They called out to him: “If you know how to crack nuts, why, come here and open ours.”
But the little man grumbled through his long white beard:—
“If I crack the nuts for you
Promise that you'll give me two.”
“Yes, yes,” cried the boys, “you shall have all the nuts you wish, only crack some for us, and be quick about it!”
The little man stood before them, for he could not sit down because of his long, stiff pigtail that hung down behind, and he sang:—
“Lift my pigtail, long and thin,
Place your nuts my jaws within,
Pull the pigtail down, and then
I'll crack your nuts, my little men.”
The boys did as they were told, laughing hard all the time. Whenever they pulled down the pigtail, there was a sharp CRACK, and a broken nut sprang out of the Nutcracker's mouth.
Soon all the hazelnuts were opened, and the little man grumbled again:—
“Hight! hight! Bite! bite!
Your nuts are cracked, and now my pay
I'll take and then I'll go away.”
Now one of the boys wished to give the little man his promised reward, but the other, who was a bad boy, stopped him, saying:—