The Battle

Banner Image courtesy of Tulsa Ballet. Web Source.

As Madame Mouserinks arose from the cracked floor, the entire room filled with screams of horror. Dancers began to flee and run around in chaos.

"I am Madame Mouserinks, and I have come to avenge my husband's death!" she screamed.

The Nutcracker stepped forward and proclaimed, "You have no right to come into my kingdom during the middle of our celebration and terrorize us with your false proclaims!"

"These words that I say are not false! I am not leaving here until I slay the girl who killed my beloved husband the Evil Mouse King and everyone else here!"

At this point Madame Mouserinks located Mina and pointed a long, skinny finger at her and said, "You will pay for what you have done."

The Nutcracker intervened and said, "Over my dead body."

"That won't be hard." Madame Mouserinks said with a smirk.

Next, Madame Mourinks and the Nutcracker drew their swords and began to fight. Their swords clinked together time after time as they dodged each other back and forth. Both had delivered a few hefty blows but none big enough to disarm the other. Mina, feeling helpless from afar, knew she had to come up with a plan. She ran over to where the performers were hiding behind a pillar and began to speak to them.

"Hurry! You must come and help fight! It won't be long until Madame Mouserinks calls in her mice children and the Nutcracker will surely be overpowered!"

If the story of the Nutcracker that she had danced so many times was actually true like it was playing out to be, she knew that more mice were soon to come. Just as soon as she thought this, sure enough little mice began to erupt from the floor and surround the Nutcracker distracting him from Madame Mouserinks. Mina knew the time to intervene was now or never.

With a surge of bravery she and the rest of the guests grabbed whatever type of weapon they could find. They grabbed decorations, swords off the walls and other various items and ran into the ballroom after Madame Mouserinks. Even with what seemed like hundreds of tiny mice trying to attack them, they and Madame Mouserinks were no match for the passionate dancers wanting to save their friend. They surrounded Madame Mouserinks and attacked her with their weapons and eventually, she fell to her defeat. The mice immediately began to cry and dragged their fallen leader back down into the hole that they came from, never to be seen again.

Mina turned around, and to her dismay the Nutcracker was lying on the ground, seeming to be lifeless. Mina ran to him and collapsed by his side. "No, you can't die after fighting for me and saving my life," she said with teary eyes. As she and the rest of the guests began to lose hope, a single tear fell from the bridge of Mina's nose and onto the Nutcracker's cheek. As soon as her tear touched his skin he began to stir and then suddenly gasped and opened his eyes.

"You saved me," he said.

"No, you saved me."

Clara and the Nuctracker in the ballet version of The Nutcracker after defeating the Evil Mouse King. Web Source.

Author's Note: My story, The Battle, is based off of the real Battle Scene that takes place between the Nutcracker and the Evil Mouse King in the ballet. In the ballet version, the Nutcracker has soldiers to help him fight off the Mouse King. After battling for quite some time, young Clara takes off her shoe and hits the Mouse King over the head with it and kills him. This is when Clara "grows up" and is taken to the Nutcracker's kingdom where they fall in love.

In my retelling, the defeat of the Mouse King has already taken place so my idea of Madame Mouserinks, the revengeful wife to the Mouse King, comes from E.T.A Hoffman's original text. Instead of the Nutcracker having soldiers to help him, I wanted his guests to join hands and fight instead. I think that the power of friendship is very important and wanted to include it in my story.

Lastly, in the ballet version, the Nutcracker is taken down by the Mouse King like in my story, but after he is defeated, his soldiers huddle around him and he magically comes back to life. In my version I wanted Mina to be involved. The Nutcracker is a romantic ballet, so I wanted to add a deeper emotional connection between Mina and the Nutracker to show their relationship.

Bibliography: The Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffman.