Phantastes, A Faerie Romance

At length I began to find that these regions were inhabited. From behind

a rock a peal of harsh grating laughter, full of evil humour, rang

through my ears, and, looking round, I saw a queer, goblin creature,

with a great head and ridiculous features, just such as those described,

in German histories and travels, as Kobolds. "What do you want with me?"

I said. He pointed at me with a long forefinger, very thick at the root,

and sharpened to a point, and answered, "He! he! he! what do YOU

want here?"

Then, changing his tone, he continued, with mock

humility--"Honoured sir, vouchsafe to withdraw from thy slaves the

lustre of thy august presence, for thy slaves cannot support its

brightness." A second appeared, and struck in: "You are so big, you keep

the sun from us. We can't see for you, and we're so cold." Thereupon

arose, on all sides, the most terrific uproar of laughter, from voices

like those of children in volume, but scrannel and harsh as those of

decrepit age, though, unfortunately, without its weakness. The whole

pandemonium of fairy devils, of all varieties of fantastic ugliness,

both in form and feature, and of all sizes from one to four feet, seemed

to have suddenly assembled about me. At length, after a great babble of

talk among themselves, in a language unknown to me, and after seemingly

endless gesticulation, consultation, elbow-nudging, and unmitigated

peals of laughter, they formed into a circle about one of their number,

who scrambled upon a stone, and, much to my surprise, and somewhat to

my dismay, began to sing, in a voice corresponding in its nature to his

talking one, from beginning to end, the song with which I had brought

the light into the eyes of the white lady.

He sang the same air too;

and, all the time, maintained a face of mock entreaty and worship;

accompanying the song with the travestied gestures of one playing on

the lute. The whole assembly kept silence, except at the close of every

verse, when they roared, and danced, and shouted with laughter, and

flung themselves on the ground, in real or pretended convulsions of

delight. When he had finished, the singer threw himself from the top

of the stone, turning heels over head several times in his descent; and

when he did alight, it was on the top of his head, on which he hopped

about, making the most grotesque gesticulations with his legs in the

air. Inexpressible laughter followed, which broke up in a shower of

tiny stones from innumerable hands. They could not materially injure me,

although they cut me on the head and face. I attempted to run away, but

they all rushed upon me, and, laying hold of every part that afforded

a grasp, held me tight. Crowding about me like bees, they shouted an

insect-swarm of exasperating speeches up into my face, among which the

most frequently recurring were--"You shan't have her; you shan't have

her; he! he! he! She's for a better man; how he'll kiss her! how he'll

kiss her!"