ignominy from his territory; how he had applied in vain to the Natural
History Society at Squirreltown--in short, how he had been everywhere
utterly unsuccessful in discovering the faintest trace of the nut
Crackatook. During this narrative, Christoph Zacharias had kept
frequently snapping his fingers, twisting himself round on one foot,
smacking with his tongue, etc.; then he cried:

"'"Ee--aye--oh!--that really would be the very deuce and all."

"'At last he threw his hat and wig in the air, warmly embraced his
cousin, and cried:

"'"Cousin, cousin, you're a made man--a made man you are--for either I
am much deceived, or I have got the nut Crackatook myself!"

"'He immediately produced a little cardboard box, out of which he took
a gilded nut of medium size.

"'"Look there!" he said, showing this nut to his cousin; "the state of
matters as regards this nut is this. Several years ago, at Christmas
time, a stranger man came here with a sack of nuts, which he offered
for sale. Just in front of my shop he got into a quarrel, and put the
sack down the better to defend himself from the nut-sellers of the
place, who attacked him. Just then a heavily-loaded waggon drove over
the sack, and all the nuts were smashed but one. The stranger man, with
an odd smile, offered to sell me this nut for a twenty-kreuzer piece of
the year 1796. This struck me as strange. I found just such a coin in
my pocket, so I bought the nut, and I gilt it over, though I didn't
know why I took the trouble quite, or should have given so much for
it."

"'All question as to its being really the long-sought nut Crackatook
was dispelled when the Court Astronomer carefully scraped away the
gilding, and found the word "Crackatook" graven on the shell in Chinese
characters.

"The joy of the exiles was great, as you may imagine; and the cousin
was even happier, for Drosselmeier assured him that _he_ was a made man
too, as he was sure of a good pension, and all the gold leaf he would
want for the rest of his life for his gilding, free, gratis, for
nothing.

"'The Arcanist and the Astronomer had both got on their nightcaps, and
were going to turn into bed, when the astronomer said:

"'"I tell you what it is, dear colleague, one piece of good fortune
never comes alone. I feel convinced that we've not only found
the nut, but the young gentleman who is to crack it, and hand the
beauty-restoring kernel to the princess, into the bargain. I mean none
othe