I then trotted on; but he screamed after me, and suddenly with inconceivable quickness was at my side.
I urged my horse into a gallop; the imp ran too, making at the same time strange contortions with his body, half-ridiculous, half-horrible, and holding up the gold-piece, he cried, at every leap, 'False money!, false coin!, false coin!, false money!'-- and this he uttered with such a hollow sound that one would have supposed that after every scream he would have fallen dead to the ground." "His horrid red tongue moreover hung far out of his mouth.

I stopped, perplexed, and asked: 'What do you mean by this screaming?
take another piece of gold, take two, but leave me.' He then began again his hideous burlesque of politeness, and snarled out: 'Not gold, not gold, my young gentleman.

I have too much of that trash myself, as I will show you at once ?'" "Suddenly it seemed to me as if I could see through the solid soil as though it were green glass and the smooth earth were as round as a ball; and within, a multitude of goblins were ranking sport with silver and gold; head over heels they were rolling about, pelting each other in jest with the precious metals, and provokingly blowing the gold-dust in each other's eyes.

My hideous companion stood partly within and partly without; he ordered the others to reach him up heaps of gold, and showing it to me with a laugh, he then flung it back again with a ringing noise into the immeasurable abyss." "He then showed the piece of gold I had given him to the goblins below, and they laughed themselves half-dead over it and hissed at me.

At last they all pointed at me with their metal-stained fingers, and more and more wildly, and more and more densely, and more and more madly, the swarm of spirits came clambering up to me.