yellow, emerald, gold, and black. At a short distance, Ting-a-ling saw a
crowd of little minnows, who had caught a young tadpole, and, having
tied a bluebell to his tail, were now chasing the affrighted creature
about. But after a while the tadpole's mother came out, and then the
minnows caught it!

While watching all these lively creatures, Ting-a-ling fell asleep, and
when he awoke, it was dark night. He jumped up, and looked about him.
The butterflies and dragon-flies had all gone to bed, and now the great
night-bugs and buzzing beetles were out; the katydids were chirping in
the trees, and the frogs were croaking among the long reeds. Not far
off, on the same side of the brook, Ting-a-ling saw the light of a fire,
and so he walked over to see what it meant. On his way, he came across
some wild honeysuckles, and, pulling one of the blossoms, he sucked out
the sweet juice for his supper, as he walked along. When he reached the
fire, he saw sitting around it five men, with turbans and great black
beards. Ting-a-ling instantly perceived that they were magicians, and,
putting the honeysuckle to his lips, he blew a little tune upon it,
which the magicians hearing, they said to one another, "There is a fairy
near us." Then Ting-a-ling came into the midst of them, and, climbing up
on a pile of cloaks and shawls, conversed with them; and he soon heard
that they knew, by means of their magical arts, that the Princess had
been stolen the night before, by the slaves of a wicked dwarf, and that
she was now locked up in his castle, which was on top of a high
mountain, not far from where they then were.

[Illustration]

"I shall go there right off," said Ting-a-ling.

"And what will you do when you get there?" said the youngest magician,
whose name was Zamcar. "This dwarf is a terrible little fellow, and the
same one who twisted poor Nerralina's head, which circumstance of course
you remember. He has numbers of fierce slaves, and a great castle. You
are a good little fellow, but I don't think you could do much for the
Princess, if you did go to her."

Ting-a-ling reflected a moment, and then said that he would go to his
friend, the Giant Tur-il-i-ra; but Zamcar told him that that tremendous
individual had gone to the uttermost limits of China, to launch a ship.
It was such a big one, and so heavy, that it had sunk down into the
earth as tight as if it had grown there, and all the men and horses in
the country could not move