A Hobgoblin

When you're not in the mood for that sort of thing.

A Hobgoblin

"I'm waiting.." spoke the hobgoblin on the hill, waiting for the knight to answer the riddle. Generally, it was impossible for knights to spend any quality alone time on a patrol. In addition to always drawing attention with a cumbersome, noisy, extremely heavy suit of armour, the job tended to attract weirdos. Random damsels in distress, merchants selling fine steel helmets, youths looking to piss you off for fun, it didn't stop.

This time it was a hobgoblin, hanging about on a hill, who just assumed that Merton the knight had nothing better to do than answer the riddle in exchange for some make believe power or reward. He was just an ignored little creature. "What gets wetter as it dries?" was the riddle, some old brass necklace he'd no doubt found lying on the street was the prize. He hadn't said it was the prize, but Merton could already see it around the Hobgoblins neck. It's how they operated.

Our man was just not in the mood for it, so tried to ignore the hobgoblin. He kept up his patrol, the cathedral perimeter, to the hills outlying the kingdom to the west, and back again. Once. Twice. The hobgoblin kept up his appeal for over an hour, with a sort of perverse glee and anticipation on its little face, as if it wanted nothing else in the whole world but for a brave knight or adventurer to play along. What gets wetter as it dries? What gets wetter as it dries? What gets wetter as it dries? 

Finally, Merton snapped. He drew his sword, cried that he was sick of hobgoblins, and yelled at him to piss off immediately if not sooner. The hobgoblin looked so terribly wounded, as he pulled from a pocket in his ragged cloth trousers a small note. He held it stretched out with both hands. Merton saw that it was a cheque for £600,000!

The hobgoblin took out a little lighter and burned it before him. Merton had not answered the riddle.

As the hobgoblin vanished, Merton fell to his knees in dismay. He'd had a hard year, and had really been in the mood to receive a cheque for £600,000.