ved it forward; laid Nutcracker
carefully and tenderly down on it; wrapped another pretty ribbon, taken
from her own dress, about his hurt shoulder, and drew the bed-clothes
up to his nose.

"But he shan't stay with that nasty Clara,' she said, and moved
the bed, with Nutcracker in it, up to the upper shelf, so that
it was placed near the village in which Fritz's hussars had their
cantonments. She closed the cupboard, and was moving away to go to bed,
when--listen, children! there begun a low soft rustling and rattling,
and a sort of whispering noise, all round, in all directions, from all
quarters of the room--behind the stove, under the chairs, behind the
cupboards. The clock on the wall 'warned' louder and louder, but could
not strike. Marie looked at it, and saw that the big gilt owl which was
on the top of it had drooped its wings so that they covered the whole
of the clock, and had stretched its cat-like head, with the crooked
beak, a long way forward. And the 'warning' kept growing louder and
louder, with distinct words: 'Clocks, clockies, stop ticking. No sound,
but cautious "warning." Mousey king's ears are fine. Prr-prr. Only sing
"poom, poom"; sing the olden song of doom! prr-prr; poom, poom. Bells
go chime! Soon rings out the fated time!' And then came 'Poom! poom!'
quite hoarsely and smothered, twelve times.

"Marie grew terribly frightened, and was going to rush away as best she
could, when she noticed that Godpapa Drosselmeier was up on the top of
the clock instead of the owl, with his yellow coat-tails hanging down
on both sides, like wings. But she manned herself, and called out in a
loud voice of anguish:

"Godpapa! godpapa! what are you up there for? Come down to me, and
don't frighten me so terribly, you naughty, naughty Godpapa
Drosselmeier!'

"But then there begun a sort of wild kickering and queaking,
everywhere, all about, and presently there was a sound as of running
and trotting, as of thousands of little feet behind the walls, and
thousands of little lights began to glitter out between the chinks of
the woodwork. But they were not lights; no, no! little glittering eyes;
and Marie became aware that, everywhere, mice were peeping and
squeezing themselves out through every chink. Presently they were
trotting and galloping in all directions over the room; orderly bodies,
continually increasing, of mice, forming themselves into regular troops
and squadrons, in good order, just as Fritz's soldi