imal companions for the goblins
themselves--of which more by and by. The goblins themselves were not
so far removed from the human as such a description would imply. And
as they grew misshapen in body they had grown in knowledge and
cleverness, and now were able to do things no mortal could see the
possibility of. But as they grew in cunning, they grew in mischief,
and their great delight was in every way they could think of to annoy
the people who lived in the open-air storey above them. They had
enough of affection left for each other to preserve them from being
absolutely cruel for cruelty's sake to those that came in their way;
but still they so heartily cherished the ancestral grudge against those
who occupied their former possessions and especially against the
descendants of the king who had caused their expulsion, that they
sought every opportunity of tormenting them in ways that were as odd as
their inventors; and although dwarfed and misshapen, they had strength
equal to their cunning. In the process of time they had got a king and
a government of their own, whose chief business, beyond their own
simple affairs, was to devise trouble for their neighbours. It will
now be pretty evident why the little princess had never seen the sky at
night. They were much too afraid of the goblins to let her out of the
house then, even in company with ever so many attendants; and they had
good reason, as we shall see by and by.

CHAPTER 2

The Princess Loses Herself

I have said the Princess Irene was about eight years old when my story
begins. And this is how it begins.

One very wet day, when the mountain was covered with mist which was
constantly gathering itself together into raindrops, and pouring down
on the roofs of the great old house, whence it fell in a fringe of
water from the eaves all round about it, the princess could not of
course go out. She got very tired, so tired that even her toys could
no longer amuse her. You would wonder at that if I had time to
describe to you one half of the toys she had. But then, you wouldn't
have the toys themselves, and that makes all the difference: you can't
get tired of a thing before you have it. It was a picture, though,
worth seeing--the princess sitting in the nursery with the sky ceiling
over her head, at a great table covered with her toys. If the artist
would like to draw this, I should advise him not to meddle with the
toys. I am afraid of attemptin