The Nutcracker and the Mouse Queen

Chapter 14: Conclusion

Poof! Marlon felt himself falling from an immense height. What a jolt!

Suddenly he opened his eyes and found himself laying in his little bed, and it was broad daylight. His father stood over him and said, "how can you sleep so long? Breakfast is ready!"

You have probably realized, honored listeners, that Marlon, exhausted from his adventures, had fallen asleep at last in the hall of Marzipan Castle and the Moors, pages, or even the princes themselves had carried his home and put him to bed. "Oh, Papa - Papa! Young Drosselmeier took me and showed me the most beautiful things last night!" Then Marlon told his father everything he saw, just as I have told you, and his father looked at him in amazement.

"You've had a long, beautiful dream, dear Marlon, but now you must put it from your mind."

But Marlon insisted that it wasn't a dream and that it had really happened. So his father took him to the glass-fronted cabinet and showed him the Nutcracker, sitting on the second shelf as usual. "How, silly boy, can you believe that a wooden doll can be alive and move?" he asked.

"But Papa, I know very well that Nutcracker is young Mrs. Drosselmeier from Nuremberg, Godmother Drosselmeier's niece."

Both of his parents broke out into peals of laughter.

"Oh!" Marlon exclaimed, nearly in tears, "now you're laughing at my nutcracker, Mama! And he spoke so well of you! When we arrived at Marzipan Castle and she introduced me to the princes - her brothers - she called you a respectable doctor!"

But they only laughed harder, and Louis and Félicie started to laugh too. Marlon quickly went to his bedroom and retrieved the seven crowns of the Mouse Queen, which he presented to his mother. "Look, Papa, these are the crowns of the Mouse Queen, which Nutcracker gave me last night as a token of her victory."

His father marveled over the tiny crowns, which were made of an unknown but brilliant metal and seemed impossible for human hands to have forged. Even his mother was completely fascinated by them, and they both asked in earnest where he had gotten them. He could only repeat what he had said before, and when his mother scolded him harshly and even called him a little liar, he began to cry violently and said to himself, "oh, poor me, poor me - what am I to say?"

At that moment the door opened and the judge stepped through and shouted, "what's happening? Why is my godchild Marlon crying? What's going on?"

The doctor informed him of all that had happened while he showed her the little crowns. However, the judge had hardly listened to a word of it when she laughed and said, "what a silly fuss! These are the crowns I wore for years on my watch chain. I gave them to Marlon for his second birthday. Have you forgotten?"

Neither one of them could remember such a thing. When Marlon saw that they were no longer angry, he ran up to Godmother Drosslemeier and said, "you know everything, Godmother Drosselmeier. Tell them that Nutcracker is your niece, young Drosselmeier from Nuremberg!"

But Godmother Drosselmeier frowned and muttered, "ridiculous foolish nonsense."

Then the doctor took Marlon aside and said very seriously, "listen, Marlon, forget all these tall tales and foolishness. If you ever insist that the nutcracker is Drosselmeier's niece again, I will throw not only the Nutcracker, but all of your dolls - Monsieur Clarinet included - out the window."

Of course Marlon could no longer speak of it, but his mind was filled with it nonetheless. You can well imagine that if you'd seen anything so marvelous yourself, you wouldn't be able to forget it, either.

Even Félicie would ignore Marlon if she ever began to tell him of the fantastic realm that had delighted her so. It's even rumored she would occasionally muttered "silly goose!" between his teeth, but given his usual good demeanor I find this doubtful. This much is certain, however - she no longer believed what Marlon had told her earlier and made a formal apology to her hussars with a public parade, replaced their lost field insignias with taller, fancier goose feathers, and allowed them to play the Hussar's March once more. However, you and I know just how pathetic those hussars were when those nasty little balls left stains on their red jackets!

Although Marlon couldn't talk about his adventure, the images of that marvelous fairyland and its lovely sounds played over and over in her mind. Instead of playing with his toys, Marlon would often sit still and silent as he remembered it all. The others would scold him and call him a 'little dreamer.'

It happened one day that as the judge was repairing one of the family clocks, Marlon sat next to the glass-fronted cabinet remembering his adventures. He looked up at the Nutcracker and suddenly found himself saying, "dear Mrs. Drosselmeier, if you really were alive, I wouldn't be like Prince Pierpont and hate you because you stopped being beautiful for my sake!"

At that moment the judge cried, "foolish nonsense!"

But there was suddenly a bang so loud that Marlon fainted from her chair. When he awoke, his father was looking over him. "How can a big boy like you fall off your chair?" he asked. "Anyway, the judge's niece from Nuremberg has just arrived, so behave yourself."

Marlon looked up. The judge had put on her spun-glass wig and yellow coat and was smiling happily. She held the hand of a small, yet beautiful young woman with a face as white as milk and red as blood. She wore a beautiful red coat trimmed with gold, shoes and stockings of white silk, a powdered wig, and a splendid braid down his back. In one hand he carried a most delightful bouquet of flowers and under her other arm she carried her hat, which was woven from silk. The small sword at her side was encrusted with flashing jewels.

The young woman was polite and well-mannered. She gave Marlon all sorts of toys and replaced the marzipan and sugar dolls the Mouse Queen had chewed up. To Félicie he gave a beautiful sabre.

At the table she cracked nuts for everyone; even the hardest could not resist her. With her right hand she put the nut in her mouth and with her left hand she gave a tug on one of her two pigtails, and - crack! - the shell broke into pieces.

Marlon had blushed a fiery red when he first saw the young woman, and after dinner he blushed even redder when she invited him to come into the living room to the glass-fronted cabinet.

"Just behave when you play, children," the judge said. "Now that all the clocks are telling the right time I've nothing against it."

Hardly were they alone when young Drosselmeier knelt down on one knee and spoke thus: "my most excellent lord Stahlbaum, you see at your feet the happy Drosselemeier, whose life you saved right here. When you said that you would not hate me like the cruel Prince Pierpont for whose sake I became ugly, I immediately ceased to be a hideous nutcracker and received my former and not-unpleasant form again. Oh noble young lord, please make me happy by giving me your worthy hand and sharing my kingdom and crown. If you do, you shall reign with me in Marzipan Castle, for there I am queen!"

Marlon took him up by the hand and said, "dear Mrs. Drosselmeier, you are a gentle and good woman, and also since you rule a country with such wonderful people I accept you as my bride."

With that, they were engaged. In a year (so they say) she came to take him to her kingdom in a golden carriage drawn by silver horses. When they were married in due time, there were twenty-two thousand of the most brilliant dancers dressed in pearls and diamonds to entertain at the wedding, and to this day Marlon should still be the king of a country in which shimmering Christmas forests and glazed marzipan castles - in short, the most marvelous things you can imagine - can be seen if you only look.

—The End—