But I suspect those who said so had mistaken some of their animal companions for the goblins themselves--of which more by and by.

The goblins themselves were not so far removed from the human as such a description would imply.

And as they grew misshapen in body they had grown in knowledge and cleverness, and now were able to do things no mortal could see the possibility of.

But as they grew in cunning, they grew in mischief, and their great delight was in every way they could think of to annoy the people who lived in the open-air storey above them.

They had enough of affection left for each other to preserve them from being absolutely cruel for cruelty's sake to those that came in their way; but still they so heartily cherished the ancestral grudge against those who occupied their former possessions and especially against the descendants of the king who had caused their expulsion, that they sought every opportunity of tormenting them in ways that were as odd as their inventors; and although dwarfed and misshapen, they had strength equal to their cunning.