Goblins and Ghosties (11 page)

‘Where is he?' she said again.

‘It's this way.'

He led her through the house to the room where the young man lay, in the bed he'd never left for three weeks past. She saw him lying there, stone dead, and round his head was that handkerchief of hers she'd tied with her own two hands not an hour before.

The Ghost in the Library

China

Why the maidservant's ghost chose to haunt the library was something that would never be known. She hadn't left a note. How could she? She couldn't write. She couldn't read either.

Maybe that was it. Maybe haunting the library was the best revenge she could think of for having to dust all those stupid books, day after dreary day.

Now she haunted the library, night after
night,
with terrible moans and howls and in a shape so fearsome, so it was said, that old man Chu gave orders that nobody was to use the library after dark.

‘But I'm a student, uncle,' said Chang. ‘I do all my best thinking at night. How am I supposed to know at sundown what books I'm going need at two o'clock in the morning?'

‘You can take as many books as you like up to your room,' the old man said. ‘The library will be locked at sunset.'

‘That's stupid! Even if I believed in ghosts, what harm can a ghost do me anyway?'

‘Rules are rules. It's for your own good.'

As to what happened later that evening, we must take Chang's word for it that it happened by accident. He was in the library, choosing a pile of books to take up to his room, when a particular book caught his eye and he settled down to read it in a corner that just happened to be out of sight of anyone standing at the door. Then, maybe the book turned out not to be not quite so interesting as he'd first thought. Or maybe it was the fact that he'd
just
had dinner and Uncle Chu's cook was a very good cook. ‘I must have dozed off for a minute,' said Chang. ‘Next thing I knew was the sound of the key turning in the lock and footsteps moving away before I could cry out.'

So he settled down to sleep again, his studies forgotten (it had been a very good dinner) until he was woken by a blood-curdling howl.

He opened his eyes and there was the ghost, moaning and groaning, with a wolf-like howl thrown in from time to time, fit to wake the dead.

Chang lay watching her until she ran out of breath (or whatever ghosts need to keep them going, since ghosts don't actually breathe).

‘Is that it?' he said. ‘Is that all you can do? I was told you were really scary.'

The ghost frowned. ‘I can be really scary if I want,' she said.

‘Go on, then.'

She stretched herself out, till her head was just below the roof beams and her toes were still touching the floor. Her eyes bulged and her tongue lolled out halfway down her chest.

‘
Not bad,' said Chang. ‘But not scary enough. What else can you do?'

The ghost glared. She shrank back to normal size. Her head started spinning round and round. Faster and faster it spun, till it lifted clean off her shoulders. She held it up, spinning, on the tip of one finger.

‘I can do that with a football,' said Chang. ‘Do you fancy a game?'

The ghost put her head back on. She opened her mouth wide, wide, wide.

Chang covered his ears, expecting a scream, but what came out was a blast of ice-cold air, which gathered itself into a whirlwind.

Curtains and carpets, dust and loose papers, books, cushions, anything not nailed down, were all swept up in a dizzy merry-go-round.

Chang himself had to hang on to the nearest bookshelf to prevent being swept away.

The air was sucked out of his lungs. He could hardly breathe. Yet he still managed to force out the words, ‘You're still… not… scaring me!'

The whirlwind died. The ghost had gone.

The next thing Chang knew, his uncle was
shaking
him awake. ‘My boy! My boy! Thank heavens you're still alive.'

‘Of course I am,' said Chang.

‘What about the ghost?'

‘What ghost? Oh, that ghost. No problem. Do you think I could borrow the key of the library tonight, uncle? I don't want to get locked in again.'

That night, there sat Chang in the library, determined not to fall asleep this time (in spite of another very good dinner). He wanted to see the ghost appear and how she did it.

She came first in a cloud of evening mist, which darkened till it looked more like smoke. The smoke wreathed about, thicker in some places, thinner in others, till he could see a body forming, arms, legs, head and all.

And there she was!

‘Hello,' said Chang.

‘Oh, no!' she scowled. ‘It's that stupid boy again!'

She stamped her foot, spun round three times and disappeared.

And was never seen again.

Goldenhair

Corsica

She was a merchant's daughter, not especially beautiful, apart from her long, golden hair. Everyone remarked on it when she was little. So soft, so fine, so fair! As she got older and young men started taking an interest, her mother always made sure it was tightly braided and pinned up in a modest coil on top of her head whenever she went out.

