red coat, too," he said. "I did
not promise not to tell to-night."

The tell-tale Goblin was so bent on telling the Queen what he knew that
he quite forgot his new silver cap until he reached the dell where the
fairies were dancing; then throwing away his old cap, he clapped the
silver cap on his head so hard he cried out with pain.

For a second he saw stars, and the cold silver felt very different from
his soft, warm peaked cap which he had tossed aside.

The little fairies, seeing the Goblin hopping about in the moonlight,
called to the Queen: "Oh, look, dear Queen. Drive away the Goblin; he
acts quite mad and may mean mischief."

The Queen, knowing that Goblins, when they were quite sane, were not
friendly to her fairies, held up her wand and cast a ray of light
straight into the Goblin's eye. "Leave our dell," she said, "or
something will happen to you that you will not like."

"Oh, wait, wait and hear what I have to tell!" called the Goblin. "I
know a secret you must hear."

"Oh, don't listen to him, dear Queen!" said all the little fairies.
"It is wrong to tell secrets. Go away, we will not listen."

But the Goblin would not go; he wanted to win a red coat, and he was
sure the Queen would give it to him for the secret he could tell.

"If you will give me a new red coat I will tell you something about one
of your fairies you would like to know," said the Goblin.

"Oh, what a funny head he has!" said a fairy as the Goblin lifted off
the silver cap, because it was so uncomfortable.

All the fairies began to laugh, and on his head he clapped the cap
again to hide his queer peaked head, and again the cap made him see
stars until he jumped with pain.

"Oh, he is quite mad, you may be sure!" said the Queen.

"I am not mad. Listen and I will tell you the secret, and you will
know then I am very clever to have discovered it," said the Goblin.
"But first I must know if you will give me the red coat. I shall not
tell you if you do not."

The tell-tale Goblin did not think for a minute the Queen of the
fairies would refuse to pay to hear a secret, and when the Queen told
him he was a bad, mad fellow and to be off, he was quite surprised.

"You will be sorry," he said as he hopped away, and then he thought he
would tell it, anyway, for what was the use of knowing a secret if you
did not surprise others by showing how much you know.

Back he ran, but the fairies and their Queen put their fingers in thei