Ting a ling

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"O! here you are," said he, and, picking up the butterfly and wagon, he
put them in his vest pocket--that is, all excepting the butterfly's
head. That remained fast to the hinge, as the Giant forgot he was tied.
Then our lofty friend set off at a smart pace for the King's castle; but
notwithstanding his haste, it was dark when he reached it.

"Come now, young man," said he, opening his purse, "wake up, and let us
get to work. Where is that Prince you were talking about?"

"Well, I'm sure I don't know," said Ting-a-ling, rubbing his eyes. "But
just put me up to that window which has the vine growing beneath it.
That is the Princess's room, and she can tell us all about it."

So the giant took him on his finger, and put him in the window. There,
in the lighted room, Ting-a-ling beheld a sight which greatly moved him.
Although she had slept but little the night before, the Princess was
still up, and was sitting in an easy-chair, weeping profusely. Near her
stood a maid-of-honor, who continually handed her fresh handkerchiefs
from a great basketful by her side. As fast as the Princess was done
with one, she threw it behind her, and the great pile there showed that
she must have been weeping nearly all day. Getting down upon the floor,
Ting-a-ling clambered up the Princess's dress, and reaching, at last,
her ear, shouted into it,--

"Princess! Princess! Stop crying, for I'm come!"

The Princess was very much startled; but she did not, like the Giant,
clap her hand to her ear, for if she had, she would have ruined the
beautiful curls which stood out so nicely on each side. Ting-a-ling
implored her to be quiet, and told her that the Giant had come to assist
her, and that they wanted to know where the Prince was confined.

"I will tell you! I will show you!" cried the Princess quickly, and,
jumping up, she ran to the window with Ting-a-ling still at her ear. "O
you good giant," she cried, "are you there? If you will take me, I will
show you the tower, the cruel tower, where my Prince is confined."

"Fear not!" said the good Giant. "Fear not I soon will release him. Let
me take you in my hands, and do you show me where to go."

"Are you sure you can hold me?" said the Princess, standing timidly upon
the edge of the window.

"I guess so," said the Giant. "Just get into my hands."

And, taking her down gently, he set her on his arm, and then he took
Ting-a-ling from her hair, and placed him on the tip of his thumb. Thus
they proceeded to the Tower of Tears.

"Here is the place," said the Princess. "Here is the horrid tower where
my beloved is. Please put me down a minute, and let me cry."

"No, no," said the Giant; "you have done enough of that, my dear, and we
have no time to spare. So, if this is your Prince's tower, just get in
at the window, and tell him to come out quickly, and I will take you
both away without making any fuss."

"That is the window--the fourth-story one. Lift me up," said the
Princess.

But though the Giant was very large, he was not quite tall enough for
this feat, for they built their towers very high in those days. So,
putting Ting-a-ling and the Princess into his pocket, he looked around
for something to stand on. Seeing a barn near by, he picked it up, and
placed it underneath the window. He put his foot on it to try if it
would bear him, and, finding it would (for in those times barns were
very strong), he stood upon it, and looked in the fourth-story window.
Taking his little friends out of his pocket, he put them on the
window-sill, where Ting-a-ling remained to see what would happen, but
the Princess jumped right down on the floor. As there was a lighted
candle on the table, she saw that there was some one covered up in the
bed.

"O, there he is!" said she. "Now I will wake him up, and hurry him
away." But just at that moment, as she was going to give the sleeper a
gentle shake, she happened to perceive the yellow boots sticking out
from under the sheet.

"O dear!" said she in a low voice, "if he hasn't gone to bed with his
boots on! And if I wake him, he will jump right down on the floor, and
make a great noise, and we shall be found out."

So she went to the foot of the bed, and pulled off the boots very
gently.

"White stockings!" said she. "What does this mean? I know the Prince
wore green stockings, for I took particular notice how well they looked
with his yellow boots. There must be something wrong, I declare! Let me
run to the other end of the bed, and see how it is there. O my! O my!"
cried she, turning down the sheet. "A woman's head! Wrong both ways! O
what shall I do?"

Letting the sheet drop, she accidentally touched the head, which
immediately rolled off on to the floor.

"Loose! Loose!! Loose!!!" she screamed in bitter agony, clasping her
hands above her head. "What shall I ever do? O misery! misery me! Some
demon has changed him, all but his boots. O Despair! Despair!"

And, without knowing what she did, she rushed frantically out of the
room, and along the dark passage, and popped right down through the open
trap.

"What's up?" said the Giant, putting his face to the window. "What's all
this noise about?"

"O I don't know," said Ting-a-ling, almost crying, "but somebody's head
is off; and it's a lady--all but the boots--and the Princess has run
away! O dear! O dear!"

"Come now!" said Tur-il-i-ra, "Ting-a-ling, get into my pocket. I must
see into this myself, for I can't be waiting here all night, you know."

So the Giant, still standing on the barn, lifted off the roof of the
tower, and threw it to some distance. He then, by the moonlight,
examined the upper story, but, finding no Prince or Princess, brushed
down the walls until he came to the floor, and, taking it up, he looked
carefully over the next story. This he continued, until he had torn down
the whole tower, and found no one but servants and guards, who ran away
in all directions, like ants when you destroy their hills. He then
kicked down all those walls which connected the tower with the rest of
the palace, and, when it was all level with the ground, he happened to
notice, almost at his feet, a circular opening like an entrance to a
vault, from which arose a very pleasant smell as of something good to
eat. Stooping down to see what it was that caused this agreeable
perfume, he perceived that at the distance of a few yards the aperture
terminated in a huge yellow substance, in which, upon a closer
inspection, he saw four feet sticking up--two with slippers, and two
with green stockings.

"Why, this is strange!" said he, and, stooping down, he felt the
substance, and found it was quite soft and yielding. He then loosened it
by passing his hand around it, and directly lifted it out almost entire.

"By the beard of the Prophet!" he cried, "but this is a cheese!" and,
turning it over, he saw on the other side two heads, one with short
black hair, and the other covered with beautiful brown curls.

"Why, here they are! As I'm a living Giant! these must be the Prince and
Princess, stowed away in a cheese!" And he laughed until the very hills
cracked.

When he got a little over his merriment, he asked the imprisoned couple
how they got there, and if they felt comfortable. They replied that they
had fallen down a trap, and had gone nearly through this cheese, where
they had stuck fast, and that was all they had known about it; and if
the blood did not run down into their heads so, they would be pretty
comfortable, thank him--which last remark the Giant accounted for by the
fact, that, when lovers are near each other, they do not generally pay
much attention to surrounding circumstances.

"This, then," said he, rising, "is where the King hardens his cheeses,
is it? Well, well, it's a jolly go!" And he laughed some more.

"O Tur-il-i-ra," cried Ting-a-ling, looking out from the vest-pocket,
"I'm so glad you've found them."

"Well, so am I," said the Giant.

Then Tur-il-i-ra, still holding the cheese, walked away for a little
distance, and sat down on a high bank, intending to wait there until
morning, when he would call on the King, and confer with him in relation
to his new-found treasure. Leaning against a great rock, the Giant put
the cheese upon his knees in such a manner as not to injure the heads
and feet of the lovers, and dropped into a very comfortable sleep.

"Don't I wish I could get my arms out!" whispered the Prince.

"O my!" whispered the Princess.

Ting-a-ling, having now nothing to occupy his mind, and desiring to
stretch his legs, got out of the vest-pocket where he had remained so
safely during all the disturbance, and descended to the ground to take a
little walk. He had not gone far before he met a young friend, who was
running along as fast as he could.

"Hallo! Ting-a-ling," cried the other. "Is that you? Come with me, and I
will show you the funniest thing you ever saw in your life."

"Is it far?" said Ting-a-ling, "for I must be back here by daylight."

"O no! come on. It won't take you long, and I tell you, it's fun!"

So away they ran, merrily vaulting over the hickory-nuts, or acorns,
that happened to be in their way, in mere playfulness, as if they were
nothing. They soon came to a large, open space, so brightly lighted by
the moon, that every object was as visible as if it were daylight.
Scattered over the smooth green were thousands of fairies of
Ting-a-ling's nation, the most of whom were standing gazing intently at
a very wonderful sight.

Seated on a stone, under a great tree that stood all alone in the centre
of this plain, was a woman without any head. She moved her hands rapidly
about over her shoulders, as if in search of the missing portion of
herself, and, encountering nothing but mere air, she got very angry, and
stamped her feet, and shrugged her shoulders, which amused the fairies
very much, and they all set up a great laugh, and seemed to be enjoying
the fun amazingly. On one side, down by a little brook, was a busy crowd
of fairies, who appeared to be washing something therein. Scattered all
around were portions of the Tower of Tears, much of which had fallen
hereabouts.

