Stock Photo - Europe, Germany, Berlin, Nutcracker, Soldier, A variety of traditional nutcracker figures The Nutcracker and the Mouse King German: Nussknacker und Mausekönig is a story written in 1816 by E. T. A. Hoffmann in which young Marie Stahlbaum´s favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive and, after defeating the evil Mouse King in battle, whisks her away to a magical kingdom populated by dolls. In 1892, the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov turned Alexandre Dumas père´s adaptation of the story into the ballet The Nutcracker, which became one of Tchaikovsky´s most famous compositions, and perhaps the most popular ballet in the world.