Nutcracker and the mouse king

then, and is good Nutcracker safe?”
“Don`t talk such silly stuff, Mary,” answered her mother. “What have the mice to do with Nutcracker! But, you naughty child, you have given us all a great deal of trouble and anxiety. That comes of children having their own way and not obeying their parents. Last night you were playing with your toys very late. You grew sleepy, and it may be you were frightened by a mouse jumping out – though there used to be no mice here – anyhow, you struck your arm against the glass of the cupboard and cut yourself so badly that this gentleman, who has just taken out the bits of glass sticking in your arm, says you might have got a serious injury, or even bled to death, if the glass had cut a vein. Thank God that I woke in the middle of the night, then, when I found you not in bed, got up and went into the parlour. There you lay senseless beside the cupboard, and were bleeding fast. I had almost fainted away myself for fright, to see you lying among a number of Fred`s lead soldiers and other toys, broken motto-figures, and gingerbread men; but the Nutcracker lay on your cut arm, and your left shoe was not far off.”
“Ah, dear mother, mother!” broke in Mary, “these were the remains of the great fight between toys and mice; and what alarmed me so much was only the mice trying to take Nutcracker prisoner, who commanded the toy-army. Then I threw my shoe among the mice, and after that, I don`t know what happened.”
The surgeon looked meaningly at her mother, who said very gently to Mary, “Never mind, my dear child! Keep yourself easy; the mice are all gone, and Nutcracker is safe and sound in the cupboard.”
Here Doctor Stahlbaum came into the room, and had a long conversation with the surgeon; then he felt Mary`s pulse, and she could make out that they were talking about fever.
She had to lie in bed and take medicine; and this lasted for several days, although, except the pain in her arm, she did not feel much the matter with her. She knew that Nutcracker had come safe out of the battle; and he often appeared to her as in a dream, speaking quite plainly but in a very sad voice:
“Mary, dearest lady, I am deeply indebted to you, but there is yet more which you can do for me.”
Mary thought a great deal over this speech, but had no idea what it might be that she could do for him.
She was not able to play much with toys, on account of her wounded arm, and if she tried to read or to turn over picture-books, there came such a strange swimming in her eyes that she had to leave off. So time passed wearisomely slow for her, and she had scarcely patience to wait for the twilight hour which came so welcome, for then her mother sat on the bed a while and read or told her such pretty stories.
One evening her mother had just finished the most entertaining history of Prince Charming, when the door opened, and in came Godfather Drosselmeier with these words:
“Now I must really see for myself how my sick and wounded Mary is getting on.”
As soon as Mary saw Godfather Drosselmeier in his drab coat, there returned to her a clear memory of that night when Nutcracker lost the battle against the mice, and she could not keep herself from crying out aloud to the Counsellor:
“Oh, Godfather Drosselmeier, you were so ugly! I saw you very well, sitting over the clock and covering it with your wings to prevent it from striking loudly, not to scare away the mice. I heard you very well calling to the Mouse King! Why did you not come to help Nutcracker and me, you ugly Godfather Drosselmeier?” Isn`t it all your fault, then, that I have to lie sick and wounded in bed?”
“Whatever is the matter with you, dear Mary?” asked her mother, quite startled.
But Godfather Drosselmeier made some very queer faces, and snarled out a sort of sing-song, thus:
“Pendulum, tick, tick,
Clock, clock, click, click,
Hammer goes dong, ding,
Hour rings out ting, ting,
Hunt away Mouse King!
Owl spreads her light wing,
Toys now may dance and sing,
Clock strikes out ting, ding,
All the works click, click,
Pendulum goes tick, tick,
Click, tick, whir, pir-r-r,
Bim, boom, bang, bir-r-r,
Ding, dong, so ends my song!”
Mary stared at Godfather Drosselmeier with eyes opened to their widest, for he looked quite different, and even much uglier than his usual self, and moved his right arm up and down like a puppet pulled by strings. He would have really terrified her if her mother had not been there, and if presently Fred, having slipped in meanwhile, had not burst out into a loud laugh.
“Oh, Godfather Drosselmeier, you are so funny today!” he cried. “You are going on exactly like my old Jumping-Jack, which I threw away behind the stove a long time ago.”
But their mother said, looking serious:
“Dear Mr. Counsellor, this is a strange kind of fun! What may be the meaning of it?”