Ting-a-ling and his friend had not gazed long upon this scene before the
sound of music was heard, and in a few moments there appeared from out
the woods a gorgeous procession. First came a large band of music,
ringing blue-bells and blowing honeysuckles. Then came an array of
courtiers, magnificently dressed; and, after them, the Queen of the
fairies, riding in a beautiful water-lily, drawn by six royal purple
butterflies, and surrounded by a brilliant body of lords and ladies.

This procession halted at a short distance in front of the
lady-minus-a-head, and formed itself into a semicircle, with the Queen
in the centre. Then the crowd at the brook were seen approaching, and on
the shoulders of the multitude was borne a head. They hurried as fast as
their heavy load would permit, until they came to the tree under which
sat the headless Nerralina, who, bed and all, had fallen here, when the
Giant tore down the tower. Then quickly attaching a long rope (that they
had put over a branch directly above the lady) to the hair of the head,
they all took hold of the other end, and, pulling with a will, soon
hoisted the head up until it hung at some distance above the neck to
which it had previously belonged. Now they began to lower it slowly, and
the Queen stood up with her wand raised ready to utter the magic word
which should unite the parts when they touched. A deep silence spread
over the plain, and even the lady seemed conscious that something was
about to happen, for she stood up and remained perfectly still.

There was but one person there who did not feel pleasure at the
approaching event, and that was a dwarf about a foot high, very ugly and
wicked, who, by some means or other, had got into this goodly company,
and who was now seated in a crotch of the tree, very close to the rope
by which the crowd was lowering the lady's head. No one perceived him,
for he was very much the color of the tree, and there he sat alone,
quivering with spite and malice.

[Illustration]

At the moment the head touched the ivory neck, the Queen, uttering the
magic word, dropped the end of the wand, and immediately the head
adhered as firmly as of old.

But a wild shout of horror rang through all the plain! For, at the
critical moment, the dwarf had reached out his hand, and twisted the
rope, so that when the head was joined, it was wrong side foremost--face
back!

Just then the little villain stuck his head out from behind the branch,
and, giving a loud and mocking laugh of triumph, dropped from the tree.
With a yell of anger the whole crowd, Queen, courtiers, common people,
and all, set off in a mad chase after the dwarf, who fled like a stag
before the hounds.

All were gone but little Ting-a-ling, and when he saw the dreadful
distress of poor Nerralina, who jumped up, and twisted around, and ran
backward both ways, screaming for help, he stopped not a minute, but ran
to where he had left the Giant, and told him, as fast as his breathing
would allow, the sad story.

Rubbing his eyes, Tur-il-i-ra perceived that it was nearly day, and
concluded to commence operations. He placed Ting-a-ling on his
shirt-frill, where he could see what was going on, and, taking about
eleven strides, he came to where poor Nerralina was jumping about, and,
picking her up, put her carefully into his coat-tail pocket. Then, with
the cheese in his hand, he walked slowly toward the palace.

When he arrived there, he found the people running about, and crowding
around the ruins of the Tower of Tears. He passed on, however, to the
great Audience Chamber, and, looking in, saw the King sitting upon his
throne behind a velvet-covered table, holding an early morning council,
and receiving the reports of his officers concerning the damage. As this
Hall, and the doors thereof, were of great size, the Giant walked in,
stooping a little as he entered.

He marched right up to the King, and held the cheese down before him.

"Here, your Majesty, is your daughter, and the young Prince, her lover.
Does your Majesty recognize them?"

"Well, I declare!" cried the King. "If that isn't my great cheese, that
I had put in the vault-flue to harden! And my daughter and that young
man in it! What does this mean? What have you been doing, Giant?"

Then Tur-il-i-ra related the substance of the whole affair in a very
brief manner, and concluded by saying that he hoped to see them made man
and wife, as he considered them under his protection, and intended to
see them safely through this affair. And he held them up so that all the
people who thronged into the Hall could see.

The people all laughed, but the King cried "Silence!" and said to the
Giant, "If the young man is of as good blood as my daughter, I have no
desire to separate them. In fact, I don't think I am separating them. I
think it's the cheese!"

"Come! come!" said the Giant, turning very red in the face, "none of
your trifling, or I'll knock your house down over your eyes!"

And, putting the cheese down close to the table, he broke it in half,
letting the lovers drop out on the velvet covering, when they
immediately rushed into each other's arms, and remained thus clasped for
a length of time.

They then slowly relinquished their hold upon each other, and were
exchanging looks of supreme tenderness, when the Prince, happening to
glance at his feet, sprang back so that he almost fell off the long
table, and shouted,--

"Blood! Fire! Thunder! Where's my boots? Boots! Slaves! Hounds! Get me
my boots! boots!! boots!!!"

[Illustration]

"O! he's a Prince!" cried the King, jumping up. "I want no further
proof. He's a Prince. Give him boots. And blow, horners, blow! Beat your
drums, drummers! Join hands all! Clear the floor for a dance!"

And in a trice the floor was cleared, and about five thousand couples
stood ready for the first note from the band.

"Hold up!" cried the Giant. "Hold up! here is one I forgot," and he
commenced feeling in his pockets. "I know I have got her somewhere. O
yes, here she is!" and taking the Lady Nerralina from his coat-tail
pocket, he put her carefully upon the table.

Every face in the room was in an instant the picture of horror,--all but
that of the little girl whose duty it was to fasten Nerralina's dress
every morning,--who got behind the door, and jumping up, and clapping
her hands and heels, exclaimed, "Good! good! Now she can see to fasten
her own frock behind!"

The Prince was the first to move, and, with tears in his eyes, he
approached the luckless lady, who was sobbing piteously.

"Poor thing!" said he, and, putting his arm around her, he kissed her.
What joy thrilled through Nerralina! She had never been kissed by a man
before, and it did for her what such things have done for many a young
lady since--it turned her head!

"Blow, horners, blow!" shouted the King. "Join hands all!"

Seizing Nerralina's hand, and followed by the Prince and Princess, who
sprang from the table, he led off the five thousand couples in a grand
gallopade.

The Giant stood, and laughed heartily, until, at last, being no longer
able to restrain himself, he sprang into the midst of them, and danced
away royally, trampling about twenty couples under foot at every jump.

"Dance away, old fellow!" shouted the King, from the other end of the
room. "Dance away, my boy, and never mind the people."

And the music blew louder, and round they all went faster and faster,
until the building shook and trembled from the cellar to the roof.

At length, perfectly exhausted, they all stopped, and Ting-a-ling,
slipping down from the Giant's frill, went out of the door.

"O!" said he, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes, "it was all so
funny, and every body was so happy--that--that I almost forgot my
bereavement."

TING-A-LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS.

Ting-a-ling, for some weeks after the death of his young companion,
Ling-a-ting, seemed quite sad and dejected. He spent nearly all his time
lying in a half-opened rose-bud, and thinking of the dear little
creature who was gone. But one morning, the bud having become a
full-blown rose, its petals fell apart, and dropped little Ting-a-ling
out on the grass. The sudden fall did not hurt him, but it roused him to
exertion, and he said, "O ho! This will never do. I will go up to the
palace, and see if there is anything going on." So off he went to the
great palace; and sure enough something was going on. He had scarcely
reached the court-yard, when the bells began to ring, the horns to blow,
the drums to beat, and crowds of people to shout and run in every
direction, and there was never such a noise and hubbub before.

Ting-a-ling slipped along close to the wall, so that he would not be
stepped on by anybody; and having reached the palace, he climbed up a
long trailing vine, into one of the lower windows. There he saw the vast
audience-chamber filled with people, shouting, and calling, and talking,
all at once. The grand vizier was on the wide platform of the throne,
making a speech, but the uproar was so great that not one word of it
could Ting-a-ling hear. The King himself was by his throne, putting on
the bulky boots, which he only wore when he went to battle, and which
made him look so terrible that a person could hardly see him without
trembling. The last time that he had worn those boots, as Ting-a-ling
very well knew, he had made war on a neighboring country, and had
defeated all the armies, killed all the people, torn down all the towns
and cities, and every house and cottage, and ploughed up the whole
country, and sowed it with thistles, so that it could never be used as a
country any more. So Ting-a-ling thought that as the King was putting on
his war boots, something very great was surely about to happen. Hearing
a fizzing noise behind him, he turned around, and there was the Prince
in the court-yard, grinding his sword on a grindstone, which was turned
by two slaves, who were working away so hard and fast that they were
nearly ready to drop. Then he _knew_ that wonderful things were surely
coming to pass, for in ordinary times the Prince never lifted his finger
to do anything for himself.

