Retold from: E. T. A. Hoffmann

E. T. A. Hoffmann was a German Romantic writer, the author of “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”, one of the best-known Christmas tales.

He was born in 1776 in Königsberg and led a remarkably varied life: he served as a judge, wrote music and operas, and drew. He took the third of his names, Amadeus, in honour of Mozart. Hoffmann died in Berlin in 1822.

Hoffmann loved stories in which an ordinary home or town is suddenly filled with magic. “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” came out in 1816 in a book of children’s tales that he put together with two fellow writers. The famous ballet based on the tale is performed every year at Christmas.

The site already has “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”, about a girl named Marie, a wooden Nutcracker, a night battle with an army of mice and a journey to the magical Kingdom of Dolls.