# The Goblin Cobbler explained — Short Fiction > Chapter companion for Short Fiction by George MacDonald. ## What happens Colin awakens on the moor after losing his way and realizes he has only one day left to rescue his boy. He wanders until he finds a hut full of goblin cobblers who threaten to use his body for leather. He invokes the old woman with the spindle, and the cobblers give him a lump of wax. One cobbler walks with him, gives him an awl, and explains the wax's purpose. At sunrise, the cottage vanishes, and Colin finds himself near his orchard. ## Themes in this chapter ### Suffering and Divine Chastening Colin's physical and emotional ordeal on the moor, his weakness from lack of food and drink, and his desperate search reflect a trial of suffering and endurance. ### Reality vs. Illusion The goblin cobbler workshop appears and vanishes with the sunrise, blurring the line between the supernatural and the ordinary. ## Character check-ins ### Colin Wanders the moor in desperation, encounters the goblin cobblers, and receives a lump of wax and an awl from them. ### Jenny Called for by Colin on the moor, but does not appear. ## Key lines > He could do nothing but begin to walk, simply because that gave him a shadow more of a chance of finding the cobbler's than if he sat still, but there was no possibility of choosing one direction rather than another. He walked aimlessly, knowing it offered only a slim hope of finding the cobbler's hut, but it was better than doing nothing. _Colin's desperate and directionless search._ > The most remarkable thing about them was, that at any given moment they were all doing precisely the same thing, as if they had been a piece of machinery. The cobblers moved in perfect unison, like a single machine. _Description of the synchronized goblin cobblers._ > There is but one creature that we cannot shoe, And that is the Boneless, All made of glue. The only being they cannot make shoes for is the Boneless, a creature made entirely of glue. _Final lines of the cobblers' nonsensical rhyme._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xi-the-goblin-cobbler - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters