WEBVTT - Thinking Sideways: The Nutcracker 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:26.200 Stories. Hey everybody, and welcome to a Hotiday special episode 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:30.640 of Thinking Sideways. I am, of course, am Steve as usual, 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:36.680 joined by are my two little elves? What you guys, 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:41.640 If anything, maybe all three of us are elves. Yeah, 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:44.760 we kind of might be. Because it's the holidays, We're 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.559 going to talk about a holiday themed mystery that you 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:50.800 may not have realized was a mystery, and that is 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:55.880 the origin of the nutcracker. And I'm talking about not 0:00:56.000 --> 0:01:02.240 the not the little metal ones, decorative ones. Yeah, but like, yeah, 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:06.480 exactly exactly. And since I'm the first one up today, 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:08.840 I'll go ahead and just give the brief bit of history, 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:12.000 that supposed history that we have about them, and then 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:15.119 we'll actually talk about my theory of where the nutcracker 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:18.840 came from. Yeah already, because we all have theories. We've 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:23.040 all done our own research as I was a kid. Yeah, 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:27.960 So officially, the story goes that in Germany sometime in 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:34.120 the fifteenth century, there was a nutcracker challenge, which is strange, 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:37.760 but it was won by a puppet maker who came 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:40.319 up with what we now know to be the design 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:44.040 of the decorative wood nutcracker. The lore around the design 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:46.920 of it disagrees with itself and a couple of tellings. 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:51.640 But the in some as we were just saying, it's 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:53.440 got to the lever on the back and the mouth 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:57.360 closes to crack the nut. That's the official version. There's 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:01.200 other versions that say that. In actual the nutcrackers were 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.000 two pieces of wood that were strapped together, and I 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.120 guess you've stuck the nut in at the end where 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:09.320 the strap was and used leverage to break it. Actually, 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:11.720 the original ones you just sort of like west the 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:13.079 nut end of the mouth of it, and then you 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:17.320 smashed it against something hard. Well, that's also one way 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.400 to do it. But the thing is they always looked 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:23.000 like people. They were always designed to be a little 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:27.480 human figure, and so then of course as time went 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:31.120 on they got a little more charming and people had 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:33.600 them around in the holidays. And what we don't really 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:38.040 know is why why why are they so so popular 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:41.280 at this time of year? And I have done the 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:45.880 research and I have what the actual reason is? You 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:49.160 ready to hear this, Okay? So I pieced this together 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:52.919 from some really old manuscripts that were that have been 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:56.639 coming out of Eastern Europe and as PDFs, and they're 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:58.720 on the Internet now. Then they're on the Internet now 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:02.600 for the Internet US. Indeed, So here's here's what happened 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:07.399 is sometime in the fifteenth century, there was a plague 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:11.840 that was roaming Europe, and uh, it's it's a fun 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:14.760 myth today, but it was a creature that was so 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.079 fun at the time. No, not so fun at the time, 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.600 but it's a fun myth now. So these are considered 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.400 a myth, but they were real and that is the 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.480 wolper Tinger for those of you who aren't familiar with 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:30.480 this little creature. Uh, they're small, they're furry, They travel 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:34.160 close to the ground, um, and when they're scared they 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.200 fly away, though normally they don't have to. They have 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:39.560 duck wings, Yeah, they have little duck like wings on them. Yeah, 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:43.080 but they have feathered duck wings on them, which is 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:45.640 pretty cool. They're about the size of a rabbit and 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:49.119 they have horns which they'll use to to defend themselves 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.640 if they need to, though they don't normally need to 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:55.640 because they're great at distraction and they use their little 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:58.480 squirrel like tail to flip around and confuse the predator 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:02.200 before they scurry away. So they're they're pretty uh they're 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:06.960 pretty quick little buggers. Yeah, And the problem is is 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.280 they were for a while they were just a bit 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:14.360 of a nuisance. But after after time, because they reproduced 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:18.480 so fast, they were at rabbits. Like rabbits, they were 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:22.359 threatening all of the crops in Europe. They were devouring things. 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:24.960 People were worried they were going to starve to death 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:27.479 because there was no food. Yeah, you know, that happened 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:30.760 a lot back in those days. One one crop and 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:36.760 you were screwed one just a little, you know. Yeah. So, 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:41.440 not knowing what to do about this infestation, the uh 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:44.520 a plea from the royalty was put out to all 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.520 the learned men in in the country to kind of 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:49.360 come up to come up with a solution to this. 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.960 Actually not the country, the continent, the continent. Yeah, really, 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:54.960 you're right. I did understate that a little bit. Well, 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:58.680 two men came forward today they're only known as Sir 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:02.480 Chapman and past your Palin. But these men stepped forward 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:06.839 with what they claimed was the solution. And their solution 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:10.520 was to use a blend of chicken feathers and fuag 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:15.000 raw and to spread it around the entrances to their warrants. 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:18.839 The thinking being that they would be unable to cross 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:22.120 that barrier, and therefore they would start to death in 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:24.479 their warrens and the problem would go away. That makes 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:31.560 a total sense. No, no, no, well, it turns out 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:37.839 you're both right, because it went horribly, horribly wrong, because 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:41.200 it turned out, instead of trapping them in their burrows 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.560 and starving them to death, Uh, it actually drove them 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:49.600 into a frenzy. And these little guys became not only rabid, 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.960 but they developed, courtesy of the flag raw, a taste 0:05:54.040 --> 0:06:00.280 for flesh. Yeah, and they were specifically now after liver. 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:06.360 They wouldn't want to eat my liver. Soon, entire villages 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:11.240 were being destroyed as they tore through the townsfolk literally 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:14.400 with their horns. Uh. And you know, and and there 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:17.120 was no human organ that was spared from the destruction 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:21.920 of these little bookers. Yeah. Well, as you can imagine, 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:25.800 this had to be stopped, and soon enough a solution 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:30.880 was found. At an october fest. There were men who started, 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:33.920 after consuming all of the beer that was in the kegs, 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:40.000 started walking around wearing said brightly colored kegs. And turns 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:43.279 out that the little guys couldn't use their horns to 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:47.240 get through the keg to the liver, so nobody was hurt. 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:49.760 The only problem is it's the only really on trade 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:51.760 of the keg was up to the bottom. And you 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:53.400 know what that leads you passed if you're one of 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:56.800 those little guys. Well, these were tall, These were tall kegs. Yeah, yeah, 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:58.360 they were tall kegs, you know. And you only you 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:00.200 don't have to wear it down there low, so they've guy, 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.400 can't get you. Yeah, I mean they're loading the ground 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:04.160 to start with, so that's where you're gonna put your 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:09.080 your defenses. Okay, think about it, all right. So here's 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:14.160 what happened is they started advancing on the wolper Tingers 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:17.080 and what they would do is they were shouting brow. 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:21.840 As they were doing that, they were throwing large bread 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:26.360 pretzels at them, yeah, you know, the things you usually 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:28.720 have with beer. And they got hypertension and they died 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:33.040 of like no, no. It turns out that these creators, 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:37.280 believe it or not, we're gluten intolerant. So it decimated 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:40.600 them and they were able to clear the continent in 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:45.040 a matter of hours of this pest. As we all know, 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:47.320 I mean, gluten intolerance just you know, it'll kill you 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:55.200 in an hour. Yeah, it is it is really yeah. Yeah. 