There was a goblin who lived in a vacant lot in a West Coast city. Long ago the city Fire Department had stored old equipment on the lot. In the seventies some boys found the old fire trucks in the weeds and brush. Over a period of years they removed every salable object or souvenir.
The lot was in a bad area so no-one wanted to develop it, but the tentacles of gentrification were approaching.
The Aalto Sheet Metal Company had bordered the lot for a hundred years. It was a one storied brick building with a long row of arched windows. Employees used the lot as a lunch room - a rest room too, sometimes. They kept a patch of ground cleared of weeds where they could not only eat and drink, but also smoke if they so wished.
Developers made the Aalto brothers an offer they could not refuse. Sadly they sold the lovely old buildings and moved their business to an undesirable suburb.
The goblin had lived on the lot for thousands of years. He heard many human languages as shell-fish eaters and hunters and gatherers were followed by Spaniards and Americans. They all left a mark, but these new people made him nervous.
When the Aalto Sheet Metal Company became a trendy collection of art galleries and restaurants, the goblin acquired a taste for espresso. He liked to climb up onto the outdoor chairs and tables and drain espresso cups, He didn't care for the milk drinks. It was on an espresso expedition that the goblin heard two people discussing the vacant lot. They planned to buy it from the city and put town houses on it. Big income. Yum.
The goblin was horrified. What could he do? He thought and thought. The only thing he could think of was to turn the lot into a beautiful garden.
He planted and nurtured as only he could with his thousands of years of knowledge.
In a few months the empty lot became a poem of color. The new and influential people of the neighborhood formed an association to save the wild garden.
Soon the goblin didn't have to work at all. Skilled gardeners did all the work, and he scarcely ever faulted their taste, though occasionally he had to nudge them in the right direction.