48 THE HISTORY OF A NUT-CRACKER.

king of the mice scraping for himself a way through. the
wall, and thrusting in first one of his heads, then another,
then a third, and so on until the whole seven,. each with a
crown, made their appearance. Having entered the room,
he walked several times round it like a victor who takes pos-
session of his conquest: he then leapt with one bound upon
a table that was standing near the bed. Gazing upon her

with"his fourteen eyes, all as
bright as carbuncles, and with
a gnashing of his teeth and a
horrible squeaking noise, he
B said, “ Fe, fa, fum! You must
~ give me all your sugar-plums
and ;your sweet cakes, little
girl, and if not, I will eat up
your friend the Nut-cracker.”

Then, having uttered this threat, he fled from the room
by the same hole as he had entered by.

Mary was so frightened by this terrible apparition, that
she awoke in the morning very pale and almost broken hearted,
the more so that she dared not mention what had taken
place during the night, for fear of being laughed at. Twenty
times was she on the point of telling all, either to her mother
or to Fritz; but she stopped, still
thinking that neither the one nor the
other would believe her. It was,
however, pretty clear that she must
sacrifice her sugar-plums and_ her
sweet cakes to the safety of the poor
Nut-cracker. She accordingly placed
them all on the ledge of the cupboard
that very evening.

Next morning, the judge’s wife
said, ‘“‘T really do not know whence
come all the mice that have suddenly