handsomest and squarest of all the goblins, and strutting up to Curdie,
planted himself with outspread feet before him, and said with dignity--
"Pray what right have you in my palace?"
"The right of necessity, your majesty," answered Curdie. "I lost my
way,
and did not know where I was wandering to."
"How did you get in?"
"By a hole in the mountain."
"But you are a miner! Look at your pickaxe!"
Curdie did look at it, answering,
"I came upon it, lying on the ground, a little way from here. I tumbled
over some wild beasts who were playing with it. Look, your majesty."
And
Curdie showed him how he was scratched and bitten.
[Illustration: The goblins fell back a little when he began, and made
Madhuri Noah
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