is 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.

[Illustration: Sixth Chapter.]

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