Deception: Gobbolino the Woodcutter

[pobble_reads]

Once again I’m not sure if I chose the “right“ theme to examine this chapter because on rereading it I can see other themes - but there are always multiple lenses we could use for any chapter (this is one reason why rereading is an important part of Spiritual Traditions). So I’m trying to tell myself that this is one of many right choices...

I want to say that deception doesn’t come naturally to me - I’m Autistic and a rubbish liar. But Autistic masking could be seen as a form of (self-protective) deception - I let (less close) people assume I’m NeuroTypical when I’ve got the spoons to pass. Just like for years I let people assume I was straight rather than go through the stress and risk of coming out. And sometimes protecting people’s confidentiality can mean deceiving third parties about what you know. I’d like to complicate the idea of deception as always evil and unnecessary...

But before I start looking at examples of deception in this chapter and the motivations behind it it’s time for the recap:
9 Sentence Recap
Gobbolino is lonely walking through the woods
He follows a Woodcutter who invites him into his home
The Woodcutter’s granddaughter is Rosabel
She tries to convince the Woodcutter that Gobbolino is dangerous
The Woodcutter lets Gobbolino stay and Rosabel gradually warms to him
Rosabel desperately wants a new dress
The Gold satin she wants is too expensive
She traps Gobbolino and trades him as part payment for the satin
Gobbolino now belongs to the Peddler-woman

3 Sentence Recap
Gobbolino settles with a Woodcutter and his granddaughter
The granddaughter is the maid from the last chapter
The Peddler-Woman convinces the Granddaughter to capture Gobbolino for her

The first “example” of deception that I see in this chapter is actually an example of its absence - when Rosabel the maid/granddaughter tells her grandfather the Woodcutter that Gobbolino is a Witch’s Cat he gives him a chance to defend himself. Gobbolino could lie - but he doesn’t. He doesn’t even particularly try to defend himself

but the woodcutter picked up goblin out and set him gently on his knee.
“Tell me, little cat” he said kindly. “Is this true what my granddaughter says about you?”
“Why, yes, master, it is,” agreed Gobbolino sadly.
“And can you play sparks out of your whiskers is my grand daughter says you can?”
“Why, yes, master, I can certainly do that,” said Gobbolino.

It seems that Gobbolino’s honesty impresses the Woodcutter, who unlike so many humans earlier in the book, refuses to judge him by what he was born into. It’s refreshing for us to see someone not respond immediately with anti magic/witch‘s cat prejudice. But it’s also slightly uncomfortable that he doesn’t listen to Rosabel’s justified complaints that Gobbolino threatened her and she now feels unsafe around him...
When the woodcutter asks Gobbolino ”But you have never done anyone any harm, have you, my little cat?” Gobbolino is able to truthfully answer “no” from his own perspective on his behaviour - but Rosabel could legitimately argue that the threats did cause her emotional harm. Perhaps this is an example of Gobbolino deceiving himself by not reflecting on the full consequences of his behaviour?

In a lot of ways Rosabel fits the stereotype of a teenager - she’s full of mood swings and passions for things like fashion which neither the Woodcutter or Gobbolino really appreciate are genuinely important to her. She moves very quickly from being hostile to Gobbolino to be friendly towards him and from being in a bad mood about not being able to afford a new dress to being extremely affectionate to her Grandfather when he gives her some money. I don’t think that any of this behaviour is deceptive - she just has strong feelings and isn’t yet particularly skilled at regulating them.

The Peddlar-Woman is obviously a Witch to Gobbolino’s experienced eye. It’s less clear to Rosabel, who suspects but isn’t sure. Considering the prejudice we have seen towards Witches and magical creatures in this world it’s hardly surprising that she chooses to keep her status ambiguous. If this is deception it’s done to protect herself (I actually wonder if she chooses to keep people guessing rather than to pass more completely as non-magical to protective herself from misogynist and ageist assumptions that she would be an easy target for robbery and maybe even sexual violence on the road). The stereotype type of witches is that they trick and deceive people but the non-magical world has put her in a position where she has to deceive people about her magical nature to stay safe.
What we don’t know is whether her tricks to adjust the fabrics she is trying to sell more attractive to Rosabel are permanent or would fade after the Peddlar-Woman had made her sale and left. The only clue we have is that Gobbolino knew something of these tricks, but he did not like them, or the old peddler-woman either. So perhaps they are temporary illusions aimed at selling something that will ultimately disappoint the buyer? If they are then that’s a lot less justifiable than the Peddler-Woman concealing her despised identity as a witch. I wonder if bad experiences have pushed her into tricking her customers, if she sees no other way to survive economically or whether she has never had any concerns about deceiving people?

