Culture
Grace & the Goblin | A Halloween Tale
Join Grace, a studious girl with a penchant for knowledge, as she embarks on an unexpected adventure in the woods. When she encounters Greenly the goblin and a mysterious door, her curiosity leads her...
Grace & the Goblin | A Halloween Tale
Culture •
0:00 / 0:00
Interactive Transcript
spk_0
Hi guys, Gordy here. We've got something new. Super new. Fresh. Cool. It's a new show. Starting me and Lily.
spk_0
Hi guys.
spk_0
Well Dexter solving cases in the city. We've opened up shop in the suburbs.
spk_0
So watch out crime. The adventures of Lily and Gordy begins Tuesday, August 26th.
spk_0
Don't miss season one. It's available with subscription.
spk_0
Become a member of the Little Ears Club today and listen to new episodes every Tuesday.
spk_0
You can subscribe on Apple, Spotify or Patreon. Oh, this is gonna be fine.
spk_0
See you in the suburbs.
spk_0
She was a very studious girl. She read books, studied math and science and painted.
spk_0
She was quite a skilled artist in fact. But she always gave equal time to all of her endeavors.
spk_0
By the time she was 12, Grace was of the strong opinion that she knew everything.
spk_0
She was steadfast in this and corrected anyone who was even the slightest bit wrong.
spk_0
People, especially her fellow students, did not care for this.
spk_0
Before long, she had the reputation of a know-it-all. But Grace cared not.
spk_0
She did know it all because she studied more than anyone else. She told herself.
spk_0
It was soon four and school had begun again.
spk_0
In the afternoons, Grace liked to go into the woods and explore.
spk_0
She studied the slugs on the logs and the birds in the trees and even the petals on the flowers.
spk_0
One day, when the leaves were falling, Grace went into the forest and collected every color of leaves she could find.
spk_0
Yellow, green, brown, red, purple.
spk_0
She put them in her basket. She walked for hours. She had lost track of time.
spk_0
Before long, Grace realised the sun was setting and she was in a part of the forest she did not know.
spk_0
And there, in the days last ray of sunshine, she saw it.
spk_0
A door in a tree.
spk_0
How odd she thought. Grace approached it and just as she reached her hand out to turn the knob, she felt something.
spk_0
She was being watched. There was something or someone behind the tree.
spk_0
Grace stepped towards it.
spk_0
Who's there? She asked.
spk_0
Whatever it was took off.
spk_0
Little crunches of little feet on the piles of leaves.
spk_0
Grace followed.
spk_0
Perhaps it's a great stag she thought.
spk_0
She followed.
spk_0
Weaving through the trees.
spk_0
Then she saw it.
spk_0
Not a stag.
spk_0
But a little man.
spk_0
Who are you?
spk_0
She asked.
spk_0
Why do you follow me, girl?
spk_0
He replied.
spk_0
You were watching me.
spk_0
Grace said.
spk_0
Why do you take the leaves?
spk_0
He asked.
spk_0
They belong to the forest.
spk_0
I like to study them and paint them.
spk_0
She said.
spk_0
Hmm.
spk_0
Paint them.
spk_0
He said as he plopped himself down on the lobe.
spk_0
I'm greenly the goblin.
spk_0
A goblin?
spk_0
She cried.
spk_0
I am.
spk_0
He said.
spk_0
And you were about to get yourself into big trouble.
spk_0
Grace did not understand.
spk_0
You turned that knob.
spk_0
You enter the witches' den.
spk_0
He told her.
spk_0
Then you belong to her.
spk_0
And there you'll stay forever.
spk_0
There's no such thing as witches.
spk_0
Grace insisted.
spk_0
I would know.
spk_0
Did you think there was such a thing as a goblin before?
spk_0
He asked.
spk_0
You tell me you're a goblin.
spk_0
But I just see a small man.
spk_0
She said.
spk_0
And I shall prove you wrong.
spk_0
There is no witch.
spk_0
Just someone who carved a door in a tree.
spk_0
Probably to a tree house.
spk_0
And I should like to see it.
spk_0
Grace took off back towards the tree she had seen before.
spk_0
I beg you.
spk_0
Don't.
spk_0
He cried as he chased after her.
spk_0
I am the guardian.
spk_0
My purpose is to warn anyone who dares enter.
spk_0
Set the goblin.
spk_0
My brother went in and never came out.
spk_0
Poor thing Lee.
spk_0
I'll never see him again.
spk_0
But I can make sure she gets no one else.
