The Castle Ghost by Mira Lobe

(Originally published in German as Das Schlossgespenst)
Type: Fiction
79 Pages
English version published in England by Burke Publishing Company Ltd. (1984)

One day, a little lonely ghost who lived by itself in a castle felt so bored, lonely and sad. Wishing for company in its big castle, the ghost wrote down an advertisement saying it wanted tenants at its castle, and that rent is free of charge. The ghost put the advertisement on a board by the roadside.

Not long after, a painter named Baldwin passed by the advertisement and was interested. He who brought along his dog Wuff and cat Princess, made a stop at the ghost’s castle to inquire about it. As soon as he entered the castle, the ghost had already left a message on the floor that says “Welcome friends”.

Baldwin – though he had not met the owner of the castle – quickly felt at home and began to unload his belongings, including his paintings. When he saw a room with white walls, he began to paint the room walls with abstract paintings. The ghost, who quietly watched Baldwin and his pets, felt amused and was interested with Baldwin’s painting tools.

When Baldwin went to sleep that night, the ghost took Baldwin’s paint and began to finish Baldwin’s painting inside the white room. It really enjoyed painting that it painted the duvet, the banisters, and even painted stripes and spirals on the furs of Wuff and Princess, respectively. The ghost also went outside the castle and painted patterns on a horse, a pair of swans and some bats. Then the ghost went back to the castle to have a rest.

Suddenly, the ghost accidentally dropped the paint pot and while trying to retrieve it, the red paint splashed onto the ghost and it became visible after being coated with red paint.

The next morning, Baldwin saw the red-coloured ghost and (apparently without a slightest bit of fright) helped the ghost to a bath and soon the ghost was back to its original clear white colour. Baldwin and Wuff and Princess became friends with the ghost and the ghost became happy after getting a nice new tenant to live with together. Not long after, a bunch of neighbourhood animals also came to the castle and asked Baldwin and the ghost to paint patterns on them. They had seen what the ghost did to the horse, the pair of swans and the bats and were eager to get themselves painted, too.