Snørgl The Forest Goblin. Betty Kamer

cook and baker), Pegjandi (who knows all the flowers), Styggur (the thoughtful), Stubbur (the doctor), Reifur (the creative), Léttféti (the climber), Svipdapur (the poet), Gulltoppur (the painter) and Gosi (the craftsman)

       The elves:

      Lýsa (the shining one), Elin (the radiant one), and Sóla (the sunny one)

       The animals:

      Kibuz the owl, the firefly, Pauri the puffin, Mink the marten, Halia and Sami the sea eagles, Jola the reindeer, Tuula the owl

       The banished forest sprites:

      Böggvir (one who causes damage), Amur (the big one) and Allsvartur (who loves the color black)

       The lucky children in this book:

      Kai, Sonja, Ben, Maja, Leon and Emily

      One thing you should know before we embark on our first dream journey with my friends and the lucky kids:

      Each child's name is entered into the 'Great Directory' by an elf at birth.

      What?

      You say one elf alone can't even enter all the babies in the directory? You're right, and I'd like to take this opportunity to briefly tell you how:

      Hundreds of years ago, the head elves handwrote their areas of responsibility on a map. However, as time went on, the area in which the Goblin and elves operated grew larger and larger, so the forests had to be divided into more and more areas, and the map grew larger and larger. At some point, all the head Goblin and elves of the land called together to think about how to proceed, because by now there was quite a mess. And so it came about that the map was divided by the head sprites into four equal parts. For each section there were always three head sprites, who also had a part of the map in their care, different numbers of forest sprites (all of whom also lived in the trees in this section) and at least one elf.

      The head sprites Vegard, Dellingur and Dagbjartur from the forest where I live also received a part of this large map. They have been assigned the elf Sóla, who lives in the Valley of Butterflies together with her sisters Lýsa and Elin.

      The main task of the forest elves has always been to take dream trips with a child assigned to them.

      Oh my goodness, you probably can't even imagine what children I'm talking about.

      Look, there are children who are sad or unhappy from time to time. For example, parents may decide to move to live with their children in another city or country. Then sometimes friends have to part, which can make you very unhappy.

      Maybe a child also had to say goodbye to their pet because it was very sick and couldn't stay with them anymore. I also know of some children who were very worried about someone in the family because of an illness or because the grandparents lived too far away. Still another child was very sad about having had a fight with his brother or sister.

      We Goblin learn about these children through the elves.

      But how do the elves know about these children, you ask?

      I will gladly tell you: they find out from the fireflies that travel at night on their behalf and shine their light in the windows of the children's rooms. They see the sadness or the tears of the children and tell the elves about them. The name of the child is then given by one of the elves to the head elves, who distribute the orders to us elves during the elf meeting. Sometimes there are very few orders over a long period of time, but unfortunately it happens every now and then that we forest sprites have to go on a dream journey with our 'lucky' children. You know, dream trip is called because the goblin in charge takes the child on a trip in his dreams to make them forget their worries.

      But just like with humans, there were always Goblin who didn't want to be bossed around anymore. I guess that's what they called it. These were the ones who were always envious of others, always knew everything better and wanted to own what others owned. They constantly quarreled and brought great unrest into the quiet and peaceful coexistence of the Goblin. They were also lazy, did not keep order in their tree dwellings, did not enjoy playing games together and there was always trouble with them. And just imagine: there were even Goblin who didn't like children. Yes, really!

      One day Dagbjartur caught the forest sprites Böggvir, Amur and Allsvartur trying to steal the map. Just in time he was able to take it back and that same night the three head woodland sprites and the elf Lýsa took the map to a hiding place. None of us forest sprites learned where this secret place was. But today I know that in this secret hiding place there is also a copy of each of the other three parts of the map.

      What we all didn't know at that time: on one of these old maps something is drawn in, which has great importance for goblins. But we all learn more about this as time goes on.

      The goblins Böggvir, Amur and Allsvartur, however, were banished and had to leave their tree dwellings and the forest immediately.

      And peace and quiet returned to our forest.

      During a meeting of the Goblin a few weeks ago, we asked the head Goblin to allow all the Goblin to go on a dream journey together. The head Goblin had nothing against it. But we still had to find a way to make it possible.

      Our adventure began when the elf Sóla told us that something terrible had happened: she had learned that Goblin living very far from our forest had been kidnapped and urgently needed help.

      I immediately suspected Böggvir, one of the banished sprites, but I had no certainty.

      Probably even Allsvartur and Amur helped him to kidnap the goblins.

      I wonder how they managed to do that.

      But whoever it was: they didn't count on me and my friends ...

      But before we start this adventure together, my scribe line has asked me to confess something to you: I'm talkative. Very much so. I like to talk a lot. So please don't be too surprised.

      Lucky kids

      Since time immemorial, our fireflies have been on the road for the elves to tell them about the children in their rooms. About happy and laughing children, but also about sad children. But I already told you that.

      The first visit to the children is not really a visit, because the firefly shows us where the child lives, but we only bring them a book of fairy tales. We do not have personal contact with them at this point.

      You're wondering what kind of book this is?

      I'm happy to tell you: it's a book about forest sprites, dream journeys, elves and adventures, written by the head sprites a long time ago. Such a book is then put to the respective child in the garden, on the balcony or in front of the front door. And like little observers, the firefly then stays near the apartments or houses to see how the child reacts to the book. If it has no interest and does not believe in us Goblin and the elves, then it is not very useful to visit them to take a dream trip with them.

      However, if the firefly sees that the child is reading the book and thus shows that he or she is interested in us, then it is also possible for us to accompany them in their dreams.

      In the case of such a child, I then sit down on the window sill in front of their nursery the next evening, or rather the next dusk, and wait patiently together with the firefly until my 'lucky child' becomes aware of me. Usually they see the light of the firefly first and become curious. Then when the window is opened for me, I introduce myself and we can talk, since I am no longer a stranger. After all, you're not supposed to talk to strangers, and you're not supposed to walk along with them. You know, since the child has already read about me in the book, he kind of already knows me. Then we talk about family, friends and so I also find out what makes her sad. We also talk about hobbies and what books they like to read. So the moment comes for me, which is so important: