Story: Twenty-Two Goblins

Fourth Time's a Charm

. . .

(Suitors Vying for a Woman)

. . .

A King, so mighty and high

Fell indebted to a Monk just trying to get by

The Monk, you see, had been giving the king hidden jewels

For this grace, the King granted him a pack of mules

"No, dear King, what I desire is not cattle,"

"But rather, for someone to dissolve this problem I tackle!"

"A problem?" said the King quite clearly

"Yes! A problem with a goblin who robs me so dearly!"

And so the King grateful for the Monk's help

Went off to fulfill the Monk's request with a great yelp

"Off I go into the night,"

"To fetch a goblin from a great tree's height!"

Once he fetched the goblin down from the tree

The goblin awoke with a bright glee

"Oh King let me once tell you a riddle,"

"It tells of a boy stuck in the middle..."

. . .

In a charming kingdom, far far away

Lived a beauty as undeniable as the day

This beauty was a boy named Charm

He was the son of the King and Queen to which none would do any harm

Charm was born out of Shiva's grace

Promising that his charm would put Aphrodite out of place

Once asked "what would be deemed as a suitable match?"

"A woman who knows a science front to back, that I would deem quite a catch!"

Soon word travelled all throughout 

And then came four scientific suitors from the south route

Prepared, was each woman with a science none could doubt

"Let me hear of these sciences, and hope a new love will sprout."

The first woman arrived with a beautifully sewn suit

"None could better fill out this piece than a beauty of such absolute."

The first suitor was indeed a seamstress of such refine

Her stitches almost seemed as if they were made from fine wine

The second woman then piped up to say 

"But I know all the calls of any beasts or prey!"

You see, the second woman knew of all and any animal

The father of Charm then responded, "Ah yes, a skill quite valuable!"

"Valuable? Ha! Yet what will you do when a beast attacks?"

Said the third woman waiting, "You could do nothing but see their tracks!"

"Unlike her, I am quite skilled with a sword!"

The third woman indeed could protect the Prince from any hoard

The fourth suitor, quiet up until that point, said "well what of my skill?"

"I can bring any man back from the dead, my hands, they have the magic to heal!"

Elated but puzzled by the fourth man's becoming power

The father cried,"I will make my decision within the hour!"

. . .

Hunched on the shoulder of King

The goblin asked, "So what of part of the story did you cling?"

"Can you answer the riddle of which suitor the father did choose?"

"Remember answer truthfully or your death shall be the end of this ruse!"

The shadowed King, confidently did he speak 

"Oh goblin, this riddle was indeed quite weak!"

The answer can easily be found in the crafts

To not see the answer, was to be quite daft

"The answer is neither the zoologist or seamstress,"

"For no father has a need for lessons or neatness."

"Neither is the answer the witch who can bring back lives,"

"For messing with such a fate can induced deadly hives."

"Alas, I believe the answer is the woman as fierce a man,"

"To be a swordsman of great caliber, is to be higher than those cavemen."

Rejoiced, the goblin did leap off the King

"Do catch up as I go back to my tree, for the Monk still needs you to bring!"

Off the goblin went to hang from the tree once again

And the King does follow as fast as he can

Thus the cycle does continue on

The King being played as tiny pawn

. . .

This story is based off of "The Four Scientific Suitors. To which should the girl be given?", an excerpt of Twenty-Two Goblins, translated by Arthur W. Ryder, with illustrations by Perham W. Nahl (1917).

. . .

Author's Note

The tale of "The Four Scientific Suitors. To which should the girl be given?" is one of the many riddles a goblin gives to a king. This king, who is indebted to a monk, is forced to give an answer to each of the goblin's riddles. For if he does not know the answer, he is allowed to keep on his journey to deliver the goblin to the monk. Yet if he knows the answer but does not say, his head will explode. But even worse, if he correctly guesses the answer the goblin leaps out of his reach and returns to the tree, forcing the king to trek all the back to get the goblin again. The reason I chose this riddle in particular is the fun challenge I might have retelling this one more than the others. 

For this story I challenged myself to retell the tale using two different techniques, a poem and gender-swapping.  While already familiar with the poem writing style, I wanted to try my hand at it again to see if I could do better at getting the point across with a shorter story. Yet I also wanted to try out an element I am thinking of using for my project: gender-swapping. Only changing the genders of the main girl and her four suitors, I tried to focus in on what were the consequences of doing such. For instance, if the first suitor is a tailor, does that make the female mirror a seamstress? Working out the kinks of what each gender change meant for the characters was an fun task to take on. Hopefully you enjoyed the piece!