H is for...

Hobgoblin.

I'm not really sure what to say about Hobgoblins. It's a name that gets mentioned quite frequently yet I suspect a lot of time it's used as a generalisation. Hobgoblins are really hearth spirits, like Brownies, who live in kitchens, near either a fireplace, or in more modern times near the cooker or hob. I suppose anything with the term 'goblin' as part of its name is going to get some bad press, not least because the Puritans used the term to refer to Satanic forces, which is a shame I think, as all they want is a warm place to sleep and a little bit of cake now and then. Like Brownies they are small creatures who tend to be seen wearing tattered clothing. It is uncertain if they have the same attitude to new clothes as Brownies as so very little has been written about them. But they certainly don't have the same attitude to work. They are more like unpaying lodgers.

© Shona M MacDonald 2012. All Rights Reserved.

However, despite the lack of tales about them, their name has been associated with and used for all kinds of things from beer to computer games and comics, folk music to pubs and, most weirdly a Marxist journal (?).

I hadn't realised it had been so long since my last post. I have I, J, and K ready to post over the next couple of weeks, hopefully followed by a little peek at my painting techniques with the letter L :)