It was the middle of winter, and the snow-flakes were
falling like feathers from the sky, and a queen sat at her window working, and
her embroidery-frame was of ebony. And as she worked, gazing at times out on
the snow, she pricked her finger, and there fell from it three drops of blood
on the snow. And when she saw how bright and red it looked, she said to
herself, "Oh that I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as
black as the wood of the embroidery frame!"
Not very long after she had a daughter, with a skin as
white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony, and she was
named Snow-white. And when she was born the queen died.
After a year had gone by the king took another wife, a
beautiful woman, but proud and overbearing, and she could not bear to be
surpassed in beauty by any one. She had a magic looking-glass, and she used to
stand before it, and look in it, and say,
"Looking-glass upon the wall,
Who is fairest of us all?"
And the looking-glass would answer,
"You are fairest of them all."
And she was contented, for she knew that the
looking-glass spoke the truth.
Now, Snow-white was growing prettier and prettier, and
when she was seven years old she was as beautiful as day, far more so than the
queen herself. So one day when the queen went to her mirror and said,
"Looking-glass upon the wall,
Who is fairest of us all?"
It answered,
"Queen, you are full fair, 'tis true,
But Snow-white fairer is than you."
This gave the queen a great shock, and she became
yellow and green with envy, and from that hour her heart turned against
Snow-white, and she hated her. And envy and pride like ill weeds grew in her
heart higher every day, until she had no peace day or night. At last she sent
for a huntsman, and said,
"Take the child out into the woods, so that I may
set eyes on her no more. You must put her to death, and bring me her heart for
a token."
The huntsman consented, and led her away; but when he
drew his cutlass to pierce Snow-white's innocent heart, she began to weep, and
to say,
"Oh, dear huntsman, do not take my life; I will
go away into the wild wood, and never come home again."
And as she was so lovely the huntsman had pity on her,
and said,
"Away with you then, poor child;" for he
thought the wild animals would be sure to devour her, and it was as if a stone
had been rolled away from his heart when he spared to put her to death. Just at
that moment a young wild boar came running by, so he caught and killed it, and
taking out its heart, he brought it to the queen for a token. And it was salted
and cooked, and the wicked woman ate it up, thinking that there was an end of
Snow-white.
Now, when the poor child found herself quite alone in
the wild woods, she felt full of terror, even of the very leaves on the trees,
and she did not know what to do for fright. Then she began to run over the
sharp stones and through the thorn bushes, and the wild beasts after her, but
they did her no harm. She ran as long as her feet would carry her; and when the
evening drew near she came to a little house, and she went inside to rest.
Everything there was very small, but as pretty and clean as possible. There
stood the little table ready laid, and covered with a white cloth, and seven
little plates, and seven knives and forks, and drinking-cups. By the wall stood
seven little beds, side by side, covered with clean white quilts. Snow-white,
being very hungry and thirsty, ate from each plate a little porridge and bread,
and drank out of each little cup a drop of wine, so as not to finish up one
portion alone. After that she felt so tired that she lay down on one of the
beds, but it did not seem to suit her; one was too long, another too short, but
at last the seventh was quite right; and so she lay down upon it, committed
herself to heaven, and fell asleep.
When it was quite dark, the masters of the house came
home. They were seven dwarfs, whose occupation was to dig underground among the
mountains. When they had lighted their seven candles, and it was quite light in
the little house, they saw that some one must have been in, as everything was
not in the same order in which they left it. The first said,
"Who has been sitting in my little chair?"
The second said,
"Who has been eating from my little plate?"
The third said,
"Who has been taking my little loaf?"
The fourth said,
"Who has been tasting my porridge?"
The fifth said,
"Who has been using my little fork?"
The sixth said,
"Who has been cutting with my little knife?"
The seventh said,
"Who has been drinking from my little cup?"
Then the first one, looking round, saw a hollow in his
bed, and cried,
"Who has been lying on my bed?"
And the others came running, and cried,
"Some one has been on our beds too!"
But when the seventh looked at his bed, he saw little
Snow-white lying there asleep. Then he told the others, who came running up,
crying out in their astonishment, and holding up their seven little candles to
throw a light upon Snow-white.
"O goodness! O gracious!" cried they,
"what beautiful child is this?" and were so full of joy to see her
that they did not wake her, but let her sleep on. And the seventh dwarf slept
with his comrades, an hour at a time with each, until the night had passed.
When it was morning, and Snow-white awoke and saw the
seven dwarfs, she was very frightened; but they seemed quite friendly, and
asked her what her name was, and she told them; and then they asked how she
came to be in their house. And she related to them how her step-mother had wished
her to be put to death, and how the huntsman had spared her life, and how she
had run the whole day long, until at last she had found their little house.
Then the dwarfs said,
"If you will keep our house for us, and cook, and
wash, and make the beds, and sew and knit, and keep everything tidy and clean,
you may stay with us, and you shall lack nothing."
"With all my heart," said Snow-white; and so
she stayed, and kept the house in good order. In the morning the dwarfs went to
the mountain to dig for gold; in the evening they came home, and their supper
had to be ready for them. All the day long the maiden was left alone, and the
good little dwarfs warned her, saying,
"Beware of your step-mother, she will soon know
you are here. Let no one into the house."
Now the queen, having eaten Snow-white's heart, as she
supposed, felt quite sure that now she was the first and fairest, and so she
came to her mirror, and said,
"Looking-glass upon the wall,
Who is fairest of us all?"
And the glass answered,
"Queen, thou art of beauty rare,
But Snow-white living in the glen
With the seven little men
Is a thousand times more fair."
Then she was very angry, for the glass always spoke
the truth, and she knew that the huntsman must have deceived her, and that
Snow-white must still be living. And she thought and thought how she could
manage to make an end of her, for as long as she was not the fairest in the
land, envy left her no rest. At last she thought of a plan; she painted her
face and dressed herself like an old pedlar woman, so that no one would have
known her. In this disguise she went across the seven mountains, until she came
to the house of the seven little dwarfs, and she knocked at the door and cried,
"Fine wares to sell! fine wares to sell!"
Snow-white peeped out of the window and cried,
"Good-day, good woman, what have you to
sell?"
"Good wares, fine wares," answered she,
"laces of all colours;" and she held up a piece that was woven of
variegated silk.
"I need not be afraid of letting in this good
woman," thought Snow-white, and she unbarred the door and bought the
pretty lace.
"What a figure you are, child!" said the old
woman, "come and let me lace you properly for once."
Snow-white, suspecting nothing, stood up before her,
and let her lace her with the new lace; but the old woman laced so quick and
tight that it took Snow-white's breath away, and she fell down as dead.
"Now you have done with being the fairest,"
said the old woman as she hastened away.
Not long after that, towards evening, the seven dwarfs
came home, and were terrified to see their dear Snow-white lying on the ground,
without life or motion; they raised her up, and when they saw how tightly she
was laced they cut the lace in two; then she began to draw breath, and little
by little she returned to life. When the dwarfs heard what had happened they
said,
"The old pedlar woman was no other than the
wicked queen; you must beware of letting any one in when we are not here!"
And when the wicked woman got home she went to her
glass and said,
"Looking-glass against the wall,
Who is fairest of us all?"
And it answered as before,
"Queen, thou art of beauty rare,
But Snow-white living in the glen
With the seven little men
Is a thousand times more fair."
When she heard that she was so struck with surprise
that all the blood left her heart, for she knew that Snow-white must still be
living.
"But now," said she, "I will think of
something that will be her ruin." And by witchcraft she made a poisoned
comb. Then she dressed herself up to look like another different sort of old
woman. So she went across the seven mountains and came to the house of the
seven dwarfs, and knocked at the door and cried,
"Good wares to sell! good wares to sell!"
Snow-white looked out and said,
"Go away, I must not let anybody in."
"But you are not forbidden to look," said
the old woman, taking out the poisoned comb and holding it up. It pleased the
poor child so much that she was tempted to open the door; and when the bargain
was made the old woman said,
"Now, for once your hair shall be properly
combed."
Poor Snow-white, thinking no harm, let the old woman
do as she would, but no sooner was the comb put in her hair than the poison
began to work, and the poor girl fell down senseless.
"Now, you paragon of beauty," said the
wicked woman, "this is the end of you," and went off. By good luck it
was now near evening, and the seven little dwarfs came home. When they saw
Snow-white lying on the ground as dead, they thought directly that it was the
step-mother's doing, and looked about, found the poisoned comb, and no sooner
had they drawn it out of her hair than Snow-white came to herself, and related
all that had passed. Then they warned her once more to be on her guard, and
never again to let any one in at the door.
And the queen went home and stood before the
looking-glass and said,
"Looking-glass against the wall,
Who is fairest of us all?"
