{"collection":"folklore-oral-tradition","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_20836/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_20836","id":"gutenberg_20836","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20836","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Adventure","Category: Humour","Category: Novels","Category: Romance","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Fairy tales"],"text":"E-text prepared by Susan Carr, Suzanne Shell, and the Project Gutenberg\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n      file which includes the original illustrations.\n      See 20836-h.htm or 20836-h.zip:\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/8/3/20836/20836-h/20836-h.htm)\n      or\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/8/3/20836/20836-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTING-A-LING\n\nby\n\nFRANK R. STOCKTON.\n\nIllustrated by E. B. Bensell\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nNew York.\nCharles Scribner's Sons.\n1921\n\nEntered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869,\nby Frank R. Stockton,\nin the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of\nPennsylvania.\n\nCopyright, 1882,\nby Charles Scribner's Sons.\nCopyright, 1910,\nby William S. Stockton.\n\n\n\n\nTO THE\nMEMORY OF ALL\nGOOD GIANTS, DWARFS, AND FAIRIES\nThis Book\n_IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED_.\n\n\n\n\nTING-A-LING.\n\n\nIn a far country of the East, in a palace surrounded by orange groves,\nwhere the nightingales sang, and by silvery lakes, where the soft\nfountains plashed, there lived a fine old king. For many years he had\ngoverned with great comfort to himself, and to the tolerable\nsatisfaction of his subjects. His queen being dead, his whole affection\nwas given to his only child, the Princess Aufalia; and, whenever he\nhappened to think of it, he paid great attention to her education. She\nhad the best masters of embroidery and in the language of flowers, and\nshe took lessons on the zithar three times a week.\n\nA suitable husband, the son of a neighboring monarch, had been selected\nfor her when she was about two hours old, thus making it unnecessary for\nher to go into society, and she consequently passed her youthful days in\nalmost entire seclusion. She was now, when our story begins, a woman\nmore beautiful than the roses of the garden, more musical than the\nnightingales, and far more graceful than the plashing fountains.\n\nOne balmy day in spring, when the birds were singing lively songs on the\ntrees, and the crocuses were coaxing the jonquils almost off their very\nstems with their pretty ways, Aufalia went out to take a little\npromenade, followed by two grim slaves. Closely veiled, she walked in\nthe secluded suburbs of the town, where she was generally required to\ntake her lonely exercise. To-day, however, the slaves, impelled by a\nsweet tooth, which each of them possessed, thought it would be no harm\nif they went a little out of their way to procure some sugared\ncream-beans, which were made excellently well by a confectioner near the\noutskirts of the city. While they were in the shop, bargaining for the\nsugar-beans, a young man who was passing thereby stepped up to the\nPrincess, and asked her if she could tell him the shortest road to the\nbaths, and if there was a good eating-house in the neighborhood. Now as\nthis was the first time in her life that the Princess had been addressed\nby a young man, it is not surprising that she was too much astonished to\nspeak, especially as this youth was well dressed, extremely handsome,\nand of proud and dignified manners,--although, to be sure, a little\ntravel-stained and tired-looking.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen she had somewhat recovered from her embarrassment, she raised her\nveil, (as if it was necessary to do so in speaking to a young man!) and\ntold him that she was sure she had not the slightest idea where any\nplace in the city was,--that she very seldom went into the city, and\nnever thought about the way to any place when she did go,--that she\nwished she knew where those places were that he mentioned, for she would\nvery much like to tell him, especially if he was hungry, which she knew\nwas not pleasant, and no doubt he was not used to it, but that indeed\nshe hadn't any idea about the way anywhere, but--\n\nThere is no knowing how long the Princess might have run on thus (and\nher veil up all the time) had not the two slaves at that moment emerged\nfrom the sugar-bean shop. The sight of the Princess actually talking to\na young man in the broad daylight so amazed them, that they stood for a\nmoment dumb in the door. But, recovering from their surprise, they drew\ntheir cimeters, and ran toward the Prince (for such his every action\nproclaimed him to be). When this high-born personage saw them coming\nwith drawn blades, his countenance flushed, and his eyes sparkled with\nrage. Drawing his flashing sword, he shouted, \"Crouch, varlets! Lie with\nthe dust, ye dogs!\" and sprang furiously upon them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe impetuosity of the onslaught caused the two men to pause, and in a\nfew minutes they fell back some yards, so fast and heavy did the long\nsword clash upon their upraised cimeters. This contest was soon over,\nfor, unaccustomed to such a vigorous method of attack, the slaves turned\nand fled, and the Prince pursued them down a long street, and up an\nalley, and over a wall, and through a garden, and under an arch, and\nover a court-yard, and through a gate, and down another street, and up\nanother alley, and through a house, and up a long staircase, and out\nupon a roof, and over several abutments, and down a trap-door, and down\nanother pair of stairs, and through another house, into another garden,\nand over another wall, and down a long road, and over a field, clear out\nof sight.\n\nWhen the Prince had performed this feat, he sat down to rest, but,\nsuddenly bethinking himself of the maiden, he rose and went to look for\nher.\n\n\"I have chased away her servants,\" said he; \"how will she ever find her\nway anywhere?\"\n\nIf this was difficult for her, the Prince found that it was no less so\nfor himself; and he spent much time in endeavoring to reach again the\nnorthern suburbs of the city. At last, after considerable walking, he\nreached the long street into which he had first chased the slaves, and,\nfinding a line of children eagerly devouring a line of sugared\ncream-beans, he remembered seeing these confections dropping from the\npockets of the slaves as he pursued them, and, following up the clew,\nsoon reached the shop, and found the Princess sitting under a tree\nbefore the door. The shop-keeper, knowing her to be the Princess, had\nbeen afraid to speak to her, and was working away inside, making believe\nthat he had not seen her, and that he knew nothing of the conflict which\nhad taken place before his door.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nUp jumped Aufalia. \"O! I am so glad to see you again! I have been\nwaiting here ever so long. But what have you done with my slaves?\"\n\n\"I am your slave,\" said the Prince, bowing to the ground.\n\n\"But you don't know the way home,\" said she, \"and I am dreadfully\nhungry.\"\n\nHaving ascertained from her that she was the King's daughter, and lived\nat the palace, the Prince reflected for a moment, and then, entering the\nshop, dragged forth the maker of sugared cream-beans, and ordered him to\nlead the way to the presence of the King. The confectioner, crouching to\nthe earth, immediately started off, and the Prince and Princess, side by\nside, followed over what seemed to them a very short road to the palace.\nThe Princess talked a great deal, but the Prince was rather quiet. He\nhad a good many things to think about. He was the younger son of a king\nwho lived far away to the north, and had been obliged to flee the\nkingdom on account of the custom of allowing only one full-grown heir to\nthe throne to live in the country.\n\n\"Now,\" thought he, \"this is an excellent commencement of my adventures.\nHere is a truly lovely Princess whom I am conducting to her anxious\nparent. He will be overwhelmed with gratitude, and will doubtless bestow\nupon me the government of a province--or--perhaps he will make me his\nVizier--no, I will not accept that,--the province will suit me better.\"\nHaving settled this little matter to his mind, he gladdened the heart of\nthe Princess with the dulcet tones of his gentle voice.\n\nOn reaching the palace, they went directly to the grand hall, where the\nKing was giving audience. Justly astounded at perceiving his daughter\n(now veiled) approaching under the guidance of a crouching sugar-bean\nmaker and a strange young man, he sat in silent amazement, until the\nPrince, who was used to court life, had made his manners, and related\nhis story. When the King had heard it, he clapped his hands three times,\nand in rushed twenty-four eunuchs.\n\n\"Take,\" said the monarch, \"this bird to her bower.\" And they surrounded\nthe Princess, and hurried her off to the women's apartments.\n\nThen he clapped his hands twice, and in rushed twenty-four armed guards\nfrom another door.\n\n\"Bind me this dog!\" quoth the King, pointing to the Prince. And they\nbound him in a twinkling.\n\n\"Is this the way you treat a stranger?\" cried the Prince.\n\n\"Aye,\" said the King, merrily. \"We will treat you royally. You are\ntired. To-night and to-morrow you shall be lodged and feasted daintily\nand the day after we will have a celebration, when you shall be beaten\nwith sticks, and shall fight a tiger, and be tossed by a bull, and be\nbowstrung, and beheaded, and drawn and quartered, and we will have a\nnice time. Bear him away to his soft couch.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe guards then led the Prince away to be kept a prisoner until the day\nfor the celebration. The room to which he was conducted was comfortable,\nand he soon had a plenteous supper laid out before him, of which he\npartook with great avidity. Having finished his meal, he sat down to\nreflect upon his condition, but feeling very sleepy, and remembering\nthat he would have a whole day of leisure, to-morrow, for such\nreflections, he concluded to go to bed. Before doing so, however, he\nwished to make all secure for the night. Examining the door, he found\nthere was no lock to it; and being unwilling to remain all night liable\nto intrusion, he pondered the matter for some minutes, and then took up\na wide and very heavy stool, and, having partially opened the door, he\nput the stool up over it, resting it partly on the door and partly on\nthe surrounding woodwork, so that if any one tried to come in, and\npushed the door open, the stool would fall down and knock the intruder's\nhead off. Having arranged this to his satisfaction, the Prince went to\nbed.\n\nThat evening the Princess Aufalia was in great grief, for she had heard\nof the sentence pronounced upon the Prince, and felt herself the cause\nof it. What other reason she had to grieve over the Prince's death, need\nnot be told. Her handmaidens fully sympathized with her; and one of\nthem, Nerralina, the handsomest and most energetic of them all, soon\nfound, by proper inquiry, that the Prince was confined in the fourth\nstory of the \"Tower of Tears.\" So they devised a scheme for his rescue.\nEach one of the young ladies contributed her scarf; and when they were\nall tied together, the conclave decided that they made a rope plenty\nlong enough to reach from the Prince's window to the ground.\n\nThus much settled, it only remained to get this means of escape to the\nprisoner. This the lady Nerralina volunteered to do. Waiting until the\ndead of night, she took off her slippers, and with the scarf-rope rolled\nup into a ball under her arm, she silently stepped past the drowsy\nsentinels, and, reaching the Prince's room, pushed open the door, and\nthe stool fell down and knocked her head off. Her body lay in the\ndoorway, but her head rolled into the middle of the room.\n\nNotwithstanding the noise occasioned by this accident, the Prince did\nnot awake; but in the morning, when he was up and nearly dressed, he was\nastonished at seeing a lady's head in the middle of the room.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Hallo!\" said he. \"Here's somebody's head.\"\n\nPicking it up, he regarded it with considerable interest. Then seeing\nthe body in the doorway, he put the head and it together, and, finding\nthey fitted, came to the conclusion that they belonged to each other,\nand that the stool had done the mischief. When he saw the bundle of\nscarfs lying by the body, he unrolled it, and soon imagined the cause of\nthe lady's visit.\n\n\"Poor thing!\" he said; \"doubtless the Princess sent her here with this,\nand most likely with a message also, which now I shall never hear. But\nthese poor women! what do they know? This rope will not bear a man like\nme. Well! well! this poor girl is dead. I will pay respect to her.\"\n\nAnd so he picked her up, and put her on his bed, thinking at the time\nthat she must have fainted when she heard the stool coming, for no blood\nhad flowed. He fitted on the head, and then he covered her up with the\nsheet; but, in pulling this over her head, he uncovered her feet, which\nhe now perceived to be slipperless.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No shoes! Ah me! Well, I will be polite to a lady, even if she is\ndead.\"\n\nAnd so he drew off his own yellow boots, and put them on her feet, which\nwas easy enough, as they were a little too big for her. He had hardly\ndone this, and dressed himself, when he heard some one approaching; and\nhastily removing the fallen stool, he got behind the door just as a fat\nold fellow entered with a broadsword in one hand, and a pitcher of hot\nwater and some towels in the other. Glancing at the bed, and seeing the\nyellow boots sticking out, the old fellow muttered: \"Gone to bed with his\nclothes on, eh? Well, I'll let him sleep!\" And so, putting down the\npitcher and the towels, he walked out again. But not alone, for the\nPrince silently stepped after him, and by keeping close behind him,\nfollowed without being heard,--his politeness having been the fortunate\ncause of his being in his stocking-feet. For some distance they walked\ntogether thus, the Prince intending to slip off at the first cross\npassage he came to. It was quite dusky in the long hall way, there being\nno windows; and when the guard, at a certain place, made a very wide\nstep, taking hold of a rod by the side of the wall as he did so, the\nPrince, not perceiving this, walked straight on, and popped right down\nan open trap-door.\n\nNerralina not returning, the Princess was in great grief, not knowing at\nfirst whether she had eloped with the Prince, or had met with some\nmisfortune on the way to his room. In the morning, however, the ladies\nascertained that the rope was not hanging from the Prince's window, and\nas the guards reported that he was comfortably sleeping in his bed, it\nwas unanimously concluded that Nerralina had been discovered in her\nattempt, and had come to grief. Sorrowing bitterly, somewhat for the\nunknown mishap of her maid of honor, but still more for the now certain\nfate of him she loved, Aufalia went into the garden, and, making her way\nthrough masses of rose-trees and jasmines, to the most secluded part of\nthe grounds, threw herself upon a violet bank and wept unrestrainedly,\nthe tears rolling one by one from her eyes, like a continuous string of\npearls.\n\nNow it so happened that this spot was the pleasure ground of a company\nof fairies, who had a colony near by. These fairies were about an inch\nand a half high, beautifully formed, and of the most respectable class.\nThey had not been molested for years by any one coming to this spot; but\nas they knew perfectly well who the Princess was, they were not at all\nalarmed at her appearance. In fact, the sight of her tears rolling so\nprettily down into the violet cups, and over the green leaves, seemed to\nplease them much, and many of the younger ones took up a tear or two\nupon their shoulders to take home with them.\n\nThere was one youth, the handsomest of them all, named Ting-a-ling, who\nhad a beautiful little sweetheart called Ling-a-ting.\n\nEach one of these lovers, when they were about to return to their homes,\npicked up the prettiest tear they could find. Ting-a-ling put his tear\nupon his shoulder, and walked along as gracefully as an Egyptian woman\nwith her water-jug; while little Ling-a-ting, with her treasure borne\nlightly over her head, skipped by her lover's side, as happy as happy\ncould be.\n\n\"Don't walk out in the sun, my dearest,\" said Ting-a-ling. \"Your\nshin-shiney will burst.\"\n\n\"Burst! O no, Tingy darling, no it won't. See how nice and big it is\ngetting, and so light! Look!\" cried she, throwing back her head; \"I can\nsee the sky through it; and O! what pretty colors,--blue, green, pink,\nand\"--And the tear burst, and poor little Ling-a-ting sunk down on the\ngrass, drenched and drowned.\n\nHorror-stricken, Ting-a-ling dropped his tear and wept. Clasping his\nhands above his head, he fell on his knees beside his dear one, and\nraised his eyes to the blue sky in bitter anguish. But when he cast them\ndown again, little Ling-a-ting was all soaked into the grass. Then\nsterner feelings filled his breast, and revenge stirred up the depths of\nhis soul.\n\n\"This thing shall end!\" he said, hissing the words between his teeth.\n\"No more of us shall die like Ling-a-ting!\"\n\nSo he ran quickly, and with his little sword cut down two violets, and\nof the petals he made two little soft bundles, and, tying them together\nwith his garters, he slung them over his shoulder. Full of his terrible\npurpose, he then ran to the Princess, and, going behind her, clambered\nup her dress until he stood on her shoulder, and, getting on the top of\nher head, he loosened a long hair, and lowered himself down with it,\nuntil he stood upon the under lashes of her left eye. Now, his intention\nwas evident. Those violet bundles were to \"end this thing.\" They were to\nbe crammed into the source of those fatal tears, to the beauty of which\npoor Ling-a-ting had fallen a victim.\n\n\"Now we shall see,\" said he, \"if some things cannot be done as well as\nothers!\" and, kneeling down, he took one bundle from his shoulder, and\nprepared to put it in her eye. It is true, that, occupying the position\nhe did, he, in some measure, obstructed the lady's vision; but as her\neyes had been so long dimmed with tears, and her heart overshadowed with\nsorrow, she did not notice it.\n\nJust as Ting-a-ling was about to execute his purpose, he happened to\nlook before him, and saw, to his amazement, another little fairy on his\nknees, right in front of him. Starting back, he dropped the bundle from\nhis hand, and the other from his shoulder. Then, upon his hands and\nknees, he stared steadfastly at the little man opposite to him, who\nimmediately imitated him. And there they knelt with equal wonder in each\nof their countenances, bobbing at each other every time the lady winked.\nThen did Ting-a-ling get very red in the face, and, standing erect, he\ntook strong hold of the Princess's upper eyelash, to steady himself,\nresolved upon giving that saucy fairy a good kick, when, to his dismay,\nthe eyelash came out, he lost his balance, and at the same moment a\nfresh shower of tears burst from her eyes, which washed Ting-a-ling\nsenseless into her lap.\n\nWhen he recovered, he was still sticking to the Princess's silk apron,\nall unobserved, as she sat in her own room talking to one of her maids,\nwho had just returned from a long visit into the country. Slipping down\nto the floor, Ting-a-ling ran all shivering to the window, to the seat\nof which he climbed, and getting upon a chrysanthemum that was growing\nin a flower-pot in the sunshine, he took off his shoes and stockings,\nand, hanging them on a branch to dry, laid down in the warm blossom; and\nwhile he was drying, listened to the mournful tale that Aufalia was\ntelling her maid, about the poor Prince that was to die to-morrow. The\nmore he heard, the more was his tender heart touched with pity, and,\nforgetting all his resentment against the Princess, he felt only the\ndeepest sympathy for her misfortunes, and those of her lover. When she\nhad finished, Ting-a-ling had resolved to assist them, or die in the\nattempt!\n\nBut, as he could not do much himself, he intended instantly to lay their\ncase before a Giant of his acquaintance, whose good-humor and\nbenevolence were proverbial. So he put on his shoes and stockings, which\nwere not quite dry, and hastily descended to the garden by means of a\nvine which grew upon the wall. The distance to the Giant's castle was\ntoo great for him to think of walking; and he hurried around to a friend\nof his who kept a livery-stable. When he reached this place, he found\nhis friend sitting in his stable-door, and behind him Ting-a-ling could\nsee the long rows of stalls, with all the butterflies on one side, and\nthe grasshoppers on the other.\n\n\"How do you do?\" said Ting-a-ling, seating himself upon a horse-block,\nand wiping his face. \"It is a hot day, isn't it?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" said the livery-stable man, who was rounder and shorter than\nTing-a-ling. \"Yes, it is very warm. I haven't been out to-day.\"\n\n\"Well, I shouldn't advise you to go,\" said Ting-a-ling. \"But I must to\nbusiness, for I'm in a great hurry. Have you a fast butterfly that you\ncan let me have right away?\"\n\n\"O yes, two or three of them, for that matter.\"\n\n\"Have you that one,\" asked Ting-a-ling, \"that I used to take out last\nsummer?\"\n\n\"That animal,\" said the livery-stable man, rising and clasping his hands\nunder his coat-tail, \"I am sorry to say, you can't have. He's\nfoundered.\"\n\n\"That's bad,\" said Ting-a-ling, \"for I always liked him.\"\n\n\"I can let you have one just as fast,\" said the stable-keeper. \"By the\nway, how would you like a real good grasshopper?\"\n\n\"Too hot a day for the saddle,\" said Ting-a-ling; \"and now please\nharness up, for I'm in a dreadful hurry.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir, right away. But I don't know exactly what wagon to give you.\nI have two first-rate new pea-pods; but they are both out. However, I\ncan let you have a nice easy Johnny-jump-up, if you say so.\"\n\n\"Any thing will do,\" said Ting-a-ling, \"only get it out quick.\"\n\nIn a very short time a butterfly was brought out, and harnessed to a\nfirst-class Johnny-jump-up. The vehicles used by these fairies were\ngenerally a cup-like blossom, or something of that nature, furnished,\ninstead of wheels, with little bags filled with a gas resembling that\nused to inflate balloons. Thus the vehicle was sustained in the air,\nwhile the steed drew it rapidly along.\n\nAs soon as Ting-a-ling heard the sound of the approaching equipage, he\nstood upon the horse-block, and when the wagon was brought up to it, he\nquickly jumped in and took the reins from the hostler. \"Get up!\" said\nhe, and away they went.\n\nIt was a long drive, and it was at least three in the afternoon when\nTing-a-ling reached the Giant's castle. Drawing up before the great\ngates, he tied his animal to a hinge, and walked in himself under the\ngate. Going boldly into the hall, he went up-stairs, or rather he ran up\nthe top rail of the banisters, for it would have been hard work for him\nto have clambered up each separate step. As he expected, he found the\nGiant (whose name I forgot to say was Tur-il-i-ra) in his dining-room.\nHe had just finished his dinner, and was sitting in his arm-chair by the\ntable, fast asleep. This Giant was about as large as two mammoths. It\nwas useless for Ting-a-ling to stand on the floor, and endeavor to make\nhimself heard above the roaring of the snoring, which sounded louder\nthan the thunders of a cataract. So, climbing upon one of the Giant's\nboots, he ran up his leg, and hurried over the waistcoat so fast, that,\nslipping on one of the brass buttons, he came down upon his knees with\ngreat force.\n\n\"Whew!\" said he, \"that must have hurt him! after dinner too!\"\n\nJumping up quickly, he ran easily over the bosom, and getting on his\nshoulder, clambered up into his ear. Standing up in the opening of this\nimmense cavity, he took hold of one side with his outstretched arms, and\nshouted with all his might,--\n\n\"_Tur_-il-i! _Tur_-il-i! _Tur_-il-i-RA!\"\n\nStartled at the noise, the Giant clapped his hand to his ear with such\nforce, that had not Ting-a-ling held on very tightly, he would have been\nshot up against the tympanum of this mighty man.\n\n\"Don't do that again!\" cried the little fellow. \"Don't do that again!\nIt's only me--Ting-a-ling. Hold your finger.\"\n\nRecognizing the voice of his young friend, the Giant held out his\nforefinger, and Ting-a-ling, mounting it, was carried round before the\nGiant's face, where he proceeded to relate the misfortunes of the two\nlovers, in his most polished and affecting style.