[Illustration]

Just then, a little page, who had been sent for the King's spurs, and
couldn't find them, and who was therefore afraid to go back, stopped to
rest himself for a minute against the window where Ting-a-ling was
standing. As his head just reached a little above the window-seat,
Ting-a-ling went close to his ear and shouted to him, to please tell him
what was the matter. The page started at first, but, seeing it was only
a little fairy, he told him that the Princess was lost, and that the
whole army was going out to find her. Before he could say anything more,
the King was heard to roar for his spurs, and away ran the little page,
whether to look again for the spurs, or to hide himself, is not known at
the present day. Ting-a-ling now became very much excited. The Princess
Aufalia, who had been married to the Prince but a month ago, was very
dear to him, and he felt that he must do something for her. But while he
was thinking what this something might possibly be, he heard the clear
and distinct sound of a tiny bell, which, however, no one but a fairy
could possibly have heard above all that noise. He knew it was the bell
of the fairy Queen, summoning her subjects to her presence; and in a
moment he slid down the vine, and scampered away to the gardens. There,
although the sun was shining brightly, and the fairies seldom assembled
but by night, there were great crowds of them, all listening to the
Queen, and keeping much better order than the people in the King's
palace. The Queen addressed them in soul-stirring strains, and urged
every one to do their best to find the missing Princess. In the night
she had been taken away, while the Prince and everybody were asleep.
"And now," said the Queen, untying her scarf, and holding it up, "away
with you, every one! Search every house, garden, mountain, and plain, in
the land, and the first one who comes to me with news of the Princess
Aufalia, shall wear my scarf!" And, as this was a mark of high
distinction, and conveyed privileges of which there is no time now to
tell, the fairies gave a great cheer (which would have sounded to you,
had you heard it, like a puff of wind through a thicket of reeds), and
they all rushed away in every direction. Now, though the fairies of this
tribe could go almost anywhere, through small cracks and key-holes,
under doors, and into places where no one else could possibly penetrate,
they did not fly, or float in the air, or anything of that sort. When
they wished to travel fast or far, they would mount on butterflies and
all sorts of insects; but they seldom needed such assistance, as they
were not in the habit of going far from their homes in the palace
gardens. Ting-a-ling ran, as fast as he could, to where a friend of his,
whom we have mentioned before kept grasshoppers and butterflies to hire;
but he found he was too late,--every one of them was taken by the
fairies who had got there before him. "Never mind," said Ting-a-ling to
himself, "I'll catch a wild one;" and, borrowing a bridle, he went out
into the meadows, to catch a grasshopper for himself. He soon perceived
one, quietly feeding under a clover-blossom. Ting-a-ling slipped up
softly behind him; but the grasshopper heard him, and rolled his big
eyes backward, drawing in his hind-legs in the way which all boys know
so well. "What's the good of his seeing all around him?" thought
Ting-a-ling; but there is no doubt that the grasshopper thought there
was a great deal of good in it, for, just as Ting-a-ling made a rush at
him, he let fly with one of his hind-legs, and kicked our little friend
so high into the air, that he thought he was never coming down again. He
landed, however, harmlessly on the grass on the other side of a fence.
Nothing discouraged, he jumped up, with his bridle still in his hand,
and looked around for the grasshopper. There he was, with his eyes still
rolled back, and his leg ready for another kick, should Ting-a-ling
approach him again. But the little fellow had had enough of those strong
legs, and so he slipped along the fence, and, getting through it, stole
around in front of the grasshopper; and, while he was still looking
backward with all his eyes, Ting-a-ling stepped quietly up before him,
and slipped the bridle over his head! It was of no use for the
grasshopper to struggle and pull back, for Ting-a-ling was astraddle of
him in a moment, kicking him with his heels, and shouting "Hi! Hi!"

Away sprang the grasshopper like a bird, and he sped on and on, faster
than he had ever gone before in his life, and Ting-a-ling waved his
little sword over his head, and shouted "Hi! Hi!"

So on they went for a long time; and in the afternoon the grasshopper
began to get very tired, and did not make anything like such long jumps
as he had done at first. They were going down a grassy hill, and had
just reached the bottom, when Ting-a-ling heard some one calling him.
Looking around him in astonishment, he saw that it was a little fairy of
his acquaintance, younger than himself, named Parsley, who was sitting
in the shade of a wide-spreading dandelion.

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