November 20, 2023 • 14 mins
"Nutcracker and Mouse King" is a classic German Christmas story written by E. T. A. Hoffmann, first published in 1816. The tale is known for its adaptation into the popular ballet "The Nutcracker" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.The story revolves around a young girl named Marie Stahlbaum, who receives a special wooden nutcracker doll as a Christmas gift from her godfather, Drosselmeyer. Marie's family is hosting a Christmas Eve party, and during the festivities, the nutcracker is broken by her brother Fritz. Later that night, Marie returns to the living room to check on her beloved nutcracker, and she finds herself drawn into a magical world of adventure.Marie discovers that her nutcracker has come to life, and he leads her into a fantastical realm inhabited by toys, where they must confront the nefarious Mouse King and his army of mice. With the help of the Nutcracker and other enchanting characters, including the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Snow Queen, Marie embarks on a journey to defeat the Mouse King and restore peace to the Land of Sweets.The story combines elements of fantasy, fairy tale, and Christmas magic, and it explores themes of bravery, transformation, and the power of imagination. E. T. A. Hoffmann's "Nutcracker and Mouse King" has been adapted and retold numerous times over the years, becoming a beloved holiday tradition for many, particularly through the ballet version choreographed by Marius Petipa and set to Tchaikovsky's iconic music.
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Chapter seven of Nutcracker and Mouse Kingby E. T. A. Hoffmann.
This LibriVox recording is in the publicdomain. The story of the hard
Nut. Pearly Pat's mother was thewife of a king, and therefore a
(00:20):
queen and pearl Pat straightway at themoment of her birth, a true princess.
The king was beside himself with joywhen he saw his beautiful daughter as
she lay in the cradle. Heshouted aloud, danced, jumped about upon
one leg, and cried again andagain, ha, ha, Was there
(00:43):
ever anything seen more beautiful than mylittle pearly Pat. Thereupon, all the
ministers, generals, presidents, andstaff officers jumped about upon one leg like
the king, and cried aloud,no ooh never. And it was so,
(01:03):
in truth, for as long asthe world has been standing, a
lovelier child was never born than thisvery princess pearly Pat. Her little face
seemed made of lilies and roses,delicate white and red. Her eyes were
of living, sparkling azure, andit was charming to see how her little
(01:25):
locks curled in bright golden ringlets.Besides, this, pearly Pat had brought
into the world two rows of littlepearly teeth, with which, two hours
after her birth, she bit theHigh Chancellor's finger as he was examining her
features too closely, so that hescreamed out, oh, Gemini. Others
(01:51):
assert that he screamed out, ohcricky. But on this point authorities are
at the present day divided. LittlePearl Pat bit the High Chancellor's finger,
and the enraptured land knew now thatsome sense dwelt in Pearly Pat's beautiful body.
As has been said, all weredelighted. The Queen alone was very
(02:17):
anxious and uneasy, and no oneknew where for. But everybody remarked with
surprise the care with which she watchedPearlpat's cradle. Besides that the doors were
guarded by soldiers, and not countingthe two nurses who always remained close by
(02:37):
the cradle, six maids, nightafter night sat in the room to watch.
But what seemed very foolish, andno one could understand the meaning of
it, was this, Each ofthese six maids must have a cat upon
her lap and stroke it the wholenight through, and thus keep it continually
(02:59):
per It is impossible that you,dear children, can guess why Purlpat's mother
made all these arrangements. But Iknow and will straightway tell you. It
happened that once upon a time manygreat kings and fine princes were assembled at
the court of Pearl Pat's father,on which occasion much splendor was displayed.
(03:25):
The theaters were crowded, balls weregiven, and tournaments held almost every day.
