Ting-a-ling | Page 7

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