Nutcracker and Mouse King and The Tale of the Nutcracker by E. T. A. Hoffmann & Alexandre Dumas

Author:E. T. A. Hoffmann & Alexandre Dumas
Language: eng, eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2007-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

The Tale of the Nutcracker

Godfather Drosselmayer

Once, in the town of Nuremberg, there lived a highly esteemed presiding judge known as Presiding Judge Silberhaus, which means Silver House.

This judge had a boy and a girl.

The boy, nine years old, was called Fritz.

The girl, seven and a half years old, was called Marie.

They were two lovely children, but so different in face and character that no one would ever have believed them to be brother and sister.

Fritz was a big boy, chubby, blustering, mischievous, stamping his foot at the slightest annoyance. He was convinced that everything in the world was created for his entertainment, and he stuck to his guns until the doctor, intolerant of his cries and tears, his stamping foot, emerged from his office! Raising the forefinger of his right hand to the level of his brow, the doctor merely said: “Herr Fritz!”

The boy was then taken with an enormous desire to sink into the ground.

As for the mother: Needless to say, no matter how high she lifted her finger or even her hand, Fritz totally ignored her.

His sister, Marie, by contrast, was a frail and pallid child with long curly hair, of course, and falling on her narrow white shoulders like a sheaf of moveable and radiant gold on an alabaster vase. Marie was modest, gentle, affable, and merciful toward all sufferings, even those of dolls. She obeyed the slightest signal of her mother, and she never talked back even to her governess, Mademoiselle Trudchen. As a result, Marie was adored by everyone.

Meanwhile, December 24 of the year 17——had arrived. You are not unaware, my little friends, that December 24 is Christmas Eve—that is, the eve of the day when the Infant Jesus was born in a manger between a donkey and a cow. Now I’m going to explain something to you. Even the most ignorant among you have heard that each country has its own customs—isn’t that so? And the most educated among you know, without a doubt, that Nuremberg is a German city famous for its toys, its dolls, and its Punchinellos. Indeed, it sends caseloads of these wondrous things all over the world, so that the children of Nuremberg must be the happiest on earth—unless they are like the inhabitants of Ostende, who have oysters only to watch them pass.

Hence, Germany, being a different country from France, has different habits from France. Among the French, the first day of the year is the day of gift giving, so that many people strongly wish that the year began on January 2. In Germany, however, the day of gift giving is December 24—that is, Christmas Eve. Furthermore, gifts are exchanged in a very particular fashion on the other side of the Rhine. You see, a large tree is placed in the salon. The tree stands in the middle of a table, and the toys to be given to the children are hung from all the branches. If a toy is too heavy for the tree, it is put on the table.

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