The king, in order to showplainly that he was in no want
of gold and silver, was resolvedto take a good handful out of his
royal treasury and expend it in asuitable manner. Therefore, as soon as
(03:51):
he had been privately informed by theoverseer of the kitchen that the court astronomer
had predicted the right time for killing, he ordered a great feast of sausages,
leaped into his carriage, and wenthimself to invite the assembled kings and
princes to take a little soup withhim, in order to enjoy the agreeable
(04:12):
surprise which he had prepared for them. Upon his return, he said,
very affectionately to the Queen, youknow, my dear, how extremely fond
I am of sausages. The Queenknew at once what he meant by that,
and it was this that she shouldtake upon herself, as she had
(04:32):
often done before, the useful occupationof making sausages. The Lord Treasurer must
straightway bring to the kitchen the greatgolden sausage cattle, and the silver chopping
knives and stwo pands. A largefire of sandalwood was made, The Queen
(04:53):
put on her damask apron, andsoon the sweet smell of the sausage meat
began to steam up out of thekettle. The agreeable odor penetrated even to
the royal council chamber, and theKing seized with a sudden transport, could
no longer restrain himself. With yourpermission, my lords, he cried,
(05:17):
and leaped up, ran as fastas he could into the kitchen, Embraced
the Queen, stirred a little withhis golden scepter in the kettle, and
then, his emotion, being quieted, returned calmly to the council. The
important moment had now arrived, whenthe fat was to be chopped into little
(05:39):
pieces and browned gently in the silverstupans. The maids of honor now retired
for the queen, out of truedevotion and reverence for her royal spouse,
wished to perform this duty alone.But just as the fat began to fry,
(05:59):
a small, whimpering, whispering voicewas heard, Give me a little
of the fat, sister, Ishould like my part of the feast.
I too, am a queen.Give me a little of the fat.
The Queen knew very well that itwas Lady Mouserings who said this. Lady
(06:20):
mouse Rings had lived these many yearsin the King's palace. She maintained that
she was related to the royal family, and that she was herself a queen
in the Kingdom of Mousalia, forwhich reason she held a great court under
the hearth. The Queen was akind and benevolent lady, and although she
(06:41):
was not exactly willing to acknowledge LadyMauserings as a true queen and sister,
yet she was very ready to allowher a little banquet on this great holiday.
She answered, therefore, come out, then, Lady Mouserings, you
are well come to a little ofthe fat. Upon this, Lady mouse
(07:04):
Rings leaped out very quickly and merrilyjumped upon the hearth and seized with her
dainty little paws one piece of fatafter the other. As the Queen reached
it to her. But now allthe cousins and aunts of the Lady mouse
Rings came running out, besides herseven sons, rude and forward rogues,
(07:27):
who all fell at once upon thefat, and the terrified queen could not
drive them away. But as goodfortune would have it, the chief Maid
of Honor came in at this momentand chased away the intruding guests, so
that a little of the fat wasleft. The king's mathematician, being summoned,
(07:48):
demonstrated very clearly that there was enoughremaining to season all the sausages,
if distributed with the nicest judgment andskill. Drums and trumpets were now heard
without, and all the invited potentatesand princes, some on white palfreys,
some in crystal carriages, came insplendid apparel to the sausage feast. The
(08:16):
King received them kindly and graciously,and then, adorned with crown and scepter,
as became the monarch of the land, seated himself at the head of
the table. Already in the firstcourse, that of the sausage balls.
It was observed that he grew paleand paler, raised his eyes to heaven.
(08:37):
Gentle sighs escaped from his bosom,and he seemed to undergo great inward
suffering. But in the second course, which consisted of the long sausages,
he sank back upon his throne,sobbing and moaning, held both hands to
his face, and at last weptand groaned aloud. All sprang up from
(09:00):
the table. The royal physician triedin vain to feel the pulse of the
unhappy monarch. A deep seated,unknown torture appeared to agitate him. At
last, after much anxiety, andafter the application of some very strong remedies,
the king seemed to come a littleto himself, and stammered out,
(09:24):
scarce audibly, the words two littlefat. Then the queen threw herself in
despair at his feet, and sobbedout, oh, my poor unhappy royal
husband. Alas, how great mustbe the suffering which you endure. But
(09:46):
see the guilty one at your feet. Punish, punish her without mercy.
