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.