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.880 So this is how the nutcrackers came about to be 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:02.040 so popular. Is that the wooden armor and the shapes 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:04.440 of the men's mouth when they were shouting brow. That 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:10.680 was shouting brow over and over, just like yeah, exactly 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:17.040 yeah um. And so I believe it or not, this 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:20.520 is the story. How this story disappeared I don't know, 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:23.680 but it was slowly covered up by the media at 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:27.760 the time because they were busy covering you know, religious 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.720 wars and whatnot in the internet sucked well. Plus also 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:32.720 this representative you can you can say, wow, this is 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:35.839 humanity salvation or you could say a great environmental crime 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:40.640 was committed. That is a good reason. But either way, 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:43.880 it was then to commemorate. The next year, they realized 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:46.800 they need to commemorate these men who had saved the continent, 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:50.040 and so they made these little wooden soldiers that were 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:54.640 painted to match the kegs, and those in time evolved 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:58.640 into more of a soldier esque figure that didn't look 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:00.440 like he was just a barrel, but like he was 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.560 an actual person. And typically these were released in sets, 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:05.400 so you'd have that you have the nutcracker with this 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:07.640 little barrel shaped thing and brightly painted, there'd be a 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:11.000 lot of little wolfing dingers that you would surround him with, 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:14.280 and being smaller and more delicately carved, they got they 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:16.800 got crushed and or lost over the years. Yeah, and 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:19.360 it turns out that the you know, like the the 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:23.559 helf of Eising style nutcracker guy, wasn't nearly as popular, 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:27.800 so we lost the yellow one to history. So there's 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:30.040 a lot of stuff that disappeared on the sides with this. 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:35.440 So that is actually why we have the nutcracker really. Yeah, 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:37.880 So Devin, what do you think do you an agreement 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:40.080 with that? I can see the word that she is. 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:42.079 She keeps mouthing over and over and it's not a 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.760 nice word, but she's not saying it out loud. Nick 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:50.000 has something to do with cows. Yeah, well I should 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:52.640 It should explain one bit, which is how I know 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:55.640 all of this. Yeah, and you should talk about that though. Yeah. 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:58.839 So there was a documentary made. I got admit I 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.640 didn't actually find from stuff that's been coming out on 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:07.040 the internet only recently. There wasn't movie made about thirty 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:12.360 five or forty years ago. Almost almost it was. It 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:16.800 was a great documentary. It was directed by Terry Gilliam 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:21.280 and Terry Jones, and it features a creature that is 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:25.280 very similar and as deadly as the Woopeninger, which I 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:27.120 think is probably how you found out that it was 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.640 that that was even a thing, right, Yeah, I put 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:31.800 two and two together because if you look out there, 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.280 the clues are there and you just need to know 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:39.079 where to look. Come on, people them. I saw a 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:42.240 documentary actually about the making of this documentary. They originally 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:44.680 had big plans for for making the rabbit wear a 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:47.120 wig and some fake wings and some antlers and stuff 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:49.560 like that, and the rabbit really didn't take to it. Yeah, 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:51.360 and it was kind of a low budget movie, so 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:53.160 they really couldn't afford to take a couple of months 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:55.560 off and train the rabbits, which is which is a shame. 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:57.920 But yeah, so they went with the white butt. Budgets 0:10:57.920 --> 0:11:01.280 are budgets. Yeah. Well, you know, I think that's a 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:05.960 nice story, um thing, I do. I think it's kind 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:08.280 of a fairy tale because I also have seen a 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:11.200 documentary about nut crackers, so I actually have the inn 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:14.520 on on how this actually went down. All right, And 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:17.439 you know, as my favorite stories often do, this one 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:19.520 starts with a princess in a far off land. Oh, 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:22.520 I thought it was supposed to start with bullet points. Nope. 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:26.200 So there was this princess in a far away land. 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.839 Calm down, it's fine, and she was tricked by this 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:35.200 woman who was called Madame mouse Coteer and U you're laughing, 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:37.520 but that's like, that's the translation. I'm sorry. This is 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:42.040 a Russian story. This nutcrackers actually came from Russia, not Germany. 