\n\nThe Giant listened with much attention, and when he had done, said,\n\"Ting-a-ling, I feel a great interest in all young people, and will do\nwhat I can for this truly unfortunate couple. But I must finish my nap\nfirst, otherwise I could not do anything. Please jump down on the table\nand eat something, while I go to sleep for a little while.\"\n\nSo saying, he put Ting-a-ling gently down upon the table. But this young\ngentleman, having a dainty appetite, did not see much that he thought he\nwould like; but, cutting a grain of rice in two, he ate the half of it,\nand then laid down on a napkin and went to sleep.\n\nWhen Tur-il-i-ra awoke, he remembered that it was time to be off, and,\nwaking Ting-a-ling, he took out his great purse, and placed the little\nfairy in it, where he had very comfortable quarters, as there was no\nmoney there to hurt him.\n\n\"Don't forget my wagon when you get to the gate,\" said Ting-a-ling,\nsleepily, rolling himself up for a fresh nap, as the Giant closed the\npurse with a snap. Tur-il-i-ra, having put on his hat, went down-stairs,\nand crossed the court-yard in a very few steps. When he had closed the\ngreat gates after him, he bethought himself of Ting-a-ling's turn-out,\nwhich the fairy had mentioned as being tied to the hinge. Not being able\nto see anything so minute at the distance of his eyes from the ground,\nhe put on his spectacles, and getting upon his hands and knees, peered\nclosely about the hinges.\n\n\"O! here you are,\" said he, and, picking up the butterfly and wagon, he\nput them in his vest pocket--that is, all excepting the butterfly's\nhead. That remained fast to the hinge, as the Giant forgot he was tied.\nThen our lofty friend set off at a smart pace for the King's castle; but\nnotwithstanding his haste, it was dark when he reached it.\n\n\"Come now, young man,\" said he, opening his purse, \"wake up, and let us\nget to work. Where is that Prince you were talking about?\"\n\n\"Well, I'm sure I don't know,\" said Ting-a-ling, rubbing his eyes. \"But\njust put me up to that window which has the vine growing beneath it.\nThat is the Princess's room, and she can tell us all about it.\"\n\nSo the giant took him on his finger, and put him in the window. There,\nin the lighted room, Ting-a-ling beheld a sight which greatly moved him.\nAlthough she had slept but little the night before, the Princess was\nstill up, and was sitting in an easy-chair, weeping profusely. Near her\nstood a maid-of-honor, who continually handed her fresh handkerchiefs\nfrom a great basketful by her side. As fast as the Princess was done\nwith one, she threw it behind her, and the great pile there showed that\nshe must have been weeping nearly all day. Getting down upon the floor,\nTing-a-ling clambered up the Princess's dress, and reaching, at last,\nher ear, shouted into it,--\n\n\"Princess! Princess! Stop crying, for I'm come!\"\n\nThe Princess was very much startled; but she did not, like the Giant,\nclap her hand to her ear, for if she had, she would have ruined the\nbeautiful curls which stood out so nicely on each side. Ting-a-ling\nimplored her to be quiet, and told her that the Giant had come to assist\nher, and that they wanted to know where the Prince was confined.\n\n\"I will tell you! I will show you!\" cried the Princess quickly, and,\njumping up, she ran to the window with Ting-a-ling still at her ear. \"O\nyou good giant,\" she cried, \"are you there? If you will take me, I will\nshow you the tower, the cruel tower, where my Prince is confined.\"\n\n\"Fear not!\" said the good Giant. \"Fear not I soon will release him. Let\nme take you in my hands, and do you show me where to go.\"\n\n\"Are you sure you can hold me?\" said the Princess, standing timidly upon\nthe edge of the window.\n\n\"I guess so,\" said the Giant. \"Just get into my hands.\"\n\nAnd, taking her down gently, he set her on his arm, and then he took\nTing-a-ling from her hair, and placed him on the tip of his thumb. Thus\nthey proceeded to the Tower of Tears.\n\n\"Here is the place,\" said the Princess. \"Here is the horrid tower where\nmy beloved is. Please put me down a minute, and let me cry.\"\n\n\"No, no,\" said the Giant; \"you have done enough of that, my dear, and we\nhave no time to spare. So, if this is your Prince's tower, just get in\nat the window, and tell him to come out quickly, and I will take you\nboth away without making any fuss.\"\n\n\"That is the window--the fourth-story one. Lift me up,\" said the\nPrincess.\n\nBut though the Giant was very large, he was not quite tall enough for\nthis feat, for they built their towers very high in those days. So,\nputting Ting-a-ling and the Princess into his pocket, he looked around\nfor something to stand on. Seeing a barn near by, he picked it up, and\nplaced it underneath the window. He put his foot on it to try if it\nwould bear him, and, finding it would (for in those times barns were\nvery strong), he stood upon it, and looked in the fourth-story window.\nTaking his little friends out of his pocket, he put them on the\nwindow-sill, where Ting-a-ling remained to see what would happen, but\nthe Princess jumped right down on the floor. As there was a lighted\ncandle on the table, she saw that there was some one covered up in the\nbed.\n\n\"O, there he is!\" said she. \"Now I will wake him up, and hurry him\naway.\" But just at that moment, as she was going to give the sleeper a\ngentle shake, she happened to perceive the yellow boots sticking out\nfrom under the sheet.\n\n\"O dear!\" said she in a low voice, \"if he hasn't gone to bed with his\nboots on! And if I wake him, he will jump right down on the floor, and\nmake a great noise, and we shall be found out.\"\n\nSo she went to the foot of the bed, and pulled off the boots very\ngently.\n\n\"White stockings!\" said she. \"What does this mean? I know the Prince\nwore green stockings, for I took particular notice how well they looked\nwith his yellow boots. There must be something wrong, I declare! Let me\nrun to the other end of the bed, and see how it is there. O my! O my!\"\ncried she, turning down the sheet. \"A woman's head! Wrong both ways! O\nwhat shall I do?\"\n\nLetting the sheet drop, she accidentally touched the head, which\nimmediately rolled off on to the floor.\n\n\"Loose! Loose!! Loose!!!\" she screamed in bitter agony, clasping her\nhands above her head. \"What shall I ever do? O misery! misery me! Some\ndemon has changed him, all but his boots. O Despair! Despair!\"\n\nAnd, without knowing what she did, she rushed frantically out of the\nroom, and along the dark passage, and popped right down through the open\ntrap.\n\n\"What's up?\" said the Giant, putting his face to the window. \"What's all\nthis noise about?\"\n\n\"O I don't know,\" said Ting-a-ling, almost crying, \"but somebody's head\nis off; and it's a lady--all but the boots--and the Princess has run\naway! O dear! O dear!\"\n\n\"Come now!\" said Tur-il-i-ra, \"Ting-a-ling, get into my pocket. I must\nsee into this myself, for I can't be waiting here all night, you know.\"\n\nSo the Giant, still standing on the barn, lifted off the roof of the\ntower, and threw it to some distance. He then, by the moonlight,\nexamined the upper story, but, finding no Prince or Princess, brushed\ndown the walls until he came to the floor, and, taking it up, he looked\ncarefully over the next story. This he continued, until he had torn down\nthe whole tower, and found no one but servants and guards, who ran away\nin all directions, like ants when you destroy their hills. He then\nkicked down all those walls which connected the tower with the rest of\nthe palace, and, when it was all level with the ground, he happened to\nnotice, almost at his feet, a circular opening like an entrance to a\nvault, from which arose a very pleasant smell as of something good to\neat. Stooping down to see what it was that caused this agreeable\nperfume, he perceived that at the distance of a few yards the aperture\nterminated in a huge yellow substance, in which, upon a closer\ninspection, he saw four feet sticking up--two with slippers, and two\nwith green stockings.\n\n\"Why, this is strange!\" said he, and, stooping down, he felt the\nsubstance, and found it was quite soft and yielding. He then loosened it\nby passing his hand around it, and directly lifted it out almost entire.\n\n\"By the beard of the Prophet!\" he cried, \"but this is a cheese!\" and,\nturning it over, he saw on the other side two heads, one with short\nblack hair, and the other covered with beautiful brown curls.\n\n\"Why, here they are! As I'm a living Giant! these must be the Prince and\nPrincess, stowed away in a cheese!\" And he laughed until the very hills\ncracked.\n\nWhen he got a little over his merriment, he asked the imprisoned couple\nhow they got there, and if they felt comfortable. They replied that they\nhad fallen down a trap, and had gone nearly through this cheese, where\nthey had stuck fast, and that was all they had known about it; and if\nthe blood did not run down into their heads so, they would be pretty\ncomfortable, thank him--which last remark the Giant accounted for by the\nfact, that, when lovers are near each other, they do not generally pay\nmuch attention to surrounding circumstances.\n\n\"This, then,\" said he, rising, \"is where the King hardens his cheeses,\nis it? Well, well, it's a jolly go!\" And he laughed some more.\n\n\"O Tur-il-i-ra,\" cried Ting-a-ling, looking out from the vest-pocket,\n\"I'm so glad you've found them.\"\n\n\"Well, so am I,\" said the Giant.\n\nThen Tur-il-i-ra, still holding the cheese, walked away for a little\ndistance, and sat down on a high bank, intending to wait there until\nmorning, when he would call on the King, and confer with him in relation\nto his new-found treasure. Leaning against a great rock, the Giant put\nthe cheese upon his knees in such a manner as not to injure the heads\nand feet of the lovers, and dropped into a very comfortable sleep.\n\n\"Don't I wish I could get my arms out!\" whispered the Prince.\n\n\"O my!\" whispered the Princess.\n\nTing-a-ling, having now nothing to occupy his mind, and desiring to\nstretch his legs, got out of the vest-pocket where he had remained so\nsafely during all the disturbance, and descended to the ground to take a\nlittle walk. He had not gone far before he met a young friend, who was\nrunning along as fast as he could.\n\n\"Hallo! Ting-a-ling,\" cried the other. \"Is that you? Come with me, and I\nwill show you the funniest thing you ever saw in your life.\"\n\n\"Is it far?\" said Ting-a-ling, \"for I must be back here by daylight.\"\n\n\"O no! come on. It won't take you long, and I tell you, it's fun!\"\n\nSo away they ran, merrily vaulting over the hickory-nuts, or acorns,\nthat happened to be in their way, in mere playfulness, as if they were\nnothing. They soon came to a large, open space, so brightly lighted by\nthe moon, that every object was as visible as if it were daylight.\nScattered over the smooth green were thousands of fairies of\nTing-a-ling's nation, the most of whom were standing gazing intently at\na very wonderful sight.\n\nSeated on a stone, under a great tree that stood all alone in the centre\nof this plain, was a woman without any head. She moved her hands rapidly\nabout over her shoulders, as if in search of the missing portion of\nherself, and, encountering nothing but mere air, she got very angry, and\nstamped her feet, and shrugged her shoulders, which amused the fairies\nvery much, and they all set up a great laugh, and seemed to be enjoying\nthe fun amazingly. On one side, down by a little brook, was a busy crowd\nof fairies, who appeared to be washing something therein. Scattered all\naround were portions of the Tower of Tears, much of which had fallen\nhereabouts.\n\nTing-a-ling and his friend had not gazed long upon this scene before the\nsound of music was heard, and in a few moments there appeared from out\nthe woods a gorgeous procession. First came a large band of music,\nringing blue-bells and blowing honeysuckles. Then came an array of\ncourtiers, magnificently dressed; and, after them, the Queen of the\nfairies, riding in a beautiful water-lily, drawn by six royal purple\nbutterflies, and surrounded by a brilliant body of lords and ladies.\n\nThis procession halted at a short distance in front of the\nlady-minus-a-head, and formed itself into a semicircle, with the Queen\nin the centre. Then the crowd at the brook were seen approaching, and on\nthe shoulders of the multitude was borne a head. They hurried as fast as\ntheir heavy load would permit, until they came to the tree under which\nsat the headless Nerralina, who, bed and all, had fallen here, when the\nGiant tore down the tower. Then quickly attaching a long rope (that they\nhad put over a branch directly above the lady) to the hair of the head,\nthey all took hold of the other end, and, pulling with a will, soon\nhoisted the head up until it hung at some distance above the neck to\nwhich it had previously belonged. Now they began to lower it slowly, and\nthe Queen stood up with her wand raised ready to utter the magic word\nwhich should unite the parts when they touched. A deep silence spread\nover the plain, and even the lady seemed conscious that something was\nabout to happen, for she stood up and remained perfectly still.\n\nThere was but one person there who did not feel pleasure at the\napproaching event, and that was a dwarf about a foot high, very ugly and\nwicked, who, by some means or other, had got into this goodly company,\nand who was now seated in a crotch of the tree, very close to the rope\nby which the crowd was lowering the lady's head. No one perceived him,\nfor he was very much the color of the tree, and there he sat alone,\nquivering with spite and malice.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAt the moment the head touched the ivory neck, the Queen, uttering the\nmagic word, dropped the end of the wand, and immediately the head\nadhered as firmly as of old.\n\nBut a wild shout of horror rang through all the plain! For, at the\ncritical moment, the dwarf had reached out his hand, and twisted the\nrope, so that when the head was joined, it was wrong side foremost--face\nback!\n\nJust then the little villain stuck his head out from behind the branch,\nand, giving a loud and mocking laugh of triumph, dropped from the tree.\nWith a yell of anger the whole crowd, Queen, courtiers, common people,\nand all, set off in a mad chase after the dwarf, who fled like a stag\nbefore the hounds.\n\nAll were gone but little Ting-a-ling, and when he saw the dreadful\ndistress of poor Nerralina, who jumped up, and twisted around, and ran\nbackward both ways, screaming for help, he stopped not a minute, but ran\nto where he had left the Giant, and told him, as fast as his breathing\nwould allow, the sad story.\n\nRubbing his eyes, Tur-il-i-ra perceived that it was nearly day, and\nconcluded to commence operations. He placed Ting-a-ling on his\nshirt-frill, where he could see what was going on, and, taking about\neleven strides, he came to where poor Nerralina was jumping about, and,\npicking her up, put her carefully into his coat-tail pocket. Then, with\nthe cheese in his hand, he walked slowly toward the palace.\n\nWhen he arrived there, he found the people running about, and crowding\naround the ruins of the Tower of Tears. He passed on, however, to the\ngreat Audience Chamber, and, looking in, saw the King sitting upon his\nthrone behind a velvet-covered table, holding an early morning council,\nand receiving the reports of his officers concerning the damage. As this\nHall, and the doors thereof, were of great size, the Giant walked in,\nstooping a little as he entered.\n\nHe marched right up to the King, and held the cheese down before him.\n\n\"Here, your Majesty, is your daughter, and the young Prince, her lover.\nDoes your Majesty recognize them?\"\n\n\"Well, I declare!\" cried the King. \"If that isn't my great cheese, that\nI had put in the vault-flue to harden! And my daughter and that young\nman in it! What does this mean? What have you been doing, Giant?\"\n\nThen Tur-il-i-ra related the substance of the whole affair in a very\nbrief manner, and concluded by saying that he hoped to see them made man\nand wife, as he considered them under his protection, and intended to\nsee them safely through this affair. And he held them up so that all the\npeople who thronged into the Hall could see.\n\nThe people all laughed, but the King cried \"Silence!\" and said to the\nGiant, \"If the young man is of as good blood as my daughter, I have no\ndesire to separate them. In fact, I don't think I am separating them. I\nthink it's the cheese!\"\n\n\"Come! come!\" said the Giant, turning very red in the face, \"none of\nyour trifling, or I'll knock your house down over your eyes!\"\n\nAnd, putting the cheese down close to the table, he broke it in half,\nletting the lovers drop out on the velvet covering, when they\nimmediately rushed into each other's arms, and remained thus clasped for\na length of time.\n\nThey then slowly relinquished their hold upon each other, and were\nexchanging looks of supreme tenderness, when the Prince, happening to\nglance at his feet, sprang back so that he almost fell off the long\ntable, and shouted,--\n\n\"Blood! Fire! Thunder! Where's my boots? Boots! Slaves! Hounds! Get me\nmy boots! boots!! boots!!!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"O! he's a Prince!\" cried the King, jumping up. \"I want no further\nproof. He's a Prince. Give him boots. And blow, horners, blow! Beat your\ndrums, drummers! Join hands all! Clear the floor for a dance!\"\n\nAnd in a trice the floor was cleared, and about five thousand couples\nstood ready for the first note from the band.\n\n\"Hold up!\" cried the Giant. \"Hold up! here is one I forgot,\" and he\ncommenced feeling in his pockets. \"I know I have got her somewhere. O\nyes, here she is!\" and taking the Lady Nerralina from his coat-tail\npocket, he put her carefully upon the table.\n\nEvery face in the room was in an instant the picture of horror,--all but\nthat of the little girl whose duty it was to fasten Nerralina's dress\nevery morning,--who got behind the door, and jumping up, and clapping\nher hands and heels, exclaimed, \"Good! good! Now she can see to fasten\nher own frock behind!\"\n\nThe Prince was the first to move, and, with tears in his eyes, he\napproached the luckless lady, who was sobbing piteously.\n\n\"Poor thing!\" said he, and, putting his arm around her, he kissed her.\nWhat joy thrilled through Nerralina! She had never been kissed by a man\nbefore, and it did for her what such things have done for many a young\nlady since--it turned her head!\n\n\"Blow, horners, blow!\" shouted the King. \"Join hands all!\"\n\nSeizing Nerralina's hand, and followed by the Prince and Princess, who\nsprang from the table, he led off the five thousand couples in a grand\ngallopade.\n\nThe Giant stood, and laughed heartily, until, at last, being no longer\nable to restrain himself, he sprang into the midst of them, and danced\naway royally, trampling about twenty couples under foot at every jump.\n\n\"Dance away, old fellow!\" shouted the King, from the other end of the\nroom. \"Dance away, my boy, and never mind the people.\"\n\nAnd the music blew louder, and round they all went faster and faster,\nuntil the building shook and trembled from the cellar to the roof.\n\nAt length, perfectly exhausted, they all stopped, and Ting-a-ling,\nslipping down from the Giant's frill, went out of the door.\n\n\"O!\" said he, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes, \"it was all so\nfunny, and every body was so happy--that--that I almost forgot my\nbereavement.\"\n\n\n\n\nTING-A-LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS.\n\n\nTing-a-ling, for some weeks after the death of his young companion,\nLing-a-ting, seemed quite sad and dejected. He spent nearly all his time\nlying in a half-opened rose-bud, and thinking of the dear little\ncreature who was gone. But one morning, the bud having become a\nfull-blown rose, its petals fell apart, and dropped little Ting-a-ling\nout on the grass. The sudden fall did not hurt him, but it roused him to\nexertion, and he said, \"O ho! This will never do. I will go up to the\npalace, and see if there is anything going on.\" So off he went to the\ngreat palace; and sure enough something was going on. He had scarcely\nreached the court-yard, when the bells began to ring, the horns to blow,\nthe drums to beat, and crowds of people to shout and run in every\ndirection, and there was never such a noise and hubbub before.\n\nTing-a-ling slipped along close to the wall, so that he would not be\nstepped on by anybody; and having reached the palace, he climbed up a\nlong trailing vine, into one of the lower windows. There he saw the vast\naudience-chamber filled with people, shouting, and calling, and talking,\nall at once. The grand vizier was on the wide platform of the throne,\nmaking a speech, but the uproar was so great that not one word of it\ncould Ting-a-ling hear. The King himself was by his throne, putting on\nthe bulky boots, which he only wore when he went to battle, and which\nmade him look so terrible that a person could hardly see him without\ntrembling. The last time that he had worn those boots, as Ting-a-ling\nvery well knew, he had made war on a neighboring country, and had\ndefeated all the armies, killed all the people, torn down all the towns\nand cities, and every house and cottage, and ploughed up the whole\ncountry, and sowed it with thistles, so that it could never be used as a\ncountry any more. So Ting-a-ling thought that as the King was putting on\nhis war boots, something very great was surely about to happen. Hearing\na fizzing noise behind him, he turned around, and there was the Prince\nin the court-yard, grinding his sword on a grindstone, which was turned\nby two slaves, who were working away so hard and fast that they were\nnearly ready to drop. Then he _knew_ that wonderful things were surely\ncoming to pass, for in ordinary times the Prince never lifted his finger\nto do anything for himself.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJust then, a little page, who had been sent for the King's spurs, and\ncouldn't find them, and who was therefore afraid to go back, stopped to\nrest himself for a minute against the window where Ting-a-ling was\nstanding. As his head just reached a little above the window-seat,\nTing-a-ling went close to his ear and shouted to him, to please tell him\nwhat was the matter. The page started at first, but, seeing it was only\na little fairy, he told him that the Princess was lost, and that the\nwhole army was going out to find her. Before he could say anything more,\nthe King was heard to roar for his spurs, and away ran the little page,\nwhether to look again for the spurs, or to hide himself, is not known at\nthe present day. Ting-a-ling now became very much excited. The Princess\nAufalia, who had been married to the Prince but a month ago, was very\ndear to him, and he felt that he must do something for her. But while he\nwas thinking what this something might possibly be, he heard the clear\nand distinct sound of a tiny bell, which, however, no one but a fairy\ncould possibly have heard above all that noise. He knew it was the bell\nof the fairy Queen, summoning her subjects to her presence; and in a\nmoment he slid down the vine, and scampered away to the gardens. There,\nalthough the sun was shining brightly, and the fairies seldom assembled\nbut by night, there were great crowds of them, all listening to the\nQueen, and keeping much better order than the people in the King's\npalace. The Queen addressed them in soul-stirring strains, and urged\nevery one to do their best to find the missing Princess. In the night\nshe had been taken away, while the Prince and everybody were asleep.\n\"And now,\" said the Queen, untying her scarf, and holding it up, \"away\nwith you, every one! Search every house, garden, mountain, and plain, in\nthe land, and the first one who comes to me with news of the Princess\nAufalia, shall wear my scarf!\" And, as this was a mark of high\ndistinction, and conveyed privileges of which there is no time now to\ntell, the fairies gave a great cheer (which would have sounded to you,\nhad you heard it, like a puff of wind through a thicket of reeds), and\nthey all rushed away in every direction. Now, though the fairies of this\ntribe could go almost anywhere, through small cracks and key-holes,\nunder doors, and into places where no one else could possibly penetrate,\nthey did not fly, or float in the air, or anything of that sort. When\nthey wished to travel fast or far, they would mount on butterflies and\nall sorts of insects; but they seldom needed such assistance, as they\nwere not in the habit of going far from their homes in the palace\ngardens. Ting-a-ling ran, as fast as he could, to where a friend of his,\nwhom we have mentioned before kept grasshoppers and butterflies to hire;\nbut he found he was too late,--every one of them was taken by the\nfairies who had got there before him. \"Never mind,\" said Ting-a-ling to\nhimself, \"I'll catch a wild one;\" and, borrowing a bridle, he went out\ninto the meadows, to catch a grasshopper for himself. He soon perceived\none, quietly feeding under a clover-blossom. Ting-a-ling slipped up\nsoftly behind him; but the grasshopper heard him, and rolled his big\neyes backward, drawing in his hind-legs in the way which all boys know\nso well. \"What's the good of his seeing all around him?\" thought\nTing-a-ling; but there is no doubt that the grasshopper thought there\nwas a great deal of good in it, for, just as Ting-a-ling made a rush at\nhim, he let fly with one of his hind-legs, and kicked our little friend\nso high into the air, that he thought he was never coming down again. He\nlanded, however, harmlessly on the grass on the other side of a fence.\nNothing discouraged, he jumped up, with his bridle still in his hand,\nand looked around for the grasshopper. There he was, with his eyes still\nrolled back, and his leg ready for another kick, should Ting-a-ling\napproach him again. But the little fellow had had enough of those strong\nlegs, and so he slipped along the fence, and, getting through it, stole\naround in front of the grasshopper; and, while he was still looking\nbackward with all his eyes, Ting-a-ling stepped quietly up before him,\nand slipped the bridle over his head! It was of no use for the\ngrasshopper to struggle and pull back, for Ting-a-ling was astraddle of\nhim in a moment, kicking him with his heels, and shouting \"Hi! Hi!\"\n\nAway sprang the grasshopper like a bird, and he sped on and on, faster\nthan he had ever gone before in his life, and Ting-a-ling waved his\nlittle sword over his head, and shouted \"Hi! Hi!\"\n\nSo on they went for a long time; and in the afternoon the grasshopper\nbegan to get very tired, and did not make anything like such long jumps\nas he had done at first. They were going down a grassy hill, and had\njust reached the bottom, when Ting-a-ling heard some one calling him.\nLooking around him in astonishment, he saw that it was a little fairy of\nhis acquaintance, younger than himself, named Parsley, who was sitting\nin the shade of a wide-spreading dandelion.\n\n\"Hello, Parsley!\" cried Ting-a-ling, reining up. \"What are you doing\nthere?\"\n\n\"Why you see, Ting-a-ling,\" said the other, \"I came out to look for the\nPrincess.\"--\n\n\"You!\" cried Ting-a-ling; \"a little fellow like you!\"\n\n\"Yes, _I_!\" said Parsley; \"and Sourgrass and I rode the same butterfly;\nbut by the time we had come this far, we got too heavy, and Sourgrass\nmade me get off.\"\n\n\"And what are you going to do now?\" said Ting-a-ling.\n\n\"O, I'm all right!\" replied Parsley. \"I shall have a butterfly of my own\nsoon.\"\n\n\"How's that?\" asked Ting-a-ling, quite curious to know.\n\n\"Come here!\" said Parsley; and so Ting-a-ling got off his grasshopper,\nand led it up close to his friend. \"See what I've found!\" said Parsley,\nshowing a cocoon that lay beside him. \"I'm going to wait till this\nbutterfly's hatched, and I shall have him the minute he comes out.\"\n\nThe idea of waiting for the butterfly to be hatched, seemed so funny to\nTing-a-ling, that he burst out laughing, and Parsley laughed too, and so\ndid the grasshopper, for he took this opportunity to slip his head out\nof the bridle, and away he went!\n\nTing-a-ling turned and gazed in amazement at the grasshopper skipping up\nthe hill; and Parsley, when he had done laughing, advised him to hunt\naround for another cocoon, and follow his example.\n\nTing-a-ling did not reply to this advice, but throwing his bridle to\nParsley, said, \"There, you would better take that. You may want it when\nyour butterfly's hatched. I shall push on.\"\n\n\"What! walk?\" cried Parsley.\n\n\"Yes, walk,\" said Ting-a-ling. \"Good-by.\"\n\nSo Ting-a-ling travelled on by himself for the rest of the day, and it\nwas nearly evening when he came to a wide brook with beautiful green\nbanks, and overhanging trees. Here he sat down to rest himself; and\nwhile he was wondering if it would be a good thing for him to try to get\nacross, he amused himself by watching the sports and antics of various\ninsects and fishes that were enjoying themselves that fine summer\nevening. Plenty of butterflies and dragon-flies were there, but\nTing-a-ling knew that he could never catch one of them, for they were\nnearly all the time over the surface of the water; and many a big fish\nwas watching them from below, hoping that in their giddy flights, some\nof them would come near enough to be snapped down for supper. There were\nspiders, who shot over the surface of the brook as if they had been\nskating; and all sorts of beautiful bugs and flies were there,--green,\nyellow, emerald, gold, and black. At a short distance, Ting-a-ling saw a\ncrowd of little minnows, who had caught a young tadpole, and, having\ntied a bluebell to his tail, were now chasing the affrighted creature\nabout. But after a while the tadpole's mother came out, and then the\nminnows caught it!\n\nWhile watching all these lively creatures, Ting-a-ling fell asleep, and\nwhen he awoke, it was dark night. He jumped up, and looked about him.\nThe butterflies and dragon-flies had all gone to bed, and now the great\nnight-bugs and buzzing beetles were out; the katydids were chirping in\nthe trees, and the frogs were croaking among the long reeds. Not far\noff, on the same side of the brook, Ting-a-ling saw the light of a fire,\nand so he walked over to see what it meant. On his way, he came across\nsome wild honeysuckles, and, pulling one of the blossoms, he sucked out\nthe sweet juice for his supper, as he walked along. When he reached the\nfire, he saw sitting around it five men, with turbans and great black\nbeards. Ting-a-ling instantly perceived that they were magicians, and,\nputting the honeysuckle to his lips, he blew a little tune upon it,\nwhich the magicians hearing, they said to one another, \"There is a fairy\nnear us.\" Then Ting-a-ling came into the midst of them, and, climbing up\non a pile of cloaks and shawls, conversed with them; and he soon heard\nthat they knew, by means of their magical arts, that the Princess had\nbeen stolen the night before, by the slaves of a wicked dwarf, and that\nshe was now locked up in his castle, which was on top of a high\nmountain, not far from where they then were.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I shall go there right off,\" said Ting-a-ling.\n\n\"And what will you do when you get there?\" said the youngest magician,\nwhose name was Zamcar. \"This dwarf is a terrible little fellow, and the\nsame one who twisted poor Nerralina's head, which circumstance of course\nyou remember. He has numbers of fierce slaves, and a great castle. You\nare a good little fellow, but I don't think you could do much for the\nPrincess, if you did go to her.\"\n\nTing-a-ling reflected a moment, and then said that he would go to his\nfriend, the Giant Tur-il-i-ra; but Zamcar told him that that tremendous\nindividual had gone to the uttermost limits of China, to launch a ship.\nIt was such a big one, and so heavy, that it had sunk down into the\nearth as tight as if it had grown there, and all the men and horses in\nthe country could not move it. So there was nothing to do but to send\nfor Tur-il-i-ra. When Ting-a-ling heard this, he was disheartened, and\nhung his little head. \"The best thing to do,\" remarked Alcahazar, the\noldest of the magicians, \"would be to inform the King and his army of\nthe place where the Princess is confined, and let them go and take her\nout.\"\n\n\"O no!\" cried Ting-a-ling, who, if his body was no larger than a very\nsmall pea-pod, had a soul as big as a water-melon. \"If the King knows\nit, up he will come with all his drums and horns, and the dwarf will\nhear him a mile off and either kill the Princess, or hide her away. If\nwe were all to go to the castle, I should think we could do something\nourselves.\" This was the longest speech that Ting-a-ling had ever made;\nand when he was through, the youngest magician said to the others that\nhe thought it was growing cooler, and the others agreed that it was.\nAfter some conversation among themselves in an exceedingly foreign\ntongue, these kind magicians agreed to go up to the castle, and see what\nthey could do. So Zamcar put Ting-a-ling in the folds of his turban, and\nthe whole party started off for the dwarf's castle. They looked like a\ncompany of travelling merchants, each one having a package on his back\nand a great staff in his hand. When they reached the outer gate of the\ncastle, Alcahazar, the oldest, knocked at it with his stick, and it was\nopened at once by a shiny black slave, who, coming out, shut it behind\nhim, and inquired what the travellers wanted.\n\n\"Is your master within?\" asked Alcahazar.\n\n\"I don't know,\" said the slave.\n\n\"Can't you find out?\" asked the magician.\n\n\"Well, good merchant, perhaps I might; but I don't particularly want to\nknow,\" said the slave, as he leaned back against the gate, leisurely\nstriking with his long sword at the night-bugs and beetles that were\nbuzzing about.\n\n\"My friend,\" said Alcahazar, \"don't you think that is rather a careless\nway of using a sword? You might cut somebody.\"\n\n\"That's true,\" said the slave. \"I didn't think of it before;\" but he\nkept on striking away, all the same.\n\n\"Then stop it!\" said Alcahazar, the oldest magician, striking the sword\nfrom his hand with one blow of his staff. Upon this, up stepped\nOrmanduz, the next oldest, and whacked the slave over his head; and then\nMahallah, the next oldest, struck him over the shoulders; and Akbeck, the\nnext oldest, cracked him on the shins; and Zamcar, the youngest, punched\nhim in the stomach; and the slave sat down, and begged the noble\nmerchants to please stop. So they stopped, and he humbly informed them\nthat his master was in.\n\n\"We would see him,\" said Alcahazar.\n\n\"But, sirs,\" said the slave, \"he is having a grand feast.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the magician, \"we're invited.\"\n\n\"O noble merchants!\" cried the slave, \"why did you not tell me that\nbefore?\" and he opened wide the gate, and let them in. After they had\npassed the outer gate, which was of wood, they went through another of\niron, and another of brass, and another of copper, and then walked\nthrough the court-yard, filled with armed slaves, and up the great\ncastle steps; at the top of which stood the butler, dressed in gorgeous\narray.\n\n\"Whom have you here, base slave?\" cried the gorgeous butler.\n\n\"Five noble merchants, invited to my lord's feast,\" said the slave,\nbowing to the ground.\n\n\"But they cannot enter the banqueting hall in such garbs,\" said the\nbutler. \"They cannot be noble merchants, if they come not nobly dressed\nto my lord's feast.\"\n\n\"O sir!\" said Alcahazar, \"may your delicate and far-reaching\nunderstanding be written in books, and taught to youth in foreign lands,\nand may your profound judgment ever overawe your country! But allow us\nnow to tell you that we have gorgeous dresses in these our packs. Would\nwe soil them with the dust of travel, ere we entered the halls of my\nlord the dwarf?\"\n\nThe butler bowed low at this address, and caused the five magicians to\nbe conducted to five magnificent chambers, where were slaves, and\nlights, and baths, and soap, and towels, and wash-rags, and\ntooth-brushes; and each magician took a gorgeous dress from his pack,\nand put it on, and then they were all conducted (with Ting-a-ling still\nin Zamcar's turban) to the grand hall, where the feast was being held.\nHere they found the dwarf and his guests, numbering a hundred, having a\ntruly jolly time. The dwarf, who was dressed in white (to make him look\nlarger), was seated on a high red velvet cushion at the end of the hall,\nand the company sat cross-legged on rugs, in a great circle before him.\nHe was drinking out of a huge bottle nearly as big as himself, and\neating little birds; and judging by the bones that were left, he must\nhave eaten nearly a whole flock of them. When he saw the five magicians\nentering, he stopped eating, and opened his eyes in amazement, and then\nshouted to his servants to tell him who these people were, who came\nwithout permission to his feast; but as no one knew, nobody answered.\nThe guests, seeing the stately demeanor and magnificent dresses of the\nvisitors, thought that they were at least five great monarchs.\n\n\"My lord the dwarf,\" said Alcahazar, advancing toward him, \"I am the\nking of a far country; and passing your castle, and hearing of your\nfeast, I have made bold to come and offer you some of the sweet-tasting\nbirds of my kingdom.\" So saying, he lifted up his richly embroidered\ncloak, and took from under it a great silver dish containing about two\nhundred dozen hot, smoking, delicately cooked, fat little birds. Under\nthe dish were fastened lamps of perfumed oil, all lighted, and keeping\nthe savory food nice and hot. Making a low bow, the magician placed the\ndish before the dwarf, who tasted one of the birds, and immediately\nclapped his hands with joy. \"Great King!\" he cried, \"welcome to my\nfeast! Slaves, quick! make room for the great king!\" As there was no\nvacant place, the slaves took hold of one of the guests, and gave him\nwhat the boys would call a \"hist,\" right through the window, and\nAlcahazar took his place. Then stepped forward Ormanduz, and said, \"My\nlord the dwarf, I am also the king of a far country, and I have made\nbold to offer you some of the wine of my kingdom.\" So saying, he lifted\nhis gold-lined cloak, and took from beneath it a crystal decanter,\ncovered with gold and ruby ornaments, with one hundred and one\nbeautifully carved silver goblets hanging from its neck, and which\ncontained about eleven gallons of the most delicious wine. He placed it\nbefore the dwarf, who, having tasted the wine, gave a great cheer, and\nshouted to his slaves to make room for this mighty king. So the slaves\ntook another guest by the neck and heels, and sent him, slam-bang,\nthrough the window, and Ormanduz took his place. Then stepped forward\nMahallah, and said, \"My lord the dwarf, I am also the king of a far\ncountry, and I bring you a sample of the venison of my kingdom.\" So\nsaying, he raised his velvet cloak, trimmed with diamonds, and took from\nunder it a whole deer, already cooked, and stuffed with oysters,\nanchovies, buttered toast, olives, tamarind seeds, sweet-marjoram, sage,\nand many other herbs and spices, and all piping hot, and smelling\ndeliciously. This he put down before the dwarf, who, when he had tasted\nit, waved his goblet over his head, and cried out to the slaves to make\nroom for this mighty king. So the slaves seized another guest, and out\nof the window, like a shot, he went, and Mahallah took his place. Then\nAkbeck stepped up, and said, \"My lord the dwarf, I am also the king of a\nfar country, and I bring you some of the confections of my dominions.\"\nSo saying, he took from under his cloak of gold cloth, a great basket of\nsilver filagree work, in which were cream-chocolates, and burnt almonds,\nand sponge-cake, and lady's fingers, and mixtures, and gingernuts, and\nhoar-hound candy, and gum-drops, and fruit-cake, and cream candy, and\nmintstick, and pound-cake, and rock candy, and butter taffy, and many\nother confections, amounting in all to about two hundred and twenty\npounds. He placed the basket before the dwarf, who tasted some of these\ngood things, and found them so delicious, that he lay on his back and\nkicked up his heels in delight, shouting to his slaves to make room for\nthis great king. As the next guest was a big, fat man, too heavy to\nthrow far, he was seized by four slaves, who walked him Spanish right\nout of the door, and Akbeck took his place. Then Zamcar stepped forward\nand said, \"My lord the dwarf, I also am king of a far country, and I\nbring you some of the fruit of my dominions.\" And so saying, he took\nfrom beneath his gold and purple cloak, a great basket filled with\ncurrants as big as grapes, and grapes as big as plums, and plums as big\nas peaches, and peaches as big as cantaloupes, and cantaloupes as big as\nwater-melons, and water-melons as big as barrels. There were about\nnineteen bushels of them altogether, and he put them before the dwarf,\nwho, having tasted some of them, clapped his hands, and shouted to his\nslaves to make room for this mighty king; but as the next guest had very\nsensibly got up and gone out, Zamcar took his seat without any delay.\nThen Ting-a-ling, who was very much excited by all these wonderful\nperformances, slipped down out of Zamcar's turban, and, running up\ntowards the dwarf, cried out, \"My lord the dwarf, I am also the king of\na far country, and I bring you\"--and he lifted up his little cloak; but\nas there was nothing there, he said no more, but clambered up into\nZamcar's turban again. As nobody noticed or heard him, so great was the\nbustle and noise of the festivity, his speech made no difference one way\nor the other. After everybody had eaten and drunk until they could eat\nand drink no more, the dwarf jumped up and called to the chief butler,\nto know how many beds were prepared for the guests; to which the butler\nanswered that there were thirty beds prepared. \"Then,\" said the dwarf,\n\"give these five noble kings each one of the best rooms, with a down\nbed, and a silken comfortable; and give the other beds to the\ntwenty-five biggest guests. As to the rest, turn them out!\" So the dwarf\nwent to bed, and each of the magicians had a splendid room, and\ntwenty-five of the biggest guests had beds, and the rest were all turned\nout. As it was pouring down rain, and freezing, and cold, and wet, and\nslippery (for the weather was very unsettled on this mountain), and all\nthese guests, who now found themselves outside of the castle gates,\nlived many miles away, and as none of them had any hats, or knew the way\nhome, they were very miserable indeed.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAlcahazar did not go to bed, but sat in his room and reflected. He saw\nthat the dwarf had given this feast on account of his joy at having\ncaptured the Princess, and thus caused grief to the King and Prince, and\nall the people; but it was also evident that he was very sly, and had\nnot mentioned the matter to any of the company. The other magicians did\nnot go to bed either, but sat in their rooms, and thought the same\nthing; and Ting-a-ling, in Zamcar's turban, was of exactly the same\nopinion. So, in about an hour, when all was still, the magicians got up,\nand went softly over the castle. One went down into the lower rooms, and\nthere were all the slaves, fast asleep; and another into one wing of the\ncastle, and there were half the guests, fast asleep; and another into\nthe other wing, and there were the rest of the guests, fast asleep; and\nAlcahazar went into the dwarf's room, in the centre of the castle, and\nthere was he, fast asleep, with one of his fists shut tight. The\nmagician touched his fist with his magic staff, and it immediately\nopened, and there was a key! So Alcahazar took the key, and shut up the\ndwarf's hand again. Zamcar went up to the floor, near the top of the\nhouse, and entered a large room, which was empty, but the walls were\nhung with curtains made of snakes' skins, beautifully woven together.\nTing-a-ling slipped down to the floor, and, peeping behind these\ncurtains, saw the hinge of a door; and without saying a word, he got\nbehind the curtain; and, sure enough, there was a door! and there was a\nkey-hole! and in a minute, there was Ting-a-ling right through it! and\nthere was the Princess in a chair in the middle of a great room, crying\nas if her heart would break! By the light of the moon, which had now\nbroken through the clouds, Ting-a-ling saw that she was tied fast to the\nchair. So he climbed up on her shoulder, and called her by name; and\nwhen the Princess heard him and knew him, she took him into her lovely\nhands, and kissed him, and cried over him, and laughed over him so much,\nthat her joy had like to have been the death of him. When she got over\nher excitement, she told him how she had been stolen away; how she had\nheard her favorite cat squeak in the middle of the night, and how she\nhad got up quickly to go to it, supposing it had been squeezed in some\ndoor, and how the wicked dwarf, who had been imitating the cat, was just\noutside the door with his slaves; and how they had seized her, and bound\nher, and carried her off to this castle, without waking up any of the\nKing's household. Then Ting-a-ling told her that his five friends were\nthere, and that they were going to see what they could do; and the\nPrincess was very glad to hear that, you may be sure. Then Ting-a-ling\nslipped down to the floor, and through the key-hole; and as he entered\nthe room where he had left Zamcar, in came Alcahazar with the key and\nthe other magicians with news that everybody was asleep. When\nTing-a-ling had told about the Princess, Alcahazar pushed aside the\ncurtains, unlocked the door with the key, and they all entered the next\nroom.\n\nThere, sure enough, was the Princess Aufalia; but, right in front of\nher, on the floor, squatted the dwarf, who had missed his key, and had\nslipped up by a back way! The magicians started back on seeing him; the\nPrincess was crying bitterly, and Ting-a-ling ran past the dwarf (who\nwas laughing too horribly to notice him), and climbing upon the\nPrincess's shoulder, sat there among her curls, and did his best to\ncomfort her.\n\n\"Anyway,\" said he, \"_I_ shall not leave you again,\" and he drew his\nlittle sword, and felt as big as a house. The magicians now advanced\ntowards the dwarf; but he, it seems, was a bit of a magician himself,\nfor he waved a little wand, and instantly a strong partition of iron\nwire rose up out of the floor, and, reaching from one wall to the other,\nseparated him completely from the five men. The magicians no sooner saw\nthis, than they cried out, \"O ho! Mr. Dwarf, is that your game?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the little wretch, chuckling; \"can you play at it?\"\n\n\"A little,\" said they; and each one pulled from under his cloak a long\nfile; and filing the partition from the wall on each side, which only\nneeded a few strokes from their sharp files, they pulled it entirely\ndown. But before the magicians could reach him, the dwarf again waved\nhis wand, and a great chasm opened in the floor before them, which was\ntoo wide to jump over, and so deep that the bottom could not be seen.\n\n\"O ho!\" cried the magicians; \"another game, eh!\"\n\n\"Yes indeed,\" cried the dwarf. \"Just let me see you play at _that_.\"\n\nEach of the magicians then took from under his magic cloak a long board,\nand, putting them over the chasm, they began to walk across them. But\nthe dwarf jumped up and waved his wand, and water commenced to fall on\nthe boards, where it immediately froze; and they were so slippery, that\nthe magicians could hardly keep their feet, and could not make one step\nforward. Even standing still, they came very near falling off into the\nchasm below. \"I suppose you can play at that,\" said the dwarf; and the\nmagicians replied.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"O yes!\" and each one took from under his cloak a pan of ashes, and\nsprinkled the boards, and walked right over. But before they reached the\nother edge, the dwarf pushed the chair, which was on rollers, up against\nthe wall behind him, which opened; and instantly the Princess,\nTing-a-ling, and the dwarf disappeared, and the wall closed up. Without\nsaying a word, the magicians each drew from beneath his cloak a pickaxe,\nand they cut a hole in the wall in a few minutes. There was a large room\non the other side, but it was entirely empty. So they sat down, and got\nout their magical calculators, and soon discovered that the Princess was\nin the lowest part of the castle; but the magical calculators being a\nlittle out of order, they could not show exactly her place of\nconfinement. Then the five hurried down-stairs, where they found the\nslaves still asleep; but one poor little boy, whose business it was to\nget up early every morning and split kindling wood, having had none of\nthe feast, was not very sleepy, and woke up when he heard footsteps near\nhim. The magicians asked him if he could show them to the lowest part of\nthe castle. \"All right,\" said he; \"this way;\" and he led them to where\nthere was a great black hole, with a windlass over it. \"Get in the\nbucket,\" said he, \"and I will lower you down.\"\n\n\"Bucket!\" cried Alcahazar. \"Is that a well?\"\n\n\"To be sure it is,\" said the boy, who had nothing on but the\nbaby-clothes he had worn ever since he was born; and which, as he was\nnow about ten years old, had split a good deal in the back and arms, but\nin length they were very suitable.\n\n\"But there can be no one down there,\" said the magician. \"I see deep\nwater.