Story: The Lonely Goblin

Biography: based on the story of “The Goblin of Adachigahara” in  Japanese Fairy Tales compiled by Yei Theodora Ozaki

When I was a young girl, I lived a fairly typical life. In the morning when I would wake up, I would kiss my father on the cheek as he left for work before helping my mama around the house and with the care of my little sister, who was an infant. In the afternoons I would meet up with my friends and we would play games in a field near our house. “Be back before sunset!” Mama would always call after me as I would scurry out the door. Whenever I got back from my adventures, my father would be back from his day’s work, and Mama would be finishing up supper for the family to eat. It was a simple life, but it was predictable. One evening, while out playing, I forgot to watch the sun. Before I knew it, it was dark. This evening is one I will never forget, for this is the evening everything changed…

“Well hello dear.”

The voice behind me made me jump in the air. As my friends scampered off into the distance, I slowly turned around to see an elderly woman standing behind me. I stared up at her, unsure what to say.

“Oh, don’t be scared child! I am just out on my night stroll and was wondering if you would like to join me and show me the way,” the old lady said, her body slightly trembling.

Mama had always said not to talk to strangers, but this lady seemed innocent to me.

“I’m just lonely,” she said. So I went.

That evening when I got home, I told my parents over supper of my evening adventures. Mama went pale when I told her of my new friend, and how she just wanted companionship. “She was really smart, Mama. You would have liked her!”

“Aki!” my father yelled my name while pounding his fist against the table. Our spoons rattled around on the wooden surface. “How many times must your mother tell you not to talk to strangers? She could be dangerous! Never go with her again do you hear me? Never again!”

I leaned back in my chair, ashamed that I had disobeyed. “Of course, Papa. I will never again.”

Lonely goblin

The next evening, as the sun began to set, I told my friends I mustn't be late getting home, and began to walk. As I began trekking down the path towards my home, I heard a familiar voice. “Hello darling girl.”

It was the old woman.

I began to walk faster.

“I’m just out for my evening stroll. I had such a nice time last night, would you care to join me again?” she asked.

I took a deep breath before replying, not wanting to hurt her feelings. “My parents said that I am not allowed to walk with you anymore. I am sorry.”

As I turned to walk away, something happened to the woman that I have never seen before. Her eyes grew, her skin sprung warts and turned green. She began to shrink. “All I wanted was for you to. Be. My. Friend,” she said through clinched teeth, though I can hardly say she was still a she at that point.

This is how I died.

I was the first.

All she wanted

Was a friend.

Author’s Biography: Hannah Stephens is a senior at the University of Oklahoma. She is taking mythology and folklore as an elective this semester. The inspiration behind this story is an old, Japanese fairy tale called “The Goblin of Adachigahara” from Yei Theodora Ozaki’s Japanese Fairy Tales. In “The Goblin of Adachigahara”, a flesh hungry Goblin would disguise itself as an old lady to lure prey in and then eat them. I decided that the Goblin did this not to eat, but because it was lonely. This why I decided to make Aki, a little girl, to want to be her friend. When she betrayed the goblin by not being her friend and by listening to her parents, the goblin reacted instinctively.