Hard as the heads of all goblins are, he thought he must feel that.

And so he did, no doubt; but he only gave a horrible cry, and sprung at Curdie's throat.
Curdie, however, drew back in time, and just at that critical moment remembered the vulnerable part of the goblin body.

He made a sudden rush at the king and stamped with all his might on His Majesty's feet.
The king gave a most unkingly howl and almost fell into the fire.
Curdie then rushed into the crowd, stamping right and left.

The goblins drew back, howling on every side as he approached, but they were so crowded that few of those he attacked could escape his tread; and the shrieking and roaring that filled the cave would have appalled Curdie but for the good hope it gave him.

They were tumbling over each other in heaps in their eagerness to rush from the cave, when a new assailant suddenly faced him--the queen, with flaming eyes and expanded nostrils, her hair standing half up from her head, rushed at him.