\"\n\n\"Of course there is nobody there,\" replied the boy. \"Were you told to go\ndown there to meet anybody? Because, if you were, you had better take\nsome tubs down with you, to sit in. But all I know about it is, that\nit's the lowest part of this old hole of a castle.\"\n\n\"Boy,\" said Alcahazar, \"there is a young lady shut up down here\nsomewhere. Do you know where she is?\"\n\n\"How old is she?\" asked the boy.\n\n\"About seventeen,\" said the magician.\n\n\"O then! if she is no older than that, I should think she'd be in the\npreserve-closet, if she knew where it was,\" and the boy pointed to a\ngreat door, barred and locked, where the dwarf, who had a very sweet\ntooth, kept all his preserves locked up tight and fast. Zamcar stooped\nand looked through the key-hole of this door, and there, sure enough,\nwas the Princess! So the boy proved to be smarter than all the\nmagicians. Each of our five friends now took from under his cloak a\ncrowbar, and in a minute they had forced open the great door. But they\nhad scarcely entered, when the dwarf, springing on the arm of the chair\nto which the Princess was still tied, drew his sword, and clapped it to\nher throat, crying out, that if the magicians came one step nearer, he\nwould slice her head off.\n\n\"O ho!\" cried they, \"is that your game?\"\n\n\"Yes indeed,\" said the chuckling dwarf; \"can you play at it?\"\n\nThe magicians did not appear to think that they could; but Ting-a-ling,\nwho was still on the Princess's shoulder, though unseen by the dwarf,\nsuddenly shouted, \"I can play!\" and in an instant he had driven his\nlittle sword into the dwarf's eye, who immediately sprang from the chair\nwith a howl of anguish. While he was yelling and skipping about, with\nhis hands to his eyes, the poor boy, who hated him worse than pills,\nclapped a great jar of preserves over him, and sat down on the bottom of\nthe jar! The magicians then untied the Princess; and as she looked weak\nand faint, Zamcar, the youngest, took from under his cloak a little\ntable, set with everything hot and nice for supper; and when the\nPrincess had eaten something and taken a cup of tea, she felt a great\ndeal better. Alcahazar lifted up the jar from the dwarf, and there was\nthe little rascal, so covered up with sticky jam, that he could not\nspeak and could hardly move. So, taking an oil-cloth bag from under his\ncloak, Alcahazar dropped the dwarf into it, and tied it up, and hung it\nto his girdle. The two youngest magicians made a sort of chair out of a\nshawl, and they carried the Princess on it between them, very\ncomfortably; and as Ting-a-ling still remained on her shoulder, she\nbegan to feel that things were beginning to look brighter. They then\nasked the poor boy what he would like best as a reward for what he had\ndone; and he said that if they would shut him up in that room, and lock\nthe door tight, and lose the key, he would be happy all the days of his\nlife. So they left the boy (who knew what was good, and was already\nsucking away at a jar of preserved green-gages) in the room, and they\nshut the door and locked it tight, and lost the key; and he lived there\nfor ninety-one years, eating preserves; and when they were all gone, he\ndied. All that time he never had any clothes but his baby-clothes, and\nthey got pretty sticky before his death. Then our party left the castle;\nand as they passed the slaves still fast asleep, the three oldest\nmagicians took from under their cloaks watering-pots, filled with water\nthat makes men sleep, and they watered the slaves with it, until they\nwere wet enough to sleep a week. When they went through the gates of\ncopper, brass, iron, and wood, they left them all open behind them. They\nhad not gone far before they saw seventy-five men, all sitting in a row\nat the side of the road, and looking woefully indeed. They had been wet\nto the skin, and were now frozen stiff, not one of them being able to\nmove anything but his eyelids, and they were all crying as if their\nhearts would break. So the magicians stopped, and the three oldest each\ntook from under his cloak a pair of bellows, and they blew hot air on\nthe poor creatures until they were all thawed. Then Alcahazar told them\nto go up to the castle, and take it for their own, and live there all\nthe rest of their lives. He informed them that the dwarf was his\nprisoner, and that the slaves would sleep for a week.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen the seventy-five guests (for those who had been taken from the\nfeast, had joined their comrades) heard this, they all started up, and\nran like deer for the castle; and when they reached it, they woke up\ntheir comrades, and took possession, and lived there all their lives.\nThe man who had been first thrown through the window, and who had broken\nthe way through the glass for the others, was elected their chief,\nbecause he had suffered the most; and excepting the trouble of doing\ntheir own work for a week, until the slaves awoke, these people were\nvery happy ever afterwards.\n\nIt was just daylight when our party left the dwarf's castle, and by the\nnext evening they had reached the palace. The army had not got back, and\nthere was no one there but the ladies of the Princess. When these saw\ntheir dear mistress, there was never before such a kissing, and hugging,\nand crying, and laughing. Ting-a-ling came in for a good share of praise\nand caressing; and if he had not slipped away to tell his tale to the\nfairy Queen, there is no knowing what would have become of him. The\nmagicians sat down outside of the Princess's apartments, to guard her\nuntil the army should return; and the ladies would have kissed and\nhugged them, in their gratitude and joy, if they had not been such\ndignified and grave personages.\n\nNow, the King, the Prince, and the great army, had gone miles and miles\naway in the opposite direction to the dwarf's castle, and the Princess\nand her ladies could not think how to let them know what had happened.\nAs for ringing the great bell, they knew that that would be useless, for\nthey would never hear it at the distance they were, and so they wished\nthat they had some fireworks to set off. Therefore Zamcar, the youngest\nmagician, offered to go up to the top of the palace and set off some.\nSo, when he got up to the roof, he lifted up his cloak, and took out\nsome fireworks, and set them off; and the light shone for miles and\nmiles, and the King and all his army saw it. The King had just begun to\nfeel tired, and to think that he would pitch his tent, and rest for the\nnight by the side of a pleasant stream they had reached, when he saw the\nlight from the palace, and instantly knew that there had been tidings of\nthe Princess,--kings are so smart, you know. So, when his slaves came to\nask him where they should pitch his tent, he shouted, \"Pitch it in the\nriver! 'Tention, army! Right about face, for home,--MARCH!\" and away the\nwhole army marched for home, the band playing the lively air of\n\n  \"Cream cakes for supper,\n      Heigh O! Heigh O!\n  O! Cream cakes for supper,\n      Heigh O! Heigh O!\"--\n\nso as to keep up the spirits of the tired men. When they approached the\npalace, which was all lighted up, there was the Princess standing at the\ngreat door, in her Sunday clothes, and looking as lovely as a full-blown\nrose. The King jumped from his high-mettled racer, and went up the\nsteps, two at a time; but the Prince, springing from his fiery steed\nbounded up three steps at once, and got there first. When he and the\nKing had got through hugging and kissing the Princess, her Sunday\nclothes looked as if they had been worn a week.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Now then for supper,\" said the King, \"and I hope it's ready.\" But the\nPrincess said never a word, for she had forgotten all about supper; and\nall the ladies hung their heads, and were afraid to speak. But when they\nreached the great hall, they found that the magicians had been at work,\nand had cooked a grand supper. There it was, on ever so many long\ntables, all smoking hot, and smelling delightfully. So they all sat\ndown, for there was room enough for every man, and nobody said a word\nuntil he was as tight as a drum.\n\nWhen they had all had enough, and were just about to begin to talk,\nthere were heard strains of the most delightful soft music; and\ndirectly, in at a window came the Queen of the fairies, attended by her\ncourt, all mounted on beautiful golden moths and dragon-flies. When they\nreached the velvet table in front of the throne, where the King had been\neating, with his plate on his lap, they arranged themselves in a circle\non the table, and the Queen spoke out in a clear little voice, that\ncould have been heard almost anywhere, and announced to the King that\nthe little Ting-a-ling, who now wore her royal scarf, was the preserver\nof his daughter.\n\n\"O ho!\" said the King; \"and what can I do for such a mite as you, my\nfine little fellow?\"\n\nThen Ting-a-ling, who wanted nothing for himself, and only thought of\nthe good of his people, made a low bow to the King, and shouted at the\ntop of his voice, \"Your royal gardeners are going to make asparagus beds\nall over our fairy pleasure grounds. If you can prevent that, I have\nnothing more to ask.\"\n\n\"Blow, Horner, blow!\" cried the King, \"and hear, all men! If any man,\nwoman, or child, from this time henceforward forever, shall dare to set\nfoot in the garden now occupied by the fairies, he shall be put to\ndeath, he and all his family, and his relations, as far as they can be\ntraced. Take notice of that, every one of you!\"\n\nTing-a-ling then bowed his thanks, and all the people made up their\nminds to take very particular notice of what the King had said.\n\nThen the magicians were ordered to come forward and name their reward;\nbut they bowed their heads, and simply besought the King that he would\ngrant them seven rye straws, the peeling from a red apple, and the heel\nfrom one of his old slippers. What in the name of common sense they\nwanted with these, no one but themselves knew; but magicians are such\nstrange creatures! When these valuable gifts had been bestowed upon\nthem, the five good magicians departed, leaving the dwarf for the King\nto do what he pleased with. This little wretch was shut up in an iron\ncage, and every day was obliged to eat three codfish, a bushel of Irish\npotatoes, and eleven pounds of bran crackers, and to drink a gallon of\ncambric tea; all of which things he despised from the bottom of his\nmiserable little heart.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Now,\" cried the King, \"all is settled, and let everybody go to bed.\nThere is room enough in the palace for all to sleep to-night. Form in\nline, and to bed,--MARCH!\" So they all formed in line, and began to\nmarch to bed, to the music of the band; and the fairies, their little\nhorns blowing, and with Ting-a-ling at the post of honor by the Queen,\ntook up their line of march, out of the window to the garden, which was\nto be, henceforward forever, their own. Just as they were all filing\nout, in flew little Parsley on the back of his butterfly, which had been\nhatched out at last.\n\n\"Hello!\" cried he. \"Is it all over?\"\n\n\"Pretty nearly,\" said Ting-a-ling. \"It's just letting out. How came you\nto be so late?\"\n\n\"Easy enough,\" said poor little Parsley. \"Of all the mean things that\never was the pokiest long time in unwrapping its wings, this butterfly's\nthe meanest.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE MAGICAL MUSIC.\n\n\nThere was once an excessively mighty King, Barradin the Great, who died,\nleaving no sons or daughters, or any relation on the face of the earth,\nto inherit his crown. So his throne, at the time of which I write, was\nvacant. This mighty King had been of a very peculiar disposition. Unlike\nother potentates, he took no delight in going to war, or in cutting off\npeople's heads, or in getting married, or building palaces. But he was a\ngreat musician. All that he cared for, seemed to be music; and the whole\nof his leisure time, with a great many of his business hours, was\noccupied in either composing or performing music of some kind. Everybody\naround him was obliged to be musical; and if one was not so, it would be\nof no use for him to apply for any situation. His Prime Minister played\non the violin, his Secretary performed on the horn, while his Treasurer\nwas superb upon the great drum. Every time the Royal Council met, the\nminutes of the last meeting, all set to music, were sung by the\nSecretary; and when the King made a speech, he always sung it in a\nmagnificent bass voice, accompanied by a full orchestra. If any one\nwished to present a petition, he was always sure of having it granted,\nif he could but sing it excellently well, and even folks who were good\nat whistling were favorably received at court. The example of the King\nwas followed by the people. They nearly always talked to some tune, and\nevery one but the very poorest owned an instrument.\n\nSo this mighty monarch never went to war, or cut off people's heads, or\nmarried more than once; and as for building palaces, it was of no use,\nfor he had as many as he wanted, already. The last ten years of his life\nwere occupied, almost entirely, in the composition of a wonderful piece\nof music, in which he sought, by means of perseverance and magic, to\ncombine all the beauties and difficulties of the science. He had\nscarcely finished it, when he died; and it was generally supposed that\nif he had not worked so hard at it, he would have lived much longer.\n\nThe composition was not long, for you could have sung it in ten minutes,\nthat is, if you could have sung it at all; which is by no means likely,\nfor had that been the case (and you had lived in those days) you might\nhave ruled over the country. For, just before the mighty King died, he\nmade a decree to this effect,--that his successor on the throne should\nbe the man, woman, or child who could, at sight, sing that piece of\nmusic.\n\nSo the music was put up against a marble tablet in the great hall of the\nroyal palace, and there were six judges appointed,--the most\ndistinguished professors of music in the country,--and these sat on\ngreat velvet chairs, three on each side of the music, and anybody might\ncome to try who chose.\n\nYou may well believe that the people came in crowds, for nearly every\none wished to be king or queen, as the case might be. This music had a\nvery singular effect upon most of those who did not succeed in singing\nit. They nearly all went crazy. The first few notes were easy, and they\nwere so beautiful, that it was enough to make any one crazy to think\nthat they could not sing the rest of it,--not to mention missing the\ncrown. The Prime Minister had, on this account, a great asylum built, to\nwhich the disappointed candidates were immediately conveyed, and the\nhouse was very soon filled. Indeed, it was often necessary to build\nextensions to the main building, and it was not long before this was the\nlargest edifice in the country. It is true, that although every one\nfailed to sing the music, they did not all go crazy; but they were taken\nto the asylum the same as the rest, and if they were not crazy when they\ngot there, they soon became so, and thus it amounted to pretty much the\nsame thing in the end. Well, the judges sat in their chairs until they\ndied at a good old age, and they were succeeded by others just as\nlearned. Latterly there were not so many applications as there used to\nbe, but still, every few days, some one went out to the asylum. Years\npassed, and the offices of the judges became sinecures; but they had to\nsit there all the same, just as if they expected to be busy; and they\nmight have been seen, whenever anybody chose to step in during the day,\nsitting there with their chins on their breasts, fast asleep. The Prime\nMinister, and after him his son, ruled the country very well, and people\nbegan to feel as if they didn't care if they never had a king or a queen\nto govern them. As a rule, they all felt very comfortable without\nanything of the kind.\n\nNow it so happened that about this time a certain young Prince,\naccompanied by an old gentleman (to take care of him), was travelling in\nthis great kingdom. His father's dominion was very many miles away; but\nthe Prince had been journeying in this direction for quite a long time,\ntaking things easily, and seeing everything that was to be seen. His\nmother had died when he was quite young, and his father had lately\nmarried the daughter of a gnome, probably because their estates\njoined,--his stretching for many miles over the surface of the earth,\nwhile hers lay immediately beneath them. The Prince did not like his\ngnome step-mother (who was, you know, one of those large underground\nfairies, who are more like human beings than any others), and when a\nlittle gnome-baby was born, he could stand it no longer, and so obtained\npermission of his father to travel for the good of his body and mind. So\nhe had been going from country to country until he reached the capital\ncity of the great kingdom.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThere the Prince saw enough to fill him with wonder for the rest of his\nlife. His old friend, Trumkard, took him day by day into the bazaars,\nand the palaces, and the mosques, and hundreds of places just as nice.\nOne beautiful evening the Prince set out for a walk by himself through\nthe city. The gentle twilight still tinged the sky with gold, and the\nsoft breeze from the river, that passed through fruit-gardens and\nvineyards on its way to the city, smelt of peaches, and grapes, and\nplums, and oranges, and pomegranates, and pineapples, and was truly very\ndelicious. Everything was lovely, and the Prince felt good and happy.\nThe very beggars, when he had passed them, blessed the happy stars that\nhad caused them to be born during his life-time, so noble and generous\nwas the Prince this evening. Strolling along, he came to the palace of\nthe mighty King. The Prince knew the palace; for Trumkard had taken him\ninto it, and had shown him the six judges sitting in their velvet\nchairs, and the magical music hanging up against the marble tablet\nbetween them. He knew all about the music, and the conditions attached\nto it, but, not being much of a musician, he had never felt inclined to\ntry it. So he walked through the royal courts and vestibules, and into\nthe great hall where stood the six chairs,--empty, and covered with\nsilken covers to keep the dust off during the night. And the music was\nconcealed by a great plate of gold which was locked over it every night.\nHe met but few persons; for every one who was not detained by some\nparticular duty, had gone out-of-doors that lovely night. Here and\nthere, a porter, or a black eunuch, or a soldier or two, he met; but as\nevery one who saw him, knew him instantly for a prince of good blood, he\ncould, of course, wander where he pleased. He passed on among the golden\ncolumns and sculptured doorways, and under vaulted and arabesque\nceilings, until he came to a door of mother-of-pearl, which had a golden\nlock, an alabaster knob, and a diamond key-hole. It turned easily on\nsilver hinges, and the Prince passed by it into a beautiful garden. He\nhad never been in such a place of loveliness. The trees were hung with\nmany soft-colored lamps, and the fruit glittered and shone in gorgeous\ncolors on the branches. Every night-bird sang, and every night-flower\nwas giving forth its fragrance. In the middle of the garden was a\nfountain, the waters of which rose in a single jet from the centre, and\nthen, as they fell back into the basin, each of their thousand drops\nstruck upon a silver harp-string, causing the most delightful sounds to\nfill the air, and mingle with the songs of the birds and the perfume of\nthe flowers. Around the great basin were silken cushions on which the\nPrince reclined, and the goldfish that were swimming in the basin came\nup to him to be fed. There also came the ruby fish, that shines as red\nas blood, and the zimphare, or transparent fish, which is as colorless\nas the water, and can only be discovered by a green knot on its head and\nanother on its tail.\n\nThere were also many other fish, as the balance-fish, which comes up to\nthe top of the water equally balanced, having at each end of its body\nexpansions like the pans of scales. These are its mouths, and if one\nputs a crumb into one of them without having put one into the other, it\nturns right over, and sinks to the bottom. So, when this fish is\nproperly fed, it always gets two crumbs at a time. Then there was the\ngelatine fish, that has no mouth at all, but is very soft and pulpy, and\nall that is necessary is to drop some crumbs upon his back, and they\nimmediately soak in. Also the great flob was there, who came clattering\nand clanking up from the bottom of the basin, with his hard shells and\nheavy claws, as if he was the greatest fish alive. But for all that he\nopened his mouth so wide, and shut it upon a little crumb with a snap\nloud enough for a loaf of bread, his throat was so small that that\nlittle crumb nearly choked him. All these fishes the Prince fed from\ngolden baskets filled with crumbs, and placed around the basin for the\nconvenience of those who wished to amuse themselves by feeding the fish.\nWhen he was tired of this sport, he rose and entered the palace again by\nanother door. He had not walked far along an alabaster corridor, before\nhe saw a door open, and an old woman come out. She had in her hand a\nsilver waiter, on which was the remains of a delicious little supper,\nthe scent of which seemed so charming to the Prince that it made him\nfeel as hungry as a bear in the springtime. The old woman, who was busy\nmunching some of the pieces of cake, and sucking the bones of the little\nbirds that were left, did not notice him; and, hoping to find some more\ngood things where these came from, he slipped in at the door, before the\nold woman shut it, and entered a large and beautiful room, lighted by a\nsingle lamp that hung from the ceiling. At the upper end of this\napartment, he was surprised to see a beautiful young Princess, who was\nsitting in an arm-chair, fast asleep, with a guitar on the floor at her\nfeet. Around the room were placed musical instruments of all kinds; but\nthere was no one there to play on them but the Princess, and she was\nfast asleep.\n\nThere was a breeze in the room, that seemed to come and go like the\nwaves of the sea; and the Prince could not imagine what occasioned it,\nfor all the doors and windows were closed. However, looking upwards, he\nsaw, behind the Princess's chair, the reason of the wind and the lady's\nslumber. Standing behind her, with his feet on the floor and his head\nhigh up in the obscurity of the ceiling, was a great Nimshee, or evil\nspirit of the ocean, who was fanning her with his wings, and had put her\nto sleep with their slow and dreamy motion. With his great eyes glowing\nlike meteors in the dimness of the upper part of the room, the Nimshee\nglared at the Prince, and waved his wings faster and stronger. But our\nyoung friend was not afraid of him--not a bit. He walked softly round\nthe room once or twice, and then, returning to the Princess, spoke to\nher. She did not awake, and the Prince called her louder and louder, and\nat last, putting his hand on her shoulder, he shook her; but still she\nslept. He felt that he must awaken her, and seizing the guitar that lay\nat her feet, he held it close to her ear, and struck the strings loudly.\nThe Princess opened her eyes with a start; and as she awoke, the\nNimshee, beating his breast with his wings, gave a great roar like the\nwaves beating in a storm against a rocky coast, and flew away. The\nPrincess blushed a little when she first saw the Prince, but he was so\npolite that she soon recovered herself, and they conversed quite\npleasantly.\n\nShe explained the meaning of the musical instruments in the room, by\nstating that she had a great passion for music, and the good people of\nthe palace brought her a new instrument nearly every day; but she never\nsat down to play any of them but she went almost immediately to sleep.\nShe could not imagine the reason for this; but the Prince knew very well\nthat the Nimshee had put her to sleep to-day at any rate, and he had no\ndoubt but that he was always at the bottom of it. He said nothing to\nher, however, of what he had seen, as he perceived that she did not know\nit, and he did not wish to frighten her.\n\nShe said she had taken her guitar that evening, as soon as she had\nfinished her supper, but had fallen asleep as usual. She asked the\nPrince, \"Do you play?\" and he said, \"Only a little;\" and then they\nwalked around the room, and looked at all the instruments, to see if\nthere were any that the Prince could play on better than the rest. He\nwished her to perform, but she urged him, and he soon saw a hand-organ,\nand said he was pretty sure that he could play on that. So he tried,\nand, sure enough, he could play very well, and the Princess sat down on\nthe floor by him, and he played for almost an hour and three quarters,\nand they were both very much pleased. Then the Prince's arm got tired,\nand he stopped and asked the Princess to tell him her history. She said\nshe was a little ashamed to tell him her story, because he might think\nthat she was not of as good descent as himself; but the Prince\ninsisting, she told him that her mother was a water-woman.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"A mermaid, I suppose?\" said the Prince.\n\n\"O no!\" she cried, \"none of those low things with fish-tails, but a real\nprincess of the ocean. She lived in a splendid palace at the bottom of\nthe sea, and fell in love with a prince of the earth, who left his\nfather's kingdom, and went down there and married her.\n\n\"I remember my father very well,\" continued the beautiful Princess. \"He\nwas a fine, handsome man, but our climate never seemed to agree with\nhim. He could not smoke under the water, and he often used to have aches\nwhich helped to make him unhappy. Before he died, he said that he would\ngive all the treasures of the ocean for a pipe and a piece of dry\nflannel. When he left her, mother pined away, and soon died too, when I\nwas only about twelve years old. I was very lonely, but, as I was the\ndaughter of a water-princess and a land-prince, I could go where I\npleased, either on shore or in the water.\"\n\n\"Amphibious like?\" said the Prince.\n\n\"I don't know anything about that,\" she replied; \"but I used to like to\nwalk about on the sea-shore, for everything was so different from what I\nhad been accustomed to,--birds, you know, and all that sort of thing.\"\n\n\"O yes,\" said the Prince, \"it must have been very different to you\nindeed; but I was going to say to you, a little while ago, that you need\nnot think me above you, for I am half-brother to a gnome.\"\n\n\"O, I am glad to hear that,\" she said; \"I was afraid you would make fun\nof me.\"\n\n\"As if I could!\" said the Prince, reproachfully.\n\nSo she went on with her story.\n\n\"One day, about a year ago, when I was quite grown up, I met some ladies\nwho lived here at the palace, and they wanted me to come home with them,\nand I did; and I have lived here ever since, and like it very much. They\nare all very kind, and if I didn't sleep so much, I should be very\nhappy.\"\n\nThe Prince now proposed to the Princess, and she accepted him, and then\nshe sat down to a harp to give him a little music. The Prince's\npresence, in some way (perhaps because he was half-brother to a gnome),\nprevented the appearance of the Nimshee; and for the first time since\nshe had been in the palace, she played without hindrance, and her music\nwas perfectly charming; and with tears of joy in his eyes, the Prince\nsat wishing she would play forever. After a while, however, she got\ntired and stopped; and when they turned around, they saw the room was\nfilled by the people of the palace, who had come to hear this delicious\nmusic. They were nearly all wiping their eyes with their\nhandkerchiefs,--they were so much affected--and they could not find\nwords good enough with which to praise the playing of the Princess. Such\nmusic they had never heard before.\n\nDirectly she declared that she was going to bed; but she desired the\nGrand Chamberlain to take that young Prince and give him a handsome room\nuntil morning, when she would like to see him again, and make\narrangements for their wedding.\n\nSo she went away with her ladies, and the Chamberlain took the Prince\nout into the alabaster hall again.\n\n\"Prince indeed!\" said the Chamberlain to himself; \"O yes! I'll take care\nof him, certainly. A good room,--O yes, indeed!\" and, taking the Prince\nby the arm, he hurried him along, until he came to the aviary, where all\nsorts of wonderful and costly birds were kept, and he pushed him in\nthere, and locked him up. The Prince was so taken by surprise at this\nhasty treatment, that he had no time to get angry, or he would certainly\nhave drawn his sword, and made short work of the Grand Chamberlain. As\nit was, he passed the night in the aviary as well as he could; but as he\nhad no place to lie but the floor, and as the ostriches walked about a\ngood deal, he was very much afraid they might tread upon him, and this\nmade him feel uneasy all night. The great owls, too, made it very\nunpleasant for him, by forming a circle around him, and steadfastly\ngazing at him with their great eyes, which looked like enormous\ncat-eyes, stuck into the darkness. As to the night-hawks and the other\nbirds which fly in the dark, they swooped around and over him the whole\nlivelong night; and when he began to get a little sleep, about daybreak,\nevery bird in the place began to sing, or twitter, or scream, or crow,\nor gobble, or chatter, and the Prince might as well have tried to fly as\nsleep. About eight o'clock, a man came to feed the birds, and seeing the\nPrince in the aviary, he put him out instantly. The Prince was very\nangry, and tried to find out what this all meant; but the man told him\nhe had better not let him catch him in there again, and slammed the door\nin his face. As the Prince wandered about the palace, he met a number of\npeople, all of whom he asked to conduct him to the Princess. Some\nlaughed at him, and others told him that he had better be careful how he\ntalked about the beautiful Princess, but no one conducted him to her.\n\nAt last a man who seemed to have some authority, came up to the Prince,\nand, having heard his story, requested him to follow him. He led the way\nto a small door, and, motioning to the Prince to pass through it, shut\nand fastened it after him. The Prince found himself out in the street.\n\nEnraged and hungry, he hurried back to his lodgings, where he had left\nTrumkard. On the way, he heard a great many people talking of the\nbeautiful music that, it was reported, the Princess had played at the\npalace the evening previous. In fact, this matter seemed to be the town\ntalk; but the Prince did not stay to listen to much of it, for he was\nextremely anxious to get something to eat, and to relate his troubles.\n\nTrumkard did not encourage him much, and proposed that they should\ncontinue their journey; but the Prince would not listen to such advice,\nand as soon as he had finished his breakfast, he went back to the palace\nin order to try and see his Princess. But all the doors were fastened,\nand it was evident that there was no admission for the public that day.\nA great crowd stood around the gates, and they were very much excited\nabout something.\n\nThe Prince learned from their discourse that it was thought that the\nPrincess who played so splendidly, could certainly sing as well, and\nthere was a suspicion that the Prime Minister, who had governed the\npeople so long, was afraid of her powers, and had sent her away. Indeed,\na certain Habbed-il-Gabbed, who kept a goat's-cheese shop, and who had a\ncousin who was one of the royal-black-eunuch-guards, had heard from him\nthat the Princess had certainly disappeared, and that the public\nsuspicions were very likely to be correct.\n\nAt this news the Prince smote his breast, and became very sad; and all\nthat day and night, and the next day until sundown, he hung around the\npalace, hoping to get in. Trumkard was with him a great part of the\ntime, and brought him cakes and things to keep him from starving. In the\nearly evening of the second day, the Prince, while walking round the\npalace, saw a boy come out of a back-alley gate, to empty some ashes.\nRushing at him, he seized him, and demanded of him news of the Princess.\nThe boy, however, was deaf and dumb, and could not answer him; and the\nPrince perceiving this, and being very expert in making signs, asked him\nin that way what had become of his lady-love. The boy then replied by a\nsign representing a heavy door, with four locks, a big bar, and a chain;\nand a black eunuch with a drawn sword, asleep before it.\n\nThen the Prince tore his hair, and groaned, and went home to Trumkard.\nBut he could not sleep; and when the moon arose, he got up and wandered\nfar away beyond the walls of the city, until he came to the borders of\nthe sea. There he saw, roaming about upon the sands, numbers of\nwater-women, who every now and then blew upon conch-shells, looking\nabout them in every direction, as if they expected some one to answer\nthem. When the Prince perceived them, he slipped softly from rock to\nrock, keeping himself well concealed, until he came near one of them,\nwhen he made a sudden rush and caught her, while all the others, with\nloud cries, dashed into the sea. The one he had captured, struggled and\ncried piteously; but, in as few words as possible, he entreated her to\nbe quiet, and to understand that if she was looking for a Princess, he\ncould tell her where she was, or at least where she had been. The\nwater-woman then became quiet, and the Prince told her all he knew, and\nhow anxious he was to find the beautiful Princess. The good woman of the\nsea then told him that she and her companions had come up on the shore\nevery night for a year, hoping that the Princess would stray that way,\nand be induced by them to return to her ocean home. Then she told him\nwho the Princess really was, and thus her story ran.\n\nWhen the late mighty King, Barradin, was quite young, he married a\ndaughter of the ocean, at which his father, much incensed, drove him\nfrom the court. He retired far from men, and a little son was born to\nhim. In a few years his wife died, and he was left alone with his son.\nWhen this boy grew up, he also married a water-woman, and, having so\nmuch of their blood in his veins, he went down to live with his wife's\nrelations, leaving his father to do as well as he could by himself,\nuntil he ascended the throne. When Barradin became king, he did not\nmarry a queen, or cut off people's heads, or go to war, or build\npalaces; but he took his chief delight in music, and encouraged the love\nof it among his people. So it was in the hope that one of his\ndescendants might some day sit upon the throne, that he composed the\nmagical music; for he knew that no one but a descendant of the\nocean-folk could sing that music, and none but those of his blood could\nread it, for there was magic in his family.\n\nWhen the music was finished, the King died. His mother was a sorceress,\nand a very wicked old woman, who, when her son was dead, gave it out\nthat she herself was dying; for she had now lived so long that people\nhad begun to suspect something, and to think that she had too much to do\nwith magic. So she pretended to die, and was buried in the royal vault;\nand at night she came out and went far away from the city to a great\ncave in a lonely country where dwelt the demons and evil spirits who\nwere her servants. She now spent her life in wickedness. She it was who\nput it into the heads of so many sensible people to contend for the\ncrown, and it was with joy that she saw them carried out to the asylum.\nMany other evil thoughts she put into the hearts of the people, and she\nwas forever imagining and doing mischief.\n\nWhen this young Princess, her great-grandchild, was born, Mahbracca\n(that was the name of the old sorceress) was very much troubled, and\nused all available means to destroy the infant; but her efforts were\nvain, for the people of the ocean protected her from all enchantments.\n\nAs the Princess grew up, she loved to ramble on the white sands, and she\nwas once perceived there by a party of ladies from the palace, who had\npersuaded her to come with them to their royal home, where she had now\nbeen for a year. She knew not who she was, nor did her friends at the\npalace; and her relations of the ocean had always hoped that some day\nshe would return to them. Now the sorceress feared that some day she\nwould happen to sing the magical music, and be made queen; and she hated\nthe poor girl so much, that she would not have had this happen for all\nthe world. Therefore it was, no doubt, that she had sent the Nimshee, in\norder to prevent the Princess from ever exercising the wonderful gift\nshe had inherited.\n\nThis much the water-woman told the Prince, but as to what had now become\nof the Princess, she did not know; but there were others of her people\nwho knew more than she did, and she would inquire of them. Taking the\nPrince by the hand, she led him out upon a headland that projected some\ndistance out into the sea, and blew four times loudly upon her\nconch-shell. A great heaving and swelling of the waters was presently\nseen, and in a few moments an elderly personage emerged from the waves,\nand walked carefully up to the rock on which they stood. He was a\ncurious-looking individual, and, as the water-woman informed the Prince,\na powerful lord of the ocean.\n\nHe was wrapped in an old-fashioned cloak, made of the finest quality of\nsea-weed, and drawing this closely around him, he requested his fair\ncousin of the sea to be as quick as possible in her business with him,\nas it was not prudent for him to be in the air much at his age. So the\nwater-woman briefly related to him what the Prince had told her.\n\nWhen he heard this, the old sea-gentleman folded his arms and looked\nvery grave. \"Mahbracca is at the bottom of this,\" said he. \"The Prime\nMinister would never have thought of imprisoning the Princess, if that\nwretched sorceress had not put it into his head. I have no doubt that\nshe now has the Princess in her power, and very likely shut up in her\nretreat.\"\n\n\"What!\" cried the Prince, \"where is it? Where is her cave? I will go\ninstantly and rescue my beloved Princess!\" and he drew his sword of\nadamant and waved it over his head.\n\n\"Ah my friend!\" said the old man of the water, \"you could do little\nagainst the powerful Mahbracca and her minions. But you might go there\nto be sure, and find out if she really has possession of the Princess.\nBut then you may lose your life.\"\n\n\"I care not!\" cried the Prince. \"Dead or alive, I will be with my\nPrincess.\"\n\nThe two citizens of the ocean talked together a few moments, and then\nthe old man asked him if he was really determined to undertake this\nperilous enterprise, and the Prince emphatically declared that he was.\n\n\"The distance by the sea is much the shortest; would you be willing to\ngo in that way?\" asked the old man.\n\n\"Certainly,\" said the Prince, \"provided I have to go over, and not under\nthe water.\"\n\nThe old gentleman made no reply to this, but putting his two forefingers\nin his mouth he whistled loudly.\n\nIn a few moments a sea-boy came up out of the water, and stood beside\nhim. The old man made a few remarks to him in the ocean dialect, when\nthe boy jumped off the rock and disappeared beneath the waves.\n\n\"Now, sir,\" said the sea-gentleman to the Prince, \"you must cheer up and\nbe lively, or you cannot hope to succeed in this matter. My boy will\ntake you to the sea-side entrance of the cave of Mahbracca. There I hope\nyou will have no difficulty in entering, but I can say nothing positive\nupon the subject.\"\n\nAt this moment the sea-boy reappeared, driving a pair of dolphins, which\nwere harnessed to a large and commodious sea-shell, somewhat resembling\nin shape the boat of the nautilus.\n\nWhen the equipage was drawn up at the foot of the rock, the Prince took\nleave of his friends, and quickly stepped in and took his seat.\n\n\"I wish you all success,\" said the elderly personage, and, reminding the\nboy to be sure to keep their heads up, he walked down into the sea.\n\nThe water-woman said nothing, but stood on the rock, gazing sadly after\nthe Prince, as the dolphins drew him rapidly from the shore. The fishes\nmade excellent time, and the motion of the great shell over the waves\nwould have been exceedingly pleasant to the Prince, if his mind had not\nbeen filled with anxiety and impatience. He shifted his position so\noften, and rolled the vehicle about so much, that once or twice the\nsea-boy turned round and asked him if he did not wish to get out, to\nwhich the Prince did not reply, but only urged him to make greater\nspeed. The journey lasted until the morning of the next day, and was\nmarked by no greater occurrence than the annoyance caused by the wild\ndolphins occasionally coming up around them, endeavoring to play with\ntheir brothers in harness. But the boy, with his whip of shark's skin,\nand the Prince with his sword, soon drove them down again.\n\nAt last they dashed into shore, and the sea-boy, pulling up his steeds,\njumped out, followed immediately by the Prince.\n\n\"Take the road in front of you,\" said the boy, \"and you cannot miss your\nway.\"\n\nThe Prince then threw a piece of platinum to the boy, who tucked it in\nbetween two of his scales, and jumping into his shell, drove rapidly\naway.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe shore where the Prince now found himself was very peculiar. A high\nrocky wall, seemingly inaccessible, stood up solemnly in front of him,\nand extended out, on each side, far into the sea. Directly before him\nwas a great cleft or tunnel in the rock, which extended so far back that\nits other extremity was not visible from where he stood. This rocky\navenue was the only passage, in any direction, that the Prince could\nperceive, and consequently, without delay or fear, he drew his sword,\nand entered it. The way for a while was easy, but afterward became very\nrough and uneven. Here and there were openings in the walls above him,\nthrough which came a misty light; and by it the Prince perceived that\nthe walls were filled with precious stones, which glistened and sparkled\nbrightly, while great veins of gold and silver were streaked about in\nall directions. Under his feet were thousands of jewels, and bits of\nprecious minerals without number. His way was now very difficult, for\nthe avenue was narrow and rough. Pearls and sapphires got into his\nshoes, and he cut his legs and scratched his hands against the sharp\ndiamonds and rubies that stuck out from the walls. But he pressed\nbravely on until the ground became more even and the walls wider apart,\nand at length he entered quite an open space, inclosed by a wall in\nwhich he saw before him an immense gate of copper. He went up and tried\nto push it open, but finding it immovable, he knocked loudly upon it\nwith the hilt of his sword. Directly, a small window at one side of the\ngate was opened, and a ghoul put his head out. Seeing that it was a\nPrince who knocked, he drew in his head, and opened the gate. The Prince\nquickly entered. \"I wish,\" said he, in an imperious voice, \"to see the\nPrincess whom the wicked Mahbracca has doubtless imprisoned in this\ncavern.\"\n\n\"O!\" said the ghoul, grinning horribly, \"certainly! Pass on, great\nPrince! The Princess and my mistress will both be glad to see you. Pass\non freely. You cannot miss your way.\" Opening then his wide mouth, he\ngave a great laugh, and reentered the porter's lodge, through the open\ndoor of which the Prince saw, upon a table, an empty coffin and a jug.\n\nThe Prince now found himself in a long and wide passage, dimly lighted\nand very damp. The place smelt like a burial vault, and against the\nwalls on each side, rows of ghouls sat on the floor, their knees drawn\nup to their chins. As the Prince passed, some of them jumped up and\ngibed at him, leering, sticking out their tongues, and smacking their\nlips as they danced around him. Walking on rapidly, he soon left these\ngibbering wretches, and found that the passage became much drier,\nalthough darker, and wound and turned in various directions. Against the\nwalls, transfixed by great iron pins, were enormous glow-worms, which\ngave the only light in this dismal place. These worms turned their heads\nto look at the Prince, and flashed a brighter light from their tails,\nthat they might see him the better. Presently he noticed a small door in\nthe wall, which was not quite closed. Pushing it open, he entered a\nroom, the floor of which was not very spacious, but which was very high.\nAgainst one of the walls, chained by his arms and his wings and his\nlegs, was the Nimshee who had fanned the Princess with his sleep-giving\nwings.\n\nWhen this evil spirit saw the Prince, his eyes glowed so brightly that\nthey lighted up the room as if they had been torches; and, putting down\nhis horrid head as low as his bonds would allow, he opened wide his\nnostrils and his mouth, and bellowed with fury, like an immense\nbull,--at the same time tugging and struggling at his chains, until the\nvery walls shook with his raging strength.\n\nThis spectacle caused the Prince to step out of the room with alacrity,\nand quickly shutting the door behind him, he walked rapidly along the\ngloomy passage. On his way he met numerous demons and evil spirits of\nvarious kinds, but they only scowled at him as he passed, and he spoke\nto none of them. He soon descended a stone stairway which led down to a\nlarge circular hall, with various doors and passages leading from it. On\nthe side opposite to the stairs was a great door of green marble,\nsculptured with mysterious devices. Stepping up to it, and finding that\nit opened easily, he entered an octagonal room, the walls of which were\nhung with the skins of spotted cats, and on the floor was spread a skin\nof the sacred white elephant of India. The Prince perceived that this\nwas merely an anteroom, for to the left of him was a door, before which\nsat a fierce and black Afrite, with a great javelin in his hand. With\nhis hands upon his knees, the Afrite bent down his head, and looked\nsteadfastly at the Prince with glaring eyes.\n\nAdvancing towards this formidable sentinel, the Prince inquired of him\nwhere he should find the Princess, if she were shut up here, or where he\ncould see the sorceress Mahbracca. The Afrite arose, and, pushing aside\nthe block of porphyry on which he had been sitting, took down a brazen\nbar by which the door was fastened, and throwing it open, told the\nPrince, in a harsh and brazen voice, to enter.\n\nThe room in which the Prince now found himself, was the private\napartment of the sorceress, where had been concocted all the wickedness\nwith which she had cursed the subjects of her son.\n\nAt first, the Prince could scarcely distinguish the objects in the room,\nas it was lighted only by a small brazier which burnt dimly on a table;\nbut the Afrite thrust his javelin into the brazier, and the flames, all\ngreen and red, burst forth luridly, lighting up the apartment with\nunearthly colors. The Afrite, after informing the Prince that the great\nMahbracca would soon attend him, left him, and returned to his station\non the other side of the door. Somewhat fearful that all this\nwillingness to admit him boded no good, the Prince still determined to\npush boldly on in his adventure (that being, indeed, the only course\npossible for him), and to take things as coolly as possible.\n\nLooking around him, he saw, by the bright light which now filled the\nroom, that against each of the walls was a row of cages, containing\nsnakes of various grades of venom, placed in order, according to their\ndeadly properties. Standing on their heads, in various places against\nthe wall, were many of those dreadful green lizards which poison the air\nof the deep valleys of Sumatra, and whose bite causes their victim,\ntogether with all his blood relations, to gangrene in an instant. These,\nalthough standing so stiffly against the wall, were all alive, and some\nof them, perceiving the Prince was looking at them, winked at him. But\nhe paid them no further attention, and proceeded with his inspection of\nthe room.\n\nThere were great numbers of horrid-looking furnaces, and cages, and\ngrotesque lamps, with the flames out, but with wicks still smouldering,\nand smelling vilely. Upon a shelf near the ceiling was a row of great\njars, and out of one of them was continually popping the head of an\nexcessively shining and black little demon, who had evidently, for some\noffense, been put there in pickle. From the other jars came groans, but\nno heads. These had been in longer. While the Prince stood, scarcely\nable to refrain from laughing at the comical countenance of the young\ndemon in the jar, he heard the opening of a door, and, turning, saw the\nsorceress Mahbracca enter the apartment. This worthy dame presented a\nremarkable appearance. Short, with a large head partly covered with\nstubbly white hair, she had a face of the color and smoothness of an\nIrish potato, which has been lying in the sun for about eighteen months.\nHer eyes opened in the middle of the pupil, with a slit, like those of a\ncat, and she had three long hairs, or whiskers, on each side of her\nupper lip. She advanced with a smile, which did not make her look any\nmore lovely, and extended her hand to the Prince. Being a man of\npoliteness, of course he took it, but her touch was ten times more\nclammy and deadly than that of a snake.\n\n\"I am glad to see you,\" said Mahbracca. \"Will you take some rest and\nrefreshment? You must be tired, for you have surely travelled a long\nway.\"\n\n\"No,\" said the Prince, \"I desire neither rest nor refreshment. All I\nrequire is, that you conduct me to the Princess, if you have her here\nconfined, and then that you deliver her up to me.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" said the sorceress, \"that is certainly not much to ask. You shall\nbe gratified. Allow me to conduct you to her; she will be delighted, I\nam sure.\"\n\nThen taking in her hand a staff, and opening the door by which she had\nentered, she requested the Prince to follow her. Passing quickly through\nseveral apartments, they entered a wide, long, and dim avenue.\n\n\"Come,\" said the sorceress, \"give me your hand; we will lose no time.\"\n\nBut the Prince, remembering his former experience of her touch, drew\nback from the bony hand which she extended to him.\n\n\"Ah!\" cried she, with a hideous grin, \"you are able to get along by\nyourself, are you, my dear? I dare say your young legs are very strong\nand nimble. _You_ don't need any old woman's help. Ha, ha! Well, come\non! The Princess awaits you!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWith these remarks, the aged hag set off at a pace, which, considering\nher years, was truly wonderful, putting the Prince to his best endeavors\nto keep up with her. The underground avenue in which they ran seemed of\ngreat length; and very shortly the old lady varied the exercise by\nintroducing certain gymnastics. Sometimes, as she stretched out her\nstaff, the ground would suddenly open before her, and she sprang over\nthe wide chasm with the greatest ease; while the poor Prince, all\nunprepared, would have to strain every muscle in his body to clear, in\nthe midst of his rapid career, the yawning gulf. Then she would wave her\nstaff upwards, and the ground rise in front of her, like a steep and\nrocky hill, up which she would lightly run, while the Prince could\nscarcely restrain himself from dashing violently against its stony face.\nThen, while heated and breathless with the ascent of one of these, he\nwould see her wave her staff downward, and plunge down a steep\ndeclivity, into the darkness of which he followed her pell-mell, not\nknowing whether he was going to descend a few yards or a mile. Very\nsoon, however, he began to get his blood up, and, kicking out his legs\nlike a wild goat of Cashmere, he prepared to show her that it would have\nto be a very smart old woman who could beat him in a race. So away they\nwent, like a cat and a dog, the Prince clearing the great gaps as fast\nas Mahbracca could make them. At last he actually gained on her, and\nkept ahead of her for a few minutes, during which time he had level\nrunning. But with a great effort, she passed him, and, violently\nthrowing up the end of her staff, caused a great rock to rise with such\npromptness, that the Prince came within an inch of braining himself\nagainst it. But over it they went, and for half a mile kept neck and\nneck; but the old woman soon put an end to this, for, whirling her staff\nround her head, the Prince instantly found himself wading in sand up to\nhis armpits.\n\n\"That's mean!\" he cried, with tears of indignation in his eyes. But\nMahbracca jumped up and down on top of the sand, waving her arms, and\nlaughing and screaming like a hyena.\n\n\"Ah ha! my vigorous Prince,\" cried she, \"why do you stop? Hasten,\nhasten! Swiftest of youths, the Princess awaits us!\"\n\nIncensed by her mockery, he gave a mighty plunge into the sand before\nhim, and surged along like a ship in the ocean, while Mahbracca skipped\ngayly by him, playfully kicking the sand into his eyes.\n\n\"You see the advantage of lightness, my dear,\" cried she. \"I pass easily\nover the top of this sand, while you--O, how you do wallow! Ha, ha, ha!\nI never saw anything like it.\"\n\nWith such remarks, she beguiled his way, until relenting, she at last\nwaved her staff again above her head, and the Prince found himself by\nher side, on solid ground.\n\nShe complimented him on his remarkable agility and strength, but he made\nher no answer, and, wiping his face with his handkerchief, walked on\nwithout a word. At length they reached the end of the avenue, and,\npassing through a circular aperture with which it terminated, the Prince\nfound himself in the cavity of an immense hollow mountain, the floor of\nwhich was a great plain, and into which the light of day was admitted\nthrough an opening in the top, more than two miles above him.\n\nScattered about over the blackish sward were many groups of ghouls and\nvariously colored demons, some playing pitch-penny with ancient coins,\nand others lying asleep on the ground. At a distance, grazing on the\nexuberant and oily foliage, were herds of the prong-horned\nYabouks,--those sanguinary monsters which impale their victims on the\ngreat horn upon their noses, holding back their heads and opening their\nmouths to let the blood slowly trickle down their throats.\n\nMany other dreadful cattle were scattered about the plain, drinking at\nthe greenish streams which meandered about in various directions, or\nstanding ruminating, knee-deep in the oily water. But these things\nclaimed not the attention of the Prince.\n\nIn the centre of this great plain stood a tower.\n\n\"Behold!\" cried Mahbracca, springing in front of him, and waving her\narms--\"behold the dwelling of your Princess! Come! let us run, let us\nbound!\"\n\nSeizing him by the hand with a strength that was not to be resisted, she\nled him, at great speed, to the foot of the tower. Then at the top of\nher voice she called out,--\n\n\"Princess! appear at your window quickly! Your love has come from afar\nunto you. Show yourself to him!\"\n\nAt these words, the Princess put her head out of the highest window, and\nwhen the Prince saw her lovely face, he fell down on his knees,\ntrembling with happiness, and protesting in broken sentences his love\nfor her; while she, bending out over the window-sill, wept silently\ntears of joy, which came down pitter, patter, on the Prince's head.\n\nStarting presently to his feet, the Prince ran around the tower to find\nthe front door, and, seeing it, he endeavored to push it open, but it\nwas securely fastened. He then turned to look for Mahbracca, and\nperceived her standing at some distance, surrounded by a crowd of ghouls\nand demons, who seemed to be greatly enjoying the scene. The Prince\nshouted loudly to her to send him the keys, at which the whole crowd set\nup a shout of laughter, and Mahbracca hysterically screamed to him,--\n\n\"Enter! Enter, great Prince! Why wait so long outside? You grieve your\nlovely Princess!\"\n\nThe Prince, enraged, drew his sword of adamant, and at one blow thrust\nit through the lock, but the door did not open, and the sword was fixed\nimmovably. In vain did he tug and struggle at it. He could not move it\nan inch. Hearing greater and wilder cries of derision, he turned towards\nthe crowd and shook his fist at them, and then went back under the\nwindow of the Princess, but she was not visible. He called her again and\nagain, at the top of his voice, but she did not answer him nor make her\nappearance. The night was fast coming on, and overcome with sorrow and\ndespair, and weak with hunger, the Prince fell upon the ground.\n\nWhen he had lain thus for an hour or two, hearing nothing of the\nPrincess or his enemies, he began to reflect that if he intended to\nserve his lady-love, he must do something, and that speedily. He\nhimself, he plainly saw, had no power against this sorceress, and\nperhaps even now she was within the tower, preventing the Princess from\nanswering or appearing to him. He would go for assistance, and, come\nwhat would, the Princess should be delivered from that horrid tower. He\ntherefore arose, and, without reflecting how he was to leave this abode\nof wickedness, he prepared to return to his friend and adviser Trumkard.\nWhen he reached the aperture by which he had entered the hollow mountain\n(which he did without meeting any one), he found it closed by a gate of\nbrass. But he was not to be thus deterred. He ran around the sides of\nthe mountain, rousing in his course several herds of Yabouks and\ndreadful cattle that gazed, half awake, at his rapid movements, and\nexamined, as well as he could by the dim light, the wall of this great\ncavern. He soon became convinced, by the knowledge he had gained in a\nfew visits to his step-mother's dominions, that these walls were not\nvery thick. His resolution was quickly formed. Taking off his handsome\nand richly embroidered clothes, which would only impede him in his\nlabors, he stood dressed only in his under-vest and trousers. Then,\nspringing upon a projecting rock and over another, he entered a great\ncrack, pushed through some loose earth, and made his way through the\nvarious crevices of the ground, as he had seen the gnomes do. After\nabout an hour's work, he emerged into the open air very tired and very\ndirty. After resting awhile, he arose, and, taking his way across a\ngreat plain, found himself by daybreak, worn out and footsore, near the\ngates of a great city. Entering, he inquired of one of the few people\nwho were up so early, what city this was, and was informed that it was\nthe city of the Queen Altabec, and a long distance from the city of the\nmighty King.\n\nThe Prince thanked his informant, and proceeded to look for a tailor's\nshop, where he might provide himself with clothes; for he perceived that\npeople eyed him with suspicion, and well they might. Having found a\nshop, he entered, and desired to be immediately fitted with a prince's\nsuit. The master tailor, knowing by his proud air that he was a Prince,\nand supposing he had been on some youthful adventure, and had thus lost\nhis clothes, was delighted to serve him, and, running to the shelves and\ndrawers, pulled out all the princes' suits, and spread them before his\ncustomer. The Prince selected some very handsome clothes, and, having\nwashed himself, put them on, and found they fitted him exactly. He\ndeclared his satisfaction with them, and putting his hand in his pocket\nfor his purse, found nothing of the kind there, the tailor not\nfurnishing his clothes in that way. He now remembered that all his money\nwas in the clothes he had left behind him in the mountain, and explained\nhis condition to the tailor. The latter, however, had no wish to deal\nwith princes who had no money, and ordered him to instantly take off the\nsuit. The Prince, who was strictly honest, was about obeying, when one\nof his feet (which were very tender with his much walking) giving him a\nsudden pain, he stooped down to see what was in his shoe, and taking it\noff, out rolled a magnificent pearl and two sapphires.\n\n\"There,\" said the Prince, picking them up, and handing them to the\ntailor, \"if these will be of any use to you, you can have them for the\nclothes.\"\n\nThe tailor, filled with admiration at the sight of these jewels, and\nwith the most profound respect for a prince who carried such wealth in\nhis shoes, accepted them instantly, and the Prince left the shop. But\nthe good tailor, gazing joyfully at his new-found treasures, was so\nconscientious and grateful, that he ran out after the Prince, and gave\nhim back one of the sapphires as change.\n\nIt may as well be here related that the tailor sold the pearl to a\njeweler, who gave him one third of its value, with which he retired into\nthe country, bought great possessions, and lived in much dignity for\nmany years. Some time afterward, the Queen Altabec happening to pass the\njeweler's shop, and seeing the pearl in the window, immediately ordered\nthe execution of the jeweler and the seizure of the pearl, which she\nplaced above all the other jewels in the tip-top of her crown, where it\nstill remains. As for the sapphire, the tailor's wife put that away for\na rainy day; but as the rainy day never came, and she never went to look\nfor it in its hiding-place, it made no earthly difference to her that\nher youngest child had found it, and had swapped it off for half of a\nlittle stale apple-pie.\n\nAfter leaving the tailor's shop, the Prince made all haste to an inn,\nwhere, having eaten about four meals in one, he bought from an Arab, who\nwas highly recommended to him, a swift dromedary of the desert, for\nwhich he gave one sapphire, and requested the landlord of the khan to\nsee that the Arab paid to him, out of its value, what would suffice for\nthe price of his breakfast. This the landlord promised faithfully to do,\nand it is said that the descendants of that landlord are still drawing\non the descendants of that Arab for installments of the price of that\nwonderful breakfast.\n\nMounting his dromedary, the Prince would have started, but was detained\nby the Arab, who embraced the animal, and begged the Prince, out of\ncharity to a poor man, to add a little to the meagre price he had paid\nfor it. Upon which the Prince, knowing the habits of these Arabs, drew\nhis sword, which he had got with his suit, and threatened to split the\naffectionate man in halves, if he did not immediately take his hands off\nthe beast, which the man instantly did. When he started off, the\nhumpbacked courser might have gone much faster if he had felt inclined,\nand at last the Prince became so enraged at the exceedingly leisurely\nstyle of his trot, that he lifted his sword to serve the animal as he\nhad threatened to serve his old master; but the intelligent dromedary,\ncasting back its only eye, perceived the danger, and set off at such a\nterrific speed, that the people in the villages through which it passed\nknew not what it was that had trodden down their children, and upset the\nold women at their pomegranate stalls.\n\nBefore night, the Prince pulled up in the great city before the door of\nthe inn in which Trumkard and himself had lodged. Trumkard was sitting\non the front step, with a melon on his lap and a skin bottle between his\nknees. Hastily dismounting, the Prince threw himself upon the neck of\nhis old friend with such force that he upset the old gentleman and his\nsupper into a great pile together. Jumping up, and wiping the wine out\nof his eyes and the melon-juice out of his hair, Trumkard welcomed his\nyoung master, and assured him that he had several times wondered where\nhe was. The Prince then led him in-doors, and related his adventures,\nand besought his advice.\n\nThereupon, Trumkard, throwing his right leg over his left, rested his\nelbow on his knee, and, reposing his chin in his hand, cogitated. At\nlast he spoke.\n\n\"We cannot do better,\" said he, \"than to apply to the Giant\nTur-il-i-ra.\"\n\nThis Giant, it will be remembered, was our old acquaintance, and the\nfriend of Ting-a-ling.\n\nThe Prince having readily consented to this proposition, it was agreed\nthat they should go to the Giant the next day, and implore his\nassistance. The Prince would have started that night, but Trumkard had\ngreat objections to night travelling, and he, being the best at an\nargument, gained his point.\n\nEarly the next morning, the travellers set forth upon their journey,\nwell mounted upon two good horses. (It may be as well to state that\nduring the night, the Prince's dromedary had returned to its original\nowner.)\n\nAs it will take two days of hard riding for our friends to reach their\ndestination, we will leave them, and return for a time to the gentle\nMahbracca, who, when she had left the Prince, had gone to her private\nroom to prepare an ingenious wire arrangement, which she called a\n\"prince-trap,\" in which he was to be inclosed and hung up before the\nwindow of the Princess, for the amusement of this lively sorceress.\n\nBut what was her dismay when, on returning to the tower, the first\nYabouk she met told her of the escape of the Prince! Speechless with\napprehension, she ran to the place where he had passed through the side\nof the mountain, and seeing his clothes upon the ground and the\nindubitable signs of his egress, she became perfectly furious, and,\nrushing back to the tower, commanded the dreadful Afrite who guarded her\ndoor, and who now accompanied her, to enter and to bring down the\nPrincess, but on no account to injure her until she should be placed\nalive in the cage that had been prepared for the Prince. The faithful\nAfrite bowed his head in obedience, and having at one bound entered one\nof the lower windows, he hurried up the stairs to the door of the\nPrincess's room. Bursting it open, he saw the Princess lying on the\nfloor in a swoon (into which she had fallen when she perceived that\nMahbracca was acting treacherously towards the Prince), and, supposing\nher to be dead, he hastily plunged down the stairs to inform his\nmistress, and rushing violently against the front door to burst it open\n(as was his habit when doors were in his way), he immediately spitted\nhimself upon the Prince's sword of adamant, which was sticking through\nthe lock.\n\nAfter waiting some time, and becoming alarmed at the long absence of the\nAfrite, the sorceress sent for the key of the tower, and opened the\ndoor. But when it slowly swung open, and the body of her favorite swung\nwith it,--the point of the sword emerging from the middle of his\nback,--she fainted away. Coming to her senses in a few minutes, she\nordered him to be drawn off and carried to her room, where, after again\nlocking the tower door, she followed, in the hopes of reviving, by means\nof proper magical remedies, whatever vitality might be left in the\nunfortunate and indispensable Afrite.\n\nTrumkard and the Prince journeyed so rapidly that their horses fell,\nutterly exhausted, at the end of the first day's journey; and, not being\nable to procure others, they were obliged to go the rest of the way on\nfoot. You may be sure that the Prince did not lag by the way, and poor\nTrumkard was obliged to do his very best to keep up with him at all.\nTherefore, when, near the end of the second day, they arrived at the\nGiant's castle, they were tired and warm enough. Entering the great gate\n(to the hinge of which little Ting-a-ling once tied his butterfly), they\napproached the castle, and perceived the Giant sitting in his front\nporch, with his feet in immense slippers, comfortably resting against\none of the great pillars before the door. The Prince, who had never seen\nhim before, was struck with astonishment at his great size; but Trumkard\nassured him that a nobler or more true-hearted being never breathed, for\nall he was so big.\n\nWhen Tur-il-i-ra perceived them, he arose and welcomed them heartily,\nremembering Trumkard as an old friend. He caused them to be seated on\nthe porch, and ordered water to be brought that they might free\nthemselves from the dust of the journey. Then he called to his\nattendants to spread a table, and to bring some cold meat and some game,\nsome curries and hashes, some minced meat, some pepper-pot, some\nmutton-chops, omelettes, bacon and eggs; some broiled steaks, some\nspare-ribs, toast, butter, cheese, pickles, and salad; some macaroni,\nvermicelli, chowder, mullagatawny, lobsters, clams, oysters, mussels,\nand shrimps; also some tripe, kidneys, liver, and sausages, and\ncalves'-foot-jelly, and stewed cranberries; also frangipanni tarts and a\nCharlotte-Russe, with bottles of orgeat, sherbet, and iced wines,\ntogether with mead and mineral water.\n\nWhen his guests had partaken of these, their hunger was fully satisfied,\nand they related to him the reason of their coming. When the Giant\nlearned how the Princess was kept from her lover, and in all probability\nfrom a throne, by this wicked sorceress, his anger knew no bounds.\n\n\"I knew the woman well!\" he cried, \"but I thought her dead. Many is the\ndeed of vile magic which I have known her to do, but now--well, my\nfriends, you shall be avenged. I will take up the cause of the Princess,\nand we will set out for the hollow mountain as soon as I can get myself\nready to start.\"\n\nLeaving the two friends in comfortable chairs on the porch, in which\nthey fell asleep as soon as he had left them, the Giant ascended the\ngreat stone stairs into his armory, which was an immense room, filled\nwith his mighty weapons, and armor and all sorts of implements of\nwarfare. Kicking off his slippers, he put upon his feet great boots, the\nlike of which were never seen before. Their soles were enormously thick,\nand studded with nails, each one of which was so heavy that I would not\nlike to have to carry it very far. Then, having put on his chain armor\nand his great gauntlets, and having arrayed himself otherwise according\nto his taste, he put upon his head his helmet, which was like a great\niron pot, and big enough to--well, big enough to cover his head, which\nis saying a great deal. He then took, from the corner of the room, his\nclub, which was the trunk of a tall tree, with one end fastened into a\ngreat rock, by way of having a knob to it. Having thus accoutred\nhimself, he came down-stairs, and, finding his guests in such a sound\nslumber, he had not the heart to waken them; so he gently took them up,\nand put one of them in each of the side-pockets of the coat which he\nwore over his armor. Then, having given orders to his servants to close\nall the gates, and see that the house was well fastened up for fear of\nthieves, he strode out of the great gate, and proceeded towards the\nhollow mountain. Although this was a long journey for a man or a horse,\nour Giant made such tremendous strides that it did not seem like a very\ngreat distance to him; and when Trumkard and the Prince awoke, and stood\nup, and looked in astonishment out of the pocket-holes, they saw the\nmountain in the distance. The Giant, perceiving that they were awake,\nlooked from one to the other with his peculiar pleasant smile, and\nassured them that their troubles would soon be at an end.\n\n\"I hardly think,\" said he, \"that the old woman can keep _me_ out of her\ntower;\" and he laughed at the very idea of such a thing. The Prince made\nno reply, but he thought that if the Giant did get into the tower, it\nwould be considerably stretched.\n\nHaving arrived at the mountain, the Giant walked around it until he came\nto the place where, the Prince informed him, he had made his escape, and\nwhich was, as far as there was an opportunity of judging, one of the\nthinnest parts. Tur-il-i-ra took his friends out of his pockets, and set\nthem on the ground at a little distance from the foot of the mountain;\nand then letting his club down from his shoulder, he whirled it around\nhis head, and struck such a tremendous blow on the side of the mountain,\nwith the rock end, that everything cracked again. Then another on the\nsame place, and another, and another, until, at the last blow, a great\nmass of rock and earth fell inside with a crash like thunder, leaving a\ngap large enough for the whole party to walk in without stooping. You\nmay be sure that the three were not long in entering; but no sooner had\nthey set foot upon the great interior plain, than they perceived a\nmighty commotion among the inhabitants of this secluded spot. Ghouls,\nAfrites, and all sorts of demons were running towards them in a great\nstate of excitement; and as they approached, they formed into a solid\nbody, evidently intending to repel the invaders. There was no mistaking\ntheir intentions; for they hurled at the Giant a volley of spears and\njavelins that would have annihilated any one who was not so large, and\nwho had not on such strong and secure chain-armor.\n\nAs to our two smaller friends, they were safe enough behind the Giant's\nlegs. Giving his club a swing, Tur-il-i-ra stepped forward, and let it\ndrive right into the middle of the crowd, crushing some sixty of them,\nand sending the rest howling in every direction.\n\nBeing thus rid, for a time, of these opposers, the Giant picked up his\nclub, and, followed by the Prince and Trumkard, advanced towards the\ntower. Although Tur-il-i-ra strode along at a great rate, the Prince got\nto the tower first, and immediately commenced shouting to his Princess.\nShe, however, did not make her appearance, for she was still in a swoon.\nSo the Prince ran around to the door to see if, by chance, it was open,\nbut found it locked. He saw, however, the hilt of his sword still in the\nlock, and, seizing it, he again used his utmost strength to pull it out,\nbut in vain. The Giant, who had just come up, perceiving what he was\ntrying to do, stooped down, and, taking hold of the hilt in his finger\nand thumb, gave it a jerk, and out it came. He handed it, with a smile,\nto the Prince, who, overjoyed at regaining his favorite weapon, jumped\naround to see if there was anybody he could stick it into; but as all\nthe Yabouks and other cattle were standing at a respectful distance, and\nthere was only old Trumkard running up, he thought better of the matter,\nand put his sword into its scabbard, feeling himself a man again. The\nGiant walked round the tower, putting his eye to the windows, but said\nhe could see nothing.\n\n\"Look in the upper window!\" shouted the Prince; \"that is the Princess's\nroom.\"\n\n\"Yes! here she is!\" cried the old fellow, peering on tiptoe into the\nupper room. \"And fast asleep on the floor! That wretch of a witch has\nnot even given her a bed.\" Then, clapping his great hands against the\nside of the tower, he cried,--\"Wake up, sweet Princess!\" in a voice so\nloud that the poor young lady thought it was thunder, and sprang to her\nfeet trembling with fright. Seeing the face of a strange Giant at the\nwindow, she was so much more terrified that it is probable she would\nhave fainted away again, had she not heard the Prince's voice.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Lift me up!\" cried the Prince, jumping about almost mad with\nimpatience. \"Put me in, quick, good Giant, if she is there!\" So the\nGiant took him up, and put him right in at the window. When the Princess\nsaw him, her face flushed, and her eyes flashed with joy. Starting back\nand stamping one foot, she cried,--\"My Prince!\"\n\nAnd he, starting back and stamping one foot, cried,--\"My Princess!\"\n\nAnd then they rushed into each other's arms, and you could have heard\nthe kissing ever so far.\n\nOld Trumkard was nearly tickled to death, and ran around on his toes,\ntrying insanely to reach up; but he couldn't see anything,--not he! As\nfor the Giant, he could see first-rate, and he stood looking in at the\nwindow, with such a broad grin on his face, that one might almost have\ndriven a horse and wagon down his throat.\n\nIn a short time the Prince and Princess made their appearance at the\nwindow, and requested to be taken down. When the Giant had deposited\nthem safely on the ground, they embraced each other, and then Trumkard;\nand, turning to Tur-il-i-ra, they made him a very pretty speech,\nexpressive of gratitude and eternal remembrance.\n\nThese little duties having been performed, there seemed nothing more to\nbe done but to quit the mountain by the way they came. But, as they were\nabout leaving the tower, they were startled by a sudden burst of yells\nand howls, and saw, issuing from the brazen gate by which the Prince had\nfirst entered, a great crowd, which was approaching them at full speed,\nheaded by Mahbracca, who skipped along at an astonishing rate.\n\nOur friends did not attempt to retreat. Indeed, the enemy was upon them\nalmost as soon as they perceived their danger.\n\nMahbracca stepped to one side, and the crowd, opening, discovered in the\nmidst forty-seven spotted demons, who carried a great copper brazier,\nlike an enormous covered pot, which they quickly set down, almost at the\nfeet of the Giant.\n\n\"Off with the lid!\" shouted Mahbracca, and instantly a number of the\nslaves seized the cover and dragged it off, when a great, thick,\npoisonous smoke burst out of it, which would have destroyed our friends\nin a few moments, had not they involuntarily sprung back and clapped\ntheir handkerchiefs to their faces. However, they could not have lived\nmore than half a minute, had not the Giant, with admirable presence of\nmind and surprising quickness, given the brazier such a tremendous kick\nwith one of his heavy boots, that he sent it more than a mile and a\nhalf, into the midst of a distant herd of Yabouks, which were all\ninstantly suffocated by the dense cloud of poisonous smoke which covered\nthem, as the brazier fell, upside-down, right over the leader of the\nherd, who, giving one great bellow, instantly crisped up into nothing.\nThe Giant and his party did not dare to draw breath until they had run a\nconsiderable distance; but, notwithstanding this precaution, the\nPrincess presently sank down, very pale and faint; for her handkerchief,\nbeing of the finest cambric, did not prevent her from slightly smelling\nthe horrid vapor, although she did not inhale any of it. However, the\nfresher air, and the vigorous efforts of the Prince, soon restored her.\n\nMahbracca, stupefied for a moment at her utter discomfiture, and\ndeserted by her followers, stood gazing blankly at the scene. What she\nintended doing next, was not long doubtful; for, taking a magical wand\nfrom her pocket, she bade the Giant, with a wave of her wand, turn into\na camelopard. As he did not seem in a hurry to obey, she commanded him\nto become a hippopotamus, and then an elephant. He positively declined,\nhowever, to turn into any of these animals, owing to his having taken\nthe precaution, before leaving his castle, to drink a bottle of\nanti-enchantment water. The old sorceress now became so enraged that she\ncould scarcely speak, but stood stamping her feet, and shaking her fist\nat the great Tur-il-i-ra, who, leaning on his club, waited with a smile\nfor her next attempt upon him.\n\nAt this moment the Prince perceived, a short distance behind Mahbracca,\na small, black, and shining demon, whom he immediately recognized as the\nlittle fellow he had seen in pickle. The young rascal was pulling and\ntugging at a great wire machine that had been dropped by the followers\nof Mahbracca when they ran away. He beckoned to the Prince to come and\nhelp him; and the latter, whispering to the Princess to keep behind the\nGiant, slipped quietly around to the rear of the angry sorceress, and\nassisted the little fellow to place the wire affair (which was nothing\nless than the \"prince-trap\" that Mahbracca had made) directly behind the\nold hag, with the door right at her back. The Giant, perceiving this\nrapidly performed stratagem, raised his club, and made a step forward,\nas if, with one blow, he would crush Mahbracca, who was just beginning\nto find her tongue. Startled by this sudden action, she stepped back\nquickly, and stumbled right over into the \"prince-trap.\" For an instant\nshe lay on her back, astounded, but quickly perceiving her predicament,\nshe sprang to her feet, and with loud yells tried her best to get out.\nBut it was of no use. The trap was made by the best rules of magic, and\nthere was no such a thing as getting out, even if one was as small as a\nmouse. As for the little black fellow who had been in pickle, he laughed\nand danced until the old woman, glaring at him between the wires,\nordered him to turn into a toad. But, unfortunately for her, she had\ndropped her magic wand outside of the cage, as she fell in, and the\nlittle demon, seeing this, merely laughed in her face, and running to\nthe wand, picked it up, and ordered her to turn into a jackass, which\nshe immediately did, and began to bray horribly. The little wretch was\nso delighted with this feat, that he turned about a dozen somersaults,\nand then, for the amusement of the Giant and his friends, he changed the\nold sorceress successively into a lion, a pig, an old hen, a turtle, a\nkangaroo, a boa-constrictor, an ape, a lobster, a cat, a crocodile, and\na crane. He declared his intention of going through these exercises\nuntil he had used up the whole animal kingdom, and seemed delighted to\nthink that he could have a complete menagerie in one cage. In order that\nhe might pursue his amusement without interruption, the Giant put him,\nwith the cage, on the top of the tower; and when our friends left the\nhollow mountain through the gap the Giant had made, the poor sorceress\nwas being changed from bird to beast, and from beast to fish or reptile,\nas fast as the little demon was satisfied with her performance in any\none character; and he may be keeping up this amusing pastime yet, for\nall I know.\n\nWhen our party emerged into the open plain, it was night; but as the\nstars were quite bright, Tur-il-i-ra, carrying his smaller friends, and\nwith his good club over his shoulder, took his way toward his castle.\nThey had not travelled far before daylight appeared, and very soon\nafterward they saw in the distance what seemed to be a mighty army\ncoming toward them. As it drew nearer, they perceived the glittering\nspears and the flags, and heard the sounds of drum and horn. This great\nmultitude was nothing more than two or three hundred thousand of the\ninhabitants of the city of the mighty King, who were marching upon the\nstronghold of Mahbracca.\n\nDuring the Prince's hurried visit to the city, he had freely told the\nfew persons with whom he had conversed of the place of imprisonment of\nthe Princess; and after he had left, the story spread rapidly.\n\nAt last the excitement became so great that it ended in a grand revolt.\nThe Prime Minister was seized and imprisoned, and the palace was\nsearched; and when it was found that the Princess was indeed gone, the\nwhole city put full faith in the Prince's story, and all who could bear\narms, or play music, and could possibly leave home, formed themselves\ninto a great army, and started off for the cave of Mahbracca. They\ntravelled bravely until they neared the hollow mountain, and hoped soon\nto destroy the wicked Mahbracca if they found that she was still alive,\nas the Prince had reported.\n\nAs they approached the Giant, some of the vanguard recognized Trumkard,\nand others remembered having seen the Prince before; and then when the\nPrincess raised her head, as the Giant gently held her on his arm,\nthousands of the nearest of the army set up a great shout,--\"The\nPrincess! the Princess!\"\n\nThen came a rush, in which the Giant might have had even his mighty legs\ntaken from under him, had he not, with the presence of mind for which he\nwas noted, mounted, at a bound, a tolerably high rock, and, waving his\nhand for silence, demanded that the people should gather round and\nlisten to him. He then made a speech which met with the greatest\nattention. He told the people everything that had happened on this\nadventure, and, having such a loud voice, they all heard what he had to\nsay. He related the remarkable fate of Mahbracca, and advised his\nhearers to forget their wrath against her, as she must, for the rest of\nher life, be harmless, and to conduct the Princess back to the mighty\ncity, and there to establish her in whatever rights she possessed, that\nis, if it were proved she had any at all. He also spoke in the highest\nterms of the Prince, and recommended his old friend Trumkard to their\nkindest consideration. When he had finished, the whole multitude\napplauded rapturously for some time, and in the midst of it all, he\ndelivered up his proteges to the guardianship of the Head-man, who\nimmediately had the Prince and Trumkard mounted upon magnificent\nchargers, and the Princess was placed in a palanquin of white silk,\nembroidered with diamonds, which had been brought on purpose for her, in\ncase they had had the good fortune to find her.\n\nThe Giant was then about to leave them; but as the citizens would not\nhear of this, and as he was a rare good fellow, and did not object to\nfestivities, he was persuaded to go with them. As they had no horse big\nenough for him, he walked.\n\nThe procession was then formed for the return march. First of all rode\nthe Head-man, with a sword in one hand and a golden horn in the other.\nThen marched the professors of music. After them came all those of the\narmy who could play on the trumpet; then the guard of honor, with the\nPrince and Princess; then Trumkard and the Giant, and after them the\nimmense host that could carry their weapons in one hand, and play upon\nthe drum with the other. When they started, the drums were all beaten,\nthe trumpets all blown, the horses neighed, the spears glittered, the\nbanners flapped and fluttered, and there was never so brave an army in\nthe world.\n\nFrom all the hills, and plains, and valleys, the people came flocking to\nsee them as they passed. The enthusiasm was so great, that when night\ncame on again, enormous bonfires were lighted on both sides of their\nroad, and kept up with such hearty good-will, that they travelled all\nnight in a light as bright as day; and when the wood gave out, the\npeasants tore down their cottages, and threw them on the flames.\n\nAs they proceeded, the professors of music composed marches, and when\none was finished, they gave the manuscript to the Head-man, who,\ncommanding silence, blew the tune on his horn, and then the whole army\nstruck up and played it grandly. Of these, the \"Giant's Grand March\" was\nthe best. It was what might be called good, loud music. If it had\nthundered, it is not likely that it would have been heard in the grand\nfinal burst, when all the drums and trumpets beat and blew their very\nloudest.\n\nThe Giant himself played in this march; for some of those who marched\nnear him, seeing that he had no instrument, asked him if he would not\nlike to play upon something. To which he replied that he did not care if\nhe did. So they got for him the largest bass-drum. He was much pleased\nat this, and handing his club to two hundred porters, who accompanied\nthe expedition, he beat away upon his drum in good style. This\nperformance did not last long, however; for the first time they played\nthe grand final burst, he beat on both drum-heads at the same time, and\nof course there was no more music from him. The people around him were\nvery glad of this; for while he played, he became so much excited that\nhe did not see where he was walking, and was continually treading upon\nsome one. So they journeyed with joy and gladness until they reached the\ncity of the mighty King, and all the people who had been left behind\ncame out to meet them. Bells were rung, and all kinds of music played,\nand the people shouted, so that the oldest inhabitant never knew such a\nnoise and excitement before. They entered the city, and the procession\nhalted at the palace. Here the Princess, after embracing the Prince, was\nconducted to the ladies' apartments, where her friends were so overjoyed\nat seeing her again, that one would have thought that they would never\nhave got over it. The Prince, Trumkard, and the Giant were each shown to\nsumptuous apartments, and that night everybody in the palace had as much\nof everything good as they could eat.\n\nTwelve o'clock of the next day was the time appointed for the Princess\nto make trial of the magical music. The great hall of the palace was\nfitted up most magnificently, and with the utmost rapidity, for this\ngreat occasion. The chairs of the judges were covered with new velvet,\nand nothing was omitted that could add to the regal splendor of the\nhall. At half-past ten the doors were opened, and the hall was\nimmediately filled in every part, but the small portion reserved for the\nprincipal actors in the ceremony. There were nine galleries, one above\nthe other, around this truly immense room; and when it was all packed\nfull of people from floor to dome, it was a wonderful spectacle indeed.\n\nAt ten minutes of twelve, the procession entered the great hall. First\ncame, along the centre passage, which was covered with cloth of gold, a\nnumber of beautiful boys, who strewed the way with hyacinths, and\njasmines, and the costly blossoms of the century plant. After them were\nothers, with golden water-pots, who sprinkled attar of roses before the\nPrincess, who, dressed in the purest white silk, cut bias, and trimmed\nwith pink fur, was escorted by the Prince. After them came the Prime\nMinister (released for the occasion), the nobles, etc., and the\nprocession was closed by the guards of the palace, all dressed in blue\nand covered with diamonds. There was no music, nor scarcely any sound\nwhatever, as they moved toward the judges, who were already sitting\nsolemnly in their chairs. When the procession reached them, it halted,\nand the Princess was conducted to a chair in front of the music. Then\nthe youngest judge arose, and uncovered the magical music.\n\nIn all that hall, filled with such a multitude, there was breathless\nsilence. It was so still that the little mice came out of their holes,\nthinking there was no one there.\n\nThen the Princess, timidly raising her eyes, ran them over the music,\nand began. It commenced softly and somewhat sadly, but soon, becoming\nlouder and richer, the tones swelled high and clear, until the pure\nvoice of the Princess thrilled through all the perfumed air. Then it\nbecame more and more glorious, until its beatific beauty caused many of\nthe older hearers to die, and go straight to paradise. The close was\ninconceivably sweet; and when the last notes died away, the people bowed\ntheir heads in tearful peace, and all evil left their hearts, and to\nmany of them it never returned.\n\nAs they raised their heads, they saw the oldest judge arise and point\nwith his golden wand to the marble tablet. The characters of the music\nhad disappeared, and the vellum on which they had been written was as\nwhite as snow. There was no need of any further decision. The judges\ndescended from their chairs in profound silence, and the oldest and the\nyoungest, each taking the Princess by the hand, led her up the steps to\nthe throne, and seated her upon it. Then the Prime Minister took the\ncrown from its velvet cushion, and placed it on her head, and, turning\nto the people, said in a voice which sounded in the stillness to all\nparts of the vast building, \"Behold your Queen!\"\n\nThen, as one man, that great multitude gave such a sudden, wild,\ntremendous shout, that it took the roof right off the top of the house,\nand the wood that fell in every direction outside, was enough to keep\nthe poor people in kindling-wood all winter.\n\nThe Giant, whirling his iron helmet around his head, now led off, with a\nthundering \"Hip, hip, hurra!\" in three cheers for the Queen. And three\n_such_ cheers!\n\nThe dense crowd outside took them up, and shook the very foundations of\nthe city with their shouts; and the country people, and those at a great\ndistance, heard the joyful sounds, and before many minutes the whole\ncountry, for miles around, reverberated with cheers for the new-made\nQueen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for the palace, it shook and trembled with the thunders of applause,\nstill led by the Giant, who couldn't be stopped. The people about him\nwere all struck deaf in the ear nearest him, but the ear-doctors cured\nthem all for nothing, when they got outside, so full of charity was\nevery one. At last, when every one, the Giant and all, were hoarse with\nshouting, the Prime Minister offered his hand to the Queen, and led her\ndown from the throne. Then she motioned to the Prince to give her his\narm; and at the head of the procession, he led her to the royal\napartments, at the door of which he left her. The multitude then\ndispersed, and they spent the rest of that day in putting right the\nwrongs they had committed, and in making provision for future virtue.\nWhen the Queen had taken some refreshment, she put on an every-day\ncrown, and repaired to the audience chamber to receive the visits of the\nvarious dignitaries of the kingdom, who came before her, and brought her\ntheir keys, and papers, and account-books. Giving each one back his\nkeys, and ordering the papers and accounts to be deposited in a great\npile on one side, where she might look over them at her leisure, she\nreappointed every man to the office he held before, and sent them away\nrejoicing. Then she called for writing materials and slaves, and\ncommenced writing notes to the Prince. She would write one on gilded\nvellum, and, folding it, would hand it to the slave next to her, who\ndipped it in frankincense, and handed it to the next one, who sprinkled\nit with attar of roses, and passed it to the next, who ran with it as\nhard as ever he could to the Prince. For in that kingdom it was not\nconsidered proper for lovers to visit much.\n\nThis performance the Queen kept up all the afternoon, writing as fast as\nshe could, and only stopping long enough to read the answers which the\nslaves brought her as they returned. At last, they came back, bringing\nwith them her last notes unopened, saying that the Prince had gone to\nsleep. At which intelligence she shed some tears, but then, like a\nsensible Queen, had her supper, and went to bed.\n\nThe next day the marriage of the Queen and the Prince took place, and it\nwas a glorious affair indeed. Twenty-four historians were appointed by\nthe Crown to write the history of it; they were paid by the quarter, and\nit took them a long time, I can assure you.\n\nThe whole of the wedding-day, the festivities were kept up, and all the\neating, and drinking, and merry-making, was at the royal expense. During\nthe day and night everybody spent, and gave away to the poor, all the\nwealth they possessed, and in the morning it was all paid back to them\nby the royal Treasurer. In the country, the people feasted grandly on\ntheir own herds, and drank up their own wines, and they were also\nreimbursed by the Crown.\n\nBut the great feature of the royal marriage was the decree, proclaimed\nat noon of the wedding-day, that all persons married on that day should\nbe set up in housekeeping, free of expense!\n\nNever, in the history of that or any other kingdom, were priests kept so\nbusy as those in this city. They worked as hard as they could, but at\nthree o'clock they were obliged to commence marrying the folks by\nsquads; and so, before suppertime, there was not a bachelor or maid in\nthe whole city,--excepting an old bobstay spinner,--one of the crossest\nof old maids, who hated men so much that she had not spoken to one for\nforty years; and a crabbed bachelor, who despised women so completely\nthat he never had his clothes washed, because it would have to be done\nby females.\n\nAt midnight, the priest Ali-bo-babem was called out of his bed, and\nfound at the door, desiring to be married, the crabbed old bachelor and\nthe cross old maid. These two did not live long, but all the rest of the\npeople were very happy for many years.\n\nAbout three o'clock of the morning after the great wedding-day, the\nGiant Tur-il-i-ra arrived at his castle gate. He had walked all the way\nhome, and he felt in such a good humor that the road never seemed so\nshort to him before. But, for some reason, he could not open the gate.\nThere seemed to be an unusual number of locks and bolts, and the big key\nhe carried did not seem to fit any of the numerous key-holes. He could\neasily reach over and undo the bolts, but the locks were too much for\nhim; and, I am sorry to say, he got a little angry, and was about to\ntake his club and smash his magnificent gate, when his wife, who had\nbeen sitting up for him, and had heard the noise he had been making,\ncame down and let him in.\n\nThey went together into the great hall, and there Tur-il-i-ra sat down\nbefore the fire. His wife, who thought a great deal of the good Giant,\nwas sorry to see that he was silent and rather grum.\n\n\"What makes you look so, my dear?\" said she. \"Did you not have a good\ntime?\"\n\n\"O yes,\" said he, \"good enough,--but that gate put me out. I wonder\nwhat's the matter with it. It's got to be fixed. I won't be bothered and\nworried in this way.\"\n\n\"It shall all be made right in the morning,\" said his wife. \"But are you\nsure you did not take anything that disagreed with you while you were\naway?\"\n\n\"Perhaps I did,\" said he. \"It might have been the mince-pies. They told\nme they were temperance pies, but I don't believe it.\"\n\n\"How many did you eat, my dear?\" asked the good Giantess.\n\n\"Well, I don't know,\" said her husband. \"About ten or eleven hundred, I\nsuppose.\"\n\n\"That was too many for you,\" said his wife. \"And I think you had better\ngo to bed, and I will bring you something to make you feel better.\"\n\nSo the Giant went to bed, and as he slowly ascended the stairs, he\nwinked to himself with his right eye. And his wife, she went into the\nkitchen, and winked to herself with her left eye.\n\nAfter a while she came up to the Giant, and brought a barrel of hot\nchamomile tea; and when he had drank it all, she tucked him in, nice and\nwarm, and the next morning he felt as well as ever.\n\n\n\n\nTING-A-LING'S VISIT TO TUR-I-LI-RA.\n\n\nOne pleasant sunny day, the Giant Tur-il-i-ra was lying on his back on\nthe grass, under some great trees, in a wood near the palace of the\nKing.\n\nHis feet were high above the rest of his body, resting in the crotch of\na great oak-tree, and he lay with his vest open and his hat off, idly\nsucking the pith from a young sapsago-tree that he had just broken off.\nNear him, on the top of a tall bulrush, sat the little fairy\nTing-a-ling. They had been talking together for some time, and\nTur-il-i-ra said, \"Ting-a-ling, you must come and see me. You have never\nbeen to my castle except when you came for the good of somebody else.\nCome now for yours and mine, and stay at least a week. We will have a\ngay old time. Will you come?\"\n\n\"I will,\" cried the little fairy, in a voice as clear as the chirp of a\ncricket. \"I'll come whenever you say so.\"\n\n\"Let it be to-morrow, then,\" said the Giant. \"Shall I fetch you?\"\n\n\"O no,\" said Ting-a-ling; \"I will come on my blue butterfly. You have no\nidea how fast he flies. I do believe he could go to your castle nearly\nas fast as you could yourself.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said Tur-il-i-ra, rising. \"Come as you please, but be sure\nyou come to stay.