answered Marie, ‘I know perfectly well that Nutcracker is young Mr. Drosselmeier from Nürnberg, Godpapa Drosselmeier’s nephew.’
Her father and mother both burst out into ringing laughter.
‘It’s all very well your laughing at poor Nutcracker, father,’ cried Marie, almost weeping; ‘but he spoke very highly of you; for when we arrived at Marchpane Castle, and he was introducing me to his sisters, the princesses, he said you were a most worthy medical man.’
The laughter grew louder, and Louise, and even Fritz, joined in it. Marie ran into the next room, took the mouse king’s seven crowns from her little box, and handed them to her mother, saying:
‘Look there, then, dear mother; those are the mouse king’s seven crowns which young Mr. Drosselmeier gave me last night as a proof that he had got the victory.’
Her mother gazed in amazement at the little crowns, which were made of some very brilliant, wholly unknown metal, and worked more beautifully than any human hands could have worked them. Dr. Stahlbaum could not cease looking at them with admiration and astonishment either, and both the father and the mother enjoined Marie most earnestly to tell them where she really had got them from. But she could only repeat what she had said before; and when her father scolded her, and accused her of untruthfulness, she began to cry bitterly, and said:
‘Oh, dear me; what can I tell you except the truth, poor unfortunate girl that I am!’
At this moment the door opened, and Godpapa Drosselmeier came in, crying:
‘Hullo! Hullo! What’s all this? My little Marie crying? What’s all this? What’s all this?’
Dr. Stahlbaum told him all about it, and showed him the crowns. As soon as he had looked at them, however, he cried out:
‘Stuff and nonsense! Stuff and nonsense! These are the crowns I used to wear on my watch-chain. I gave them as a present to Marie on her second birthday. Do you mean to tell me you don’t remember?’
None of them did remember anything of the kind. But Marie, seeing that her father and mother’s faces were clear of clouds again, ran up to her Godpapa, crying:
‘You know all about the affair, Godpapa Drosselmeier; tell it to them then. Let them know from your own lips that my Nutcracker is your nephew, young Mr. Drosselmeier from Nürnberg, and that it was he who gave me the crowns.’ But Drosselmeier made a very angry face, and muttered, ‘Stupid stuff and nonsense!’ upon which Marie’s father took her in front of him, and said, with much earnestness:
‘Now just look here, Marie; let there be an end of all this foolish trash and absurd nonsense for once and for all; I’m not going to allow any more of it; and if ever I hear you say again that that idiotic, misshapen Nutcracker is your Godpapa’s nephew, I shall shy, not only Nutcracker, but all your other playthings—Miss Clara not excepted—out of the window.’
Of course poor Marie dared not utter another word concerning that which her whole mind was full of, for you may well suppose that it was impossible for anyone who had seen all that she had seen to forget it. And I regret to say that even Fritz himself at once turned his back on his sister whenever she wanted to talk to him about the wondrous realm in which she had been so happy. Indeed, he is said to have frequently murmured, ‘Stupid goose!’ between his teeth, though I can scarcely think this compatible with his proved kindness of heart. This much, however, is a matter of certainty, that, as he no longer believed what his sister said, he now, on a public parade, formally recanted what he had said to his red hussars, and, in the place of the plumes he had deprived them of, gave them much taller and finer ones of goose quills, and allowed them to sound the march of the hussars of the guard as before.
Marie did not dare to say anything more of her adventures. But the memories of that fairy realm haunted her with a sweet intoxication, and the music of that delightful, happy country still rang sweetly in her ears. Whenever she allowed her thoughts to dwell on all those glories she saw them again, and so it came about that, instead of playing as she used to do, she sat quiet and meditative, absorbed within herself. Everybody found fault with her for being this sort of little dreamer.
It chanced one day that Godpapa Drosselmeier was repairing one of the clocks in the house, and Marie was sitting beside the glass cupboard, sunk in her dreams and gazing at Nutcracker. All at once she said, as if involuntarily:
‘Ah, dear Mr. Drosselmeier, if you really were alive, I shouldn’t be like Princess Pirlipat, and despise you because you had had to give up being a nice handsome gentleman for my sake!’
‘Stupid stuff and nonsense!’ cried Godpapa Drosselmeier.
But, as he spoke, there came such a tremendous bang and shock that Marie fell from her chair insensible.
When she came back to her senses her mother was busied about her and said:
‘How could you go and tumble off your chair in that way, a big girl like you? Here is Godpapa Drosselmeier’s nephew come from Nürnberg. See how good you can be.’
Marie looked up. Her Godpapa had got on his yellow coat and his glass wig, and was smiling in the highest good-humor. By the hand he was holding a very small but very handsome young gentleman. His little face was red and white; he had on a beautiful red coat trimmed with gold lace, white silk stockings and shoes, with a lovely bouquet of flowers in his shirt frill. He was beautifully frizzed and powdered, and had a magnificent queue hanging down his back. The little sword at his side seemed to be made entirely of jewels, it sparkled and shone so, and the little hat under his arm was woven of flocks of silk. He gave proof of the fineness of his manners in that he had brought for Marie a quantity of the most delightful toys—above all, the very same figures as those which the mouse king had eaten up—as well as a beautiful sabre for Fritz. He cracked nuts at table for the whole party; the very hardest did not withstand him. He placed them in his mouth with his left hand, tugged at his pigtail with his right, and crack! they fell in pieces.
Marie grew red as a rose at the sight of this charming young gentleman; and she grew redder still when, after dinner, young Drosselmeier asked her to go with him to the glass cupboard in the sitting-room.
‘Play nicely together, children,’ said Godpapa Drosselmeier; ‘now that my clocks are all nicely in order, I can have no possible objection.’
But as soon as young Drosselmeier was alone with Marie, he went down on one knee, and spake as follows:
‘Ah! My most dearly-beloved Miss Stahlbaum! See here at your feet the fortunate Drosselmeier, whose life you saved here on this very spot. You were kind enough to say, plainly and unmistakably, in so many words, that you would not have despised me, as Princess Pirlipat did, if I had been turned ugly for your sake. Immediately I ceased to be a contemptible Nutcracker, and resumed my former not altogether ill-looking person and form. Ah! Most exquisite lady! Bless me with your precious hand; share with me my crown and kingdom, and reign with me in Marchpane Castle, for there I now am king.’
Marie raised him, and said gently:
‘Dear Mr. Drosselmeier, you are a kind, nice gentleman; and as you reign over a delightful country of charming, funny, pretty people, I accept your hand.’
So then they were formally betrothed; and when a year and a day had come and gone, they say he came and fetched her away in a golden coach, drawn by silver horses. At the marriage there danced two-and-twenty thousand of the most beautiful dolls and other figures, all glittering in pearls and diamonds; and Marie is to this day the queen of a realm where all kinds
