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The Nutcracker Dwarf: Count Franz Pozzi
Two boys gathered hazelnuts in the woods. They sat down under a tree and tried to eat them, but they did not have their knives and could not bite open the nuts with their teeth. A Wood Dwarf came. He had a large head, golden cap, red coat, yellow stockings, and a slender pigtail that hung down to his heels. As he came near he sang: –
Hight! hight! Bite! bite!
Hans hight I! Nuts bite I!
I chase the squirrels through the trees,
I gather nuts just as I please,
I place them ’twixt my jaws so strong,
And crack and eat them all day long!
They called out to him to help them crack nuts, which he promised to do if they would give him two nuts. He then told him to lift his pigtail, place the nuts between his jaws, pull the pigtail down and the nuts would crack. They did this and the nuts cracked. The wood dwarf demanded his payment and one of the boys refused. The Nutcracker grew red with rage, pulled up his pigtail, snapped his jaws together and bit the boy’s head off. (7)
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