Hobgoblins are always busy.
They are busy throwing switches, they are busy stirring pots,
dotting all the ‘i’s with crosses, crossing all the ‘t’s with dots.
They have to unhitch hitches and to untie shoelace knots,
and give wholesome fare the mysteries which give honest folk the trots.
Never enough time to get all your goblinning done it seems, which is where Helmut Bertigus fits into our picture. Now here was an especially busy hobgoblin and a trendy one to boot, boots being where our picture fits into Helmut Bertigus as it just so happens…
Helmut was known as Berty Bootmaker by most for he made and repaired boots in Hobgoblinville. He also offered his services in odd jobs, being not great but generally okay at most things. His card read “H.Bertigus, Hobgoblinville Cobbler and Odd-jobs goblin. Limited.” A bootmaker as fine as Berty would never be wanting for work in Hobgoblinville, as the right pair of boots was important business to hobgoblins. As far as odd-jobbing went, Hobgoblinville was overflowing with jobs and each was odder than the last.
‘Got more work lined up than you can grin ya mouthful of tacks at,’ mumbled his apprentice Belt as he placed the latest written order atop the teetering tower of paperwork that he was fairly sure hid the in tray. ‘Y’aint never gonna get through this lot.’
Now Berty was a busy bootmaker indeed but he did like odd-jobbing so.
‘We aint never gonna get through this lot, I think you mean, and nonsense my good fellow! I have every faith in you.’ With this Berty yanked the bottom page from his own tower to see which appointment he’d be two weeks late for today. He figured that having one occupation you’d never get to the end of was no different to having two. You just had to show up twice as hard.
April 6, 2020