After beating up a little boy on Christmas Eve – as you do – Gabriel Grub, a grumpy and mean-spirited gravedigger, goes to dig a grave in the churchyard. His work is interrupted when goblins come by to show him what a nasty and spiteful fellow he is. The Goblins Who Stole a Sexton is a quick and festive read which appeared in Charles Dickens’ first novel, The Pickwick Papers, Britain’s first publishing phenomenon. It’s a haunting and imaginative short story and readers familiar with Dickens will find many parallels to A Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was an English author, social critic, and philanthropist. Much of his writing first appeared in small instalments in magazines and was widely popular. Among his most famous novels are Oliver Twist (1839), David Copperfield (1850), and Great Expectations (1861).

Charles Dickens wrote four Christmas ghost stories, of which the first was "The Goblins Who Stole a Sexton" (ch. 29 in The Pickwick Papers). A Christmas Carol, the second, largely followed its outline. In Goblins, a surly, malicious sexton (gravedigger) is kidnapped by goblins on Christmas Eve. They take him to their underground cavern and through various scenes shown him, redeem him from his evil ways.Utilizing character names from other Dickens' stories, Kenneth Chumbley and Tonya Clarkson McCain used the outline of the original Goblins to create a 10,000 word novella, The Goblins and a Gravedigger. The drama involves child abuse (a classic Dickens' theme) and is a darker story than Carol. In writing fantasy, any mythical character can be used (elves, dwarfs, goblins, etc.), but the story must be real and human. This is exactly what authors tried to do in their adaptation.

When Johnnykin protects a stone goblin from a destructive bully, the goblin comes to life and transports Johnnykin to the annual gathering of goblins, fairies, and nursery rhyme characters.