\"\n\nThen the Giant got up, and he shook himself, and buttoned his vest, and\nput on his hat, and as he had thin boots on, he told Ting-a-ling he was\ngoing to see if he couldn't take the river at one jump. So, tightening\nhis belt, and going back for a good run, he rushed to the river bank,\nand with a spring like the jerk of five mad elephants, he bounded\nacross. But the opposite bank was not hard enough to resist the\ntremendous fall of so many tons of giant as came upon it when\nTur-il-i-ra's feet touched its edge; and it gave way, and his feet went\nup and his back came down, and into the river, like a ship dropping out\nof the sky, went the mighty Giant. The splash was so great that the\nwhole air, for a minute or two, was full of water and spray, and\nTing-a-ling could see nothing at all. When things had become visible\nagain, there was Tur-il-i-ra standing up to the middle of his thighs in\nthe channel of the river, and brushing from his eyes and his nose the\nwater that trickled from him like little brooks.\n\n\"Hel-l-o-o-o!\" cried Ting-a-ling. \"Are you hurt?\"\n\n\"O no!\" spluttered the Giant. \"The water and the mud were soft enough,\nbut I'm nearly blinded and choked.\"\n\n\"It's a good thing it isn't worse,\" cried the fairy. \"If that river had\nnot been so broad, you would have broken your neck when you came down.\"\n\n\"Good-by!\" cried the Giant, stepping upon the bank; \"I must hurry home\nas fast as I can.\" And so away he went over the hills at a run, and you\nmay rest assured that he did not jump any more rivers that day.\n\nThe next morning early, Ting-a-ling mounted his blue butterfly, and over\nthe fields he went almost as fast as a bird, for his was a butterfly of\nthe desert, where they have to fly very far for anything to eat, and to\nrace for it very often at that. Ting-a-ling took nothing with him but\nwhat he wore, but his \"things\" and his best clothes were to be sent\nafter him on a beetle, which, though slow, was very strong, and could\nhave carried, if he chose, everything that Ting-a-ling had. About\nsunset, the fairy and the butterfly, the latter very tired, arrived at\nthe castle of Tur-il-i-ra, and there, at the great door, stood the\nGiant, expecting them, with his face beaming with hospitality and\ndelight. He had had his slaves, for the whole afternoon, scattered along\nthe road by which his visitor would come; and they were commanded to\nkeep a sharp lookout for a blue butterfly, and pass the word to the\ncastle when they saw it coming. So Tur-il-i-ra was all ready; and as he\nheld out his finger, the butterfly was glad enough to fly up and light\nupon it. The good Giant took them both into the house, and the butterfly\nwas put on a top-shelf, where there were some honey-jars, and if he\ndidn't eat!\n\nSupper was all ready, and Tur-il-i-ra sat down to the table on a chair\nwhich was bigger than some houses, while Ting-a-ling sat cross-legged on\na napkin, opposite to him. The Giant had everything nice. There was a\npair of roast oxen, besides a small boiled whale, and a great plate of\nfricasseed elks. As for vegetables, there were boat-loads of mashed\npotatoes, and turnips, and beans; and there was a pie which was as big\nas a small back-yard. The Giant had a splendid appetite, and before\nsupper was over he had eaten up most of these things. As for little\nTing-a-ling, he had only got half way through his third grain of boiled\nrice, when the Giant was done. But he could eat no more; and after\nscooping up about a drop of wine in a little cup he carried with him, he\ndrank the health of Tur-il-i-ra, and then they went out on the front\nporch, where the Giant ordered his big pipe to be brought, and he had a\nsmoke. When Tur-il-i-ra had finished his pipe, and Ting-a-ling had\nnearly sneezed himself to death, and the whole atmosphere, for about a\nmile around the castle, was foggy with smoke, they went in to bed.\n\nTur-il-i-ra took Ting-a-ling up-stairs, and showed him where he was to\nsleep; and then putting him down on the bed, he bade him good-night, and\nwent out and shut the door after him.\n\nTing-a-ling stood in the middle of the bed and looked about him. It was\nas if he was in the midst of a great plain. The bed was a double one,\nthat had belonged to the Giant's father and mother, and he had given it\nto Ting-a-ling because it was the best in the house. The little fairy\nwas delighted with this bed, which was very smooth, and covered with a\ngreat white counterpane. He ran from one end to the other of it, and he\nturned heels-over-head, and walked on his hands, and amused himself in\nthis way until he was thoroughly tired. Then he lay right down in the\nvery middle, and went to sleep. I would like to have a picture of\nTing-a-ling in the Giant's bed, but any one can draw it so easily for\nhimself, that it is of no use to have it here. All that is necessary is\nto take a large sheet of white paper,--the largest you can get,--and in\nthe centre of it make a small dot,--the smallest you can make,--and\nthere you have the picture.\n\nIt must have been nearly morning when Ting-a-ling was awakened by a\ntremendous knocking at the front-door of the castle. The first thought\nhe had was that perhaps there were his things! But he forgot that a very\nsmall, and probably tired-out fairy (for Parsley's younger brother was\nto come with the baggage), in charge of a beetle in the same condition,\ncould hardly make such a thundering noise as that. But he jumped up and\nslid down on the floor, and as his room was a front one, he went to the\nwindow, and climbing up the curtains, got outside and looked down.\nThere, in the moonlight, he saw an ordinary sized man on horseback,\ndirecting about a dozen black slaves, who had hold of a long rope, which\nthey had tied to the knocker of Tur-il-i-ra's door. They were all\npulling away at it as hard as they could (and a mighty pounding they\nmade too), when the Giant put his head out of his window, and asked what\nall this noise meant.\n\n\"O good Tur-il-i-ra!\" cried the man on the horse, \"I have ridden for\nseveral days\" (he said nothing about his slaves having run all the way)\n\"to come to you, and tell you that the Kyrofatalapynx is loose.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"What!\" cried Tur-il-i-ra, in a voice like the explosion of a powder\nmagazine. \"Loose!\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the man. \"He's been loose for four days.\"\n\nThe Giant pulled in his head, and Ting-a-ling could hear him hurrying\ndown-stairs to open the great door. The man came in and all the slaves,\nand as a good many of Tur-il-i-ra's people were up by this time, there\nwas a great hubbub of voices in the lower hall; but though Ting-a-ling\nlistened up by the banisters until the cold wind on the staircase had\nnearly frozen his little bare legs (which were not much longer than your\nfinger-nail, and about as thick as a big darning-needle), he could make\nout nothing at all of the talk. So he went back to the bed, and got in\nunder the edge of the counterpane, and lay there, with just his head\nsticking out, until he dropped asleep. At daybreak Tur-il-i-ra came into\nthe room, and stooping over the bed, called to him to get up, as there\nwas to be an early breakfast. As the Giant carried him down-stairs on\nhis finger, he told the fairy that he was deeply grieved, but that he\nwould be obliged to leave him for the rest of the day, on account of the\nKyrofatalapynx having broken loose.\n\n\"But what is that?\" asked Ting-a-ling.\n\n\"Why, don't you know? It is a--Look here, you fellows! Didn't I tell you\nthat breakfast was to be all ready when I came down? What do you mean,\nyou lazy rascals? Skip, now, and have everything ready this minute.\"\n\nAnd the men skipped, and the cooks cooked, and the fires blazed, and the\npots boiled and bubbled, and the Giant sat down in a great hurry, with\nthe man who came on horseback sitting cross-legged on one side of the\ntable, and Ting-a-ling on the other. So he forgot to finish his sentence\nabout the Kyrofatalapynx. During the meal there was nothing but noise\nand confusion, and Ting-a-ling could not get in a word. The Giant had a\ndish of broiled sheep before him, and he was crunching them up as fast\nas he could, and talking, with his mouth full, to the man all the time;\nand the slaves and the servants were all eating and drinking, and\nrunning about, until there was no hearing one's own voice, unless it was\na very big one. So, although Ting-a-ling was dying of curiosity to know\nwhat the Kyrofatalapynx was, he could not get an answer from any one.\n\nAs soon as the Giant was done eating, he jumped up, and shouted for his\nhat and his boots; and if the men did not run fast enough, he shouted at\nthem all the louder. If Ting-a-ling had not stayed on the table, I don't\nknow what would have become of him in the confusion. The Giant had now\npushed off his slippers, and was waiting until the men should bring his\nboots; and as one lazy fellow was poking around, as if he was half\nasleep, Tur-il-i-ra was so irritated at his slowness that he slipped the\ntoe of his stockinged foot under him, and gave him a tremendous send\nright out of the door, and he went flying over the trees at the bottom\nof the lawn, and over the barley-field on the other side of the ditch,\nand over the pasture, where the cows were kept, and over the pomegranate\norchard, and over the palm-grove by the little lake, and over Hassan ab\nKolyar's cottage, right smack down into the soft marsh, back of the\nsunflower garden; and he didn't get back to the castle until his master\nhad been gone an hour. As the Giant sat on the edge of the table,\npulling on his boots, he told Ting-a-ling that he must make himself as\ncomfortable as possible until he came back, and that he would not be\ngone longer than he could possibly help. But although the fairy asked\nhim again and again to tell him what the Kyrofatalapynx was, he never\nseemed to hear him, so busy was he, talking to everybody at once. Now\nTur-il-i-ra was nearly ready to go, and Ting-a-ling was standing close\nto the fringe on his scarf, which lay over one end of the table.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"How I should like to go with him,\" said the little fairy, and he took\nhold of the fringe. \"But he doesn't want me, or he would take me along.\nI would ask him, if he would only be quiet a minute\"--\n\nJust then up jumped the Giant; and as Ting-a-ling had not let go of the\nfringe, he was jerked up too. He held on bravely; and as he did not wish\nto swing about on the scarf, he climbed up to the Giant's shoulder, and\ntook tight hold of his long hair. With the man and his slaves in a large\nround basket in one hand, and his great club in the other, away went\nTur-il-i-ra, with strides longer than across the street, and he walked\nso fast, that Ting-a-ling had to hold on tight, to keep from being blown\naway.\n\nAbout noon they came to a large palace, surrounded by smaller dwellings;\nand on the porch of the palace there stood a King and a Queen and three\nprincesses, and they were all crying. On the steps, in the grounds and\ngardens, and everywhere, were the lords and ladies, and common people,\nand they were all crying too. When these disconsolate people saw the\nGiant approaching, they set up a great shout of joy, and rushed to meet\nhim, calling out, \"O, the Kyrofatalapynx has broken loose!\"\n\nTur-il-i-ra went up to the palace, and sat down on the great portico,\nwith his feet on the ground, and the people told him (all speaking at\nonce, and not having even manners enough to let the King have the first\nsay) that the Kyrofatalapynx had grown awfully strong and savage since\nthe Giant had tied him up, and that he had at last broken loose, and was\nnow ravaging the country. He had carried off ever so many camels, and\nhorses, and sheep, and oxen, and had threatened to eat up every person\nin those parts, who was under age. But since he had found out that they\nhad sent for Tur-il-i-ra, he had gone into the forest, and they knew not\nwhen he would come forth. Then up spoke a woodman above all the clamor,\nand he said he knew when he would come out, for he had been in the\nforest that morning, and had stumbled on the Kyrofatalapynx, which was\nso busy making something that he did not see him; and he heard him\nmutter to himself, over and over again, \"When he comes, I'll rush out\nand finish him, and then I'll be head of them all.\"\n\n\"All right,\" cried Tur-il-i-ra. \"I'll wait down there by the edge of the\nforest; and when he sees me, he can rush out, and then you will all soon\nknow who will be finished.\"\n\nSo the Giant went over to the wood, and sat down and waited. After a\nwhile, he got very sleepy, and he thought he would take a little nap\nuntil the Kyrofatalapynx should come. In order that the people might\nwake him up in time, he tied a long rope to one of his ear-rings (his\neyes had been a little weak in his youth), and everybody took hold of\nthe end of the rope, and they promised to pull good and hard when they\nheard the trees crushing in the forest. So the Giant went to sleep, and\nthe people all listened for the Kyrofatalapynx,--holding their breaths,\nand standing ready to jerk the rope when he should come.\n\nPoor little Ting-a-ling was nearly consumed with curiosity. What _was_\nthe Kyrofatalapynx? He slipped down to the ground without being noticed\nby anybody; and, as they all seemed so intent listening and watching, he\nfelt afraid to speak to any of them. Directly a happy thought struck\nhim.\n\n\"I will go into the wood myself. Whatever the Kyfymytaly-gyby is, he\nwon't be likely to see me, and I can run and tell Tur-il-i-ra where he\nis, before he comes out of the wood.\"\n\nSo away he went, and soon was deep in the darkness of the forest. But he\ncould hear no noise, and saw nothing that appeared to have life. Even\nthe very birds and insects seemed to have flown away. After wandering\nsome distance, he suddenly met a fairy, a little bit of a fellow, but\nsomewhat larger than himself, and entirely green. Ting-a-ling spoke to\nhim, and told him what he was after.\n\n\"That isn't exactly his name,\" said the green fairy, politely, \"but I\nknow what you mean. If you come this way, I can show him to you.\"\n\nSo Ting-a-ling followed him, and presently they came to the edge of an\nopening in the middle of the forest; and there, sure enough, was the\nKyrofatalapynx. With one of his great red tails coiled around an immense\noak-tree, and the other around a huge rock, he sat with his elephantine\nlegs gathered up under him, as if he were about to spring over the\ntree-tops. But he had no such idea. In his great hands, as big as\ntravelling-trunks, he held a long iron bar, one end of which he was\nsharpening against a stone. By his side lay an immense bow, made of a\ntall young yew-tree, and the cord was a long and tough grape-vine. As he\nsat sharpening this great arrow, he grinned until his horrid teeth\nlooked like a pale-fence around a little garden, and he muttered to\nhimself as he worked away,--\"Four hundred and nine more rubs, and I can\nsend it twang through him; twang, twang, twang!\"\n\n\"Isn't he horrid?\" whispered Ting-a-ling.\n\n\"Yes, indeed,\" said the green fairy. \"When he was young, he came out of\nthe mouth of a volcano; and the King here, who is very fond of wonderful\nthings, got Tur-il-i-ra to catch him, and chain him up for him in a\ngreat yard he had made for him. But now that he is grown up, no chains\ncan hold him, and I expect he will kill the Giant with that great iron\narrow, before he can come near him.\"\n\n\"O!\" cried Ting-a-ling, \"he mustn't do that. We must never let him do\nthat!\"\n\n\"We!\" said the fairy, in a voice of astonishment.\n\n\"Yes, yes, I mean us. O, what shall we do? Let's cut his bowstring,\"\nsaid Ting-a-ling, in great excitement, and drawing his little sword. The\ngreen fairy, although polite, could not help laughing at this idea; but\nTing-a-ling slipped softly to where the bow was lying, a little behind\nthe Kyrofatalapynx, and commenced to cut away at it; but although the\ngreen fairy took the sword when he was tired, they could make but little\nimpression on the stout grape-vine, nearly as thick as they were high.\n\n\"Let's nick the sword,\" said Ting-a-ling, \"and then it will be a saw.\"\nAnd so, with a sharp little flint, they nicked the edge of it, and the\nedge of the green fairy's knife (for he had no sword), and as they\ncommenced to saw away as hard as they could at the grape-vine, they\nheard the Kyrofatalapynx muttering, \"Only three hundred and seven more\nrubs, and then--twang, twang, twang!\"\n\nThey worked like little heroes now; and as the fairy's sword was of the\nsharpest steel, they cut a good way into the vine; but just when they\nwere nearly tired out, they heard the words,--\"Ninety-three more rubs,\nand--twang, twang, twang!\"\n\n\"O, let's saw, let's saw,\" cried Ting-a-ling (and it's a wonder the\nKyrofatalapynx did not hear him), and they worked as hard as they did at\nfirst.\n\n\"Six more rubs, and--twang, twang, twang!\" cried the Kyrofatalapynx, and\nthe two little fairies fell down exhausted and disheartened. The vine\nwas cut but little more than half through.\n\nUp rose the mighty creature; and with his bow and arrow in his hands, he\npushed quietly through the wood. The two fairies jumped up in a few\nminutes, and hurried after him; and as he went very slowly, so as not to\nbe perceived, they reached the edge of the wood just as he crashed out\ninto the open field.\n\n\"O!!!\" shouted all the people, and they pulled the rope with a terrible\njerk. Up sprang the Giant, but there stood the Kyrofatalapynx, with his\nlong iron arrow already fitted into his bow. \"Ha, ha!\" he cried, \"I\nshall put it through you--twang!\" And he drew his arrow to its very\nhead, and all the people fell down on their faces, and even Tur-il-i-ra\nturned a little pale. But snap! went the bowstring, and down fell the\narrow! Then up rushed the Giant, and with one crushing blow of his\nrock-knobbed club, he laid the Kyrofatalapynx stone-dead!\n\nThe King, and the Queen, and the princesses, and all the people, jumped\nup, and in their wild joy they would have kissed the clothes off the\ngood Giant, had he been willing to wait.\n\n\"All right!\" he cried; \"I must be off. I've a friend at home waiting for\nme. No thanks. You can stuff him now. Good-by!\"\n\nAnd away he went, and poor little Ting-a-ling was left behind!\n\nWhen he saw the Giant walking away like a steam-engine on stilts,\nTing-a-ling began to cry.\n\n\"Did you come with him?\" said the green fairy. \"Well, he's gone, and you\ncan live with me now.\"\n\nBut Ting-a-ling was so overcome with sorrow, and begged so hard that his\nnew friend should tell him of some way to follow the Giant, that the\nlatter, after thinking a while, took him up into the King's\npigeon-house. Warning him to be careful not to let any of the birds pick\nhim up, the green fairy pointed out a gray pigeon to Ting-a-ling.\n\n\"Now,\" said he, \"if we can get a string around the middle feather of his\ntail, we are all right.\"\n\n\"How so?\" asked Ting-a-ling.\n\n\"Why, then you get on, and start him off, and by pulling the string you\ncan make him go any way you wish; for you know he steers himself with\nhis tail.\"\n\n\"Good!\" cried Ting-a-ling, and they both looked for a string. When they\nhad found one, they stole up to the pigeon, who was eating corn, and\ntied it fast to the middle feather of his tail, without his knowing\nanything about it.\n\n\"Now jump on and I'll start him off,\" said the green fairy; and\nTing-a-ling ran up the pigeon's tail (which almost touched the floor),\nand took his seat on its back, holding tight on to its feathers. Then\nthe green fairy ran around by the pigeon's head, and shouted in its ear,\nas it was pecking corn,--\"_Hawk!_\"\n\nThe bird just lifted up its head, and gave one shoot right out of the\nwindow of the pigeon-house. It went high up into the air; and\nTing-a-ling, when he looked around and saw which way he ought to go,\npulled his string this way and that way, and he found that he could\nsteer the pigeon very well, and even make him keep up in the air, by\npulling his tail-feather straight up. So on they went, and they got to\nthe Giant's castle before the Giant himself. The pigeon flew over the\ncastle, but Ting-a-ling steered him back again, and backward and\nforward, two or three times, until the bird thought he might as well\nstop there; and so he alighted on the roof, and off jumped Ting-a-ling.\nThe first thing he saw there, after the pigeon had flown away again, was\nthe green fairy!\n\n\"Why, where did you come from?\" cried Ting-a-ling.\n\n\"O,\" said the other, laughing, and jumping up and down, \"I thought I'd\ncome too, and I hung on to his leg. It was nice, sitting up among his\nwarm feathers, when his legs were curled up under him; a great deal\nbetter than being on top.\"\n\nTing-a-ling was very glad to have his friend with him, and he took him\ndown-stairs. When the Giant got home, there they were, both in the\nmiddle of the table in the great hall, ready to welcome him. Tur-il-i-ra\ndid not ask where the green fairy came from; but he was glad to see him,\nand he ordered supper to be laid on a table out on the lawn; for he was\nwarm with his long walk. After supper, the two fairies came down to the\nGiant's end of the table, and he told them all that had happened, and\nhow fortunate it was that the bowstring of the Kyrofatalapynx had\nbroken.\n\n\"He did it!\" cried the green fairy, pointing to Ting-a-ling; and then he\ntold the whole story of their doings, and Ting-a-ling had to explain how\nhe had gone with the Giant. Tur-il-i-ra listened until they had quite\nfinished, and then exclaimed, \"Well! I never saw such a little thing as\nyou are, Ting-a-ling, for being in the right place at the right time.\nNever, never!\" And he brought his hand down on the table with such an\nemphatic bang, that Ting-a-ling and the green fairy shot into the air\nlike rifle-balls. Ting-a-ling went up, up, and up, until a high wind\ntook him, and it blew him over a river, and a wood, and a high hill, and\na wide plain; and then he fell down, down, down,--right into the middle\nof a soft powder puff-ball, with which a lady was powdering her neck.\n\n\"Mercy on us!\" cried the lady, when she saw a little fairy in the\npuff-ball that she was just going to put up to her throat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"It's only I, Nerralina,\" cried Ting-a-ling, who immediately recognized\nher; \"wait a minute, until I get my breath.\"\n\nSure enough, it was Nerralina, the Princess's lady, who had been on a\nvisit to her mother, in a distant country, and returning, had ordered\nher slaves to pitch her tent where she now was, about half a day's\njourney from the palace. Ting-a-ling told his story, and they had a nice\ntime, talking of their past adventures; and in the morning Nerralina\ntook Ting-a-ling with her to his home in the palace gardens.\n\nAs to the green fairy, he came down in a spider web. When he got out and\nstood on the grass, he said, \"I shall not go back to that Giant. He is\ngood, but he is too violent.\"\n\nSo he went to the river and got a nice chip, and he loaded it with\nhoneysuckles and clover blossoms, and pushed it off into the stream; he\nthen lay down on his back in the middle of his clover, and, sucking a\nhoneysuckle, floated away in the moonlight, down to his home, where he\narrived in two or three days, just as his honeysuckles were all gone.\n\nWhen Tur-il-i-ra saw what he had done, he was in great trouble indeed.\nHe ordered all his slaves to bring their little children, and he\ngathered up great handfuls of them, and spread them out all over the\ngrass, so that they might look for the two lost fairies. But of course\nthey could not find them; and just as the sun was setting, and the Giant\nwas going to bed in despair, there came a horseman from Nerralina,\ntelling him that Ting-a-ling was safe, and was going home with her.\nEarly in the morning Tur-il-i-ra went to the palace gardens, and\nTing-a-ling seeing him, they went down to the wood where they were when\nthis story opened. Tur-il-i-ra wanted Ting-a-ling to go back and finish\nhis visit.\n\n\"No,\" said the fairy. \"I like you very much indeed, but I'm afraid I'm\nmost too little for your house.\"\n\n\"Perhaps that's true,\" said the Giant; \"and when you want to see them,\nthere are so many good people here in the palace. I am sure I like\ncommon human beings very much, and I would wish to be with them always,\nif they were not so little.\"\n\n\"I like them too,\" said Ting-a-ling, \"and would live with them all the\ntime, if they were not so big.\"\n\n\n+---------------------------------------+\n|  Transcriber's Notes:                 |\n|                                       |\n|  Page  56 Mahalla changed to Mahallah |\n|        75 wofully changed to woefully |\n|       138 afrites changes to Afrites  |\n+---------------------------------------+","title":"Ting-a-ling","tradition":"folklore-oral-tradition","translated_text":null,"word_count":36007}