"The Story of Ving and Ding" was an old and popular Ferengi folk tale, dating back 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 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.

One of the best known adaptations of the story was as the play "The Strange and True Tragedy of Ving and Ding, the Timber Boys", or "Once a Weevil" by Blemin the Bard. 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.

Another popular adaptation of the tale was by the band Success, in their hit song "Ving and Ding and Their Special Thing". (DS9 reference: Legends of the Ferengi)