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Robin: This is the second book in the Clemency Pogue series; you may remember she was that tender-hearted fairy-killer who did her best to repair her mistake, with the help of the friendly hobgoblin Chaphesmeeso. Hobgoblins in this fairy-verse (called the Make-Believe) “maintain the order, the balance”, according to Chaphe. Goblins, on the other hand are “nothing but chaos and nastiness”. They are skinny and shrivelled, with cloven feet and ears like goat horns. You can see some goblins on the cover (not to be confused with the baby).
This time Clemency’s concern is for a poor little puppy-dog called Henry; hoping that magic might help the sick animal, she calls on the hobgoblin. Chaphe has troubles of his own, however. He has charge of a fledgling hobgoblin called Kennethurchin who cannot graduate into full hobgoblinhood because… well, that’s complicated.
As Clemency learns, hobgoblins were originally human babies rescued from the goblins who stole them out of their cradles, leaving animated clay babies behind. The proxy babies melt away in their first bath water; somehow, Kennethurchin’s proxy has escaped this fate and grown up into a peculiar little boy known as Inky Mess. His continued existence threatens the Make-Believe as well as holding Kennethurchin back. Chaphe says that no changeling has ever grown up before, and that the fairies, who know everything, say it will be cataclysmic. He expects Clemency to help with this little problem, but she has secret plans…
Meanwhile Inky, befoxed by his inability to read, is holding some fairies captive in the hope of using their magic, and they are hopping mad! Also hanging around is the sinister Fairy of Long Goodnights with her deadly wand. The fairies in this series do have some peculiar talents and interests: there are the Papercut Fairy, the Fairy of Impossible Itches and the Fairy of Awkward Silences, just for example. Although all-knowing, they are, according to Chaphe, as “dumb as putty”. A strange but appealing story. The sequel, in which Inky does his worst, is called The Scrivener Bees.
Robin: In “Goblin Market”, a nineteenth century poem by Christina Rossetti, Laura is tempted into tasting the delicious fruits offered by the goblins, and afterwards pines when she cannot get any more. Fairy food has long been said to trap humans in fairyland – just as eating the food of the Underworld stops people from returning to the upper world. In this poem the goblin men bring it into the human world and it leaves people fatally dissatisfied with ordinary food and ordinary life.
“Morning and evening
Maids heard the goblins cry:
Come buy our orchard fruits,
Come buy, come buy”
Laura and Lizzie are aware of the conventional wisdom:
“We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?…”
“Their offers should not charm us,
Their evil gifts would harm us.”
However…
“Curious Laura chose to linger
Wondering at each merchant man.
One had a cat’s face,
One whisked a tail,
One tramped at a rat’s pace,
One crawled like a snail,
One like a wombat prowled obtuse and furry,
One like a ratel tumbled hurry-scurry.”
Paying with a curl of her golden hair, Laura gorges herself on the delicious fruit: “sweeter than honey from the rock”. She expects to get more the next night – but no, she can never again hear the cry “Come buy, Come buy” although her sister still does.
Lizzie eventually tries to buy some fruit for her sister, but the goblin men become furious when she will not eat:
“One called her proud,
Cross-grained, uncivil;
Their tones waxed loud,
Their looks were evil.
Lashing their tails
They trod and hustled her,
Elbowed and jostled her,
Clawed with their nails,
Barking, mewing, hissing, mocking,
Tore her gown and soiled her stocking,
Twitched her hair out by the roots,
Stamped upon her tender feet,
Held her hands and squeezed their fruits
Against her mouth to make her eat.”
Exciting, isn’t it? This is not how market traders usually behave, even when you ask for your money back. You can hear as well as read the full poem here: Goblin Market. As to what those goblin men were up to, and how wicked they really were, I am sure I cannot tell you. The Victorian Web has some interesting – and some bizarre – thoughts on the subject.
Holly is in charge of putting the sparkle into Christmas. She wears red boots and a red hooded dress with a white furry trim, and with an outfit like than it won’t surprise you that she spends a lot of time with Father Christmas and his elves. She even teaches the reindeer to fly!
Holly needs Rachel and Kirsty’s help when Jack Frost makes off with Santa’s sleigh. When Jack realized he had been too naughty that year to deserve any presents, he decided to steal some intended for good little girls and boys. Though he opens lots of presents – and before Christmas Day too – he is still dissatisfied, “Why can’t I get a really nice present?” he wonders. Shockingly we find he is even prepared to steal the Fairy King’s present.
The most exciting part of this adventure is when the girls venture into Jack Frost’s ice castle and are captured by the goblins. Kirsty’s clever trick turns Jack’s greed against him, and the girls get to fly Santa’s sleigh home in triumph. What could be a better Christmas treat than that?
Holly the Christmas Fairy is the first of the Rainbow Magic Christmas books by Daisy Meadows.
Stella the Star Fairy is dressed in Christmas green and red, with a string of fairy lights round her waist and a feather boa round her neck. She is responsible for Christmas illuminations, Christmas tree lights and the stars that guide Santa’s sleigh. Her magic is tied to three decorations on the Fairyland Christmas tree: a candle, a bauble and a star, so when the goblins steal them she is very worried and asks Rachel and Kirsty for help.
The girls have already noticed things going wrong – the town’s Christmas lights have gone out, and their own tree’s fairy lights are broken – but they didn’t realize how serious it was. If they don’t get the magic star back by Christmas Eve, there won’t be any presents!
As usual, there are some very funny moments. It made me laugh when the goblin was torn between holding onto the candle and having his hands free to unwrap sweets. And you can’t help but smile at Kirsty’s father being so proud of having fixed the fairy lights when you know it has more to do with the rescue of the bauble. It is also funny that when Stella disguises the girls as goblins so that they can infiltrate the goblin village, they have to do their own mean and grumpy expressions – fairy magic can’t duplicate those!
