THE HISTORY OF A NUT-CRACKER. 27

whom, my dear children, I must briefly direct your attention,
since he is actually the hero of my tale, in which Miss
Trudchen, Mary, Write, the judge, the judge’s lady, and
even Godfather Drosselmayer, are only secondary characters.

CHAPTER III.

THE LITTLE MAN WITH THE WOODEN CLOAK,

I toa you that Mary did not reply to the invitation of
Miss Trudchen, because she had just discovered a new toy
which she had not before perceived.

Indeed, by dint of making his hussars march and counter-
march about the table, Fritz had brought to light a charming
little gentleman, who, leaning in a melancholy mood against
the trunk of the Christmas tree, awaited, in silence and polite
reserve, the moment when his turn to be inspected should
arrive. We must pause to notice the appearance of this
little man, to whom I gave the epithet ‘‘ charming” somewhat
hastily; for, in addition to his body being too long and large
for the miserable little thin legs which supported it, his head
was of a size so enormous that it
was quite at variance with the
proportions indicated not only
by nature, but also by those
drawing-masters who know much
better than even Nature herself.
But if there were any fault
in his person, that defect was
atoned for by the excellence of
his toilette, which denoted at
_ once a man of education and
=staste. He wore a braided frock-

coat of violet-coloured velvet, all
SSS > frogged.and covered with buttons;