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:43.600 I don't know if you guys know that or not, 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:47.760 but it's true. Okay. So anyway, so in Russia there 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:51.840 was this princess and she was well, okay, Madame Mouseketeer 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.520 was often also called the mouse Queen, so we'll just 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.719 call her the mouse queen for now. We know we're 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.360 going to call her mouse Queen. There was one where 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:04.320 the mouse Queen tricked this princess into allowing her and 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:08.400 her children, the queen, not not the princess, to eat 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.280 up a bunch of lard that was being reserved actually 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:14.400 to go into the sausages for the princess's father, the 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:18.120 King's dinner that night. So obviously the king was like 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:22.720 mad about this, right, nodding, yeah, Well, because they couldn't 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.719 make sauce. No, they didn't even they couldn't, you know, 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:30.280 the sausage was missing, and so apparently I don't know, 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:34.480 and you know, and the queen, not the mouse Queen, 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:37.680 the princess's mom. The queen was upset because she couldn't 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:39.599 make the sausage for the king, and so everyone was 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:42.719 mad at the princess. So, you know, the queen is 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:45.400 upset that she can't make the sausage, and the princess 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:47.920 isn't kind of deep trouble for letting the mouse Queen 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:52.559 or Madam Mousketeer eat the lard and her children. So 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:57.000 the king um commissioned this court inventor, whose name was 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:00.560 Drossell Meyer Um to create some traps or the mouse 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:03.560 Queen and her children, which worked. Yeah, I think we 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:06.920 used those today, we do. They're different, but we do. 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:11.160 So what he created was kind of similar to nutcrackers, 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:13.800 but unfortunately it did get all the children, but it 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:16.079 didn't get the mouse queen. And so the mouse Queen, 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:21.600 who was obviously like annoyed, yeah, upset, understandably upset. She 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:26.000 swore that she would take revenge on the princess. So 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:32.679 the network cable and yeah, yeah, no, it was even back. 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:36.080 Yeah no, this was old in time. So no. But 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:40.120 since you know, her name was the mouse Queen. The 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:42.400 king and the queen who were the parents to the princess. 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:44.280 I know, there's lots of kings and queens here. I'm sorry. 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:48.040 They decided that they would protect the princess by putting 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:52.760 a circle of cats around the princess. That sounds perfect. 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:54.760 It's good because the mouse you don't want the mouse 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:57.320 Queen to get past them. But cats sleep a lot, 0:13:57.440 --> 0:13:59.880 so there were nurses who were assigned to each cat 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:02.120 to pet the cat, to keep it alive, to protect 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:10.719 the princes. Oh yeah, yeah, the only way you keep 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:14.120 cats alive, it's true. Yeah. Well, um, of course we 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:16.080 all know how this story is going to go. The 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:19.680 nurses fall asleep and the mouse Queen gets past. She 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:22.560 puts a spell on the princess. Now, I know what 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:27.280 you're thinking. Spells aren't real, but actually they are. Okay, 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:31.840 they were at least in Russia, and this time, let's 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.040 be honest here. There's a lot of pinky things happening 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:37.360 in Russia that we can only attribute to magic. Okay, 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:41.000 mrs It's just a dark, mysterious place. There's no. Yeah. 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:44.520 So the spell or curse that the mouse queen put 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.240 on the princess um was to make her ugly because 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:50.000 her soul was ugly, I guess. But it gave her 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:52.560 a huge head with a really wide grinning mouth and 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:56.400 a cottony beard, just like a nutcracker, like the traps 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:59.480 that killed her children. To make her look like that. 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:05.480 Quite a curse, somebody, somebody I know, actually, but not you, okay, 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:10.200 maybe happy to know, Steve, Steve, Okay. Well, obviously the 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:15.680 king blamed the inventor Russell Meyer, and he said, you've 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:17.800 got four weeks to find a cure for my beautiful 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:21.360 daughter who is now ugly and horrible looking. Droussell Meyer 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:24.960 was big into the occult, you know again, a Russian thing, 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:28.440 and so he um took the princess to have her 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.360 horoscope read. And it turned out from the horoscope they 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:35.160 could tell that Steve's looking skeptical right now. It turned 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.120 out that from the horoscope they could tell that the 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.160 cure was um that she had to eat a nut, 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:42.480 and that nut had to be crushed in the hand 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:44.440 of a man who had never grown a beer, or 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:48.200 never shaved his beard or worn boots in his entire life, 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:52.280 and it's pretty specific. And the nut was also a 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.400 very specific the nut. Yeah, it was a very specific 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:58.160 kind of nut. And then without opening his eyes after 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:00.560 he gave her the nut, he had to walk seven 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.560 steps without stumbling and then the curse would be open. Yeah, 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:06.120 it does kind of sound like a dance move. Huh. 