Jack Frost doesn’t appear in this book, which concentrates on the goblins. It is sweet how the goblins seem to appreciate Christmas. All bundled up for the wintry weather, they can easily pass for human children. Rachel and Kirsty spot one singing Christmas carols in the town square, and others throwing snowballs after building a snow goblin. In the goblin village, Goblin Grotto, the goblins are having a party round their Christmas tree in the centre of the village, carrying lanterns, eating hot pies and singing carols. It is all very cosy. I hope they recover from the girls’ visit!
Stella the Star Fairy is one of the Rainbow Magic Christmas books by Daisy Meadows.
It spells trouble when Jack Frost doesn’t get the part he wants in the Fairyland pantomime – Prince Charming (some hopes!) – and decides to take his revenge by ruining all Christmas performances. Paige, a very cute fairy in a sparkly pink ballet dress, looks after the Christmas shows including pantomimes. As you’ll know if you have ever taken part in one, a lot can go wrong: with the costumes, the scenery, the props, not to mention the actors fluffing their lines, or the dancers falling over! Normally Paige can keep disasters to a minimum with her three magical items: the ballet shoe, the horseshoe and the glass slipper, but with Jack and his goblins out to steal them anything can happen.
Kirsty and Rachel are dancing in Cinderella, so they are naturally keen to help Paige. In between rehearsals they manage to track down the goblins who have taken the ballet shoe and the horseshoe, but the worst problem comes in the show itself. Jack Frost tries to get hold of the magical glass slipper, which is masquerading as one of the props, by acting in the pantomime himself (not as Prince Charming, however). His antics cause anxiety on stage but much hilarity in the audience.
Queen Titania and King Oberon find a really thoughtful way to thank the girls for their help at the end – but I won’t spoil the surprise!
Paige the Pantomime Fairy is one of the Rainbow Magic Christmas books by Daisy Meadows.
One snowy day, Rachel and Kirsty have a strange encounter with a goblin in a pillar box before meeting Chrissie, who floats down on a snowflake wearing a white party dress trimmed with red. She has heard from Holly that Jack Frost has sent goblins to hunt for her magic card, magic spoon and magic carol sheet.
Chrissie has hidden them in the mortal world, apparently at random, to help spread seasonal wishes and make them come true. These Christmas fairies are not very good at keeping an eye on their responsibilities it seems! Perhaps it is something to do with having three things to look after. Eventually Chrissie decides that the goods will be safest at Rachel’s house, especially as the goblins are scared of her dog Buttons.
One of the high points is when two goblins fight over the magic spoon which makes all Christmas food taste delicious, and make a terrible mess in the kitchen. When Chrissie crossly confronts the goblins, they actually seem quite scared of her. Mrs Walker has taken Buttons for a walk, but Mr Walker nearly catches them! Another exciting moment is when the girls (fairy-sized) and Chrissie are going down a chimney and see a letter floating upwards to summon Jack Frost.
All ends happily, thanks to the girls’ wise use of a wish, even for Jack and the goblins. A Happy Christmas all round. Now that is the way to end a book!
Chrissie the Wish Fairy is one of the Rainbow Magic Christmas books by Daisy Meadows.
Kirsty and Rachel are having a holiday at a winter sports resort and looking forward to the Winter Festival, when they notice the snow is unusually hard: painful to fall on, pretty useless for building snowmen and downright dangerous for snowballs. When a fairy pops up, you can pretty much guess – those light-fingered goblins have been at it again. Gabriella, who is definitely an outdoor fairy, sensibly wears furry earmuffs and carries a white fur muff.
Gabriella’s Magic Snowflake, hung every year on the Fairyland Christmas Tree, makes snow soft and fluffy. Now it is gone… with goblin footprints round the tree. Spotting some goblins playing in some suspiciously nice snow nearby, Gabriella turns the girls into snowmen so they can approach and snatch the sparkly snowflake away. But they are seen and the goblins race away on sleds and snowboards only to plough into a big snowdrift. It seems they were acting on Jack Frost’s orders – he is throwing a big party and wanted to provide good snow for his own guests. I don’t see why he shouldn’t have it for a short time – but of course he would never just ask, and stealing is always wrong.
Also missing is the potion of Festive Cheer, kept in a silver chest in the fairy palace. Doing his own dirty work this time, Jack snuck in amusingly disguised as a carol singer. At Jack’s Ice Castle Gabriella disguises Rachel and Kirsty as delivery girls bringing a cake for the party. The picture shows a gorgeous cake: designed like a toboggan slide it has a tiny figure of Jack Frost on a marzipan sledge, snow geese and some goblins playing. The girls see goblins preparing for the party, and they meet the goblin chef who is preparing festive food. It proves easy to get back the Festive Spirit – it has put Jack into such a good mood he just hands it over!
Unfortunately the good mood is only temporary. Furious at being ‘tricked’, Jack sends goblins to steal the Firestone, without which it will be very chilly in the human world (and no fireworks!). However, the girls overhear the goblins wondering what to get Jack as a present for his party since he already has everything he needs – and Rachel has the bright idea of having Gabriella magic up an ice sculpture of Jack Frost himself for the goblins to give him. They agree to exchange it for the Firestone, and Jack really likes it (vain old thing!). It doesn’t say how his party went, but Jack in a good humour would make all the difference, I’m sure.
Gabriella the Snow Kingdom Fairy is one of the Rainbow Magic Christmas books by Daisy Meadows.
Fairy Columbine 