What Smeagol Said About ritual

An interdepartmental goblin memorandum, intercepted but unverified, describes ritual as 'a class of phenomenon worth approximately one and a half stolen wheelbarrows.'

A goblin nursery rhyme — the kind that scares children into compliance — names ritual in its second verse, and pointedly does not name it in the third. The children, asking why, are told 'because we don't say its name twice in a row.' This is not a real reason, but it is a goblin reason.

A Goblin Aside Concerning fractal

Goblin sleep researchers note that fractal appears in dreams reported by their study participants at a frequency that cannot easily be explained, and which they are, for the moment, declining to explain at all.

Goblin Periphery: ceremony

Goblin survey data on ceremony reveals an unexpected demographic split: goblins under one hundred describe ceremony primarily in terms of feeling. Goblins over one hundred describe it primarily in terms of weather. The survey designers have, so far, declined to investigate further.

The Goblin Verdict on ritual

The goblin closing hymn for matters such as ritual contains exactly four syllables. They have been sung. The audience has stood. The hymn is concluded. ritual remains.