Alas, lady mouse rings with herseven sons and aunts and cousins have eaten
up the fattened. With these words, she fell right over backwards in a
swoon. Then the king, fullof rage, leaped up and cried out,
(10:09):
Chief made of Honor. How happenedthat the chief Maid of Honor told
the story as much as she knewof it, and the King resolved to
take vengeance upon Lady Mauserings and herfamily for having eaten up the fat of
his sausages. The Privy Council wascalled, and it was resolved to summon
(10:33):
Lady Mauserings to trial and confiscate allher estates. But as the King was
of opinion that in the meanwhile shemight eat up more of his sausage fat,
the affair was placed at last inthe hands of the royal watchmaker and
mechanist. This man whose name wasthe same as mine to wit, Christian
(11:01):
Elias Drosslmiah, engaged by means ofa very singular and deep political scheme to
drive Lady Mauserings and her family fromthe palace forever. He invented, therefore
several curious little machines in which apiece of toasted fat was fastened to a
thread, and these Drosslmyah placed aroundLady Mausering's dwelling. Lady Mouserings was much
(11:28):
too wise not to see through Drossalmiah'scraft, but all her warnings. All
her entreaties were of no avail.Every one of her seven sons and many
of her cousins and aunts went intoDrossalmiya's machines, and as they tried to
snap away the fat were carked byan iron grating which fell suddenly down behind
(11:54):
them, and were afterwards miserably slaughteredin the kitchen. Lady Mouserings, with
the little remnant of her family,forsook the dreadful place. Grief, despair,
revenge filled her bosom. The courtreveled in joy at this event,
(12:16):
but the Queen was very anxious,for she knew the disposition of Lady Mouserings
and was very sure that she wouldnot suffer the death of her sons to
go unavenged. In fact, Ladymouse Rings appeared one day when the Queen
was in the kitchen preparing a hazlethash for her royal husband, a dish
(12:39):
of which he was very fond,and said, my sons, my cousins
and aunts are destroyed. Take care, Queen, that mouse Queen does not
bite thy little princess in two.Take good care with this. She disappeared
(13:00):
and was not seen again. Butthe Queen was so frightened that she let
the hash fall into the fire,and thus a second time Lady mouse Ring
spoiled a favorite dish for the king, at which he was very angry.
But this, dear children, saidDrossalmiah, is enough for to night the
(13:22):
rest. At another time, Maria, who had her own thoughts about this
story, begged Godfather Dossalmiah very hardto go on, but she could not
prevail upon him. He rose,saying, too much at once is bad
for the health the rest to morrow. As the counselor was just stepping out
(13:45):
of the room, Fred called out, tell me, Godfather Dosslmiah, is
it then really true that you inventedmouse traps? How can you ask such
a silly question, said his mother. But the counselor smiled mysteriously and said,
in an undertone, am I askillful watchmaker and yet not able to
(14:11):
invent a mouse trap? End ofChapter seven
Chapter seven of Nutcracker and Mouse Kingby E. T. A. Hoffmann.
This LibriVox recording is in the publicdomain. The story of the hard
Nut. Pearly Pat's mother was thewife of a king, and therefore a
(00:20):
queen and pearl Pat straightway at themoment of her birth, a true princess.
The king was beside himself with joywhen he saw his beautiful daughter as
she lay in the cradle. Heshouted aloud, danced, jumped about upon
one leg, and cried again andagain, ha, ha, Was there
(00:43):
ever anything seen more beautiful than mylittle pearly Pat. Thereupon, all the
ministers, generals, presidents, andstaff officers jumped about upon one leg like
the king, and cried aloud,no ooh never. And it was so,
(01:03):
in truth, for as long asthe world has been standing, a
lovelier child was never born than thisvery princess pearly Pat. Her little face
seemed made of lilies and roses,delicate white and red. Her eyes were
of living, sparkling azure, andit was charming to see how her little
(01:25):
locks curled in bright golden ringlets.Besides, this, pearly Pat had brought
into the world two rows of littlepearly teeth, with which, two hours
after her birth, she bit theHigh Chancellor's finger as he was examining her
features too closely, so that hescreamed out, oh, Gemini. Others
(01:51):
assert that he screamed out, ohcricky. But on this point authorities are
at the present day divided. LittlePearl Pat bit the High Chancellor's finger,
and the enraptured land knew now thatsome sense dwelt in Pearly Pat's beautiful body.
