The Wonderful Wood

The Goblin Market

This was the witches song:

The green trees,

The yellow bees,

The blue seas,

go on and never cease!

The birds will always sing,

The wasps will always sting,

Witched will always fly,

High, high and still high

Then they slowly began to descend and Ethan noticed a small town lying in the distance.

They landed by the side of a road, and people were bustling along the street. They hardly paid any attention to the witch and Ethan, and the witch tapped the broom on the ground, and its bristles disappeared, and there was the just the stick, and it glowed and turned into the staff.

"That's handy," said Ethan looking at the staff.

The market was a crowded place. There were dwarfs, goblins, imps, witches and wizards all walking around doing their shopping. There were shops selling fruits, vegetables and groceries. There were also other kinds of stores. Some stores sold crystals, incense, cat bones, bat wings, frog legs, and different types of things that they did not sell in your everyday supermarket.

Goblins were selling different things. Most of the merchants were goblins. They were short, stumpy and warty. They had long noses and knobbly knees, and stumpy hands.

They were selling crystal balls, magical staff and potion ingredients of all sorts bottled in jars and dried and backed in paper bags. They were shouting at the top of their voices. "Unicorn horns at 50 faycoin!"

"What is faycoin?" asked Ethan, who had never heard the word before.

"It is the currency of the magical world." said the witch stepping towards a stall. There were various kinds of jars laid out, and she looked at them intently. They had strange labels. They said things like spider web dust, mermaid hair, and troll toenails.

The goblin seller came towards them and asked, "what are you looking for, and how can I help you?

"I'm afraid we don't have that it in stock. But I can sell you a beast box!" whispered the man looking around to make sure that nobody heard him.

"That would do too, I guess!" said the witch, scratching her chin. "Well, how much!"

"Well, you know how hard it is to craft it! It will cost 500 faycoin!"

"Alright," I won't bargain with you," said the witch and pulled out her wallet. She counted the money and gave it to the goblin, who bowed and handed her a small box. Ethan wondered why the witch had paid so much money for such a thing. But he thought she must know better.

They walked out of the stall and rolled down along the street. There were candy sellers. The witch stopped at one and brought Ethan some sweets called pixie pips that grew larger as you sucked.

He sucked it, and the sweet turned big and then started melting. It changed flavours as it grew bigger. First, it tasted like fresh strawberries, then apple and licorice and brownies. Ethan had never had something so delicious in his life.

They went into a shop that looked like a cloth shop. They sold different types of thread, cloth, needles, scissors and everything you could think of inside. Ethan followed the witch into the shop.

"What do you want?" asked a plump woman with a large mole on her face.

"Do you have silver spider thread?" asked the witch, looking at the spools of thread.

So they went on and came to a shop that sold insects. There were all sorts of insects inside. There were butterflies, moths, crickets, mantises, and every kind of insect you could think of in small glass boxes. Some had leaves, sticks and stones in them too.

Ethan looked at a huge praying mantis behind a glass case. Then the witch went up to the store owner and asked, "Do you have silver spiders?"

"Well, you are lucky! We have a baby one, and it is the last one we have in stock right now!" she smiling and showing off a set of stained yellow teeth.

Then the shopkeeper brought out a silver spider in a glass box.

"How much does it cost?" asked the witch, taking out her wallet.

"Fifty faycoin," said the shopkeeper, tapping on the glass box. The spider was the strangest spider Ethan has seen. It glittered like polished steel.

The witch paid the money and tucked the small glass box inside her cloak. They left the shop, and then the witch said, "now for the last ingredient!

They went to another shop that sold different dyes. Then she went up to the counter and asked, "do you have stardust!"

"Well, we have two more bottles in stock," said the shopkeeper going to the shelves and selecting two bottles. "That would be a hundred faycoin!"

The witch pulled out her wallet and handed the money. They thanked the shopkeeper and left. When they came out of the shop, the witch tapped her staff on the floor, and the bristled of the broon appeared, and the staff turned into a broomstick once again.

"Come on, climb on," said the witch and Ethan climbed in, and the witch took off, and soon they were flying over the marketplace, and soon they left the marketplace behind

They flew on and finally came to the witches house and landed at her doorstep. Ethan was curious as to how she was going to put the things he brought to use.

They went indoors, and the witch said, "I'm broke after that shopping at the goblin market as always.

It was nighttime, and the sky was dark. The moon was shining brightly. The stars were sparkling too. Ethan felt sleepy.

The witch noticed and said, "you should get to bed. I have a spare room!"

Ethan agreed and followed the witch to the room. It was a cosy little room with its fireplace.

Ethan agreed and followed the witch to the room. It was a cosy little room with its fireplace. The room had a small table, cupboard, a desk and a chair. Ethan looked out of the open window and saw the nearly full moon shining down.