"Traditionally, in 'The Nutcracker' ballet ... While the bickering butler and maid are transformed into the Rat King and Queen, who invade the Stahlbaum home in a pirate ship made from a gravy ...

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is a story written in 1816 by E T A Hoffmann in which young Marie Stahlbaums favorite Christmas toy the Nutcracker comes alive and after defeating the evil Mouse ...