As has been said, all weredelighted. The Queen alone was very
(02:17):
anxious and uneasy, and no oneknew where for. But everybody remarked with
surprise the care with which she watchedPearlpat's cradle. Besides that the doors were
guarded by soldiers, and not countingthe two nurses who always remained close by
(02:37):
the cradle, six maids, nightafter night sat in the room to watch.
But what seemed very foolish, andno one could understand the meaning of
it, was this, Each ofthese six maids must have a cat upon
her lap and stroke it the wholenight through, and thus keep it continually
(02:59):
per It is impossible that you,dear children, can guess why Purlpat's mother
made all these arrangements. But Iknow and will straightway tell you. It
happened that once upon a time manygreat kings and fine princes were assembled at
the court of Pearl Pat's father,on which occasion much splendor was displayed.
(03:25):
The theaters were crowded, balls weregiven, and tournaments held almost every day.
The king, in order to showplainly that he was in no want
of gold and silver, was resolvedto take a good handful out of his
royal treasury and expend it in asuitable manner. Therefore, as soon as
(03:51):
he had been privately informed by theoverseer of the kitchen that the court astronomer
had predicted the right time for killing, he ordered a great feast of sausages,
leaped into his carriage, and wenthimself to invite the assembled kings and
princes to take a little soup withhim, in order to enjoy the agreeable
(04:12):
surprise which he had prepared for them. Upon his return, he said,
very affectionately to the Queen, youknow, my dear, how extremely fond
I am of sausages. The Queenknew at once what he meant by that,
and it was this that she shouldtake upon herself, as she had
(04:32):
often done before, the useful occupationof making sausages. The Lord Treasurer must
straightway bring to the kitchen the greatgolden sausage cattle, and the silver chopping
knives and stwo pands. A largefire of sandalwood was made, The Queen
(04:53):
put on her damask apron, andsoon the sweet smell of the sausage meat
began to steam up out of thekettle. The agreeable odor penetrated even to
the royal council chamber, and theKing seized with a sudden transport, could
no longer restrain himself. With yourpermission, my lords, he cried,
(05:17):
and leaped up, ran as fastas he could into the kitchen, Embraced
the Queen, stirred a little withhis golden scepter in the kettle, and
then, his emotion, being quieted, returned calmly to the council. The
important moment had now arrived, whenthe fat was to be chopped into little
(05:39):
pieces and browned gently in the silverstupans. The maids of honor now retired
for the queen, out of truedevotion and reverence for her royal spouse,
wished to perform this duty alone.But just as the fat began to fry,
(05:59):
a small, whimpering, whispering voicewas heard, Give me a little
of the fat, sister, Ishould like my part of the feast.
I too, am a queen.Give me a little of the fat.
The Queen knew very well that itwas Lady Mouserings who said this. Lady
(06:20):
mouse Rings had lived these many yearsin the King's palace. She maintained that
she was related to the royal family, and that she was herself a queen
in the Kingdom of Mousalia, forwhich reason she held a great court under
the hearth. The Queen was akind and benevolent lady, and although she
(06:41):
was not exactly willing to acknowledge LadyMauserings as a true queen and sister,
yet she was very ready to allowher a little banquet on this great holiday.
She answered, therefore, come out, then, Lady Mouserings, you
are well come to a little ofthe fat. Upon this, Lady mouse
(07:04):
Rings leaped out very quickly and merrilyjumped upon the hearth and seized with her
dainty little paws one piece of fatafter the other. As the Queen reached
it to her. But now allthe cousins and aunts of the Lady mouse
Rings came running out, besides herseven sons, rude and forward rogues,
(07:27):
who all fell at once upon thefat, and the terrified queen could not
drive them away. But as goodfortune would have it, the chief Maid
of Honor came in at this momentand chased away the intruding guests, so
that a little of the fat wasleft. The king's mathematician, being summoned,
(07:48):
demonstrated very clearly that there was enoughremaining to season all the sausages,
if distributed with the nicest judgment andskill. Drums and trumpets were now heard
without, and all the invited potentatesand princes, some on white palfreys,
some in crystal carriages, came insplendid apparel to the sausage feast. The
(08:16):
King received them kindly and graciously,and then, adorned with crown and scepter,
as became the monarch of the land, seated himself at the head of
the table. Already in the firstcourse, that of the sausage balls.
