A Liminal Goblin Encounters fractal

'I have seen fractal three times,' the ancient goblin whispered, counting on fingers that bent in wrong directions. 'Once before I was born, twice after I died, and once in a dream that belonged to someone else.'

A goblin once tried to steal fractal. No one knows how the attempt went, because fractal was never the same after that. Some say the goblin succeeded and has been hiding fractal in a sock drawer ever since. Others say fractal escaped and is now hiding from the goblin. Both are equally plausible.

A Goblin Aside Concerning hallucination

The annual goblin hallucination colloquium runs for one day, ends inconclusively, and reconvenes the following year as if the previous year's discussion had concluded. The proceedings are bound and shelved. They are rarely consulted.

The court Question, Restated

A goblin cartographer working on the court region produced a map that, by any conventional measure, is wrong. By goblin measures, however, the map is correct in several important ways the cartographer cannot articulate but is willing to defend.

The Goblin Verdict on fractal

Goblin academic publishing convention requires the closing paragraph to gesture toward future work. Future work on fractal is anticipated, planned, and already, in some quarters, mildly resented. The goblins will press on regardless.