Snow White

Once upon a time, in the depth of winter, a queen sat sewing by a window framed in black ebony while snow drifted down like feathers. She pricked her finger on the needle, and three drops of blood fell onto the snow below. The red looked so lovely against the white that she wished aloud for a daughter as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the ebony frame. Before long she had just such a daughter, and named her Snow White. But the queen died on the very day the child was born.

A year later the king married again. His new wife, Snow White’s stepmother, was beautiful, but vain and proud, and could not bear that anyone might outshine her. She owned a magic mirror, and whenever she stood before it, she asked:

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,who is the fairest of all?

And every time, the mirror answered:

You are the fairest in the land, my queen.

This satisfied her, for the mirror never lied.

But Snow White grew, and by her seventh year she was more beautiful than the stepmother herself. The next time she stood before her mirror, the stepmother asked:

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,who is the fairest of all?

And it answered:

You are fair, my queen, and true,but Snow White now is fairer than you.

The stepmother turned pale with shock, then green with envy, and from that hour she hated Snow White with all her heart. Envy grew in her like a weed until she had no peace, day or night. At last she called for a huntsman and ordered him to take the child into the forest, kill her, and bring back her lungs and liver as proof the deed was done.

The huntsman led Snow White away, but when he drew his knife to strike, she wept and begged him.

“Please,” she said, “spare my life. I will run into the wild forest and never come home again.”

Moved by her tears, the huntsman let her go, sure that the wild animals would do what he could not. A young boar happened to run by just then, and he killed it instead, carrying its lungs and liver back to the stepmother as proof. The cook prepared them in salt, and the stepmother ate them, believing she had eaten Snow White’s own.

Alone in the great forest, Snow White ran in terror over sharp stones and through brambles, and though wild beasts bounded past her on every side, not one of them harmed her. She ran until evening, when she came upon a tiny cottage and went inside to rest. Everything within was small but spotlessly neat: a table laid with seven little plates and seven little cups, and seven small beds along the wall. Hungry and thirsty, she took a little food from each plate and a sip from each cup, not wanting to take all from any one. Then, too tired to stand, she tried each bed in turn until the seventh proved just right, said a prayer, and fell fast asleep.

The cottage belonged to seven dwarfs, who dug for ore in the mountains, and when they came home that night and lit their candles, they saw at once that someone had disturbed their tidy house. One after another they called out to ask who had sat in his chair, eaten from his plate, tasted his bread and vegetables, or used his fork, his knife, his cup. Then they found the dent in the first dwarf’s bed, and one after another discovered someone had lain in each of their own beds too, until the seventh looked into his and found Snow White fast asleep.

“Oh, what a lovely child!” they whispered, marveling at her by candlelight, and they let her sleep on undisturbed while the seventh dwarf passed the night an hour at a time in each of his companions’ beds.

In the morning Snow White woke and was frightened to find seven small strangers around her, but they were kind, and asked her name and how she had come to their house. She told them everything: how her stepmother had ordered her killed, how the huntsman had spared her, and how she had run until she found their door. The dwarfs told her she could stay and keep house for them, cooking, cleaning, washing, and sewing, and she agreed gladly. Each day, while they searched the mountains for gold and copper, she kept the little house in order, and each evening they warned her to beware her stepmother and let no one in.

Believing Snow White dead, the stepmother was certain once more that she was the fairest in the land, and she asked her mirror:

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,who is the fairest of all?

And it answered:

You are fair, my queen, it’s true,but over the hills, where the dwarfs dwell,Snow White is living, safe and well,and none is so fair as she.

The stepmother was horror struck, for the mirror never lied, and she understood at once that the huntsman had betrayed her. Determined to finish what she had begun, she disguised herself as an old peddler woman and made her way over the mountains to the dwarfs’ cottage, calling out that she had pretty things to sell. Snow White, seeing only a friendly old woman with colorful laces, let her in and agreed to be laced into a new bodice. But the woman laced her so tightly and so fast that Snow White fell down as if dead, and the stepmother hurried away, sure she had won at last.

When the dwarfs came home that evening and found Snow White lying still on the floor, they saw how tightly she was laced and cut the cord free. Slowly she began to breathe again, and when she told them what had happened, they understood the peddler woman could only have been her stepmother, and warned her once more to open the door to no one.

At home, the stepmother stood before her mirror again and asked:

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,who is the fairest of all?

And again it answered:

You are fair, my queen, it’s true,but over the hills, where the dwarfs dwell,Snow White is living, safe and well,and none is so fair as she.

Trembling with rage, the stepmother turned to witchcraft and made a poisoned comb. Disguised once more, she returned to the cottage, and though Snow White refused at first to let her in, the beauty of the comb won her over. The moment it touched her hair, its poison took hold, and she fell senseless to the ground. But the dwarfs came home in time, found the comb, drew it free, and Snow White woke and told them all that had happened.

A third time the stepmother stood before her mirror and asked:

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,who is the fairest of all?

And a third time it gave her the very same answer:

You are fair, my queen, it’s true,but over the hills, where the dwarfs dwell,Snow White is living, safe and well,and none is so fair as she.

Shaking with fury, the stepmother swore that Snow White would die even if it cost her own life. In a locked and secret room, she made a poisoned apple, its skin white and red and so lovely that no one could resist it, though a single bite of the poisoned side meant death. Disguised as a farmer’s wife, she came once more to the cottage. Snow White, remembering her promise to the dwarfs, refused to open the door, but the stranger offered to cut the apple in two and eat the plain half herself, so that Snow White might safely eat the rest. Snow White could not resist, took the poisoned half, and had barely swallowed a bite before she fell down dead.

“White as snow, red as blood, black as ebony,” the stepmother said, laughing. “This time the dwarfs cannot wake you.”

She hurried home and stood before her mirror once more, asking:

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,who is the fairest of all?

And this time it answered:

You are the fairest in the land, my queen.

At last her envious heart was still.

When the dwarfs came home and found Snow White lifeless on the ground, they searched for some poison to blame but found nothing, and though they washed her, combed her hair, and wept over her for three days, she did not wake. Yet she looked so fresh and lovely still, with her red cheeks unfaded, that they could not bear to bury her in the dark earth. Instead they made her a coffin of clear glass, wrote her name upon it in gold, and set it high on the mountain, where one of them always kept watch. Birds came too and mourned her: an owl, a raven, and a dove.

Snow White lay in the glass coffin a long time, unchanged, as though only sleeping. One day a prince, traveling through the forest, came upon the coffin and could not tear himself away from her beauty. He begged the dwarfs to give it to him, promising to treasure her always, and moved by his sorrow, they agreed. As his servants carried the coffin away, they stumbled over a tree root, and the jolt shook loose the piece of poisoned apple caught in Snow White’s throat. Her eyes opened, and she sat up, alive once more.

“Where am I?” she cried.

“You are safe,” the prince said, full of joy. “I love you more than anything in the world. Come with me to my father’s palace, and be my wife.”

Snow White agreed, and their wedding was announced with great splendor. Among the guests invited was Snow White’s stepmother. Before setting out, she stood once more before her mirror and asked:

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,who is the fairest of all?

And it answered:

You are fair, my queen, and true,but the young bride is fairer than you.

Furious and afraid, the stepmother could not stay away, and at last she came to the wedding feast, where she saw the young bride and knew her at once. Frozen with fear, she could not move. A pair of iron shoes had already been set to heat over the fire, and they were brought to her with tongs and set before her. She was made to put them on and dance in them until she fell down dead.