The Nutcracker

This original tale, written in 1816, tells the story of a seven year old girl, Marie Stahlbaum, and her favorite Christmas toy, a Nutcracker, who comes alive and, defeats the evil Mouse King in battle, and then whisks Marie away to a magical kingdom which is populated by dolls.

In this dark, magical mystery that surrounds a story within a story, we meet Godpapa Drosselmeier, who was once the royal court's inventor. He tells Marie about the trickery of Dame Mouserink, the Queen of Mice. She was a vengeful queen who cast a curse on an innocent princess which forced Drosselmeier to undertake a very difficult task in order to break the spell. This caused a rivalry between the Nutcracker and the seven-headed Mouse-King - Dame Mouserink's son - a conflict that only Marie can help resolve.

One of the world's greatest fantasy writers and one of the major authors of the Romantic movement, Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776-1822) created extraordinary works of poetry, fantasy and supernatural fiction. He was also a jurist, composer, music critic and artist. His stories highly influenced 19th century literature.