never seen again!

This was the signal for a general and wild flight of Nutcracker's brilliant army, who fled to the royal palace with the cry of "Save yourselves as you can!" The palace consisted of strongly-built wooden saloons, and longest withstood the labours of the undermining animals. Here Nutcracker had already put the horses to his State-carriage; then quickly jumping into it with his wife, he holloa'd to the coachman, "Off and away, far out of this Valley, as fast as you can, and as far as possible!" And all his people crowded round the coach in wild confusion to find a refuge, for on every side insects came flying and buzzing around in the air, and with their wings overthrew everything that was not firmly fixed.

Away went the fugitives, rolling over the field like a great ball. Although hard pressed by the enemy, and with the loss of many killed, they succeeded in creeping through the great hedge which surrounded the Valley, and escaping into the forest.

The reverses of the insolent Prince and his subjects now reached their height: the very sky waged war against them, and poured down upon them torrents of rain. Nutcracker and his Princess saw with grief, from the windows of their coach, the torrent increasing and overflowing the road,—their subjects, houses, and furniture swept past in the whirlpool, one after another falling under the toils of the march, tumbling over precipices or getting entangled in roots, nettles, and heaps of fallen leaves, and perishing miserably. Nutcracker's whole People were speedily destroyed: he too had not gone many yards, when the water unglued the joints of his coach, and the princely pair were carried away by the flood. But the natural strong and active spirit of the Princess was now re-awakened by the danger. How had she once used to skip about exultingly, and swim upon the waves in such weather! With one hand she seized her husband's pigtail, and with the other a twig. She tried with a spring to reach the root of a tree; but alas! the hair of the terrified Prince was not strong enough: the pigtail remained in her hand, and she saw her husband carried away by the torrent and vanish from her sight.

At first she called sorrowfully after him, but presently her natural spirit became only the more daring. She threw off her silly fashionable dress, soaked with the rain, which cramped her slender limbs; and quickly clothing herself in the first leaves she could find, climbed up like a squirrel into an old tree, and in a hole in its branches sought shelter from the storm and the approaching night.

CHAPTER THE SIXTH.

the birdcatcher and his family.—how the children return home with rare treasures.—nutcracker's dead body.—the little maiden in the stork's nest, and who she was.—affecting reconciliation on the nutfield.—threatening danger to the rootmen.—emigration of the rootmen.

At the time when all these wonderful occurrences happened, there lived at the entrance of this forest an old Birdcatcher and his family. During the two years since he had settled here, his business had prospered remarkably; and, especially in the Spring and Autumn, so many birds had been taken in his nets, that he had earned many a bright dollar, and had laid by many a spare penny.

Now once on a Spring day a heavy rain had fallen, and, strange to say, ever since that time not a bird was longer to be seen there: every morning the Birdcatcher found his nets torn, his limed twigs destroyed, and even his screech-owl and other decoy-birds had vanished from their cages and perches. And yet he knew well enough there lived no other man in the whole forest who could have done all this.

One day he had sent his children with the cart deep into the forest, to fetch brushwood. Evening came on, and they did not return. It already began to grow dark, and as they still had not come back, his anxiety increased, and he determined to go in search of them. He had just crossed the threshold, when suddenly he heard a shouting and singing at a distance in the wood. Joyous sounds! it was his dear children, who were dragging and pushing along the little cart, piled up and closely packed.

"You good-for-nothing little brats, where have you been all this time?" he exclaimed, half angrily, though overjoyed. But they laughed, and removing the green brushwood with which they had covered the loaded cart, they exclaimed, quite red in the face with delight, "Only see, father, what we have here!" And, lo and behold, the cart was filled from top to bottom with broken, bent, and gnaw'd playthings!

And now they went on to tell the whole story of their treasures; and amidst a Babel of voices, all speaking together, one louder than another, the sum and substance of the story was this. After losing their way, they had wandered about till they came to a narrow, smooth dale, which lost itself like a footpath in the wood. The ground was all wet and miry from the rain. Suddenly, to their amazement, they found all these splendid things scattered about in radiant confusion; and, had not the sun already sunk behind the pine-trees, they would have followed the path still further. It seemed to have no end, but disappeared deep in the thicket, and, as far as they could see, it was all bestrewn with similar treasures.

The story seemed strange to their father, and he resolved to follow the path they spoke of the next day, hoping in his own mind to discover a track of the culprit who had decoyed away the birds and torn his nets.

The next morning, as soon as the dawn glimmered through the still forest, the Birdcatcher's whole family were on their way with the wood-cart to the dale; and, truly enough, there they found everything as the children had described.

"Look, look, father! there is another splendid little wooden fellow!" exclaimed the youngest child, raking out of the mire a little Nutcracker, bedaubed with mud, his colours all washed off, and his pedestal lost.

"Heyday! what a face the fellow has, and what a mouth, and what goggling eyes!" cried all the children in one voice.

"Silly nonsense! stupid toy!" exclaimed the old man angrily, as he snatched the Nutcracker from them, and flung it far away into the wood.

But now a wonderful sight presented itself to his view.

Out of a Crane's nest, high up on an old oak-tree, there rose a little maiden of human form, quite enveloped in gossamer. She climbed down from the tree like a squirrel, ran with all speed to the spot where Nutcracker lay, dug him a grave with her hands, and, with the aid of the two Cranes, laid him in it, and raked the earth over the spot; after which she climbed again up the tree, and into the nest.

The Birdcatcher and his family stood open-mouthed, in silent astonishment; they feared to frighten away the little maiden, but this strange sight made them hesitate what to do.

"So, so, then, you are the little witch who robs me of my bread!" at last exclaimed the Birdcatcher, giving vent to his repressed anger. "Wait there awhile, my pretty little bird: tomorrow morning we will come again with axe and nets; we will then cut down your tree in a trice and catch you. For the present let us see where this path leads, and whether there are not more of you here."

Before he had finished speaking, he espied the little maiden peeping anxiously from under her white veil out of the nest, and making a sign. And instantly the Cranes came flying to her, took up the nest with their bills,