The Mapmaker's Dream

<---Index

Tingle sat quietly as the others tried to get some sleep. They wad their doubts about letting him stand guard, but weren't in the mood to argue with the creature. As they rested, the salesman went into deep thoughts about the past.

In a small village in Hyrule, the impish creature called Tingle woke up and smiled. Running out of his house and grabbing a nearby Deku branch, he started swinging wildly, yelling, “Take that! And that! You want some more? Ho ho!! Not so tough against the mighty Tingle, are you?” Two creatures walked up to him. They both resembled the curious creature, however, one was blue and the other red. The red one laughed and said, “Tingle? What ARE you doing?” Smiling, he replied, “I'm training to be a mighty warrior, Jingle.” The other laughed so violently that he almost fell over.

“You? A WARRIOIR?!? Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! That's rich! All you can do is swing a stick wildly! You couldn't fight a cold!!!” Angered, the impish creature yelled, “I can too fight, Jangle! I will be so great a warrior, That I'll... I'll... I'll be saving OTHER warriors!!!” Now both the creatures were laughing hard. Jingle, between laughs, sputtered, “You can barely make a mediocre map! How do you possibly expect to fight?” Jangle replied, “Probably by making the enemy Laugh to death!” Now the two laughed harder.

Enraged, Tingle demanded, “Enough! Grab a weapon and prepare to fight!” The laughter immediately faded into sneering grins. Both of them grabbing a nearby Deku branch and took a ready stance. Tingle ran at the two and swung wildly, yelling, “HYAAAAAA!” Jingle easily stepped to the side and hit him hard with his branch. Jangle did the same. While Tingle attempted to recover, the two creatures relentlessly beat him with the branches showing not even the barest form of mercy.

Laughing as he assaulted the creature, Jingle said, “Not so tough now, are you, you little troll?” Jangle swatted their victim in the face, saying, “What ever made you think you could fight? You're pathetic at everything! Especially with Maps! You had to have been adopted!” The two laughed and left the tearful Tingle where he lay. Jingle laughed. “Our little brother, the hopeless failure at EVERYTHING!” the two continued to laugh, which burned in the poor, wounded creature's well after they were out of earshot.

It wasn't the brutal, relentless beating that hurt him so much as the fact that they were right... He never succeeded at anything in his life. At best, he could make a horrible mess of ink and pass it off as a map to a Deku Shrub, who would naturally never know the difference. They weren't known for their reading skills. He went back to his house and lazily threw the stick to the side. Sitting down, he pulled out a scrap of paper and a quill before trying to make yet another attempt at a map of his village.

Minutes turned to hours to days, and yet, no matter how he tried, he could not even make a map worthy of his family's trade. Throwing his arm across the table and knocking everything to the ground, he lowered his head and cried.”

Looking at the map that the Sheik handed him, he didn't want to let anyone know that the ink had run from it's exposure to the water and was therefore completely useless. They were lost, and only he knew the truth, or so he thought. Sheik's voice came from behind him and said, “Still didn't tell the others, did you?” He turned violently and exclaimed, “You knew? All this time?”

Sheik sighed. “Doesn't take a scholar to know what happens when a map get's wet. That's why I gave it to you.” Tingle lowered his head upset. “But... I can't draw a map. The Do it yourself map is the only thing I can pass off as useable. The maps I gave you, of both worlds, were made by my brothers. I've been selling their maps my whole life. I'm a failure.”

Sheik nodded. “Well, if you say so, then I guess you are. If you want to succeed at anything, you have to refuse to give up. You have to go at it with everything you have and be both a Genius and an idiot. Too smart to get in way over your head, and too stupid to accept defeat. That's how it is in the world, both of them. Maybe you just need a new perspective on how you do things.”

Tingle let out a small whimper. “A new perspective. I've tried everything to reach my goals. I trained hard, and was brutally beaten every time. I make a map, and it never works right. You can't even tell where the entrance to the place is by the time I'm finished one. I'm useless.” Sheik let out a shrug and said casually, “I guess you are. You need to give everything, but you won't give the slightest. You need to think outside the box, but you won't even take a look. I had hope you would get the inspiration you need to do the job, but you won't even try to see anything, let alone the things that are important.”

“If you're not going to look a little differently at what's around you,” he concluded, “Then you have no place here with us. You're a roadblock and that's the last thing we need. So, go on and fly away, like you've done your whole life.” Tingle stood there stunned. This elf only a moment ago showed the only faith anyone has ever placed in him, and now he was brushing him aside. With a broken heart, A balloon came out of Tingle's backpack and he took off to the sky. Saria, who also was awake, pelted Sheik with stones, yelling, “What's your problem, Sheik? Why be so nice to him and then pull that?”

Sheik shrugged. “He needed to hear that. Don't worry. He'll be back.” Above the forest, the tearful Tingle took one last look at the travelers and the forest they were in. “If only I could have such a good idea of the forest to make a map. A reference. A...” He paused. “Higher. I need to go higher! This is Brilliant! I'll just view the Forest from a different vantage point! If I see the whole forest, I can make a more accurate map!!!”

Morning came and both Links got up. “Huh?” Shadow muttered. “Where's the gnome?” Sheik smiled. “Making a map,” he replied, pointing to the the green figure in the sky. Link looked at the original map and saw it was ruined paper. “Oh, you're kidding!” Saria smiled. “Sheik knows he had a bit of a confidence issue. He doesn't need the Fairies to make maps. He just needs to find a way that works for him.”

Shortly, Tingle landed by the group, shouting, “Ta-Daa! I give to you, our new map!” Sheik looked at it and said, “Needs a few touch-ups in neatness, but really nicely done.” Tingle smiled and said, “Oh it was nothing. Now let's get going. We have a Fairy to save.” As the group followed, he thought, 'To think that this is the reason my family had these packs. No wonder they said I was an stupid. Well, I'll just have to show them they're right... By being too stupid to give up! Thank you, Mr. fairy. All of you.'