![]() ![]() Although the core begins the same–on Christmas Eve, young Marie (often Clara in the ballet) takes a nutcracker doll, whose jaw was cold-heartedly broken by the enthusiasm of her brother Fritz, into her care she observes, and eventually participates in, Nutcracker’s battle with the Mouse King and she is eventually transported to a magical sugar candy land–the stories differ greatly in the particulars. Hoffman’s original short story, one soon discovers–unsurprisingly, perhaps–that the ballet diverges greatly from the source material. ![]() The Nutcracker is a story so familiar as to seem universally known. However, said Fritz, he knew quite well that it was none other than Godfather Drosselmeier. Also, not so long ago (Fritz went on), a short, dark man with a large casket under his arm had stolen across the vestibule. Fritz quite secretly whispered to his younger sister (she had just turned seven) that he had heard a rustling and murmuring and soft throbbing in the locked rooms since early that morning. ![]() ![]() The deep evening dusk had set in, and the children felt quite eerie because, as was usual on this day, no light had been brought in. Fritz and Marie sat huddled together in a corner of the back room. Introduction by Jack Zipes (Penguin Classics)įor the entire twenty-fourth of December, the children of Medical Officer Stahlbaum were not permitted to step inside the intermediary room, much less the magnificent showcase next door. ![]()
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