The Story of Ving and Ding

"The Strange and True Tragedy of Ving and Ding, the Timber Boys" (or, "Once a Weevil") was an old and popular Ferengi folk tale, first set in written form by Blemin the Bard more than two millennia ago. Since then, it has been adapted into several dozen plays, 1715 holoprograms, 212 songs, and an unknown number of auditory sculptures.

The story (commonly called "The Story of Ving and Ding") centers on two brothers, Ving and Ding, who become orphaned while traveling with their parents across Blopfep Wilds. The Ferengi children are then taken in by a pack of giant timber weevils and raised as such. Years later, the weevils were hunted down, and one hunter discovered the brothers and returned them to Ferengi society. After a year of a highly successful tour performing their weevil-taught skills for audiences, Ving and Ding disappeared, choosing to give up Ferengi civilization and returning to life as timber weevils.

Blemin's version of the story ended with the moral, "You can't free a fish from water," which later became the 217th Rule of Acquisition.

One of the best known adaptations of the story was by the band Success, in their hit song "Ving and Ding and Their Special Thing".