The Doll Story MEGAPACK ®. Frances Hodgson Burnett

Megapack

      The Second E.F. Benson Megapack

      The Cthulhu Mythos Megapack

      The Ghost Story Megapack

      The Second Ghost Story Megapack

      The Third Ghost Story Megapack

      The Horror Megapack

      The M.R. James Megapack

      The Macabre Megapack

      The Second Macabre Megapack

      The Mummy Megapack

      The Vampire Megapack

      The Werewolf Megapack

      WESTERNS

      The B.M. Bower Megapack

      The Max Brand Megapack

      The Buffalo Bill Megapack

      The Cowboy Megapack

      The Zane Grey Megapack

      The Western Megapack

      The Second Western Megapack

      The Wizard of Oz Megapack

      YOUNG ADULT

      The Boys’ Adventure Megapack

      The Dan Carter, Cub Scout Megapack

      The G.A. Henty Megapack

      The Penny Parker Megapack

      The Pinocchio Megapack

      The Rover Boys Megapack

      The Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Megapack

      The Tom Swift Megapack

      AUTHOR MEGAPACKS

      The Achmed Abdullah Megapack

      The Edward Bellamy Megapack

      The B.M. Bower Megapack

      The E.F. Benson Megapack

      The Second E.F. Benson Megapack

      The Max Brand Megapack

      The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack

      The Wilkie Collins Megapack

      The Ray Cummings Megapack

      The Guy de Maupassant Megapack

      The Philip K. Dick Megapack

      The Jacques Futrelle Megapack

      The Randall Garrett Megapack

      The Second Randall Garrett Megapack

      The Anna Katharine Green Megapack

      The Zane Grey Megapack

      The Dashiell Hammett Megapack

      The M.R. James Megapack

      The Selma Lagerlof Megapack

      The Murray Leinster Megapack

      The Second Murray Leinster Megapack

      The George Barr McCutcheon Megapack

      The Talbot Mundy Megapack

      The Andre Norton Megapack

      The H. Beam Piper Megapack

      The Mack Reynolds Megapack

      The Rafael Sabatini Megapack

      The Saki Megapack

      The Robert Sheckley Megapack

      OTHER COLLECTIONS YOU MAY ENJOY

      The Great Book of Wonder, by Lord Dunsany (it should have been called “The Lord Dunsany Megapack”)

      The Wildside Book of Fantasy

      The Wildside Book of Science Fiction

      Yondering: The First Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories

      To the Stars—And Beyond! The Second Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories

      Once Upon a Future: The Third Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories

      Whodunit?—The First Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories

      More Whodunits—The Second Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories

      X is for Xmas: Christmas Mysteries

      INTRODUCTION: HELLO, DOLLY! by Robert Reginald

      Dolls—those cute and cuddly replicas of minature children that have been hugged and cherished to distraction by generations of young people (and their elders). Dolls come in many forms, including nutcrackers, teddy bears, voodoo dolls, talking dolls (real and fictional), and sexy dolls (the images, not real women)—and have been constructed from all kinds of materials. They’ve also been dressed both elaborately and simply (or not at all!) over the past two centuries, using a wide variety of fabrics and styles.

      So it’s not surprising that creative writers have responded to the devotion that many children maintain for dolls, producing fictional accounts that have thrilled the fans and readers of each new generation. This anthology includes twenty-five stories, six poems, and one play relating to dolls. Some are classics—Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess always ranks near the top on readers’ lists of their favorite doll tales—while others are less well known.

      Other classic tales include “Nutcracker and the King of Mice,” by E. T. A. Hoffmann (the inspiration for Tchaikovsky’s great work); “Dolly and I,” by Oliver Optic; “The Doll and Her Friends,” by Julia Maitland; “The Dolls’ Journey from Minnesota to Maine,” by Louisa May Alcott; “Raggedy Ann Stories,” by Johnny Gruelle; and “Racketty-Packetty House,” also by Burnett. More recent stories include “The Doll,” by Edmund Glasby; “The Doll’s Ghost,” by F. Marion Crawford; “The Doll,” by Vernon Lee; “The Dybbuk Dolls,” by Jack Dann; “Smothered Dolls,” by A. R. Morlan; “Lukundoo,” by Edward Lucas White; “The Man Who Wasn’t Nice to Pumpkin Head Dolls,” by Darrell Schweitzer; “Tiny Doll-Face,” by Marilyn “Mattie” Brahen; “Doll,” by Don Webb; “Mrs. Corter Makes Up Her Mind,” by August Derleth; and “The Doll,” by Barry Pain.

      There’s something here for everyone—good writing, great reading, and just plain fun!

      —Robert Reginald & Mary Wickizer Burgess, 17 Aug. 2013

      NUTCRACKER AND THE KING OF MICE, by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Translated by Major Alex. Ewing

      CHRISTMAS EVE

      On the 24th of December Dr. Stahlbaum’s children were not allowed, on any pretext whatever, at any time of all that day, to go into the small drawing-room, much less into the best drawing-room into which it opened. Fritz and Marie were sitting cowered together in a corner of the back parlor when the evening twilight fell, and they began to feel terribly eerie. Seeing that no candles were brought, as was generally the case on Christmas Eve, Fritz, whispering in a mysterious fashion, confided to his young sister (who was just seven) that he had heard rattlings and rustlings going on all day, since early morning, inside the forbidden rooms, as well as distant hammerings. Further, that a short time ago a little dark-looking man had gone slipping and creeping across the floor with a big box under his arm, though he was well aware that this little man was no other than Godpapa Drosselmeier. At this news Marie clapped her little hands for gladness, and cried:

      ‘Oh! I do wonder what pretty things Godpapa Drosselmeier has been making for us this time!’

      Godpapa Drosselmeier was anything but a nice-looking man. He was little and lean, with a great many wrinkles on his face, a big patch of black plaster where his right eye ought to have been, and not a hair on his head; which was why he wore a fine white wig, made of glass, and a very beautiful work of art. But he was a very, very clever man, who even knew and understood all about clocks and watches, and could make them himself. So that when one of the beautiful clocks that were in Dr. Stahlbaum’s house was out of sorts, and couldn’t sing, Godpapa Drosselmeier would come, take off his glass periwig