While the Golux may or may not be entirely real, helpful, or explicable, he does know certain things that may allow the Prince to do impossible things, or at least believe that impossible things might be done. And some, as I have said, were slain, for using names that start X, or dropping spoons, or wearing rings, or speaking disrespectfully of sin.Įnter Xingu, a wandering minstrel and Prince in disguise, who has arrived to make much the same mistakes as all of the others, but with the supernatural and often senile aid of the Golux.
They came and tried and failed and disappeared and never came again. They were set to finding things that never were, and building things that could not be. They were told to cut a slice of moon, or change the ocean into wine.
Those who survived his scorn and sword were given incredible labors to perform in order to win his niece's hand, the only warm hand in the castle, where time had frozen to death at ten minutes to five one snowy night. Others had been slain for offenses equally trivial trampling the Duke's camellias, failing to praise his wines, staring too long at his gloves, gazing too long at his niece. The suitor was supposed to say, "Why, one is longer than the other." Many a prince had been run through for naming the wrong difference. He would say to a suitor, "What is the difference in the length of my legs?" and if the youth replied, "Why, one is shorter than the other," the Duke would run him through with the sword he carried in his swordcane and feed him to the geese. The right one had outgrown the left because, when he was young, he had spent his mornings place-kicking pups and punting kittens. The Duke limped because his legs were of different lengths. This was a terrible mistake on their part. Saralinda, being both a Princess and a delightful person in all ways relevant to the context, was much sought by princes and heroes of all stripes.
The cold and unhappy Duke lives in a cold and unhappy castle, with only his niece, the warm but unhappy Princess Saralinda to brighten his life. I enjoyed it when I was young, but there is a fair amount of tormenting small animals and feeding people to geese. The 13 Clocks is James Thurber's most famous fairy tale, and as with most of his tales, it is not particularly intended for children.
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