The Cookie Jar Goblin– Read and Print

By Rachel Dunstan Muller, copyright 2023

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The wonderful thing about life, is you just never know when, or where, an adventure is going to find you.

Take for example, Keesha’s story. Keesha was walking down the street with her mother, when she happened to notice a very unusual cookie jar in the window of the neighbourhood antique store. It was in the shape of a mountain, and the lid of the cookie jar was the snowy peak at the very top of the mountain.

“That is an unusual cookie jar,” said Keesha’s mother. “And I think it would look perfect in our kitchen. Don’t you agree?”

Well of course, Keesha agreed. What child doesn’t like a nice cookie jar – especially if it’s filled with fresh cookies!

So, Keesha and her mother went into the antique store and asked the storekeeper to get the cookie jar out of the window.

“On one condition,” said the storekeeper as he took the cookie jar down. “You must promise never to put cookies in this cookie jar. You must only use it as a decoration.”

“But that’s ridiculous,” said Keesha’s mother. “It’s a cookie jar. Of course, I’m going to put cookies in it.”

“I’m very sorry,” said the storekeeper. “But if that’s what you plan to do, I’m afraid I can’t sell it to you.”

“I don’t understand. Why can’t I put cookies in this cookie jar?” said Keesha’s mother.

“Because of the goblin,” said the storekeeper.

“What goblin?”

“The goblin in the cookie jar,” said the storekeeper. “He’s asleep now, but if you put cookies in his cookie jar, you’ll wake him – and then you’ll never have a moment’s peace again. He’ll eat every cookie you put in that jar, and go looking for more!”

“That is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard,” said Keesha’s mother. “There’s no such thing as goblins. And even if there were, a goblin wouldn’t fit in that cookie jar.”

“Oh, goblins come in all shapes and sizes,” said the storekeeper. “There are goblins the size of mountains, and goblins the size of your pinky finger. The cookie jar goblin is somewhere in between.”

“That is ridiculous,” said Keesha’s mother. And before the storekeeper could stop her, she reached around and opened the cookie jar herself. “See, I told you there was no goblin.”

“No, no, no,” said the storekeeper. “You can’t see this goblin. He’s invisible.”

“What is this,” Keesha’s mother said, “a fairy tale? Enough of this nonsense. I am buying this cookie jar, and that’s final. And when I get home, I’m going to bake a big batch of snickerdoodle cookies, and I’m putting them inside my new cookie jar.”

“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” said the storekeeper.

When Keesha and her mother got home from the store that afternoon, they did just what her mother had said: they made a big batch of snickerdoodles. And when those cookies had cooled, there were two cookies for Keesha, two for her mother, and the rest went inside the cookie jar that looked like a mountain.

“Now what?” said Keesha.

“What do you mean?” said her mother.

“I mean – the goblin.”

“There’s no such thing as goblins, Keesha,” her mother said. “You know that!”

But Keesha wasn’t so sure, and so she sat at the kitchen table for the rest of the evening, listening for suspicious noises. But she didn’t hear anything, and eventually it was time for bed.

But early the next morning, Keesha crept downstairs and peeked inside the cookie jar. And do you know what she saw? It was empty! There wasn’t so much as a single snickerdoodle crumb!

“Keesha,” said her mother, as she came into the kitchen. “What are you doing in that cookie jar? You haven’t even had breakfast yet.”

“Wait. No!” said Keesha. “I didn’t eat the cookies. But they’re all gone!”

“Oh, Keesha,” her mother said. “Don’t tell me a goblin ate them. I don’t believe in goblins. But I do believe in hungry girls.”

Poor Keesha. No matter what she said, she couldn’t convince her mother that she hadn’t eaten the cookies. But her mother did let her help make a new batch. They made a great, big batch of chocolate chip cookies. There were two cookies for Keesha, two cookies for her mother, and the rest went into the mountain-shaped jar for later.

Keesha sat at the kitchen table and watched that cookie jar like a hawk – but she didn’t see or hear anything unusual. Then it was time for bed.

But the next morning, bright and early, Keesha crept downstairs and raised the lid of the cookie jar. And you know what she saw inside – nothing! Not even a crumb!

“Oh, Keesha!” her mother said, in her most disappointed mother voice. “How could you eat a whole batch of cookies, two days in a row?”

“But Mom,” said Keesha. “It wasn’t me!”

Keesha’s mother shook her head. “Whatever you do, Keesha, don’t talk to me about goblins!”

That afternoon Keesha and her mother made a big batch of oatmeal raisin cookies. Oatmeal raisin cookies were not Keesha’s favourite – which is exactly why her mother chose them this time. When they were cool enough to eat, Keesha took one cookie and her mom took one cookie, and the rest went into the cookie jar. And then Keesha kept watch until bedtime.

