One of the characters is described as every barleycorn a king.  Hired mourners or a priest figured into the procedure at the center of this story.  Another character, unlike her father, cannot leave things to chance and takes unprecedented steps to bend fate to her direction, as she moves her hand to the right at the climax.  The author stated that he wrote an ending, but as he was neither semi-barbaric or a woman, he didn't know if it was the right one. For ten points, 
One of the characters is described as every barleycorn a king.  Hired mourners or a priest figured into the procedure at the center of this story.  Another character, unlike her father, cannot leave things to chance and takes unprecedented steps to bend fate to her direction, as she moves her hand to the right at the climax.  The author stated that he wrote an ending, but as he was neither semi-barbaric or a woman, he didn't know if it was the right one. For ten points, name this eighteen-paragraph story, featuring the princess's titular choice of fate for the man she loves, by Frank Stockton.
One of the characters is described as every barleycorn a king.  
The {Lady}, or the {Tiger?}