Ting a Ling

Ting a Ling by Frank R. Stockton

"Ting a Ling" by Frank R. Stockton follows the fairy Ting-a-ling through three linked adventures at an Eastern king's court. Princess Aufalia, secluded and betrothed since infancy, meets a traveling prince while her slaves are distracted buying sugar-beans; he fights off her slaves, escorts her home, and is imprisoned by her father to be executed after a feast day. That night the maid Nerralina tries to smuggle a rope of scarfs to the Prince but is decapitated by a stool he'd rigged against the door; the Prince, finding her body, tends to it respectfully, then follows a guard and falls through a trapdoor. Grieving in the garden, Aufalia is watched by fairies, including Ting-a-ling and his sweetheart Ling-a-ting, who dies when her "shin-shiney" (a captured teardrop) bursts. Vowing to stop fairies from dying this way, Ting-a-ling seeks the Giant Tur-il-i-ra, who, after finishing his nap, comes to help. Ting-a-ling overhears the King's court is unaware of the missing Prince, then guides the Giant to demolish the Tower of Tears, discovering the Prince and Aufalia stuck in a giant cheese that had fallen down the well/trap. Meanwhile Nerralina's severed head is ceremonially reattached by the fairy Queen's court, but a spiteful dwarf twists it on backwards before fleeing. The Giant delivers the cheese-encased lovers to the King, breaks them free, and they marry; Nerralina is also brought and kissed by the Prince despite her backwards head. Ting-a-ling is rewarded with the fairy Queen's scarf and asks only that the King protect the fairies' garden from gardeners, which is granted. Some weeks later, after Aufalia and the Prince marry, the Princess is kidnapped by the same wicked dwarf's slaves. Ting-a-ling, unable to find the Giant (away launching a ship) or a mount of his own, journeys with five magicians—Alcahazar, Ormanduz, Mahallah, Akbeck, and Zamcar—who infiltrate the dwarf's castle disguised as visiting kings bearing lavish gifts, out-maneuver the dwarf's magic traps (an iron partition, a chasm, icy planks), and free Aufalia with help from a kindness-loving servant boy. Ting-a-ling stabs the dwarf in the eye, and the boy traps him under a jam jar; the dwarf is caged and force-fed detested foods. Zamcar signals the King's army home with fireworks, the Princess is restored, and the fairy Queen credits Ting-a-ling before their court disperses to the palace garden, now permanently theirs. The story then shifts to a new setting: the deceased King Barradin the Great, a devoted musician, left no heir but decreed that whoever could sing his magical composition would inherit the throne; countless failed singers have gone mad and filled an asylum. A traveling Prince, half-brother to a gnome (his stepmother), wanders into the palace and finds a sleeping Princess being lulled by an evil ocean spirit, the Nimshee; he wakes her with a guitar, they fall in love, and she reveals her descent from an ocean princess and a land prince. The Grand Chamberlain treacherously locks the Prince in an aviary overnight, then ejects him, and the Princess vanishes—kept from the throne by the wicked sorceress Mahbracca, King Barradin's own grandmother, who faked her death and now schemes from a hidden cave to prevent any true heir from singing the magic music. Guided by sea-folk (a water-woman and an elderly ocean lord), the Prince travels by dolphin-drawn shell to Mahbracca's cavern realm, passing ghouls, a chained Nimshee, and Mahbracca herself, who leads him on a taunting magical chase to a tower where the Princess is imprisoned. His sword jams in the door lock; unable to free the Princess, he escapes by tunneling out gnome-fashion, loses his fine clothes, and treks to a city, trading jewels found in his shoe for new garments and a dromedary. Reuniting with his companion Trumkard, he seeks the Giant Tur-il-i-ra's help. Mahbracca, meanwhile, prepares a "prince-trap" cage but discovers the Prince's escape; her Afrite guard, rushing to report the Princess seemingly dead in a swoon, is fatally impaled on the Prince's abandoned sword. The Giant, Trumkard, and Prince break into Mahbracca's mountain lair, defeat her demon forces, and free the swooning Princess. Mahbracca counterattacks with poisonous smoke (which the Giant kicks away) and attempts to transform the Giant, who is protected by anti-enchantment water. A small pickled demon-ally helps trick Mahbracca into her own prince-trap cage, where he mockingly transforms her into a succession of animals as punishment. The party, joined by a massive army that had risen up after hearing the Prince's story, returns triumphantly to the city. At the appointed trial, the Princess sings Barradin's magical music perfectly, is crowned Queen, and marries the Prince amid citywide celebration, including a decree granting free housekeeping to all couples married that day. In a final episode, the Giant invites Ting-a-ling to visit his castle. En route he comically face-plants trying to jump a river. During the visit, a messenger arrives reporting that the Kyrofatalapynx—a monstrous creature the Giant once caught and chained for a King—has broken loose and is ravaging the countryside. The Giant rushes to confront it, carrying Ting-a-ling along by accident (the fairy having grabbed his scarf fringe). While the Giant naps awaiting the monster, Ting-a-ling sneaks into the forest with a new fairy friend and they saw partway through the creature's bowstring just before it attacks, causing the string to snap and allowing the Giant to kill it with his club. Amid the celebration the Giant departs abruptly, accidentally launching Ting-a-ling and his companion into the air with an enthusiastic table-thump; Ting-a-ling lands in Nerralina's powder puff and is escorted home, while the other fairy floats home on a leaf. The Giant searches frantically until learning Ting-a-ling is safe. The two friends reunite and agree, affectionately, that each is best suited to his own kind—Ting-a-ling too small for the Giant's world, the Giant too large for the fairy's.

By Frank R. Stockton · First published 1890 · Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Children's Literature · 4 chapters · 42,762 words

First lines

In a far country of the East, in a palace surrounded by orange groves, where the nightingales sang, and by silvery lakes, where the soft fountains plashed, there lived a fine old king. For many years he had governed with great comfort to himself, and to the tolerable satisfaction of his subjects. His queen being dead, his whole affection was given to his only child, the Princess Aufalia; and, whenever he happened to think of it, he paid great attention to her education. She had the best masters of embroidery and in the language of flowers, and she took lessons on the zithar three times a week.

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fantasy · adventure · humor · whimsy · narrative · short story · imagination · children's literature · moral lessons · quirky characters · magical elements · lighthearted

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