• Business and Finance
• Family
• Computers and Internet
• Auto and Trucks
• Education
• Health
• Hobbies
• Home Improvement
• Legal
• Marketing

• Home
• Arthur's Articles Home
• Browse Categories
• Browse Authors
• Submit an Article
• Search for Articles

Home » Recreation And Sports Articles » Goblins

Goblins

Deep in a crevice in the rocky mountains that now border France and Spain, a swarthy, ugly race of fairies came into being. Undetected at first, the diminutive creatures spread throughout Europe, dwelling in the mossy cracks of rocks and tree roots. Finding humans, they ventured into villages. Hiding away on boats, they made their way to England. As people began to spot them, their reputation grew. Ill-mannered, poorly-behaved, with putrid breath, goblins began to populate stories and folklore.

Although the nature of goblins varies from menacing to malevolent, all goblins love chaos and trouble. A goblin may hide small objects or alter a signpost to trick a traveler. They weave nightmares out of cobwebs, which they insert into human ears. Some goblins have even stolen human babies, exchanging them for ugly goblin infants, called changelings. Even their laughter sours milk and causes fruit to fall from trees.

When humans began mining for metals and minerals, cave-dwelling goblins took their mischief to new levels. Blowing out the miners' dim lanterns and breaking their tools, these cave-goblins became known as "knockers" for the mysterious tapping noises they made to confuse the miners in the dark underground tunnels. (In other countries, knockers are known by other names: In Germany they are called kobolds and wichtlein, while they are called coblynau in Wales.) Offended by the miners' whistling or swearing, knockers showered the miners' heads with small stones. If it appeared a miner had lost his wits, heartless knockers would pop out from the rocks, pulling their already ugly faces into horrible grimaces to torment him further. With time, however, some miners found a way to calm, and even befriend their underground foes. By leaving a portion of their pastie-the miner's traditional meal-the miners could win a knocker's goodwill. In return, a knocker might lead the miner to a wealthy lode.

As miners tore away and destroyed the goblins' cavernous homes, the goblins returned the favor in like kind. Following the men into their villages, goblins took up living in farmhouses, taking their revenge upon the human households. It was found that many goblins favored children-especially naughty children! At first such children, attracted by the goblins' wicked sense of humor, agreed to their do goblin-friend's bidding. However, a goblin is never a loyal friend, as many children learned when deserted to receive severe punishments on their own. From their hiding spots, goblins rejoiced to watch adults lose their tempers and mete out severe punishments upon their children.

Like the miners, housewives soon found a way to chase off goblins who had taken up residence in their houses. By always remaining sweet-tempered, the ladies managed to bore the pests, sending him to look elsewhere for excitement. If that failed to work, the housewife could try spreading flax seed across her floors over night. Sometimes the goblin would feel compelled to pick up the seed by hand. Goblins, like gnomes, cannot endure the sunlight of day, and if their task could not be finished by dawn's light, the frustrated goblin-unable to cause any mischief for the night, would move elsewhere.

Goblins are known to mimic human actions. How they are perceived in the natural world must give humans pause to reflect-for the goblin nature may very well be nothing more than a mirror held up to mankind, showing us the very worst aspects of our culture!

Copyright (c) 2006 Rob Daniels

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

How To Start Your Own Home Business

When you start your own home business you may come across terms you've never heard before. You may also have found the opportunities available are overwhelming. Where do you begin?

AFFILIATE PROGRAMS - EASY START

Affiliate programs may be the easiest way to start your own home business. Why?

Affiliate programs are a way to start a business from home online. With any online business you must have a product or service to sell. First you must create this product or service and then you must be able to fill orders.

Selling your own product or service also means creating a website, learning how to write ad copy, setting up a marketing plan, being able to accept payments online and obviously doing the work. If you're selling a physical product then you will need to make or buy the item, package it and pay for shipping costs.

If you provide a service than you will likely have to start by doing free jobs to build your credibility and then when you are charging for your service you are still limited by how much work you can actually handle.

THE MAGIC OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

Affiliate programs are a great way to get start a home business. In fact there are even some 'Super Affiliates' who are making fabulous incomes from affiliate programs. So, what ARE affiliate programs?

Affiliate programs allow you to sell another company's service or product and make a commission on every sale or lead. You do not even need to build a website or handle the transaction. Your job is to drive traffic (customers) to your affiliate link.

An affiliate link is a special URL code that will identify customers coming to the company's site from your advertising. It will likely be the website address with a code attached to the end.

Some affiliate programs also have tiers. That means if someone who is interested in SELLING the product comes through your link and signs up you will also get a small percentage of THEIR earnings.

HOW DO I CHOOSE A PROGRAM?

You should research the popularity of some of your interests. Try to determine if people are buying that product or service online. There are many sources for finding that information including free ones such as the Overture keyword tool.

When you have found an area that is popular then type the subject along with 'affiliate program' into your search engine and see which programs have services or products for that area. You can also use an affiliate program directory.

When you have found a program that looks interesting you should read the terms of the program. Make sure that payouts are not based on a high commission earning or you may never see your money. Also try to choose programs with high commission rates. Often you will find ebooks and downloadable software has the highest rates as there is no physical product to make or ship. If you are satisfied with the terms then you need to sign up - usually a simple process.

START MARKETING

The reason affiliate programs are so great for beginners is that you only need to focus on marketing - not making - your product. This makes starting your own home based business easier to get off of the ground. You do not have to be a jack of all trades. Just become a master or one......promote, promote, promote!

Many affiliate programs have information on how to market and give you tools such as banners, product feeds and more. You can also look for other information on marketing including writing articles, creating pay-per-click campaigns, commenting in online forums etc. As you gain experience marketing you will make adjustments to your selling and start creating a wonderful income!