Goblins love to bite, and chew, and gnaw on things. Many little goblins only escape the cage their parents put them in by toothing their way through the woven sticks. Shallotte was no different, when she found something fun it went straight into her mouth- bite bite bite. And her teeth were big, SO big! Those chompers were her pride and joy and everygobby was amazed by how wide and white her teeth were. But one day she got sick… and the teeth got loose and wobbly… and soon they started to fall out. She did get better, just in time to save some of her teeth, but goblin teeth don’t grow back. She missed her teeth, and the other goblins poked fun at her, they called her gappy and gummy and sister hisster… Goblins are always going to be mean to somebody and it was easy for them to be mean to Shallotte, but it was NOT easy to be Shallotte. She cried and she ran and she hid in a cave behind a waterfall, a cave that goblins DON’T go inside! … for a good reason… the cave was haunted!

Long Long loooong ago… there was a dwarf girl with long thick beautiful hair. Her hair was so thick she could put it in three separate braids each as thick as another’s whole head of hair. Her hair grew so fast and grew so long that she could use it to play jump rope, with three other girls at once! Her hair was smooth and shiny and flowed like water and everyone was amazed. One day the King under the hills came to see her and the king’s son, the prince of dwarves, fell in love at first sight- but he only loved her hair because he was foolish and shallow. He asked her to marry because he wanted to show her hair to all his friends and so she went to the king’s fortress to prepare for the wedding. But then she got sick… and her hair got thin and crispy… and soon it started to fall out. She did get better, just in time to save some of her hair, but it didn’t grow back.

The shallow prince was disgusted, he called her  names and screamed and fought because he was going to have to marry her still… everyone was cruel to her now calling her baldie bride and knotty queen and the royal rughead. She cried and she ran and she hid in a cave behind a waterfall, a cave that dwarves DON’T go inside! … for a good reason… the rocks were slippery. She fell and was hurt.. bad. She was angry and sad and bitter that she ended up here. She missed her hair, she missed being amazing, she just wanted what she had before. She didn’t make it… but her spirit stayed and it drew upon old magics from deep below… magics that let her spirit be beautiful and hairy again. She would look at herself in the reflection of the water and remember what it was like to be alive and hairy. There her spirit stayed for a very long time with thick long amazing hair scaring away any creatures, like goblins, who might bumble into her cave until…

One night a goblin girl came into the cave. A crying goblin, a sad goblin, an angry goblin who missed her teeth and just wanted what she had before. The goblin slipped and fell and… almost got hurt but the spirit caught the goblin with her hair. The spirit felt the same as Shallotte, they both had something wonderful and lost it. They talked and shared and cried and held each other, they understood each other, because they both knew what it was like. Shallotte didn’t want to leave the spirit, and the spirit couldn’t leave the cave but she did have an idea! The spirit was able to enter Shallote’s mind! It could stay with her and even give her powers- it couldn’t restore her teeth but it could give her hair, Thick, Long, Amazing hair! Silvery white hair of ancient magic from deep below! Together the two left the cave, and they both felt better. Each had let go of what they lost… and held on to something new instead- each other.