spk_0
You're just trying to scare me because Halloween is coming.
spk_0
I bet it was my schoolmate who put you up to this.
spk_0
She said.
spk_0
Oh, child, you are making a mistake.
spk_0
He said.
spk_0
Grace reached the door.
spk_0
And without hesitation.
spk_0
Turned the knob.
spk_0
A bright light shone from within.
spk_0
And she stepped right into it.
spk_0
The door slammed behind her.
spk_0
When the light dimmed and Grace could see.
spk_0
She laughed.
spk_0
All there was was a little old lady sitting by the fire in a lovely little tree house.
spk_0
Oh, madam.
spk_0
She said.
spk_0
How lovely your house is.
spk_0
A little old lady did not smile.
spk_0
But smirked.
spk_0
Welcome Grace.
spk_0
I've been waiting for you.
spk_0
She said.
spk_0
How do you know my name?
spk_0
She asked.
spk_0
Oh, I know everything.
spk_0
Especially that you listen to no one.
spk_0
That you above all would even ignore that annoying little creature who stays at my door.
spk_0
And come inside anyway.
spk_0
She said.
spk_0
There's no such thing as witches.
spk_0
Grace said.
spk_0
The old woman rose from her chair.
spk_0
And as she did, the room turned into a cabin.
spk_0
Dark and cold.
spk_0
One lantern hanging from above next to a small cage which was also hung from the ceiling.
spk_0
Inside was a goblin.
spk_0
The old woman changed into a hideous witch.
spk_0
The canal.
spk_0
You too shall stay with me.
spk_0
She cried.
spk_0
Grace was frightened.
spk_0
I was wrong, I see.
spk_0
She told the witch.
spk_0
Oh, yes dear.
spk_0
You were.
spk_0
Why did you want me here?
spk_0
She asked.
spk_0
Who could ever go yet not so clever?
spk_0
I want to be painted.
spk_0
Not as I am now an old witch.
spk_0
I want you to pay me as I was when I was young.
spk_0
I can only change forms for minutes at a time.
spk_0
But if you were to paint me, you must paint it here.
spk_0
The canvas is magic and your painting will make me younger.
spk_0
Now, but you must paint quickly.
spk_0
And then you will let me go?
spk_0
Grace asked.
spk_0
Of course.
spk_0
Why should I have used for you after that?
spk_0
The witch replied.
spk_0
But Grace knew the witch didn't mean it.
spk_0
She would be trapped there.
spk_0
What she did know was she had a plan.
spk_0
She just hoped it would work.
spk_0
Once the easel was set and the paints were ready,
spk_0
the witch sat back in her chair and became a young woman again.
spk_0
Grace got to work.
spk_0
She painted as fast as she could.
spk_0
The detail was not quite as sharp, but she hoped it would not matter.
spk_0
Finally, she finished.
spk_0
How lovely you look.
spk_0
She told the witch.
spk_0
As the witch rose, she turned back into her hideous self.
spk_0
And when Grace turned the painting around,
spk_0
the witch was horrified.
spk_0
It was not a portrait of her younger self at all.
spk_0
But of her as she was now standing in the room,
spk_0
about to be devoured by a giant wolf.
spk_0
And in an instant, the wolf appeared.
spk_0
He gobbled the witch right out.
spk_0
Grace could not believe it had worked.
spk_0
But she was mighty pleased it did.
spk_0
As soon as the witch was gone, the tree disappeared.
spk_0
The cage which hung from above did as well.
spk_0
And the goblin who was inside stood next to her.
spk_0
They were in the forest once again.
spk_0
Fee-ly!
spk_0
Greenly cried.
spk_0
And the brothers hugged.
spk_0
You saved me.
spk_0
Fee-ly said to Grace.
spk_0
Oh, thank you.
spk_0
Clever, Clever girl.
spk_0
Perhaps not as clever as I had thought,
spk_0
for I should have heated Greenly's advice, never gone inside.
spk_0
But I am glad for it to have freed you.
spk_0
How can we ever repay you, Greenly asked.
spk_0
Oh, perhaps we could meet in the forest every week,
spk_0
and tell stories, or study the grasshoppers, Grace said.
spk_0
The brothers agreed.
spk_0
And from that moment on, they were the best of friends.
spk_0
And Grace, while still thinking she knew quite a bit,
spk_0
she also knew she should listen to others too.
spk_0
The End.
spk_0
And now it's time to take a deep breath, close our eyes,
spk_0
so that we may drift off into our world of our own adventure.
spk_0
Good night children.