Once there was a greedy goofy goblin who liked to annoy people. One day, the goofy goblin was walking in the forest when he saw something weird. As he lived in a mythical forest, no human being had ever entered there, but that day he saw a little girl in a cute little dress.

He decided to frighten her, so he went near the girl. The girl was initially shocked for she had never seen anyone that looked like the goofy goblin before. She then asked, “Who are you?”

The goblin answered, “I am a goblin from this forest. Who are you?”

She asked, “I am Anne. Why do you live in this forest?”

“This is a mythical forest and my home. You are the first human to have entered this forest. If any human gets to know about us, they will kill us. Hence make sure you don’t tell anyone.”

Anne was still in a shock and what he just said added to it, so she asked, “Can you help me get out of this forest as I am lost. I really need some help.”

The goblin had never helped anyone, instead he liked to make trouble for people. But when the goblin saw sadness in Anne’s eye, he decided to help her.

The goblin said, “I will only help you if you promise not to tell anyone that you saw me here.”

“Okay!” Anne replied, “I swear I won’t tell anyone.”

The goblin then showed Anne the path and walked with her to a gate. He informed Anne that she needed to do some challenging tasks, only then can she get out of the forest. Anne badly wanted to get out of this forest, but she didn’t know what the challenges were, so she asked the goblin if there was any other way.

“There is, but for that you need to walk 10 hours straight through the forest. As for the challenges, they are difficult but they are only two, so they are better than walking for 10 hours.”

Anne accepted the option to walk for 10 hours. The goblin then took her to the centre of the forest and instructed her to just keep walking straight until she came to a gate.

Anne started walking and walking. After five hours passed, she was very hungry and thirsty. Anne didn’t know what to do, so she decided to take a right turn to search for a lake or a river to drink water from. In her tired state, Anne forgot that the goblin had told her to keep walking straight. She kept on walking the wrong way and realised it after two hours when she found a lake.

The lake was shining and she felt like a camel in a desert, so Anne drank to her heart’s content. But what she didn’t know was that it was the “Lake of Forgetfulness”, and whoever drank from it would forget everything. Hence after drinking from the lake, Anne forgot everything the goblin told her earlier and she fainted for a while. When Anne woke up, she didn’t know where she was or what had happened to her since she came to the forest.

Anne got up all confused and started walking again, looking for someone to help her. Can you guess who she found? Yes, she found the goofy goblin again.

The goblin said, “I see you are still here.”

Anne was confused so she replied, “Who are you? And which place is this?”

The goblin then said, “I am the goofy goblin, don’t you remember me?”

Anne said, “No! I don’t know you.”

The goblin realised that Anne had lost her memory and asked her if she had drunk water from a lake. Anne did not remember even that, so she could not answer that. The goblin then asked her to follow him. He then took her to an exit of the forest and asked her to leave. However, Anne refused to go, since she had forgotten where she had come from and who she was. Anne found the forest very enchanting and wanted to stay and explore it. Anne stood there with a stubborn face, not wanting to leave. The goblin warned her that if Anne didn’t leave soon, some mythical creatures like him would kill her. Just then there was some strange sound and when they turned to look in that direction, they saw a couple of scary-looking creatures moving towards them.

Anne was very frightened, but the goblin came to her rescue and took her hand and started flying with her. He moved as fast as he could and soon got Anne out of the forest.

“Run as fast as you can while I hold them back and don’t ever come this way again,” he warned and turned to face the goblins following them. Anne uttered a quick “Thank you” and ran off in the direction of a road that she could see at a distance. Soon Anne made it home and vowed never to venture out on her own again.

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 6th, 2021