Midnight Market Stall Signs

Six tent cards, one per letter sheet, for the stalls at The Midnight Market. Each sheet prints the same sign twice, the bottom half upside down, so it reads from both sides of the table once it’s folded. Every sign has the stall’s name, a line or two from Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market (1862), a “Price in scrip” line and a “Stall keeper” line for whoever’s minding it.

The Six Stalls

• The Fruit Seller. “Our grapes fresh from the vine, / Pomegranates full and fine, / Dates and sharp bullaces, / Rare pears and greengages,” (lines 20 to 23), and a note that the fruit is kept cold and nothing sits out more than two hours.
• The Plant Stall. “Who knows upon what soil they fed / Their hungry thirsty roots?” (lines 44 and 45), with the stall’s rule: bare roots or cuttings in water only.
• The Curiosities. “(Men sell not such in any town);” (line 101), for the swap table.
• The Baker. “Taste them and try:” (line 25), a line to write what the bake is, and a row of checkboxes for the FDA’s nine major food allergens.
• The Potion Stall. “Sweet to tongue and sound to eye;” (line 30), with ALCOHOL and NO ALCOHOL boxes and a line for what’s in the cup.
• The Fortune Stall. “Morns that pass by, / Fair eves that fly;” (lines 17 and 18).

The verse is quoted from Project Gutenberg’s text, line numbers and all. Every line comes from the goblins’ opening cry or from Laura watching them come down the glen. The poem has darker passages later, and none of them are on these cards.

The Checkboxes

The Baker’s boxes list the FDA’s major food allergens in the FDA’s own words: “milk, eggs, fish, Crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame” (FDA). Tick every one that’s in the bake, and put the card right in front of it. The Potion Stall’s boxes are for the two pots on the menu: tick one per card and make a second card for the other pot.

The Plant Stall’s rule comes from University of Minnesota Extension’s advice on jumping worms, which says to “Sell bare-root plants when possible” and, at the source, “completely submerge plant roots in water and wash away remaining soil” (UMN Extension).

Folding

Print at actual size on 110 lb cardstock. Fold along the gap between the two panels, printed side out, and stand the card on the table. Write prices in pencil or chalk marker so a stall keeper can change them when the haggling starts.

Pairs With

• The Midnight Market blueprint
• Midnight Market Scrip for paying at the stalls
• Potion Bottle Labels for the Potion Stall’s bottles
• Midnight Market Invitation