The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, The Invalid quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. About what time does Marie's mother say she woke up and found Marie missing?

   • Just before the sun came up
   • Correct answer: About twelve o'clock at night
   • At ten, when the clock struck
   • Shortly after three in the morning

   Her mother says she awoke about twelve o'clock, missed Marie, and found her lying in front of the glass cupboard.

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2. 2

   Question 2. According to her mother, what might have happened if Marie's cut had been a little higher up her arm?

   • She might have needed the doctor to sew up her elbow
   • She might have lost all feeling in the fingers of that hand
   • Correct answer: She might have had a stiff arm for life, or bled to death
   • She might have been kept in bed until the end of winter

   Dr. Wendelstern thinks a cut only a little higher could have left Marie with a stiff arm for life, or even made her bleed to death.

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3. 3

   Question 3. How do the adults respond after Marie insists the mess was left by a battle with the mice?

   • The mother sends for Fritz to ask whether he heard mice
   • The doctor laughs and tells Marie she was only dreaming
   • The mother scolds her again and takes Nutcracker away
   • Correct answer: The doctor gives a look; the mother gently soothes her

   After a significant look from Dr. Wendelstern, the mother tells Marie gently that the mice are gone and Nutcracker is safe in the cupboard.

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4. 4

   Question 4. In Drosselmeier's Watchmaker's Song, what scares away the mouses' king?

   • Correct answer: The owl, on downy wing
   • The cat, with silent paw
   • The clock, with its loud chime
   • The soldiers, with their swords

   The song says the owl comes on downy wing and scares away the mouses' king, an image that recalls Drosselmeier on the clock with spread wings.

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5. 5

   Question 5. How does Drosselmeier explain his strange chanting to Marie's mother?

   • He says he was copying the way Fritz's Jumping Jack moved
   • Correct answer: He says it is a song he always sings to little invalids
   • He says he caught a touch of Marie's wound-fever himself
   • He says he was rehearsing a new story for the children

   He laughs and asks whether she never heard his nice Watchmaker's Song, which he always sings to little invalids like Marie.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Drosselmeier tell Marie he was unable to manage during the battle?

   • Stopping the clock before it struck twelve that night
   • Arriving in time to keep her arm from being cut
   • Correct answer: Gouging out all fourteen of the mouse-king's eyes
   • Saving Nutcracker's sword along with his teeth

   He tells Marie not to be vexed because he didn't gouge out all the mouse-king's fourteen eyes, a remark that treats her battle as real.

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7. 7

   Question 7. When Fritz asks about Nutcracker's sword, what does Drosselmeier answer?

   • That Fritz should lend him a sword from his hussars
   • That the sword was lost for good in the glass cupboard
   • That he will carve a new one by the end of the week
   • Correct answer: That Nutcracker must look out for a sword for himself

   Annoyed, Drosselmeier says he has put Nutcracker's mouth to rights and Nutcracker must find a sword himself; Fritz agrees.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Drosselmeier offer to explain to Marie about Nutcracker?

   • Correct answer: How ugliness came into Nutcracker's family and was handed down
   • Why Nutcracker was built to crack only the smallest nuts
   • Where Nutcracker was carved and who first painted his face
   • How Nutcracker was chosen as commander of the toy army

   He offers to tell how the ugliness came into Nutcracker's family and passed from one generation to another, beginning with Princess Pirlipat.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Why does the list of things Marie's mother found beside her matter to the reader?

   • It proves to the doctor that a real mouse got into the cupboard
   • Correct answer: It fits both an accident and Marie's battle, so the truth stays open
   • It shows that Fritz had been playing with Marie late into the night
   • It convinces Marie that the whole battle was only a dream after all

   Scattered soldiers, the left shoe and Nutcracker on her arm match the mother's accident story and Marie's battle equally well.

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10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these events actually happen in this chapter?

    • Marie wakes to find the window covered with frost-flowers.

      Happened

    • Fritz admits that he left his soldiers out in the cupboard.

      Didn't happen

    • Marie's father has a long consultation with Dr. Wendelstern.

      Happened

    • Marie's mother shows her the broken pane of the cupboard.

      Didn't happen

    • Drosselmeier arrives at Marie's bedside in his little yellow coat.

      Happened

    • Drosselmeier gives the mended Nutcracker a brand-new sword.

      Didn't happen

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'scrutinizingly' mean in: 'her mother came and looked at her very scrutinizingly and anxiously'?

    • In a cheerful, teasing way
    • In a stern, angry way
    • Correct answer: In a close, searching way
    • In a sleepy, careless way

    Scrutinizingly means examining closely; the worried mother searches Marie's face for signs of how she is.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'wavered' mean in: 'everything wavered before her eyes so strangely that she was obliged to stop'?

    • Grew sharp and very bright
    • Faded slowly into darkness
    • Turned around in a circle
    • Correct answer: Moved or flickered unsteadily

    Wavered means moved unsteadily; Marie's sight seems to tremble, so she cannot read or look at picture-books.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'monotone' mean in: 'said, in a snarling voice, like a sort of chant in monotone'?

    • Correct answer: A single, unchanging pitch
    • A loud, booming shout of anger
    • A soft, gentle whisper
    • A quick, rising squeal

    A monotone is a voice that stays on one pitch, which makes Drosselmeier's chant sound mechanical, like a clock.

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