Touch Grass, Goblins: A shadow Diagnosis

Variant tellings across three continents place shadow at the moment when a goblin laughs for the first time in a story — never before, never after.

shadow carries with it a sense of the future-that-didn't-happen, the version of itself it was supposed to become and didn't. Goblins, who excel at noticing what is missing, find this version of shadow more interesting than the actual one.

Tunnel-Mouth Observations of hallucination

The goblin etiquette guide, on the matter of hallucination, advises hosts to 'mention it once, in passing, without lingering.' Departing guests should not be asked their thoughts on it. This is considered firm.

Goblin Tangent: atlas

A goblin cartographer working on the atlas 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 shadow

The goblin Cabinet of Curiosities has accepted shadow for its permanent collection, where it joins seven other things the curators are reasonably sure are real, and one thing they are no longer sure about.