Into the Goblin Market

In 1859, Christina Rossetti, a member of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, wrote a long poem called “The Goblin Market”. (Her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti illustrated the first edition.) Using a metre that is at times unusual and featuring a few truly terrifying scenes, the poem has been variously discussed as a romantic story for adults and, as Rossetti insisted, a work for children. The poem tells of two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, who are wooed by a band of goblins to try the delicious fruits of the market and thence to become part of a magic and evil world. One sister is gullible, the other wiser and more cautious.

In the original, the warning to ignore the goblins’ invitation is phrased this way:

…How fair the vine must grow.

Whose grapes are so luscious;

How warm the wind must blow

Through those fruit bushes.”
“No,” said Lizzie: “No, no, no;

Their offers should not charm us.

Their evil gifts would harm us.”

Now, Canadian author Vicki VanSickle has taken the story and adapted it as a shorter work more comprehensible to today’s children. Although far from totally benign, the modern version is in more of a straightforward fairy tale mode and is missing some of the semi-erotic undertones which made 19th century readers and more contemporary critics question who Rossetti’s audience was. The same idea from the poem as quoted above is expressed like this in the 2024 text:

How many times have we been told?

All that glitters isn’t gold.

The Goblin Market isn’t safe.

It is a tricky, wicked place.

Though many visit, few return.

Mina, the more credible sister in the modern tale, is eager to meet the magical (if bad) creatures and to sample their wares. Millie, being the sensible one, realizes the dangers of being drawn into the goblins’ world and sets off to save her beloved sibling when she finds that Mina, called by the goblin song, has stolen off in the night.

“Come buy, come buy” the vendors cried,

Before the sun has left the sky.

Make a choice and make it quick!

Make it while the magic’s thick.

Millie uses her research skills and her brain - she must be the bookish one, as she wears glasses! - by reading up on how to thwart baddies. When she finally ventures out, she encounters a large black wolf which she fends off with pleas to help find her sister. The wolf follows her into the strange dark realm of the goblins who are still calling out to any who would be tempted. A witch in traditional pointy hat and a black-clad piper, with their enchanted fruit and eerie tunes, are almost successful at drawing Millie in to purchase something from them at the market.

“Come buy, come buy,” the vendors cried.

“The hour is late, the dawn is nigh.”

Millie’s heart was full of sorrow.

“I’ll have to try again tomorrow.”

“Not so fast,” they said with glee.

“You haven’t paid the entry fee.

Our magic goods are not for show,

You have to buy before you go.”

Millie has kept her wits about her. She has spurned food and music, and she astonishes all of the sellers who have been trying to use first cajolery and then threats by saying she will buy the wolf, which has stayed at her side throughout. The goblins are enraged but are forced to let her go. She reminds them that she has “played your game” and “paid your fee”.

At home, beneath the bright’ning skies.

Millie knelt before her prize.

She looked into its eyes of blue,

“Oh, Mina, is that really you?”

She laid her cheek upon its neck,

into its shaggy fur she wept.

And as she cried, its coat unfurled

…into Mina’s silky curls.

A traditional fairy tale transformation from animal to human wraps up a reworking of what was a much more complicated and almost Gothic original. (In Rossetti’s work, Laura gorges on the goblins’ fruit and goes into a hallucinatory trance from which Lizzie rescues her.) Both versions end satisfyingly, with the two sisters sadder, wiser and reunited.

The modern story ends with these lines:

So if you hear the goblins’ song,

don’t tap your toes or hum along.

The world is full of splendid things-

delicious treats and diamond rings-
But what compares to someone who would brave the goblins –

just for you.

The book contains the familiar elements of a quest, a young hero successfully dealing with looming danger, and the outsmarting of an enemy.

VanSickle’s verse carries the story with a strong rhythm and rich language. American artist Eckwall has filled the pages of the large book with illustrations that have the look of woodcuts. The pictures are executed in matte black and white, with accents of red for some of the forbidden fruits and for Millie’s coat, an approach which make it simple to follow her through the pages as she searches for Mina. The page which lays out the goblin market in all of its crazy detail: a house that looks like a kettle, a circus tent in the sky, goblins all around, and Millie bravely walking though it all, is especially striking. Decorative borders in a number of places add a note of traditional book-making.

A strong candidate as a read-aloud, this somewhat special offering will find a home in larger picture book collections.