The Mythology & Folklore Database
He had tried all sorts of remedies and cures, but the wen only grew bigger and bigger.
One day the old man was out on the mountain side gathering sticks and pieces of wood when a. heavy storm came on. The sky became dark and gloomy-looking, the lightning ?ashed, the thunder roared, and the raindrops came pattering down one after another. The old man looked about for some means of shelter, and after a little while found a large hollow in the trunk of a very big tree. He was so glad at having found it; so, putting his bundle of sticks under another tree near by, he crept into the hollow.
The rain came down in torrents and the peals of thunder were deafening, whilst the vivid ?ashes of lightning were most terrifying. The poor old man was ?lled with fear, and prayed that the storm would soon cease. It was late in the afternooon, however, when the storm went over, and very soon the sky was again blue, and the rays of the setting sun were seen spreading out far and wide in the west.
The old man thought he had better return home as quickly as possible, as his good wife would be wondering how he had fared in the storm; so he was just about to creep out of the hollow when he heard the tramp, tramp, tramp of many feet.
The sound came nearer and nearer, and the old man, wondering whatever it could be, thrust his head out of the hollow tree. Oh! what a scare he got! Marching towards him in a long line came a great number of dreadful-looking goblins, headed by a small man with a heavy spiked club in his hand. The old man crouched back in the hollow, hardly daring to breathe.
Nearer and nearer they came until, having arrived at the hollow tree, they stopped in front of it, and began to make merry. Soon the younger goblins began to dance and sing, while all the older goblins sat laughing and clapping their hands. So far, they had not seen the old man, who lay curled up in the darkest corner of the tree.
After a time the old man became a little braver, and said to himself, "I'll just peep out, and see what they are doing. I suppose it's some kind of a goblins' concert they are having, for it sounds so very, very funny."
Saying this, the old man seemed to entirely forget his fear, and ventured out farther and farther.
Presently he saw one of the oldest and ugliest-looking goblins get up and say, "Listen to me, brother goblins! You have danced very cleverly, and sang very sweetly, but for all that your dances and songs are very, very old. Do any of you know a new dance? If so, let him come forward and perform it."
The old man, on hearing these words, determined to join the company, so, with a loud yell, he jumped out from the hollow tree, and began dancing and clapping his hands. The goblins were much startled at this sudden and unexpected appearance of the old man, and they almost fell over each other in alarm. Still the old man kept on dancing, for he knew that his whole life depended on that single dance.
The goblins sat dumbfounded, watching every movement of the old man. "Excellent!" said one goblin; "Simply marvellous!" said many others; and one and all of the goblins praised the old man's dancing very highly.
At last the old man stopped and apologised for his gross rudeness in interrupting their honourable feast.
"Oh! my dearest man," replied the leader of the goblins, "we all feel indeed grateful to you for your very worthy performance -- it was simply wonderful for so old a man. You have indeed honoured us very much by your presence. Please do us the favour of coming again and dancing for us."
The aged dancer was very delighted on hearing these words, and promised to come again.
"When will you come again?" asked one of the goblins. "Tomorrow?"
"Yes -- very well, I shall come again tomorrow and dance many times for you," replied the old man.
"But you must give us some pledge that you will indeed come tomorrow," said the leader of the goblins. "Look here! give us that wen of yours, for I believe a wen on the side of the face is a sign of good luck, and if we take that you will be certain to come again in order to get it back."
"Yes! yes!" cried all the goblins, "let us take his wen!"
Now this was just what the old man had long wished for, that some goblin or fairy would take from him that troublesome lump, as it had always been a great nuisance to him, and had also caused him much pain. So, without waiting for the old man to make any reply, they seized the wen from the cheek of the delighted old man, and disappeared from sight.
Oh! how glad he now felt, for that horrid lump had been taken from him, so with a light heart he began to set out for home. How glad his poor aged wife was to see him, but how much gladder she was to hear the strange story of how her husband had lost his wen.
"It is quite a blessing," she said joyfully. "You have indeed been favoured by the gods, and so we ought to be very thankful."
Now it happened that in the very next house lived another man who also had a wen on his right cheek, so when he heard the old man's story he felt very envious, and longed to get rid of his troublesome wen also. So he asked his kind old neighbour where he could ?nd the goblins, as he intended to set out the very next day. The kind old man told his neighbour the very place and time in which he could ?nd the goblins; so thanking the kind old man, the neighbour set out.
On and on he went until he came to the hollow tree in which his neighbour, the kind old man, had taken refuge from the storm the day before. Towards evening the goblins came, and there they found whom they supposed to be the old man already waiting for them. The neighbour had taken care to conceal his wen behind a fan which he carried in his hand until he began to dance.
"Oh, how glad we are to see you!" cried all the goblins.
"Do make haste and begin to dance for us again."
So the neighbour, who was also an old man, began to dance, holding the fan and singing as loudly as he could. Now this old man could not dance half so well as the other old man, and he began to hop and jump all over the place.
"Here, stop that foolish dancing," cried the goblins; "dance as you did yesterday! You are dancing very badly today. Do something better or else stop."
But the old man kept on with his clumsy style of dancing, until the goblins got quite angry, and, taking the wen which they took from the other old man the day before, one of the goblins threw it at the old man's left check, where it stuck and began growing at once.
Oh! how sorry was this old man then, for, instead of losing the wen on his right cheek, he had gained one on his left.
The goblins then quickly disappeared into the woods of the mountain; and the old man was left alone -- a pitiful sight -- with a big wen on each side of his face.