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 'Did you see that?' exclaimed Jake, turning to Granny.
 'See what?' asked Granny, who had been to fetch her glasses.
'The book!' said Jake. 'There's something funny about these recipes. I think I saw them moving.'
Granny took the book to the kitchen table and slowly turned the pages.
'Well, they don't seem to be moving now,' she said, 'but there's certainly something funny about them. They're the strangest recipes I've ever come across.'
They flicked through the book, pointing things out and reading them aloud.
Most of the recipes had fantastic names like Trolls on Toast, Serpent Soup or Dragon Dumplings.
'That's funny,' said Jake, reading through the ingredients. 'There doesn't seem to be any serpent in the Serpent Soup or any dragon in the Dragon Dumplings. Perhaps it's a vegetarian cookbook.'
 'Or perhaps it's because serpents and dragons don't exist,' laughed Granny. 'Mind you, I'm not sure that half of these ingredients do. I've never heard of 'witchroot' or 'trollberries' and I wouldn't know where to start looking for them.'
'In fact . . . ' she said turning over the last page. ' . . .I don't think we have all the ingredients for any of these recipes.'
'That's a shame,' sighed Jake. 'They sound so exciting.'
Then a strange thing happened. The pages began to turn by themselves, flicking backwards until they fell open in the middle of the book.
'You did see that - didn't you?' said Jake excitedly. He was beginning to have a strange feeling about the book. There was something magical about it. Perhaps the old man had been a conjuror after all.
'I expect it was just a draft,' said Granny uneasily. She was too old to start believing in magic. She tried to close the cookbook but it wouldn't stay shut. It kept springing open on the same page.
 'Perhaps this was The Conjuror's favourite recipe,' said Jake. 'That's why it keeps falling open there.'
'Hmmm,' said Granny uneasily. It didn't feel like the book was just falling open. It felt like it was opening itself. She read the recipe carefully.
'Wait a minute!' she exclaimed. 'I think we've got all the ingredients for this one!'
'What's it called?' asked Jake eagerly.
'Goblin Stew,' said Granny.
She handed the book to Jake and this is what he read.
GOBLIN STEW
If you've never experienced the incredible smell and flavour of Goblin cooking you should definitely give this dish a try. It's an excellent recipe for beginners - it almost cooks itself - but be prepared for lots of cleaning up!
INGREDIENTS
2 buckets of rain-water
1 lump of root ginger
1 large piece of red herring
2 handfuls of bogey beans
1 small mouldy potato
First, find the biggest pot that you've got and make sure that it is the VERY biggest, don't use anything smaller or it will all end in tears!
Pour the water into the pot and bring to the boil.
This will take a while, so you'll have plenty of time to prepare the other ingredients.
Cut the ginger into seven pieces, roughly equal in size, and bury them outside under a mossy stone - if you don't have a mossy stone you could use an old house brick, providing it isn't too clean.
Feed the herring to your cat - if you don't have a cat then STEAL one!
As soon as the water comes to the boil, add the bogey beans, remembering to turn around seven times quickly before throwing them over your shoulder.
Throw away the mouldy potato - it's of no use to anyone.
Leave to simmer for EXACTLY one hour before serving - and don't dare touch it in the meantime, NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS!
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