Blessings be upon you, good Dame Holle! Even if you were really once a goddess of the first rank, you need not blush at your present condition. Still, we cannot help asking, with a slight tremor of fear, how it can have come about, that the noble Frigg, the all powerful Hertha, should have been reduced to play the lady patroness of washerwomen and seamstresses? How has this island in the ocean, with its sacred forest, become a wretched {315}marsh, fetid and ill reputed? There is but one answer to such a question: Frigg has been unfortunate. But the spinners and seamstresses, the clear-starchers and embroiderers are not the only ones who are honored by kind attentions from the supernatural world. The brothers Grimm say:-- [Illustration: 335] “In certain parts of the world, every person--man, woman, or child--has his own goblin to do menial service; he carries water, cuts wood, and fetches beer.” During all this time the master has nothing to do but to set still and to see the work done. This goblin is evidently the _Genius loci_ of the ancients. Among all these goblins, however, one is by far the most famous in Germany, and at the same time the oddest, of whom the most extraordinary stories are told. They call him _Kobold._ During the night the Kobold sets everything to {316}rights in the kitchen; he cleans the glasses, the plates, the pans, and wages war against the spiders and the mice. For all these attentions he asks only a little food, specially prepared for him, for he would never dream to ask for a share of his master’s dinner. Although he seems to be specially devoted to the cook’s department, the Kobold is first of all attached to the house. If the cook is dismissed, or if the master moves, he nevertheless remains in his old home, quite ready to offer his services to the new comers. If the cook goes, she says to her who takes her place:-- “Do not forget to put a little panada on the kneading trough for the Kobold, or he might play you some ugly tricks. Be careful, for he is not always in good humor.” If the Kobold, or in his place the cat, eats the panada, the new cook is sure to say:-- “Chim has been here; I see we shall be good friends.” But if Chim has left the dainty untouched, or has merely tasted it, she is troubled. “Perhaps he wants it made with the yolk of an egg? Or perhaps I had not put enough butter to it?”