A Fish That Slipped Through the Net

In the early 19th century, the Stahlbaum family of Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany, was holding a Christmas party. Their daughter Clara, their son Fritz, and the entire family waited at the door to welcome the guests.

The Christmas party began. Clara's godfather, Drosselmeyer, brought a beautiful, enormous hand-cranked music box. From it, he produced three puppets—a lovely maiden, a comical clown, and a formidable Arab—to perform for the children. Finally, Drosselmeyer took out an unremarkable Nutcracker. Clara begged him to give the puppet to her. Holding the Nutcracker in her arms, she quietly drifted into sleep.

The sleeping Clara was startled awake and saw the seven-headed Mouse King leading a great horde of mice to take the Nutcracker away. The Nutcracker suddenly grew larger, commanding the puppets and the mouse army in a fierce battle. Clara was so frightened by the scene that she fainted. When she woke, the Nutcracker had broken the mice's spell and turned into a handsome prince. The prince invited Clara to visit the Candy Kingdom he ruled. The two climbed onto a wooden horse and set off on their journey.

The prince and Clara arrived in Snow Country, a glittering world of crystal. The Ice Queen and King led the spirits of snow, transforming into snowflakes drifting on the wind as they danced to welcome them. Clara received a beautiful shawl from the Queen and King, then set off again with the prince.

When the water spirits saw the wooden boat carrying Clara and the prince, they began clamoring. A gust of sinister wind swept through, and the surviving mice returned to counterattack, but in the end, they all perished beneath the prince's sword.

After eliminating the mice, Clara and the prince arrived in the Candy Kingdom, a magnificent palace built from all kinds of pastries.