But the next morning when Keesha came downstairs, her mother was already waiting in the kitchen – standing right beside the cookie jar – the empty cookie jar. “Oh, Keesha – how could you? You barely even like oatmeal raisin cookies! That’s it. For the next month, there will be no more cookies in this house!”

But those missing cookies were just the beginning. It was just as the storekeeper had warned. Whatever had eaten those cookies, now started eating other things in the kitchen. That’s right – other food began to disappear. First, it was an entire leftover pizza. Then it was a carton of juice. Then it was all of Keesha’s mother’s granola, and an entire box of cornflakes.

But no matter what Keesha said to her mother, her mother didn’t believe her. “It couldn’t be a goblin. There’s no such thing as goblins,” her mother said.

Finally, Keesha did the only thing she could think to do. She went back to see the storekeeper.

“I told you not to wake that goblin,” said the storekeeper. “Now that he’s eaten your cookies, it will be a at least a year before he goes back to sleep. And that’s only if you put his cookie jar in a room and lock all the doors and windows. If you don’t stop that goblin from stealing your food, he’ll never go to sleep!”

“But I can’t lock the cookie jar in a room and wait a year,” said Keesha. “My mother likes the cookie jar and she doesn’t believe in goblins. She thinks I’m eating all the food.”

“I see,” said the storekeeper. “You want to keep that cookie jar, but you don’t want to keep the goblin. Well, if that’s the case, you’re going to have to find a way to coax that goblin out of the jar and into the sunshine. Once the sun hits that goblin’s skin, he won’t be invisible any more. Oh, he’ll be mad! He’ll shake his fists and stomp up and down, but don’t you be scared. You just hold on tight to that cookie jar and make sure he can’t get back in. He’ll give up eventually. Then he’ll run away and find a new home – and you’ll never see him again.”

“But how do I get him to come out of the cookie jar?” said Keesha.

“Sorry,” said the storekeeper. “That’s all the advice I’ve got. You’ll have to figure out the rest for yourself.”

So, Keesha went home and she stared at the cookie jar. If she couldn’t even see the goblin inside, how could she possibly coax that goblin to leave?

Then she got an idea – a delicious idea. She needed a cookie, of course, a great, big delicious cookie. But she couldn’t ask her mother to make one, not in the circumstances, so, instead, Keesha went to her piggy bank and took out a handful of coins. Then she walked down to the bakery and she bought the biggest triple-chocolate cookie in the display case.

And do you know what she did with that cookie? Well, she didn’t eat it – that’s for sure! Instead, she took it home, and broke it into pieces, and dropped one piece at a time on the kitchen table, across the floor, and out the open back door – all the way to a bright patch of sunshine in the back garden.

“What is going on here?” Keesha’s mother asked as she came into the kitchen.

“Shh,” said Keesha. And she grabbed her mother’s arm, and tugged her behind the refrigerator where she was hiding. “Just wait and see,” she whispered.

And so, they waited. And they waited. And they waited . . . And just when Keesha’s mother was opening her mouth to speak – there was a sound from the cookie jar! A rumbly, grumbly kind of sound. The sound a little goblin might make if it was getting hungry.

“Shh!” Keesha said again.

The lid of the cookie jar slid open, and then something hopped down onto the kitchen table. Keesha and her mother couldn’t see that something – it was invisible – but they did see the first piece of cookie rise in the air and disappear, and they heard thatsomething smack its lips with pleasure. “Mmmmm,” the invisible goblin said.

Another chunk of cookie disappeared, and another, as the goblin worked its way closer to the door. It seemed to hesitate when it reached the open doorway – but there were more pieces of triple-chocolate cookie waiting on the grass, and it couldn’t resist. Out it went, munching, munching – until finally it stepped into the sunlight. Suddenly that goblin wasn’t invisible anymore! Oh, no. There it was, in all its ugly goblin glory, with great, big, pointy ears, and a great, big, bulbous nose, and pale green goblin skin. Oh, but that goblin was angry! He hopped up and down. He gnashed his crooked teeth. He waved his little fists in the air. But when he turned to run back to the cookie jar – it was too late! Keesha had it in her arms, and she was not lifting that lid.

The goblin grumbled and growled some more, and then – it turned and ran straight for the distant mountains on the far edge of Keesha’s city. And that was the last they saw or heard of that goblin.

And Keesha’s mother? She was very sorry that she hadn’t believed Keesha, of course. She was so sorry, in fact, that after supper that night she made a great, big batch of triple-chocolate cookies. She gave three cookies to Keesha, and ate three herself. Then together they put the rest in the cookie jar.

And in the morning when they checked, that cookie jar was still full.

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