dolls stare with a goblin air,
The small ones cringe with fear.

[Illustration]

While the moonbeams prattle, I hear a rattle
Of hoofs on the chimney side;
Then out on the snow I gaze below,
"Hurrah! it's Kris Kringle," I cried.

Then, sly as a mouse, he entered the house,
And hung up his treasures so gay.
Then out with a dash, he sped like a flash,
Into the night, and away.

[Illustration: For his Christmas treat]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

End of Project Gutenberg's The Goblins' Christmas, by Elizabeth Anderson

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOBLINS' CHRISTMAS ***

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