"Well, at the end of the world there lies a mountain so high it makes you dizzy even to think about it. It is as black as soot, as smooth as silk, terribly steep, and where there should be a bottom, there are only clouds. But high up on the peak stand the Hobgoblin's House. It hasn't got any windows, and it hasn't got a door either, because the Hobgoblin always goes home by air riding on a black panther.
He goes out every night and collects rubies in his hat. The Hobgoblin can change himself into anything he likes, and then he can crawl under the ground and even down onto the sea bed where buried treasure lies. He has a whole houseful of rubies. They lie in heaps all over the place and are set into the walls like wild beasts' eyes. The Hobgoblin's house has no roof and the clouds that fly over it are as red as blood with the reflection of the rubies. His eyes are red too, and they shine in the dark!
But the Hobgoblin isn't happy, and he won't be until he finds the King's Ruby. It's almost as big as the black panther's head, and to look into it is like looking at leaping flames. The Hobgoblin has looked for the King's Ruby on all the planets including Neptune - but he hasn't found it. Just now he has gone off to the moon to search in the craters, but he hasn't much hope of success, because in his heart of hearts the Hobgoblin believes that the King's Ruby lies in the sun, where he can never go because it is too hot."
- from "Finn Family Moomintroll" by Tove Jansson
