The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, Victory quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What becomes of the marchpane Marie leaves out for the mouse king?

   • It is carried off whole through the hole in the wall
   • It is found untouched beside the glass cupboard door
   • Correct answer: It is gnawed round the edges and thrown into the ash-pit
   • It is scattered in crumbs across the sitting-room floor

   The mouse king did not find it altogether to his taste, but gnawed all round its edges, so what was left had to be thrown into the ash-pit.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What does Fritz first suggest to get rid of the mouse?

   • Setting his hussars to stand guard over the cupboard
   • Correct answer: Borrowing the baker's fine grey cat to catch it
   • Blocking up the hole in the wall with plaster
   • Asking the cook to put out a dish of poisoned fat

   Fritz says the baker downstairs has a fine grey Councillor-of-Legation, a cat that would soon bite the mouse's head off.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Why does everyone laugh when Fritz says Godpapa Drosselmeier should supply a trap?

   • Fritz says Godpapa once kept a pet mouse
   • Fritz says Godpapa is afraid of all mice
   • Fritz says the clock will scare the mice off
   • Correct answer: Fritz says Godpapa invented mousetraps

   Fritz is thinking of Godpapa's tale, in which the court Clockmaker named Drosselmeier invented the machines that trapped Dame Mouseyrinks's family.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Where does the mouse king sit when he hisses his third set of demands?

   • Correct answer: On Marie's shoulder, right by her ear
   • On the little table at her bed-head
   • On the top shelf of the glass cupboard
   • On the windowsill, lit by the moon

   On the third night he sits on Marie's shoulder, foaming from all seven mouths, and hisses his rhyme into her ear.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does Marie fear the mouse king will do once she has nothing left to give?

   • Carry off Fritz's hussars and lead soldiers
   • Bring his whole mouse army into the cupboard
   • Correct answer: Turn on Marie and want to eat her up too
   • Steal the clock from Godpapa's house

   Marie sobs that he will keep asking for more until she has nothing left, and then he will want to eat her.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Why does Marie jump for joy after Nutcracker whispers to her?

   • She learns that the mouse king has already left the house for good
   • Correct answer: She now knows how to help him without any more painful sacrifices
   • She learns that Godpapa Drosselmeier will fight the mouse king for her
   • She is told that her sugar figures can all be made new again

   Nutcracker asks only for a sword, so Marie can help him without giving up her picture-books and dresses.

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7. 7

   Question 7. Why does Fritz punish his red hussars before he helps Nutcracker?

   • They refused to lend Nutcracker one of their own sharp swords
   • Correct answer: He believes Marie that they behaved badly in the battle
   • They let the mice slip into the glass cupboard at night
   • They made too much noise and woke the household up

   Fritz asks Marie most seriously whether her account of his hussars' conduct is true, and when she gives her word of honour he takes their plumes and silences their march.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Nutcracker's speech at Marie's door suggest about how he sees her?

   • As a child who must be kept out of all danger
   • As a friend who owes him for saving her sweets
   • As a servant who must now follow his orders
   • Correct answer: As a lady whose devotion gave him his courage

   He tells her that she alone inspired him with knightly valour, and calls himself her true and faithful knight till death.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in this chapter?

   • Marie sets out her sugar figures for the mouse king to save Nutcracker.

     Happened

   • Godpapa Drosselmeier's trap catches the mouse king in the cupboard.

     Didn't happen

   • Fritz takes the plumes out of his hussars' busbies as a punishment.

     Happened

   • Marie gives the mouse king her picture-books and her new dress.

     Didn't happen

   • Nutcracker asks Marie to get him a sword.

     Happened

   • The baker's grey cat is brought in to hunt the mouse.

     Didn't happen

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'epicure' mean as used in: 'the epicure mouse king hadn't found the marchpane altogether to his taste'?

    • Someone who will eat anything set before him
    • Correct answer: Someone with refined, particular taste in food
    • A creature that hunts only in the dark
    • A ruler who demands gifts from his subjects

    An epicure is a person with refined, choosy taste in food, which is why the mouse king only nibbles the edges of the marchpane.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'busbies' mean as used in: 'he solemnly took their plumes one by one out of their busbies'?

    • Correct answer: Tall fur hats worn by hussars
    • Leather pouches for gunpowder
    • Brass horns for sounding a march
    • Wooden boxes for toy soldiers

    A busby is a tall fur hat worn by hussars, often topped with a plume, so taking the plumes out disgraces Fritz's soldiers.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'hereditary' mean as used in: 'at this supreme moment when I have overcome my hereditary foe'?

    • Met for the very first time on that night
    • Hidden from view and hard to recognize
    • Sworn as an enemy by oath at a royal court
    • Correct answer: Passed down from one generation to the next

    The feud between Nutcracker and the mouse king was handed down from Dame Mouseyrinks, the mouse king's mother, so the foe is hereditary.

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