A lazy goblin and an industrious farmer match wits in this rollicking adaptation of a Northamptonshire folktale.

The farmer is as clever as he is hardworking. The goblin, although he does manage to achieve a spectacularly terrifying appearance, is not especially bright. So when the goblin suddenly appears and announces that he will take the crop from the field the farmer is ploughing, the farmer shrewdly bargains him down to taking only half—"tops or bottoms."

How the farmer outwits the villainous goblin and winds up with the entire crop makes a satisfying ending to this fun-filled story.

From the back cover of the Scholastic paperback edition