At home though, when she shook it out and sat in the garden combing it in the cool
of
the evening by the light of the setting sun, that hair was like a river of shimmering molten gold.

Count Rinaldo saw it as he was riding by on his way home from terrorizing a few of his peasant farmers and decided at once to marry her.

Her father was delighted. ‘Think of the business he'll bring me!'

Her mother was over the moon. ‘To think of hob-nobbing with the nobility!'

‘But he's horrible!' cried Goldenhair. ‘He's mean and cruel and miserly. Even his dog's afraid of him!'

All of which was true. On top of that, she was in love with Joseph, who was nothing but a common soldier.

Marry a common soldier? Out of the question! Maybe if he rose to be an officer, they'd consider it.

‘But I love him!' sobbed Goldenhair.

‘What's love got to do with it?' sniffed her mother. ‘Do you think I married your father for love?'

‘
Well, I won't marry anyone else,' said Goldenhair. ‘And certainly not Count Rinaldo! If it's my hair he wants, I'll cut it off now, this minute, and you can box it up with a pretty bow on top and send it to him.'

‘Now you're just being silly,' said her mother.

Count Rinaldo was used to getting his own way. Step one of his plan was to get rid of his rival. He lay in wait for Joseph one dark night, but things didn't go quite as he expected. At the end of a short, sharp fight, it was Count Rinaldo who lay dying in a pool of blood, so he never got the chance to move on to step two.

Poor Joseph, meanwhile, having killed a nobleman, even if it was in self-defence, had to flee for his life.

‘I'll come back for you when all the fuss dies down,' he promised Goldenhair. ‘As soon as I've earned my promotion. After all, the emperor himself began as a humble corporal.'

So off he went and she waited and waited for him to come back again.

Then, one day in the market, a small boy
pressed
a scrap of paper into her hand.

It was a note from Joseph. ‘Great news! I have my promotion. Soon I'll be home again.'

Goldenhair ran all the way home. ‘Mother! Father! Joseph's an officer now. Soon he'll be home and we can be married.'

Her parents still hummed and ha-ed – though they'd had no better offers for her since Count Rinaldo met his grisly end. So when an old woman who came to the door selling lavender whispered to her, ‘He's coming for you tonight. Be ready,' she said nothing to her parents, only waited at her window till at last she saw a figure riding out of the darkness.

Down she went and climbed up behind him and off they went, like the wind. He spoke not one word till she asked him, ‘Where are we going?'

‘To hell!' answered Count Rinaldo. ‘There, will you, nil you, you shall be my bride!'

‘Never!' she screamed. ‘Let me down! Let me go!'

The horse only galloped faster. Too fast for her even to think of jumping off, to end
up
nothing but a mess of blood and broken bones.

‘Joseph! Where are you? Help me!' In despair she cried out her true lover's name.

Joseph, who'd been letting his horse amble towards the village while he slumbered in the saddle, dreaming of how it would be next day when he came to claim his bride, heard her cry from far off.

He spurred his horse to the top of the next hill and saw his love seated behind Count Rinaldo, her golden hair trailing in the wind.

Down the hill he rode to meet them, knowing he'd have but one chance to rescue Goldenhair, since no mortal horse could outpace Count Rinaldo's.

‘Jump!' he cried. ‘Trust me! I'll catch you.'

She would have jumped then, but Count Rinaldo caught her hair fast in his hand.

Then, Joseph drew his sword and with one blow sliced the hair clean through.

Count Rinaldo rode on, straight back to hell, with nothing but a handful of long golden hair by way of a souvenir, while its previous
owner
nestled safely in her true love's arms.

Goldenhair was Goldenhair no longer, since it never grew back quite the same.

In fact she looked quite ordinary.

Do you think that bothered Joseph? Not one bit!

The Werewolf's Bride

Spain

Don Antonio rode into town with a feather in his cap and money in his pocket. A fine young fellow, he was, in his scarlet coat and embroidered waistcoat. When word got around that he was in search of a wife, what a kerfuffle that caused!

True, he was a little on the stout side, but that only went to show that he liked to live well. A wife of his would never have to scrimp and save to buy a fine shawl, or a new lace
mantilla
to wear to church on Sundays.