Coal Black and the 13 Goblins (Hope this is not racially offensive; it is not meant to be).

Once upon a time, in the middle of a dense forest there was a little village and, every Summer, on the 5th of June, the people of that village would fall asleep and, when they woke up, gold and jewels would be missing and women abducted but no one knew where they had gone nor who had taken them.
Even when the village elders decided to drink lots of coffee to keep them awake and stuck their eyelids open with glue, it did no good, when the 5th of June came some magic took hold and they just could not keep their eyes open.
One day however, a little boy called Coal Black because of his jet black skin, got so tired of his fathers snoring and his mothers nagging that he took to the habit of sticking acorns in his ears.
And, strangely, when the 5th of June came Coal was playing outside of his house when he saw everyone in his village go to sleep, even his mother and father but he did not go to sleep.
"It must be the acorns in my ears that are stopping me going to sleep", he thought, "But I wonder why?".
Suddenly, however, Coal saw 13 little evil Goblins come trapsing into the village, each one playing upon a flute of a different length and lying flat upon the ground and lying still he pretended to be asleep but he kept one eye slightly open so that he could watch the goblins.
And as he watched he saw one of them who seemed to be the bands leader giving orders to them and when he spoke all of the goblins put away their flutes.
"It must have been their flute playing that put everyone to sleep", thought Coal, "Thats why putting acorns in my ears protected me because I didn't hear it".
Then, taking one acorn from his ear he listened and heard what the Goblin leader was saying to his men,
"Good work, my Goblin men", he said, "Now go about your jobs as goblins should of thieving and looting and kidnapping while these foolish villagers are asleep and can do nothing to stop us".
Then Coal saw each of the goblins magic up a sack and go about filling it up with things stolen from the houses of villagers and some of the goblins took hold of young women too carrying them, like stretchers, at either end.
"This one will make pretty slave", a goblin said of a girl he was carrying, "To cook and clean and sew for us".
But then, looking at the short height and pale white skin of the Goblins, pale white because they were made from white beeswax, Coal black had an idea and, sneaking into his house he took some flour from his mothers kitchen and poured it over himself so that he looked as white as them and then, taking one of his fathers sacks he went about the village pretending to be one of the Goblins, putting things into the sack as if to steal them.
Then, when the leader of the Goblins ordered them all that it was time to go, Coal Black, pretending to be one of them followed the 13 Goblins through the forest.
And as he was walking through the forest, Coal black stopped every so often to pick a Dream flower; a flower that he knew made people fall asleep thinking, "These might come in handy later".
Eventually, they arrived at the house of the 13 Goblins; a little house with 13 rooms that included a bedroom with 13 little beds and a kitchen with a long dining table and 13 little chairs.
In the kitchen, girls that the Goblins had abducted from his village were acting as slaves, cooking food and laying out 13 bowls and spoons upon the long table and, seeing one of them stirring a large pot, Coal Black asked to taste what was in the pot and when he did, he dropped the 13 Dream flowers he had picked into it and stirred the pot.
Then, speaking to one of the Girls from his village who he recognised, he said to her,
"Don't be afraid. It is me, Coal Black and if you will help me by setting out a 14th chair and a 14th bowl and spoon at the table, I can save us all".
So the girl did as Coal Black asked and then, when it came time to serve the food to the Goblins, he took one of the 14 chairs at the table and pretended to eat with them.
As the leader of the Goblins was eating however, looking around the table, he started to scratch his head, looking bewildered.
"How many Goblins are sitting at this table?", he asked the others.
"13 ofcourse", said one of the other Goblins.
"But I count 14 Goblins sitting at this table", said the leader.
The other Goblin started to count using his 13 fingers and when he had finished counting he agreed that there were 14 Goblins at the table.
So the leader of the Goblins ordered,
"Goblins, when you hear your name called stand up from your chair".
Then the Goblin leader began to say each of the Goblins names aloud.
"Slimy and Grimy, Creepy and Crawly, Stinky and Scary, Nasty and Naughty, Icky and Sticky, Sneaky and Tricky...", he said and, as each of the names were called a Goblin stood up until the only person left sitting at the table was Coal Black.
"There", said the Goblin leader pointing to Coal, "We have an interloper in our midst. Someone grab him".
Then all the Goblins leapt upon Coal to grab him, growling and snarling, with their long sharp, Goblin claws.
Fortunately, just as they did, the dream flowers that Coal had put into the cooking pot started to work and, one by one the Goblins began to fall asleep.
And when they did, Coal said to the girls from his village,
"You are free now. We can all go home".
But before they left, they took all of the treasures that the Goblins had stolen from them, using the Goblin sacks to carry it in and Coal took all of the 13 Goblins flutes of different sizes binding them together to make Pan Pipes out off, saying to himself, "These may come in handy later".
And when Coal got back to his village he was hailed as a great hero by all but then, unfortunately, the 13 Goblins woke up from their sleep and wishing to take revenge upon Coal they stood upon each others shoulders, forming a tower of goblins which, at the twitch of the chief goblins nose became one gigantic goblin with one enormous eye at the centre of its forehead.
And then stomping through the forest, making the earth tremble with each of its gigantic footsteps and trampling tall trees flat beneath its tread, the titanic Goblin strode towards Coal Blacks village.
When the villagers saw the enormous Goblin, ofcourse, they were terrified and, running to Coal Blacks house they pleaded with him.
"You defeated the Goblins before", they asked, "Tell us what we should do now".
But Coal Black told them not to worry, saying that he would deal with the Giant all by himself.
Then, running out of the village towards the Giant goblin he shouted,
"I'm the one you want, I'm the one who tricked you, who stole your treasure and your magic flutes but you will not catch me".
Angry, the giant goblin tried to step upon Coal Black with one of its enormous boots but the boy was too quick for it and easily ran out of its path before he could be flattened.
Then Coal Black ran through the forest as fast as he could and the Giant goblin was so angry with him that it forgot all about his village and started to chase after him.
It chased him all across the forest, treading out a road of flattened trees as it did and the Giant was so fast striding upon its legs as tall as towers that it seemed for a moment as if he might catch Coal Black.
But then the boy came to a deep ravine, even deeper than the giant was tall, across which there was only a narrow bridge and, without stopping the boy ran across it.
Now most Giants would have thought twice about trying to cross such a narrow bridge but the Goblin Giants anger far outweighed its intellect and so, without a moments thought, it started to stride across it.
But then, as the Giant was crossing the bridge, and just as it was nearing the middle of it, Coal Black took out the Pan Pipes that he had made from the 13 magic flutes and began to play upon them.
And as he was playing, because of the magical power within each pipe, the Giant began to feel very tired and very sleepy.
"You look tired", Coal Black teased him, "Perhaps you should go home and go to bed".
And that was probably very good advice, advice the Giant might have done well to heed because he was getting so tired that he was even starting to stagger and sway from side to side but because the Goblin Giant wasn't wise, Coal Blacks words only made him more angry and more determined grab hold of the boy.
"The only one who is going to sleep is you", replied the Goblin giant trying to growl angrilly but also trying very hard not to yawn, "Sleep permanently in a bed of Earth".
But then Coal Black started to play the pipes again and the Goblin Giant became so sleepy that he felt as if he might faint.and then, just as the Giant was raising up a giant boot to stomp upon the boy, it closed its eyes and began to snore and when it did the Giant lost its balance and fell over the side of the bridge, plummeting with scream like thunder onto all the large, sharp rocks below.
That was the last that the villagers ever heard of the 13 Goblins but after that Coal Black was hailed by everyone in his village as a hero and, thanks to his courage and cleverness, his legend still lives on.