The Nutcracker and the Mouse Queen

Chapter 1: Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, the children of Doctor Stahlbaum were not allowed into the family room, let alone the adjoining living room.

Evening had come, and and Stahlbaum sat huddled in a corner. As was usual on Christmas Eve, no-one had brought in a light, and so they sat in an eerie darkness.

Félicie was whispering to her younger brother Marlon (who had just turned seven) how early that morning, she had heard rattlings and poundings from the forbidden chambers, and how she had just seen a small, dark woman slipping a large box under her arm across the corridor, and how she knew it was none other than Godmother Drosselmeier.

Marlon's eyes lit up, and he clapped his hands and cried, "Oh, what do you think Godmother Drosselmeier has made for us?"

Now, Judge Drosselmeier was not the least bit beautiful. She was small and thin with a face full of wrinkles, and where his right eye ought to have been she wore a black eyepatch. She had raven hair all over her head. In general, Godmother Drosselmeier was a clever sort of woman who knew a great deal about watches and clocks and even made some himself. When one of the Stahlbaum family clocks was sick and couldn't sing, Godmother Drosselmeier would come and take off his glass wig and yellow coat and put on a blue apron. She would then stab all sorts of sharp instruments into the clock. Marlon felt sympathy pains, but the clocks weren't at all hurt. In fact, the clocks purred and sang as joyfully as ever, which made the whole family happy again.

Drosselmeier always had something in her pockets for the children when she came to visit. Sometimes it was a funny little woman who rolled her eyes and bowed, sometimes it was a box from which a small bird hopped, and sometimes it was something else. But every Christmas, the judge would go to extra effort to create something spectacular - so spectacular that the children's parents would put it away for safekeeping afterward.

"What do you think Godmother Drosselmeier has made for us?" Marlon anxiously asked.

Félicie said it probably wouldn't be any different this time. She expected a fortress where soldiers marched and drilled about. Other soldiers would come to overtake it, but brave soldiers inside the fortress would fire booming cannons to keep the intruders away.

"No, no," Marlon interrupted, "Godmother Drosselmeier told me of a beautiful garden with a big lake, with beautiful swans swimming around wearing gold necklaces and singing pretty songs. Then a little girl comes to the lake and calls the swans, and feeds them marzipan."

"Swans don't eat marzipan," Félicie said scornfully. "And Godmother Drosselmeier can't make a whole garden. Besides, they always take what she gives us away. I prefer what Papa and Mama give us; we can keep those and do what we want with them."

The children continued to guess and wonder. Marlon pointed out that her large doll, Master Trudie, was more awkward than ever these days. She fell on the floor time and again, which put nasty marks on his face and was getting his suit filthy. He'd tried scolding him, but to no avail. Also, there had been the way Papa had smiled when he saw how happy Marlon was with the little parasol for Guilbert. Félicie pointed out that her mother was quite aware that her stables were missing a chestnut horse and that she was short of an entire cavalry.

The children were certain their parents had bought them many wonderful presents, and that through the blessings of the Christ Child (who looked down upon them with kind, loving eyes), Christmas presents were much better than any other presents. Their older brother Louis added that the Christ Child, who brought them gifts through the hands of their loving parents, knew much better what they would like than they, so rather than wishing and hoping they should remain patient and quiet. This gave Marlon pause for thought, but Félicie muttered, "I'd still like a chestnut horse and some hussars."

Night had fallen, and Félicie and Marlon huddled together in silence. It suddenly seemed there was a rushing of wings and a distant, but beautiful music. A bright light touched the wall, and the children knew that the Christ Child had flown away on shimmering clouds to other happy children. At that moment, a silvery bell rang and the doors flew open.

"Ah-ah!" The children froze as they stepped on the threshold, but Papa and Mama lead them inside by the hand.

"Come in and see what the Christ Child has brought you."