5. Happy Pigs

Rachel grabbed Kirsty's hand and they both sprinted toward the farmhouse as fast as their feet would carry them. The goblin wasn't far behind, making a horrible growling sound in his throat as he ran. "Give me back that feather! Give it back!" he yelled angrily. Rachel's heart thumped in her chest. The goblin was closing in on them. She could hear his breathing. The goblin stretched out his hand to grab her and Rachel gasped. "Got y—" the goblin began. Then his voice turned from anger to confusion. "Hey! What's going on?"

In a swirl of dancing sunbeams, Goldie had waved the Sunshine Feather and pointed it straight at the goblin. Now the sun beat down fiercely upon him— and the thick mud that covered him started to dry rapidly. As his legs became stiff and heavy with the hardening mud, the goblin slowed down. Then the mud dried completely, and the goblin couldn't move at all. "No-o-o!" he wailed. Despite having been so scared just a few seconds before, the girls found themselves smiling at the goblin now. "It's a goblin statue!" Rachel exclaimed, laughing. Only his eyes moved now. They flicked back and forth wildly. The goblin glared at the girls, and then at Goldie. Kirsty noticed that her dad's sunglasses were still perched on top of the goblin's head. She

took a cautious step toward him, then another. The goblin didn't move, so Kirsty marched right up to him and carefully grabbed the glasses. "I'll take these back now, I think," she said. "If I'd known that these sunglasses would be so useful, I'd never have laughed at Dad for wearing them!" she told Rachel. Goldie and the girls made their way back to the farmhouse. The pigs were waiting expectantly for them. "The mudhole is all yours again," Goldie told the pigs in her sweet voice. "You'll see a new goblin statue nearby," she added. "But don't worry. I don't think he'll be in any hurry to go back into the mud." The pigs grunted happily and trotted off toward their cool mud pool. The smallest piglet nuzzled Kirsty and Rachel's legs before he went. "Thank you!" he squealed.

Rachel watched the pigs go. "What will happen to the goblin?" she asked. "He won't have to stay there forever, will he?" Goldie's eyes twinkled mischievously. "Not forever, no," she said. "The dried mud will wash off as soon as it rains." She smiled cheerfully. "But Jack Frost won't be happy with him when he finds out we got the Sunshine Feather back!"