The routine of haggling is a kind of socially sanctioned and codified deception - both parties start by pretending they can’t go higher/lower in their offer and then gradually work towards a mutually agreeable price. Even though neither the seller or the buyer mean their first offers they aren’t really deceptive - they both know the rules of this game. It isn’t clear how much the Peddlar-Woman’s protests that she won’t give my wares away is part of the “game“ of haggling. Rosabel’s offers: of dough cakes, her handmade silk counterpane or the cuckoo clock in the place of a second silver piece for the Gold satin are genuine. We don’t know if the Peddler-Woman wanted Gobbolino as soon as she saw him or if he is just the only thing Rosabel has that she values as much as a silver piece.

Rosabel is aggressive and miserable when she can’t get the Gold Satin that she has set her heart on. Her Grandfather seems a little unsympathetic in not trying to understand how important fashion is to her (and how it is a part of her life she has mostly lost since returning from Lady Alice’s Tower) but he Is perfectly reasonable in sticking to his one silver piece price limit. At first Rosabel responds with the same, very much undeceptive but wearing, unregulated emotional honesty as before. When she finally becomes more friendly to Gobbolino he assumes that she has moved beyond her disappointment and genuinely wants to be friendly again. He completely underestimates her potential to behave deceptively. After she has been so seemingly incapable of hiding her mood she is a surprisingly good actress.
She gives him treats and compliments and tricks him into a velvet bag she claims will be his new bed (as a somewhat obsessed with textiles person I’m intrigued that she’s using something luxurious that she has sewn in her scheme to get another converted fabric!). She even manages to fake tears to convince him to try the bag-bed now rather than follow his usual routine of greeting the Woodcutter at dusk. The story arc has primed us to notice her deception but to Gobbolino this change from her being someone who is unable to control her reactions into someone who can convincingly fake layers of emotion is a huge surprise.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” laughed the woodcutter‘s granddaughter, swinging the bag by the string. Now you are in my power. You wicked, tiresome little cat that has brought me nothing but trouble! Now I can have my gold dress! I shall give you to the witch along with my silver piece, and I hope I may never see you again!”

Does this mean that all of her earlier friendliness towards Gobbolino wasn’t real? It was certainly circumstantial - Gobbolino has never apologised or made amends for frightening her so badly when they were living in the Tower. So Rosabel has no reason to forgive him or to act friendlily towards him apart from them both ending up together (and otherwise alone all day) in the Woodcutter’s cottage.I don’t think having several layers of emotional reaction is inherently deceptive - it’s just part of being a person! So it’s reasonable (to me at least, maybe you disagree?) that Rosabel could have had a surface friendly enough rubbing-along relationship with Gobbolino while still resenting him for his earlier threats. But I do wonder if she is actually deceiving herself a little by lumping together her resentment that Gobbolino’s freedom stands between her and the Gold satin and her justified hurt from his earlier behaviour?

The Peddlar-Woman/Whitch is impossible to deceive with her superhuman magical hearing- she knew that Rosabel was bringing her Gobbolino from 3 miles away. She is also well aware that Rosabel is likely to get lost on her return journey in the dark - she taunts Rosabel that if she had a second silver piece to pay for the Gold Satin she could take Gobbolino with her for protection/as a guide in the dark. Does she also know that Rosabel getting lost will cause the precious fabric to get damaged? If she does she doesn’t care now that she has the money and Gobbolino.
As is appropriate for a Fairy Tale, (and would be terrifying in real life), Rosabel is punished by the environment for her deception, she gets lost and hurt, the Gold Satin is damaged beyond repair and she ends up being ill for days

So there she was with no dress and no Gobbolino and no silver piece, and nobody to be sorry for her either.

In spite that, she still manages to deceive her Grandfather about what happened to Gobbolino - perhaps telling him the truth would damage their relationship more than either of them could cope with? The omniscient narrator certainly presents it as a sensible choice

They woodcutter thought his cat had run away, and his granddaughter was wise enough not to tell him the truth of the adventure.

Thhis has taken me more than two hours to write up because of health related low spoonage - the Havruta and Blessings will have to wait. Then next time we’ll be looking at Chapter 15: Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat through the theme of allegiance