eBook License: Public Domain

Prussian author E. T. A. Hoffmann wrote the book. It is known as a fairy tale that tells the story of a young girl named Marie who loves her Nutcracker toy. Then the Nutcracker eventually came to life, fought the Mouse King, and took Marie away to a magical land populated by dolls.

The beginning of the story is on Christmas Eve. Seven-year-old Marie and her older brother, Fritz, wait outside the parlor. They are excited to hear about the gifts that their godfather, a clockmaker, and inventor, will give them. They finally get to enter the parlor where they find many beautiful presents, among them, a clockwork castle with movable parts and mechanical figures inside it. The children soon tire of the endless repetition of this mechanical action and ask about the nutcracker toy.