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The Nutcracker. 21
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
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Pivot wept bitterly , and the princess cracked nuts like fun . All at once , this taste of the princess for nuts ,, struck the mechanician ; he also recollected that she came into the world with teeth- He immediately asked permission to speak with the court astrologer . They retired into a private room , consulted many books , passed the night in contemplating the stars , and , at last , it became as clear as day to them , that the princess , to regain her former beauty , must eat the kernel of the nut cratacrack . 4
The nut cratacrack has a shell so hard that an eighteen-pounder might be fired against it , and not break it . It was also to be presented to the princess by a man who had never been shaved , who had never worn boots , and who gave it with closed eyes . The king consented to suspend the execution , and he allowed the mechanician and the astronomer to set out in search of the man who could restore Pearloprice to her natural state . 4 Fifteen years did Pivot and the astrologer seek all over the world , vainly , any trace of the nut cratacrack . Their adventures are too long to recount . At the end of that time , Pivot felt a violent desire to see once more his native place , Tonbridge Wells . This violent longing seized him one day as they were smoking a pipe of tobacco , in a forest in Asia .
'" O beautifuLTonbridge Wells , " said he , " how I long to see you once more I ' 4 Listening to these exclamations of Pivot , the astrologer also became melancholy . At last , wiping his eye , he said , " But , my honourable colleague , why should we stop here lamenting ? let us be off to Tonbridge Wells at once : we may as well look for that beastly nut cratacrack there as anywhere else . ' « _ " Why that is true , " said Pivot , consoled . 4 Putting their pipes away , off they went , straight to Tonbridge Wells . When they arrived there , Pivot hastened to call upon a cousin whom he had not seen for many years . He was a large toy manufacturer , his name Christopher Zacharias Pivot . The skilful watchmaker related to his relative the history of the princess Pearloprice , dame Greymouse , and the hard nut . At almost every word Christopher Zacharias scratched
his ear , saying , " Very strange , cousin , upon my honour . ' 4 Pivot related all the adventures of their long travel ; how they had passed two years at the court of the king of dates ; how they had been banished the dominions of the king of almonds : how they had vainly consulted the Royal Society in the kingdom of squirrels ; in short , how they had searched everywhere for the nut cratacrack . During the recital , Christopher Zacharias twisted his iingers , bit his tongue , turned upon one leg , and , at last , threw his wig into the air , embraced his cousin , and exclaimed , < 4 Cousin , cousin , you are saved ; if I am not very much deceived , I , myself , possess this wonderful nut 1 "
c So saying , he unlocked his desk and p roduced a gilt nut of a moderate size . " This is the history of the nut , ' said he , presenting it to his cousin . " Some years ago , at Christmas time , a stranger offered to sell me a sack of nuts . But the regular nut-sellers did not like a stranger to interfere with their sale , and they quarrelled with him just before my shop , so that he was obliged to put down his sack to defend himself . Just at that time a broad-wheeled waggon , heavily laden , passed by my house and over the sack of nuts , breaking them all , except one , which the stranger gave me , with a singular smile , in gratitude for a plaster to
The Nutcracker. 21
The Nutcracker . 21
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1835, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2641/page/21/
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