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:09.440 So obviously they go scouring all of Russia to find 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:15.200 this a haircut shaved. He could have had a haircut, 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:19.400 he just had never shaved. They travel around, but it 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:24.920 turns out that drossell Meyer's nephew might actually be a 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:27.600 perfect fit for this the person to break the curse. 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:30.880 So they spent all that time looking, but the well, 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:32.960 like a lot of yeah, I mean a lot of 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:36.200 guys came and like broke their jaws trying to break 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:38.600 these nuts because I don't know why they were like 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:40.640 trying to break them with their teeth when they should 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:44.040 have known you break it with your hand. They're dumb guys. No, 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:47.200 not nutcrackers yet, No, no, nope, nope, nope, no nope. 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.480 And so finally the nephew comes and like breaks this 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:55.960 nut with a hand and gives it to the princess 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:58.040 and she eats it and she turns back into a 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:01.080 beautiful creature of you know, being and princess. Then he 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:05.680 does Yeah, so he walks back six and a half steps, 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:08.960 and when he takes the final half step, um, he 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:13.720 stepped on the mouse queen who was there. She didn't 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:16.280 go squish, but he did, of course stumble, and so 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:19.240 the curse was transferred to him. Well that's a crappy curse. Yeah, 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:24.320 cluseval the queen actually deliberately did this. I think. Yes, 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.280 I have my suspicions. I think there's a wide conspiracy 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:31.920 theory here. Yeah, I think so too. Well, it turns 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.480 out that Princess maybe was kind of an ugly person 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:38.199 because despite the fact that this nephew, drasse Meyer's nephew 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:42.080 came and um, you know, broke the curse for her, 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:44.520 and he accidentally took it onto himself, so he turned 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:47.240 into this ugly, kind of nutcracker looking thing. She said, 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:49.640 Oh no, you're no, you're not cute. I don't want 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:56.640 to I won't be with you. Typical typical behavior. Yeah. So, actually, 0:17:56.720 --> 0:18:00.879 are the documentary that I watched, Um, that I've seen Actually, 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:04.040 I've I grew up with this documentary documentary. It is 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:09.320 a hard, hard hitting documentary starts several years later, also 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:13.560 in Russia, and it may sound familiar to you guys, because, um, 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:17.600 you've probably seen this documentary as well. It's called The Nutcracker, 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:19.840 which is how you know. It's a hard hitting documentary 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:23.560 about the creation of the nutcracker. Oh is that how 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:27.040 you know? Yeah? Uh so if you if you have 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:29.280 seen the documentary, you know that a young girl named 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.920 Clara was given a nutcracker by none other than Drossell Meyer, 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:36.960 the inventor slash clockmaker. Yeah, and it well, it was 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:39.399 given to her family, but she was like the primary caretaker. 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:42.960 Clara was seven at the time when the original filming happened. 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:45.360 There have been a lot of remakes of this documentary, 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:50.359 you know, dramatic recreations and stuff like that. But yeah, yeah, 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:54.320 well we'll get to her age in a minute here. Um. Anyway, 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:56.600 it turns out that the rat king, who was actually 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:00.639 the mouse Queen's husband, had taken up bread sudents in 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:05.080 Clara's family's house. And you know, parents can be kind 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:08.120 of jerks and deny things, and I think they were 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:10.240 just wilfully denying the fact that their house was being 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:15.560 taken over by rodents, yeah or oblivious or I don't know. 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:18.440 But on Christmas Eve, the rat Army made its move 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:20.960 to try to take over the house and they defeated 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:23.520 the doll army. And the doll army was obviously trying 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.280 to protect Clara because she's a young girl, and like 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:30.359 dolls protect children, sure they do. Yeah, yeah, that that 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:32.840 really isn't creepy to think about the fact that dolls 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:35.520 come to life at night. Well, you know, the documentary 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:39.160 Toy Story proved that. So I don't know. Your problem 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:41.080 is I never had dolls when I was a kid. 