“Dear me!” answered Drosselmeier, laughing; “don`t you remember my pretty Clockmaker`s song? I am in the way of singing it always to patients like Mary.” Then he sat down close to Mary`s bed, and said: “You must not be offended if I have not cut out all the Mouse King`s fourteen eyes, but that is out of the question, and instead of it I am going to give you a great pleasure.”
With this the Counsellor put his hand into his pocket, and what he now slowly, slowly drew forth was – no other than the Nutcracker, whose lost teeth he had very cleverly set in firm again, and mended his broken jaw! Mary cried out for joy, and her mother said with a smile:
“You see now how well Godfather Drosselmeier meant by your Nutcracker.”
“That you must own, Mary,” interrupted the Counsellor; “and you must own also that Nutcracker has not grown quite so straight as he might have done, and that his looks can`t be called handsome. If you care to hear it, I will tell you how this ugliness came into his family. Or perhaps you already know the history of Princess Pirlipat, of the witch Mouseykins, and of the skilful Clockmaker?”
“Just listen,” suddenly broke in Fred, “just listen, Godfather Drosselmeier; you have put in Nutcracker`s teeth right enough, and his chin is no more so wobbly, but why is his sword gone – why have you not given him a sword?”
“Eh!” replied the Counsellor, not very well pleased. “You fuss and find fault about everything, youngster. What business of mine is Nutcracker`s sword? I have healed his body, and he can get a sword for himself as he pleases.”
“That`s true,” cried Fred. “If he is a brave fellow, he will soon manage to find weapons.”
“Well, Mary,” went on the Counsellor, “tell me if you know the story of Princess Pirlipat.”
“Ah, no!” answered Mary. “Do tell us it, dear Godfather Drosselmeier; do tell us.”
“I hope,” said the Doctor`s wife, “I hope, dear Mr. Counsellor, that your story is not such a creepy one as those you tell usually are.”
“Not at all, dearest lady,” answered Drosselmeier; “on the contrary, what I am going to have the honour to lay before you is very amusing.”
“Do tell us, Oh do, dear godfather!” cried the children; and the Counsellor thus began his tale.
CHAPTER VII
THE STORY OF THE HARD NUT
Pirlipat`s mother was the wife of a King – that is, a Queen; and Pirlipat herself was a born Princess from the moment of her birth. The King went wild for joy over his lovely little daughter as she lay in the cradle; in his exultation he danced and whirled about on one leg, and cried out over and over again:
“Hurrah! Has anybody ever seen anything more beautiful than my Pirlipatkin?”
Then all the Ministers, Generals, Presidents of Departments, and Staff-Officers hopped about on one leg, like their sovereign, crying with all their might:
“No, never!”
But indeed it was not to be denied that in all the world there could be no more beautiful child than Princess Pirlipat. Her little face seemed to be woven out of delicate lily-white and rose-red silk, her eyes were brightly sparkling blue, and it was pretty to see how her hair curled like shining threads of gold. Besides, Pirlipatkin had brought into the world two small rows of pearly teeth, with which, an hour or two after her birth, she bit the High Chancellor`s finger as he bent down to examine her features closely, so that he shrieked out loudly, “Oh, Gemini!” Others maintained that he cried out “Oh Crickee!” and opinions are strongly divided on the point to this day. But the fact is, Pirlipatkin actually bit the High Chancellor`s finger, and the enraptured nation now recognised that wit, spirit, and intelligence all at once dwelt in her little angelic body.
In short, everybody was delighted; only the Queen showed herself anxious and ill at ease, nobody knew why. It seemed strange that she had Pirlipat`s cradle watched so carefully. Not only were the doors guarded by men-at-arms, but, without counting the two nurses beside the cradle, six others had to sit round about in the room night after night. Then, what appeared quite ridiculous, and what no one could understand, each of these six nurses must sit with a cat on her lap, and stroke it so as to keep it purring all night.
You could never guess, dear children, why Pirlipat`s mother took all these precautions; but I know, and I will tell you now.
It happened that once a number of illustrious kings and highly-distinguished princes had assembled at the court of Pirlipat`s father, on whose account there were grand doings, and many tournaments, plays, and court balls. The King, in order to prove beyond doubt that he had no lack of gold and silver, was minded for once in a way to dip deeply into the crown treasures and bring out something worthy of the occasion. To this end, being privately informed by the Chief Cook that the Court Astronomer had announced a propitious day for pork-butchering, he ordered a great making of meat puddings and sausages, then jumped into a carriage that he might personally invite the collected kings and princes – only to a plate of soup! as he put it, the better to enjoy their surprise over the costl…