Suddenly everything was still. I had been put down but where? I felt frightened for the first time in years. I couldn’t move or see. What was going to happen to me? I don’t know if I dropped asleep but the next thing I knew there were people near. I could hear voices. I wondered where I was. Then I recognized some the voices. It was the children. Surely they hadn’t got the better of me again. What was going on? There were other voices too, ones I had heard before. Oh no! I heard a name I didn’t ever want to hear again. But surely they wouldn’t know about me as I was hidden away. I was safe. I started to relax, when suddenly I felt myself being moved. Something was carrying me, but where was I going? That voice sounded again. It was the head of the goblin army. I knew the voice well. Now I knew what was going to happen to me. They were going to take me back to Goblinland and take all my magic away. I would become a no-body once again. Many hands picked me up and so began my journey back to Goblinland. There was no escape this time.

The girl grinned at me and told me I mustn’t stop playing or all the gold would disappear. She also told me how I could collect it. I turned to the machine once again and really concentrated. First though I wished for my finger nails to be short as they were hampering my playing. As I started playing again I suddenly thought, I can wish for the gold to fall to the floor. I made the wish and immediately the golden coins I had already won fell to the ground and rolled around the floor. But oh, how my fingers hurt with my nails gone. I mustn’t stop though. I went on playing and soon there were lots of gold coins around the room. I stopped and started to collect them. How that hurt without my nails. I had several in my arms when I felt something take hold of me. I couldn’t fling my fingers to make magic or I would lose my coins. Whatever it was, it was grabbing me tighter and tighter and winding something round me. Soon I couldn’t move, see or talk. What was happening?

I needed time to pass quickly. Then I thought of the gold. I must have it. I went to the cell where the girl was. I could hear coins dropping. She must have got masses of money by now. I opened the door and strode in. I poked her in the side with my lovely long finger nails and told her to give me all the gold. She stopped playing and turned round to speak to me. As she did so, all the gold disappeared. I stared in horror. Where had it gone? The girl just looked at me and smiled. ‘Tell me where it is or I will turn you into a frog,’ I yelled at her. She laughed and said that if I turned her into a frog I would never get any gold. Then she smiled and said she would show me how to play. She turned back to the machine. ‘Watch carefully.’ She tapped at various things and gold began to fall. I pulled her away saying I knew what to do. I started to play and gradually gold coins fell. I turned to tell her how good I was. However as I turned away from the machine so all the gold disappeared. What was happening?

As I stood there worrying about the children the eagle arrived with the last wise gnome. I quickly ushered him to the cell with the other wise gnomes. I now had all seven of them. They only needed to be together for 24 hours and I could gather all their magic from them. I rubbed my hands in glee. Suddenly I heard music. How I hated music. It was that girl. I rushed to her cell and was putting my hands up to banish the noise when I heard the sound of coins dropping. I looked closely; yes she was collecting gold coins. I must have them. I could rule the world with all that gold. Suddenly there were footsteps behind me. I turned and stepped back in surprise and then horror. Two of the wise gnomes were walking towards me. I couldn’t believe it. Surely I had locked them all in. I told them to follow me. As soon as we arrived at the cell I pushed them in and slammed the door shut. Another twelve hours to wait. Oh no. It was all those children’s fault.

I carried the girl to the back part of my dome and put her in the cell there. I turned the key, removed it and put a spell on the bars and doors so that she couldn’t get out. I strode back to my throne room. Those lazy gnomes hadn’t finished my throne yet. What were they doing? I wished for them to be with me. As soon as they were there I yelled at them. ‘Get my throne finished now or I shall turn you into worms and my rooks will eat you.’ They cowered in front of me. ‘Go’. I was furious with them. They rushed off and were soon back with buckets of lovely mud. Having watched them rushing to get the work done, I strode to the entrance of my palace to look round. I would gloat over the trapped dogs and the boys stuck in the mud. I looked ahead, surely they had been there. Yes there were the stakes but where were the dogs. Then I noticed that the boys had also disappeared. Oh, surely things weren’t going wrong again. Where were they, and what were they going to do?

I was standing outside my palace rubbing my hands in glee when something caught my eye. Something was moving out there. Whatever it was coming my way, it was coming fast. Now I saw what it was. It was two dogs. I recognized them. Once they had been mine but those horrid children had taken them from me. Why were they running toward my palace? I must stop them. I raised my hands and made a wish. Immediately in front of the dogs stakes rose out of the mud and they ran headlong into them. Both collapsed on the ground motionless. I finished the wish by surrounding them with high stakes. That had fixed them. I chuckled to myself and started to turn when something else caught my eye. No, it couldn’t be. It was. There were the three children. The girl in front and the boys a bit further behind. I raised my hands again and wished. Two things happened at once. The girl became small so I was able to pick her up in my hand and the boys were stuck in thick mud. Good, the children were separated so there could be no more problems.

The eagle had collected seven gnomes and they had built me a magnificent palace. It was black and made from mud. Great. It had two prison cells, one either side of my huge throne room. I could just imagine myself sitting on my throne with everyone coming to bow down before me and obey my every command. There was just one problem. I had no throne yet. I called the gnomes. They were pushed in front of me by the rooks. They stood to attention while I ordered them to build me a huge throne made with the best black mud they could find. They raced outside and were soon back with buckets of mud. I explained exactly how I wanted it then left them to it. If it wasn’t good enough they would be punished. I walked to the entrance of my palace pleased with myself, and looked across my mud patch towards Gnomeland. Now I needed the seven wise gnomes from Gnomeland. As soon as I had them all in one room all their magic would be mine. I called the eagle and having told him their names told him to collect them one by one and bring them to me.

I called the eagle. In no time he was with me. I clambered on his back and told him to fly to my mud patch the other side of Goblinland. We were soon there. I had already decided that I needed seven gnomes to build a palace. I ordered the eagle to go and find any gnome and bring him back here. I watched him fly off and rubbed my hands together. I was about to make a new start. I would have a grand mud palace with two prison cells and a large room with a magnificent throne, where everyone would come and bow down before me. I was going to rule all of Gnomeland. I had great plans for it all. I chuckled to myself as I imagined all the gnomes bowing to me and obeying my every word. All colours would be banished, just black and brown. I would extract everyone’s magic too, and that would mean I could rule everyone everywhere; first the gnomes, then the elves, and lastly the goblins. I rubbed my hands again and giggled. What would I do after that?

Well you didn’t expect to see me back did you? I managed to outwit those children and gnomes and I am now living in Goblinland. The last you heard of me I was flying through the air which surprisingly I thoroughly enjoyed. Suddenly I felt my powers returning. Squawky and Quirky had caught up with me and were flying either side of the eagle, which had me in it’s claws. I got the rooks to distract the eagle by flying into it several times, and then I made a wish. Sparks flew from my fingers to the eagles talons, up his legs and into his body. I wished for him to be in my control and to do all I asked. I told him to take me to the edge of Goblinland and put me down there. He had to wait for my next command. He set me down and I looked around. The place was deserted, just as I like. There was hardly any growth of plants and no trees. Perfect for what I had in mind. I called the eagle.