The Goblin’s Hat is based on a well known Dutch folk tale called, Goblins Turned Stone. The tale tells of mischievous goblins, who were short and ugly. So ugly, in fact, that they were forced to live underground and could only come out at night, so as not to be seen. To avoid being seen by humans, the Goblins wore magic red hats which made them invisible, but a curse had been placed on these poor, cheeky fellows, which meant that should sunlight touch their skin they would turn to stone.
In the original tale, one particular goblin decided to play a prank on a sick, dying, old lady. At the dead of night he came into her home through a tiny crack in the wall, where he stood on her bed, took off his hat so that his ghoulish face was revealed, and awoke her from her sleep to scare her. The commotion awoke the old lady’s granddaughter who slept in the next room., and on seeing the goblin she chased him out, but not before she had grabbed his precious hat.
The next night the goblin returned, but all he found was an empty house, and a note addressed to him which told him that, if he wanted his hat back, then he, and all his goblin friends, would have to come to a nearby field. In the late hours of the night, hundreds of goblins gathered in the field, in the middle of which stood a tall pole with a red goblin hat on top. But it was a trap. As the hatless goblin strained to reach his hat, the villagers emerged from behind trees and bushes to surround the goblins. A battle ensued, and villagers swiped the hats off of the goblins. In the confusion, the goblins did not notice the first rays of sun which swept over the field turning them all to stone.
The first known written versions of these folk tales began to appear in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in various forms across medieval Europe. Prior to this, they had been passed across the generations through storytellers and songs. With each retelling a new altered version of the tale was born. Having read the Goblins Turned Stone, I felt that the goblins deserved a reprieve. Being born cursed for being ugly seemed to be a bit rotten. Therefore, in my version, although the goblins still wear masks to cover their faces, the lost goblin hat is exchanged by the village children for magic wooden clogs.
