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The Gremlins Complete Text

Stuffy, who was a little angry, said, "You people seem to know so much. Perhaps you can tell me who these gremlins are and why they are here."

Gus pushed back his chair, lit a cigarette, and began his story.

"It was many many years ago," he began, "more almost then you could count, when the earth was just beginning to stir in its sleep. England then was a country of dark forests and greasy swamps, and all the land was shrouded in a thin white mist.

"All these forests and swamps were full of goblins and trolls and hobgoblins and pixies. They were everywhere, everywhere except in one beautiful green wood far up in the North. In this most beautiful green wood there lived a tribe of funny little people who were quite different from the rest. They had funny horns growing out of their funny heads and funny boots on their funny feet, and with these boots – and this was the funniest of all – they could walk upside down under the branches of the trees.

"Oh, it was a happy and peaceful life that these little men led – until the humans came.

"But they had no warning of the invasion, for one morning their world was suddenly filled with a tremendous rumbling that shook their little houses and even the big trees. The rumbling came from a lot of great trucks that drove up to the edge of the wood. From the trucks jumped hundreds of humans, who marched in and, to the horror of the little people, started cutting down the trees. There was a great commotion amongst the tribe as they prepared to leave their homes. The younger ones and their wives hurriedly packed up all their belongings, while the older ones stormed about shaking their fists at the giants who were ruining their homes. But all the workmen heard was a rustling in the carpet of leaves on the forest floor.