Snow White

Once upon a time, in the middle of winter, when snowflakes were falling from the sky like feathers, a queen sat sewing by a window with a frame of black ebony wood. As she sewed and watched the snow drift down, she pricked her finger with her needle, and three drops of blood fell upon the white snow. The red looked so lovely against the white that she thought to herself, "If only I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as this ebony wood."

Not long after, she had a little daughter just so — skin white as snow, cheeks red as blood, hair black as ebony — and they named her Snow White. But when the child was born, the queen died.

A year later, the king married again. His new wife was very beautiful, but proud, and she could not bear that anyone might be lovelier than she was. She owned a magic mirror, and whenever she stood before it, she asked:

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

And the mirror always answered:

"You, my Queen, are the fairest of all."

That satisfied her, for she knew the mirror never lied.

But Snow White grew, and grew more beautiful every year, until by the time she was seven she was lovelier than the queen herself. One day when the queen asked her mirror its question, it answered differently:

"You, my Queen, are fair, it's true, but Snow White is fairer — fairer than you."

The queen turned pale with shock, then green with envy, and from that hour she could not look at Snow White without her heart twisting inside her. At last, unable to bear it any longer, she called for a huntsman and told him to take the girl deep into the forest and never bring her back.

The huntsman led Snow White away, but when the moment came, he found he could not harm her. She wept and begged, "Please, let me live — I will run into the forest and never come home again," and something in his heart gave way. He let her go, hoping she would find her own way to safety, and returned to the palace to tell the queen the girl was gone for good. Believing him, the queen was satisfied.

Meanwhile the poor child ran alone through the great forest, frightened by every rustling leaf, until at evening she came upon a little cottage and went inside to rest. Everything there was small but spotlessly neat — a little table set with seven little plates, seven little cups, and along the wall seven little beds in a row. Snow White, hungry and thirsty, took a small bite from each plate and a small sip from each cup, not wanting to take too much from any one. Then, worn out, she tried each bed in turn until the seventh proved just right, and there she said her prayers and fell fast asleep.

When night fell, the masters of the house came home — seven dwarfs who spent their days digging for ore in the mountains. They lit their candles and at once saw that someone had been there.

"Who's been sitting in my chair?" asked the first. "Who's been eating from my plate?" asked the second. And so each one asked his question, down to the last, who cried, "Who's been drinking from my cup?"

Then they found the dents in their beds, and at last the seventh dwarf discovered Snow White asleep in his own bed. He called the others, and they crowded round with their candles, marveling at how lovely she was. They let her sleep on undisturbed, and that night the seventh dwarf shared his bed among his companions, an hour with each.

In the morning Snow White woke and was startled to see the seven little men, but they were kind, and asked her name and how she had come there. When she told her story, they said, "If you will keep house for us — cook and clean and mend — you may stay, and you shall want for nothing." Snow White agreed gladly. Each day the dwarfs went off to the mountains, and each evening they came home to a warm supper. But they warned her: "Your stepmother will learn you are alive. Let no one in while we are away."

Back at the palace, the queen asked her mirror once more, certain now that she was the fairest again. But the mirror answered:

"You, my Queen, are fair to see, but over the hills, past the tall pines' shade, Snow White is living with the dwarfs — and she outshines you, I'm afraid."

The queen was horrified — she knew the huntsman had deceived her. So she disguised herself as an old peddler woman and made her way over the mountains to the dwarfs' cottage, calling out her wares. Snow White, seeing only a kindly old stranger, let her in and bought a pretty lace. "Come, let me lace it up properly for you," said the old woman — and then pulled it so tight that Snow White fell down as if dead.

When the dwarfs came home that evening and found her lying still, they quickly cut the lace, and slowly she began to breathe again. "That was no peddler," they said. "That was the queen. Please, let no one in."

At home, the queen asked her mirror again — and again it named Snow White the fairer. Furious, she made a poisoned comb this time, and disguised as another old woman, returned to the cottage. Snow White at first refused to open the door, but the old woman held up the beautiful comb, and the girl's caution melted. No sooner had the comb touched her hair than she fell senseless to the floor. Luckily the dwarfs came home in time, found the comb, and pulled it free — and once again Snow White revived and told them what had happened.

The queen tried her mirror a third time, and heard the same answer. Trembling with rage, she shut herself away and prepared her worst trick yet: an apple, its skin blushed rosy red on one side and pale white on the other — beautiful to look at, but poisoned through the red half alone. Disguised as a simple farm woman, she came again to the cottage.

Snow White called down that she dared not open the door. "No matter," said the woman, "I only wished to share this apple with you." When Snow White still hesitated, the woman cut the apple in two, saying, "See — I'll eat the white half myself, and you may have the red." Snow White, seeing the old woman eat her share without harm, could not resist any longer, and took a bite of the red side. At once she fell down, and did not wake.

The queen laughed cruelly and hurried home, and when she asked her mirror once more, it finally answered as she wished:

"You, my Queen, are the fairest of all."

And so, for a time, her envious heart was still.

That evening the dwarfs came home to find Snow White lying pale and unmoving on the floor. They tried everything — loosening her clothes, washing her face, combing her hair — but nothing woke her. For three days they wept beside her. Yet she still looked as fresh and lovely as if she were only sleeping, so they could not bear to bury her in the ground. Instead, they had a coffin made of clear glass, wrote her name upon it in golden letters, and set it upon the mountainside, where one of them always kept watch. Even the forest creatures came to mourn her — an owl, then a raven, and at last a small, gentle dove.

Snow White lay there a long time, never changing, still as lovely as the day she fell. One day a prince, wandering through the forest, came upon the glass coffin and could not look away from her. He begged the dwarfs to let him take her, promising to cherish her always, and at last, moved by his devotion, 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. She sat up, alive once more.

"Where am I?" she asked, astonished. "You are with me," said the prince, overjoyed, and told her all that had happened. He asked her to be his wife, and she found that she loved him too, and gladly agreed. Their wedding was planned with great joy and splendor, and among the guests invited was Snow White's stepmother.

Before the feast, the queen dressed in her finest and asked her mirror one last time:

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

And the mirror answered:

"You, my Queen, are fair, it's true, but the young bride is fairer than you."

The queen cried out in fury and fear. She almost refused to go, but could not stay away, and so she came to the wedding — and there she saw Snow White, alive, radiant, and utterly unharmed. In that moment her spite was undone: her cruelty was laid bare before all the guests, and she fled the hall in disgrace, never to trouble Snow White again.

And Snow White lived on with her prince, safe and beloved, for all the days that followed.