E.T.A. Hoffmann

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is a story written in 1816, by E. T. A. Hoffmann in which young Marie Stahlbaum's favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive and, after defeating the evil Mouse King in battle, whisks her away to a magical kingdom populated by dolls. In 1892, the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich …

Combines the original stories behind the noted Christmas ballet--a German tale from 1816, and a French reworking of the story of Marie and her nutcracker from 1845.