Why Goblins Steal silence

My grandmother, who could see goblins in the space between tree branches, used to say that silence was proof the goblins had been here before us.

Writing this paragraph about silence took longer than I'd like to admit, and not for the reasons you'd expect. The goblins kept moving my notes. They claim it wasn't them. The notes disagree.

Cross-Referenced Goblin Material on trickster

The annual goblin trickster 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.

Cross-Referenced Goblin Material on logs

Goblin engineers building near a logs-adjacent site reportedly leave a small offering — a coin, a button, a snack — outside the worksite each morning. The offerings are gone by lunch. Nobody asks where.

The Goblin Verdict on silence

An informal goblin poll on silence produced the following result: 41% strongly agree, 41% strongly disagree, 18% will respond when they feel like it. The pollster considers this 'within the margin of goblin.'