d
peeped in till the light went out in the student's garret. Probably
the student blew it out, and went to bed; but the little goblin
remained standing there nevertheless, for the music still sounded on,
soft and beautiful--a splendid cradle song for the student who had
lain down to rest.

"This is an incomparable place," said the goblin: "I never expected
such a thing! I should like to stay here with the student." And then
the little man thought it over--and he was a sensible little man
too--but he sighed, "The student has no porridge!" And then he went
down again to the huckster's shop: and it was a very good thing that
he got down there again at last, for the cask had almost worn out the
good woman's tongue, for it had spoken out at one side everything that
was contained in it, and was just about turning itself over, to give
it out from the other side also, when the goblin came in, and restored
the tongue to its owner. But from that time forth the whole shop, from
the cash-box down to the firewood, took its tone from the cask, and
paid him such respect, and thought so much of him, that when the
huckster afterwards read the critical articles on theatricals and art
in the newspaper, they were all persuaded the information came from
the cask itself.

But the goblin could no longer sit quietly and contentedly listening
to all the wisdom down there: so soon as the light glimmered from the
garret in the evening he felt as if the rays were strong cables
drawing him up, and he was obliged to go and peep through the keyhole;
and there a feeling of greatness rolled around him, such as we feel
beside the ever-heaving sea when the storm rushes over it, and he
burst into tears! He did not know himself why he was weeping, but a
peculiar feeling of pleasure mingled with his tears. How wonderfully
glorious it must be to sit with the student under the same tree! But
that might not be, he was obliged to be content with the view through
the keyhole, and to be glad of that. There he stood on the cold
landing-place, with the autumn wind blowing down from the loft-hole:
it was cold, very cold; but the little mannikin only felt that when
the light in the room was extinguished, and the tones in the tree died
away. Ha! then he shivered, and crept down again to his warm corner,
where it was homely and comfortable.

And when Christmas came, and brought with it the porridge and the
great lump of butter, why, then he thought the huckster the