Stinging a Stinger

"Stinging a Stinger" is the ninth episode the Zelda animated series. It first aired on November 3rd, 1989.

Synopsis
While Link is riding through the woods with Catherine, he hears a man calling for help. The young hero rushes over and sees three men trying to steal money from an old man, and Link easily defeats them. The old man, who introduces himself as Sleezenose, thanks Link and offers to give him a free sword as a sign of gratitude. Although Link at first hesitates to trade it in for his Crissword, Sleezenose explains that anyone who carries his sword is made irresistible to women, especially princesses. This convinces Link and immediately hands over his old sword when he hears Princess Zelda screaming for help. After Link leaves, it is revealed that Sleezenose had a deal with the three burly men who were harrassing him and gives them the money for helping him get the sword from Link.

When Link arrives to where Zelda is, he sees that she's being attacked by Patra. The young hero, confident about his new sword, faces an incoming Patra, but one lightbeam from the foe breaks the sword in half and causes Link to collapse from the attack. Zelda rushes towards Link and just then he realizes that he has been robbed. Suddenly, Ganon appears with two Moblins at his side, who capture the pair and take them into Underworld. Once down there, Sleezenose arrives with Link's Crissword and offers it to Ganon for 1000 Rubies, but the evil wizard disagrees and simply takes it from Sleezenose's hands with no reward. Moreover, he orders the Moblins to throw Sleezenose, Link and Zelda into Gohma's lair. With Gohma slowly approaching the group, Zelda gets out a Magic Rope from her pouch and Link a boomerang while the young hero orders Sleezenose to use his lockpicks to open the gate. Zelda then ties the rope around one of Gohma's horns, which causes the creature to spin her around the room. Link takes this opportunity to use the boomerang and make a giant stalactite fall on top of Gohma, allowing Zelda to continue to spin around until all of the rope is tied around the beast. With Sleezenose now having opened the gate, the group heads to North Castle to consult the Triforce of Wisdom on what they should do.

Once at the castle, the Triforce of Wisdom advises them to use "natural means" to defeat Ganon since currently the evil wizard possesses more magic than they do. The group then heads out to collect beehives and ants to use against Ganon. When Link sees that Ganon is approaching the castle with the sword in hand and with Stalfos and Moblins at his side, Sleezenose walks towards Ganon and pretends to be offering a box with the Triforce of Wisdom as a sign of loyalty to him. However, when Ganon opens the box, he finds it contains a beehive, and the bees immediately begin to sting him and his minions. Using this opportunity, Link swings by and takes the sword from Ganon's hands, and shortly after Zelda launches another beehive at the evil wizard with the help of a catapult. Ganon, unable to fight back, retreats back into the Underworld. With Ganon defeated, Zelda surprisingly hugs Link and asks him for a kiss, but the young hero ruins the moment by making a bad pun, making Zelda change her mind. Just then, Link realizes that Sleezenose is gone and discovers that he took the Triforce of Wisdom while they were fighting Ganon. Zelda then reveals that she hid the Triforce underneath Link's pile of dirty clothes and that she had asked Spryte earlier on to cast a spell on the box with the ant hill. The episode ends with Link and Zelda looking out the window to see Sleezenose carrying the supposed Triforce of Wisdom only for him to discover that he had been tricked.

Characters

 * Link
 * Princess Zelda
 * Ganon
 * Spryte
 * Sleezenose
 * Triforce of Wisdom
 * Catherine

Enemies

 * Moblins
 * Stalfos
 * Gohma

Items

 * Crissword
 * Sword
 * Rope
 * Boomerang