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:43.760 It wasn't allowed in your little boy whatever. Now yeah, 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:48.280 my day you only get truck sun Yeah, well those 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:52.800 are Yeah. But the Nutcracker that Clara had been taken 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:55.280 care of sprung alive and saved the day from the 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:59.439 rat Army and you know, fought them back. Unfortunately for Clara, 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:02.280 when she went to you know, tell her parents, oh 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:09.600 my gosh, the nutcrackers alive, they said, um no, yeah, 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:12.439 Unfortunately the Nutcracker had turned back into his kind of 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.720 toy like state. I'm actually that that frog and the 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:20.520 old Warren Brothers cartoon. Yeah yeah, yeah, then you know, 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:23.399 Christmas night comes around and the rat Army comes to 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:25.600 try again. I won't go into it, you can just 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:29.000 watch the documentary. But um, spoiler aler, the Nutcracker saves 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:32.000 Clara and her life and brings her back and defeats 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:34.719 the rat King, and which is great. I mean, you know, 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:38.440 her family was all set free. Unfortunately, her family did 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:40.880 continue to deny that the Nutcracker was a real thing 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:45.080 until like a couple of months later, droussell Meyer, the 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:48.080 clockmaker inventor guy Um, he came back to fix her 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:51.320 grandfather clock and Clara, being a seven year old girl, 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:55.320 could not contain herself and went to drosse Meyer and 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.240 was like, hey, I know your secret. I know about 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:01.760 the Nutcracker. I know I know that he's actually a 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:04.439 real person, and I love him and I'll love him 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:06.960 no matter what he looks like. So I just wanted 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:09.160 to tell you that I love him no matter what. 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:11.920 And um, suddenly there was a knock on the door. 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:16.040 Knock knock, knock, knock knock, and it turns out that 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:20.679 that draws Meyer's nephew had actually just arrived. Spoiler alert. 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:24.320 Drawsma's nephew was the Nutcracker. The whole time, and the 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:26.840 curse was broken by true love. And so he asked 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:29.000 Clara if she would marry him, and of course she 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:31.560 said yes, because like what seven year old girl isn't 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:34.800 just dreaming of marriage. But her family said, no, you 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:36.840 have to wait a year in a day before we'll 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:40.960 let you marry. Yeah. So then he came back a 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:45.240 year later and he took her away, Yeah to um Doll, 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:48.920 Dall Kingdom, where I you know, I'm planning a trip 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:53.040 to Dall Kingdom actually, but they, you know, Dalsa Meyer's 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:55.440 nephew and Clara rule as king and Queen of Dall 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:58.520 Kingdom to this day. And then Dall Island has made 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:01.280 all of these nutcrackers to help keep kids safe from 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:04.280 the rat army and to you know, to scare them 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:07.119 off because they know that that's what works against the 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:09.960 rat army and when they see them, the exterminators of 0:22:09.960 --> 0:22:11.919 the world that are keeping this story down because they 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:15.040 would be out of work exactually and the rats, oh 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:16.919 well yeah, the rats are doing it. Yeah, but the 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:21.120 rats as humans. It makes sense now. And I asked 0:22:21.160 --> 0:22:23.320 your trip to the Doll place, you know, I hear 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:25.560 it goes a lot further there I've heard that. I'm 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:27.760 it's kind of expensive to get there, but won't you're there? Yeah, 0:22:27.760 --> 0:22:30.720 that's whatever you do. Don't take the cruise there that Yeah, no, 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:33.040 I won't. Don't worry, but yeah, I mean, you know, 0:22:33.119 --> 0:22:34.680 And the reason that they come out in this time 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:36.640 of years because this is when the rodents are coming 0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:38.720 into the house. You know, in the summer, you don't 0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:42.000 need the nutcrackers around because the rodents are all around. 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:44.639 But when it's getting cold and they come inside, you 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:46.639 have to have the nutcrackers to keep your family safe. 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:51.560 Got it? Russia, the land of magic and big rats, 0:22:51.880 --> 0:22:55.320 giant rats, you have to put out nutcrackers. What do 0:22:55.320 --> 0:22:57.560 you think, do you guys? Well, it's sort of like 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:00.400 it's not entirely at the room of plus of ability, 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:02.960 but there's a there's a big story that you guys 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:06.399 haven't heard. Well, I think the big problem with the 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:09.560 story that you're telling is I can sum up in 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:14.639 one word magic. Well no, because like listen, magic is 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:19.080 just a word for things we don't understand yet, right, yeah, yeah, 0:23:19.160 --> 0:23:21.040