It was observed that he grew paleand paler, raised his eyes to heaven.
(08:37):
Gentle sighs escaped from his bosom,and he seemed to undergo great inward
suffering. But in the second course, which consisted of the long sausages,
he sank back upon his throne,sobbing and moaning, held both hands to
his face, and at last weptand groaned aloud. All sprang up from
(09:00):
the table. The royal physician triedin vain to feel the pulse of the
unhappy monarch. A deep seated,unknown torture appeared to agitate him. At
last, after much anxiety, andafter the application of some very strong remedies,
the king seemed to come a littleto himself, and stammered out,
(09:24):
scarce audibly, the words two littlefat. Then the queen threw herself in
despair at his feet, and sobbedout, oh, my poor unhappy royal
husband. Alas, how great mustbe the suffering which you endure. But
(09:46):
see the guilty one at your feet. Punish, punish her without mercy.
Alas, lady mouse rings with herseven sons and aunts and cousins have eaten
up the fattened. With these words, she fell right over backwards in a
swoon. Then the king, fullof rage, leaped up and cried out,
(10:09):
Chief made of Honor. How happenedthat the chief Maid of Honor told
the story as much as she knewof it, and the King resolved to
take vengeance upon Lady Mauserings and herfamily for having eaten up the fat of
his sausages. The Privy Council wascalled, and it was resolved to summon
(10:33):
Lady Mauserings to trial and confiscate allher estates. But as the King was
of opinion that in the meanwhile shemight eat up more of his sausage fat,
the affair was placed at last inthe hands of the royal watchmaker and
mechanist. This man whose name wasthe same as mine to wit, Christian
(11:01):
Elias Drosslmiah, engaged by means ofa very singular and deep political scheme to
drive Lady Mauserings and her family fromthe palace forever. He invented, therefore
several curious little machines in which apiece of toasted fat was fastened to a
thread, and these Drosslmyah placed aroundLady Mausering's dwelling. Lady Mouserings was much
(11:28):
too wise not to see through Drossalmiah'scraft, but all her warnings. All
her entreaties were of no avail.Every one of her seven sons and many
of her cousins and aunts went intoDrossalmiya's machines, and as they tried to
snap away the fat were carked byan iron grating which fell suddenly down behind
(11:54):
them, and were afterwards miserably slaughteredin the kitchen. Lady Mouserings, with
the little remnant of her family,forsook the dreadful place. Grief, despair,
revenge filled her bosom. The courtreveled in joy at this event,
(12:16):
but the Queen was very anxious,for she knew the disposition of Lady Mouserings
and was very sure that she wouldnot suffer the death of her sons to
go unavenged. In fact, Ladymouse Rings appeared one day when the Queen
was in the kitchen preparing a hazlethash for her royal husband, a dish
(12:39):
of which he was very fond,and said, my sons, my cousins
and aunts are destroyed. Take care, Queen, that mouse Queen does not
bite thy little princess in two.Take good care with this. She disappeared
(13:00):
and was not seen again. Butthe Queen was so frightened that she let
the hash fall into the fire,and thus a second time Lady mouse Ring
spoiled a favorite dish for the king, at which he was very angry.
But this, dear children, saidDrossalmiah, is enough for to night the
(13:22):
rest. At another time, Maria, who had her own thoughts about this
story, begged Godfather Dossalmiah very hardto go on, but she could not
prevail upon him. He rose,saying, too much at once is bad
for the health the rest to morrow. As the counselor was just stepping out
(13:45):
of the room, Fred called out, tell me, Godfather Dosslmiah, is
it then really true that you inventedmouse traps? How can you ask such
a silly question, said his mother. But the counselor smiled mysteriously and said,
in an undertone, am I askillful watchmaker and yet not able to
(14:11):
invent a mouse trap? End ofChapter seven
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