Gunnar's father had known Jane Austen.
She was a local girl who lived in nearby Chawton. When she was writing a book
called "Emma", he used to read over her shoulder. One day he
complained about the picnic scene at Box Hill. "Where are the goblins?"
he asked. In those days you always saw goblins hanging around picnics, waiting
to pounce and run off with the leftovers. If they were greedy little goblins
they might not actually wait for you to finish, or even start your carefully
planned picnic. And if you were very unlucky you might end up eating little more
than a few crumbs yourself. That's why
Gunnar's Goblin Hammers
became such a popular method of picnic pest control. But they were invented a
lot later and don't come into this story..
This is a work of fiction. All characters in this publication are
fictitious and any resemblance to actual goblins living or dead is purely
coincidental or due to ensorclement beyond our control