"The Goblin at the Grocer's" ( da, Nissen hos Spekhøkeren) is a
fairy tale
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
published 1852 by Danish author
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.
Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...
, about a goblin () who must choose between poetry or his Christmas porridge from a grocer.
Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University ...
included the tale as "The Goblin and the Grocer" in ''
The Pink Fairy Book
''The Langs' Fairy Books'' are a series of 25 collections of true and fictional stories for children published between 1889 and 1913 by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne. The best known books of the series are the 12 collections ...
'' (1897).
The ''spekhøkeren'' does not mean just "grocer" but a materialistic "
Philistine
The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when ...
" as well, and he uses pages ripped out of a precious book of poems to wrap merchandise such as cheese. Hence the alternate title "The Goblin and the Huckster".
Bibliographical notes
The tale "Nissen hos Spækhøkeren" was first published November 30, 1852,
[ and republished several times during the author's lifetime.
An English translation of the tale with the title "The Goblin and the Grocer" was included in ]Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University ...
's anthology, ''The Pink Fairy Book
''The Langs' Fairy Books'' are a series of 25 collections of true and fictional stories for children published between 1889 and 1913 by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne. The best known books of the series are the 12 collections ...
'' (1897).[
The practice of translating as "goblin" was retained by R. P. Keigwin's in his "The Goblin at the Grocer's" published in the 1950s, Keigwin translation of Andersen's tales being regarded as scrupulously faithful to the letter.][ "The Goblin at the Grocer's" as title was also followed by subsequent translators such as Reginald Spink (1958).][
The story was translated to English as "The Goblin and the Huckster" by Mrs. Paull (1867).][ The same title was adopted by ]H. W. Dulcken
H is the eighth letter of the Latin alphabet.
H may also refer to:
Musical symbols
* H number, Harry Halbreich reference mechanism for music by Honegger and Martinů
* H, B (musical note)
* H, B major
People
* H. (noble) (died after 127 ...
(1869) in his translation,[ and by J. H. Stickney in 1886, who reproduced the illustrations by Vilhelm Pedersen,][ reissued in 1915 with artwork by Edna F. Hart.][
The tale was also translated as "The Brownie at the Butterman's" by H. L. Brækstad (1900),][ and "Nis at the Cheesemonger's" by Anne S. Bushby.][
]
Synopsis
Once, a student lived in an attic while a grocer lived on the first floor with a ''nisse'', or house goblin. Because the grocer treated the ''nisse'' for Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
with a dish of porridge
Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, ...
( da, fad grød) with a large lump of butter in the middle, the ''nisse'' was attached to the grocer.[ One day, the student came to buy cheese and candles; then he discovered that his cheese was wrapped in a page from a poetry book, so he bought the book instead of the cheese, and joked that the grocer knew nothing about poetry. The goblin, offended by the joke, used magic to make everything in the room speak and they all agreed that poetry was useless. The goblin went to tell the student, but he saw a beautiful, marvelous tree of light in the student's room, the most splendid thing he had ever seen. He kept going back to watch the tree of light through the peephole, but could not stay there, for the grocer gave him jam and butter. One day when there was a fire, the red-capped ''nisse'' ran to save the poetry book, and realized that he thought the book the greatest treasure in the house. Still, he decided to divide his time between the grocer and the student, because the student provided no Christmas porridge ().][
]
Analysis
The title "The Goblin and the Huckster" given by Mrs. Paull hardly counts as a mis-translation. Although the ''spekhøker'' denotes a purveyor of victuals or grocer, it also has a secondary connotation of someone who is a materialistic or prosaic person, a Philistine
The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when ...
,[ a point which is missed by some English translators.
Andersen here was reenacting his true life in the tale. His first publication paid out of his own pocket met with dismal failure, and copies were subjected to much the same fate as the poetry book in the tale: pages ripped out to be made into cheese wrappers. When the tale's narrator opines that such ill treatment should not have come to pass to such a wonderful book of poetry, this was meant as barb against the critics who failed to appreciate his burgeoning work.][
]
Explanatory notes
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
*
*
*
External links
Andrew Lang's ''The Goblin and the Grocer''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goblin and the Grocer, The
1852 short stories
Works by Hans Christian Andersen
Danish fairy tales
Fictional goblins
Fictional grocers
Literary duos