THE LAZY ONE AND THE GOBLIN PALACE

Once upon a time there was a very lazy young man. His mother had to do everything for him, even though he was old enough to do most of them himself.

But what upset his mother most of all, was that he never leant a helping hand, even though she asked him for his help many times over.

“Please help me with these heavy bags son,” she would say

as she got out of the taxi with a good dozen bags, after visiting the market.

“I’m busy,” was how he replied as he lounged in bed.

“Would you change this light bulb for me?” his mother would ask.

“I’m tired,” he would reply as he would cover his head with a pillow and go to bed.

With all of these things, his mother had to wash his clothes, prepare his bath, iron his clothes for the day and serve his meals, while all he did was sleep, read the newspaper and watch TV. The only thing that he did for ‘exercise’ was to walk down the lane they lived on and then back

up, once a week.

One such evening, he was about to open the front gate and set off down the lane, when his mother called to him from the garden: “Can you please cut this branch down? It’s too tall for me.”

“Oh mother my arm has been hurting since yesterday; I don’t think I can manage to reach that branch either,” he said.

“If you keep on being as lazy as this, the goblin down the lane might get you!” his mother called to him quite annoyed.

He laughed out loud. “Aren’t I too old for those kinds of fairy tales mother?” he asked as he continued down the lane without a backward glance.

But it was a cloudy day, and the wind whipped around him as he ambled along. As he reached the end of the lane, where the grass grew a little taller and the old abandoned house stood, he felt a little chill go up his spine.

“My mother’s silly stories!” he laughed to himself as he turned back to go home. And as he did so, he heard a voice cackle: “AH! YOU LOOK PERFECT FOR THE JOB!”

He then felt a tight grip on his arms and legs and then he was being dragged through a thick mist. The next thing he knew was, he was standing in a damp dark room with stone walls, and the ugliest looking thing stood before him with stubbly legs.

“I finally found you!” the grey-green thing laughed. “I’ve been looking for the perfect servant for so long now!”

“W-where am I?” asked the young man fearfully.

“Why, you are in the Goblin King’s palace. You should feel honoured boy!” the stubbly little thing said.

“I’m the King’s righthand-goblin, and I’ve been looking for someone tall enough for the job. You’ll do perfectly,” he said.

As the young man felt the tightness in his arms and legs release, he tried to run away, but his legs would not move.

“You can’t escape even if you tried” laughed the goblin. “So you can start with the bathroom!”

A brush was thrust in his hands and he was propelled towards a small space that looked like a closet. But as he entered it, he found it to be a large, very smelly bathroom. “It has to be spotless if you ever want to get out of it,” the goblin laughed again as the door behind him shut with a loud bang.

With no choice in hand, the young man began to clean and wash. He had never done a day’s work in his life, so he was quite exhausted by the time he finished and the door creaked open letting him out.

“That took far too long,” said the goblin who appeared out of nowhere. “Next time, you have to finish it in half the time! Now come along, you have to make the dinner.”

“But I don’t know how to cook,” the young man whimpered.

“You’ll learn,” came the reply and the next moment the young man was in a large, messy kitchen with what looked like days old vegetables lying around.

“The smelliest, tastiest dish would do,” the goblin said and disappeared.

It took the young man nearly an hour to light the fire in the stove before he got down to cutting vegetables and boiling them in water, making a soup. When the kitchen duties were done, he had to clean the rooms, and then some more bathrooms. By the time he was done, he was exhausted and fell asleep immediately in the little corner he was given.

But three hours later he was woken up again, this time to clean the castle from top to bottom, change the bed clothes, cut the branches in the garden, cook, serve the King his meals and wash grubby, torn clothes in a big tub.

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. The young man now woke up at the crack of dawn on his own and got to his duties. He had got it down to an art, and managed to spare a few minutes of the day for his own wash and food.

Then one evening the King’s mother visited him for dinner, and more rotten vegetables were given to him to make his dishes. As the young man served them their food, he saw the King’s mother fussing over him, stroking his green hair and pinching at his cheeks. When he went back to the kitchen, he felt an overwhelming sense of sadness.

“Oh how I miss my mother!” he sobbed loudly. “I never did enough for the kindness she showed me. I wish I could go back and make things right!”

The next thing he knew, the young man felt a cold rush of mist again and when he opened his eyes he was standing by his house, his mother frowning at him by the doorstep.

“Did you go for your walk and fall somewhere?” she asked. “You look terribly dirty and smelly.”

“Oh mother I’m so glad to see you!” he cried as he flung his arms around her.

“You just left five minutes ago! What strange things are you saying?” she asked.

And then he realised that despite him spending months at the Goblin castle, hardly any time had passed in the real world at all.

“Yes I did fall down,” he said, knowing that his mother would never believe his story.

“I’ll wash your clothes and draw you a bath,” said his mother with a sigh.

“No mother, let me!” he said gently pushing her aside. Not only did he draw his own bath, he washed his clothes and the bathroom too, to his mother’s shock and surprise.

“I’ll help you cook and clean mother,” he smiled. “And help in the garden and with marketing too.”

And from that day, the young man was never lazy again.