BETTY THE FIRE GOBLIN
Hello children! I'm Betty Bernstein!
My dad is a blacksmith and also likes to call me a fire sprite because of my red hair, which shines as brightly as the embers in his furnace. I am 11 years old and have six younger brothers. We live in the year 1391! That's quite a long time ago. But listen carefully and you'll hear my story.
One day a lord of the castle came to our forge to give his horse new hooves. When he saw how skilful I was with the fire, he took me with him to his castle. It was very hard for me to say goodbye to home, and I wanted to work in the forge. But girls are not allowed to do that in my time.
That's how I came to be the cook at the castle and was allowed to light the fire on which they cook every day, because unfortunately there is no electricity yet. Once a week there is a big market. Here it's all hustle and bustle. As I am very curious, I like to eavesdrop on the traders' conversations when they talk about other towns, castles and even palaces. Once I hid in one of the carts. But because I was so tired, I fell asleep in it. When I woke up again, I suddenly found myself somewhere completely different!
Loud shouting and laughter startled me. A couple of boys were teasing an old man. I don't like that at all! Since I have six brothers, I knew exactly what to do. I fearlessly approached the boys. They were really surprised when I clenched my fists and stood in front of them ready to fight! My courage must have confused them so much that they simply ran away in fright.
The old man immediately thanked me and said:
"Because you protected me, I want to give you something very special!"
He pulled a necklace with a gold shining stone out of his pocket.
"People call it amber. This amulet will take you to any place and time
that you desire."
Such mumbo-jumbo as time travel doesn't exist, I thought to myself. But because I didn't want to offend the man, I accepted his gift with thanks.
