The Doll Story MEGAPACK ®. Frances Hodgson Burnett
of the central building, as well as the pyramidal roofs of the towers, were set all over with thousands of sparkling gold and silver stars.
‘Aha!’ said Nutcracker, ‘here we are at Marchpane Castle at last!’
Marie was sunk and absorbed in contemplation of this magic palace. But the fact did not escape her that the roof was wanting to one of the principal towers, and that little men, up upon a scaffold made of sticks of cinnamon, were busy putting it on again. But before she had had time to ask Nutcracker about this, he said:
‘This beautiful castle was a short time since threatened with tremendous havoc, if not with total destruction. Sweet-tooth the giant happened to be passing by, and he bit off the top of that tower there, and was beginning to gnaw at the great dome. But the Sweetmeatburgh people brought him a whole quarter of the town by way of tribute, and a considerable slice of Comfit Grove into the bargain. This stopped his mouth, and he went on his way.’
At this moment soft, beautiful music was heard, and out came twelve little pages with lighted clove-sticks, which they held in their little hands by way of torches. Each of their heads was a pearl, their bodies were emeralds and rubies, and their feet were beautifully-worked pure gold. After them came four ladies about the size of Marie’s Miss Clara, but so gloriously and brilliantly attired that Marie saw in a moment that they could be nothing but princesses of the blood royal. They embraced Nutcracker most tenderly, and shed tears of gladness, saying:
‘Oh, dearest prince! Beloved brother!’
Nutcracker seemed deeply affected. He wiped away his tears, which flowed thick and fast, and then he took Marie by the hand and said, with much pathos and solemnity:
‘This is Miss Marie Stahlbaum, the daughter of a most worthy medical man, and the preserver of my life. Had she not thrown her slipper just in the nick of time—had she not procured me the pensioned Colonel’s sword—I should have been lying in my cold grave at this moment, bitten to death by the accursed king of the mice. I ask you to tell me candidly, can Princess Pirlipat, princess though she be, compare for a moment with Miss Stahlbaum here in beauty, in goodness, in virtues of every kind? My answer is, emphatically, No.’
All the ladies cried ‘No;’ and they fell upon Marie’s neck with sobs and tears, and cried:
‘Ah! Noble preserver of our beloved royal brother! Excellent Miss Stahlbaum!’
They now conducted Marie and Nutcracker into the castle, to a hall whose walls were composed of sparkling crystal. But what delighted Marie most of all was the furniture. There were the most darling little chairs, bureaus, writing-tables, and so forth, standing about everywhere, all made of cedar or Brazil-wood, covered with golden flowers. The princesses made Marie and Nutcracker sit down, and said that they would themselves prepare a banquet. So they went and brought quantities of little cups and dishes of the finest Japanese porcelain, and spoons, knives and forks, graters and stew-pans, and other kitchen utensils of gold and silver. Then they fetched the most delightful fruits and sugar things—such as Marie had never seen the like of—and began to squeeze the fruit in the daintiest way with their little hands, and to grate the spices and rub down the sugar-almonds; in short, they set to work so skillfully that Marie could see very well how accomplished they were in kitchen matters, and what a magnificent banquet there was going to be. Knowing her own skill in this line, she wished, in her secret heart, that she might be allowed to go and help the princesses, and have a finger in all these pies herself. And the prettiest of Nutcracker’s sisters, just as if she had read the wishes of Marie’s heart, handed her a little gold mortar, saying:
‘Sweet friend, dear preserver of my brother, would you mind just pounding a little of this sugar-candy?’
Now as Marie went on pounding in the mortar with good will and the utmost enjoyment—and the sound of it was like a lovely song—Nutcracker began to relate, with much minuteness and prolixity, all that had happened on the occasion of the terrible engagement between his forces and the army of the king of the mice; how he had had the worst of it on account of the bad behavior of his troops; how the horrible mouse king had all but bitten him to death, so that Marie had had to sacrifice a number of his subjects who were in her service, etc., etc.
During all this it seemed to Marie as if what Nutcracker was saying—and even the sound of her own mortar—kept growing more and more indistinct, and going farther and farther away. Presently she saw a silver mistiness rising up all about, like clouds, in which the princesses, the pages, Nutcracker, and she herself were floating. And a curious singing and a buzzing and humming began, which seemed to die away in the distance; and then she seemed to be going up—up—up, as if on waves constantly rising and swelling higher and higher, higher and higher, higher and higher.
CONCLUSION
And then came a ‘prr-poof,’ and Marie fell down from some inconceivable height.
That was a crash and a tumble!
However, she opened her eyes, and, lo and behold, there she was in her own bed! It was broad daylight, and her mother was standing at her bedside, saying:
‘Well, what a sleep you have had! Breakfast has been ready for ever so long.’
Of course, dear audience, you see how it was. Marie, confounded and amazed by all the wonderful things she had seen, had fallen asleep at last in Marchpane Castle, and the negroes or the pages, or perhaps the princesses themselves, had carried her home and put her to bed.
‘Oh, mother darling,’ said Marie, ‘what a number of places young Mr. Drosselmeier has taken me to in the night, and what beautiful things I have seen!’ And she gave very much the same faithful account of it all as I have done to you.
Her mother listened, looking at her with much astonishment, and, when she had finished, said:
‘You have had a long, beautiful dream, Marie; but now you must put it all out of your head.’
Marie firmly maintained that she had not been dreaming at all; so her mother took her to the glass cupboard, lifted out Nutcracker from his usual position on the third shelf, and said:
‘You silly girl, how can you believe that this wooden figure can have life and motion?’
‘Ah, mother,’ 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