E.T.A. Hoffman's classic children's tale, The Nutcracker, is perhaps best known as the basis for Russian composer Tchaikovsky's extraordinarily popular ballet, composed in 1892 and performed throughout the world every year at holiday time.

This original tale, written in 1816, tells the story of a seven year old girl, Marie Stahlbaum, and her favorite Christmas toy, a Nutcracker, who comes alive and, defeats the evil Mouse King in battle, and then whisks Marie away to a magical kingdom which is populated by dolls.

In this dark, magical mystery that surrounds a story within a story, we meet Godpapa Drosselmeier, who was once the royal court's inventor. He tells Marie about the trickery of Dame Mouserink, the Queen of Mice. She was a vengeful queen who cast a curse on an innocent princess which forced Drosselmeier to undertake a very difficult task in order to break the spell. This caused a rivalry between the Nutcracker and the seven-headed Mouse-King - Dame Mouserink's son - a conflict that only Marie can help resolve.

One of the world's greatest fantasy writers and one of the major authors of the Romantic movement, Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776-1822) created extraordinary works of poetry, fantasy and supernatural fiction. He was also a jurist, composer, music critic and artist. His stories highly influenced 19th century literature.