The 13 Clocks by James Thurber
"The 13 Clocks" is a whimsical and darkly enchanting fairy tale by James Thurber that centers around the nefarious Duke of Coffin Castle and his beautiful niece, Saralinda. The story unfolds in a cold fortress where the duke, who loathes time, has cursed thirteen clocks to stop ticking. Many suitors have attempted to win Saralinda’s hand but have failed to meet the duke's cruel challenges. The narrative follows Prince Zorn of Zorna, who, disguised as a minstrel, seeks to break the duke's spell and marry Saralinda. He is aided by the quirky Golux, a wizard of uncertain abilities, as they embark on a quest to gather jewels and restore the clocks.
As they navigate the duke's treachery, they discover Hagga, a woman with the ability to produce jewels through laughter, which becomes key to their success. In a climax filled with tension and magic, Saralinda's warmth brings the clocks back to life, symbolizing the return of time and vitality. Ultimately, the duke's greed leads to his downfall, while Zorn and Saralinda escape together. The tale weaves themes of love, the passage of time, and the consequences of malevolence, presenting a rich tapestry of adventure and transformation.
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The 13 Clocks
First published: 1950
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy—magical world
Time of work: Unspecified, but similar to medieval
Locale: An unnamed island
The Plot
The wicked, one-eyed duke of Coffin Castle lives in his cold fortress along with his beautiful, warm niece Saralinda. There are thirteen clocks in the castle that stopped marking time at the same moment. The duke hates time; indeed, he believes he has killed it. The only things he loves are his jewels and, apparently, his niece. There have been many suitors for Saralinda, but all failed to pass the terrible tests the duke set for them.
A prince, Zorn of Zorna, disguised as a minstrel, comes to seek Saralinda’s hand. He is helped by the Golux, a little wizard who appears and disappears and is not really sure if he can perform the magic he knows. The duke has many spies, and through them Zorn is captured and identified as a prince. In order to win Saralinda’s hand, he is set the tasks of first getting one thousand jewels within ninety-nine hours, then of making the thirteen clocks run again.
The Golux remembers a woman who had been given the power of weeping jewels by a king she saved from a trap. With great difficulty, Zorn and the Golux search out the woman, Hagga. She has lost the power to weep, and their attempts to make her weep fail. Finally, by chance, she laughs, and the laughter produces jewels that last only a fortnight and then turn to tears.
While Zorn and the Golux are gone, the duke admits to one of his spies that Saralinda is not his real niece and that he intends to marry her. Zorn arrives back at the castle at the last moment. The duke’s men try to kill him but cannot, and Saralinda herself, by warming the clocks, makes them run again. In a sense, time and life begin: “Then” leaves the castle and all is “Now.”
The duke must yield up Saralinda. The Golux reveals that Saralinda is the daughter of the king Hagga had saved. The lovers ride away. Two weeks later, the duke, gloating over the thousand jewels, sees them turn to tears. He is carried off by a terrifying “blob of glup” called the Todal, an agent of the devil, for having failed to do as much evil as he could have.
Bibliography
Fensch, Thomas, ed. Conversations with James Thurber. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1989.
Grauer, Neil A. Remember Laughter: A Life of James Thurber. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.
Holmes, Charles S. The Clocks of Columbus: The Literary Career of James Thurber. New York: Atheneum, 1972.
Kinney, Harrison. James Thurber: His Life and Times. New York: Henry Holt, 1995.
Kinney, Harrison, and Rosemary A. Thurber, eds. The Thurber Letters: The Wit, Wisdom, and Surprising Life of James Thurber. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003.
Rosen, Michael J., ed. Collecting Himself: James Thurber on Writing and Writers, Humor, and Himself. New York: Harper & Row, 1989.
Tobias, Richard C. The Art of James Thurber. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1970.