And the looking-glass answered as before,
"Queen, thou art of beauty rare,
But Snow-white living in the glen
With the seven little men
Is a thousand times more fair."
When she heard the looking-glass speak thus she
trembled and shook with anger.
"Snow-white shall die," cried she,
"though it should cost me my own life!" And then she went to a secret
lonely chamber, where no one was likely to come, and there she made a poisonous
apple. It was beautiful to look upon, being white with red cheeks, so that any
one who should see it must long for it, but whoever ate even a little bit of it
must die. When the apple was ready she painted her face and clothed herself like
a peasant woman, and went across the seven mountains to where the seven dwarfs
lived. And when she knocked at the door Snow-white put her head out of the
window and said,
"I dare not let anybody in; the seven dwarfs told
me not."
"All right," answered the woman; "I can
easily get rid of my apples elsewhere. There, I will give you one."
"No," answered Snow-white, "I dare not
take anything."
"Are you afraid of poison?" said the woman,
"look here, I will cut the apple in two pieces; you shall have the red side,
I will have the white one."
For the apple was so cunningly made, that all the
poison was in the rosy half of it. Snow-white longed for the beautiful apple,
and as she saw the peasant woman eating a piece of it she could no longer
refrain, but stretched out her hand and took the poisoned half. But no sooner
had she taken a morsel of it into her mouth than she fell to the earth as dead.
And the queen, casting on her a terrible glance, laughed aloud and cried,
"As white as snow, as red as blood, as black as
ebony! this time the dwarfs will not be able to bring you to life again."
And when she went home and asked the looking-glass,
"Looking-glass against the wall,
Who is fairest of us all?"
at last it answered,
"You are the fairest now of all."
Then her envious heart had peace, as much as an
envious heart can have.
The dwarfs, when they came home in the evening, found
Snow-white lying on the ground, and there came no breath out of her mouth, and
she was dead. They lifted her up, sought if anything poisonous was to be found,
cut her laces, combed her hair, washed her with water and wine, but all was of
no avail, the poor child was dead, and remained dead. Then they laid her on a
bier, and sat all seven of them round it, and wept and lamented three whole days.
And then they would have buried her, but that she looked still as if she were
living, with her beautiful blooming cheeks. So they said,
"We cannot hide her away in the black
ground." And they had made a coffin of clear glass, so as to be looked
into from all sides, and they laid her in it, and wrote in golden letters upon
it her name, and that she was a king's daughter. Then they set the coffin out
upon the mountain, and one of them always remained by it to watch. And the
birds came too, and mourned for Snow-white, first an owl, then a raven, and
lastly, a dove.
Now, for a long while Snow-white lay in the coffin and
never changed, but looked as if she were asleep, for she was still as white as
snow, as red as blood, and her hair was as black as ebony. It happened,
however, that one day a king's son rode through the wood and up to the dwarfs'
house, which was near it. He saw on the mountain the coffin, and beautiful
Snow-white within it, and he read what was written in golden letters upon it.
Then he said to the dwarfs,
"Let me have the coffin, and I will give you
whatever you like to ask for it."
But the dwarfs told him that they could not part with
it for all the gold in the world. But he said,
"I beseech you to give it me, for I cannot live
without looking upon Snow-white; if you consent I will bring you to great
honour, and care for you as if you were my brethren."
When he so spoke the good little dwarfs had pity upon
him and gave him the coffin, and the king's son called his servants and bid
them carry it away on their shoulders. Now it happened that as they were going
along they stumbled over a bush, and with the shaking the bit of poisoned apple
flew out of her throat. It was not long before she opened her eyes, threw up
the cover of the coffin, and sat up, alive and well.
"Oh dear! where am I?" cried she. The king's
son answered, full of joy, "You are near me," and, relating all that
had happened, he said,
"I would rather have you than anything in the
world; come with me to my father's castle and you shall be my bride."
And Snow-white was kind, and went with him, and their
wedding was held with pomp and great splendour.
But Snow-white's wicked step-mother was also bidden to
the feast, and when she had dressed herself in beautiful clothes she went to
her looking-glass and said,
"Looking-glass upon the wall,
Who is fairest of us all?"
The looking-glass answered,
"O Queen, although you are of beauty rare,
The young bride is a thousand times more fair."
Then she railed and cursed, and was beside herself
with disappointment and anger. First she thought she would not go to the
wedding; but then she felt she should have no peace until she went and saw the
bride. And when she saw her she knew her for Snow-white, and could not stir
from the place for anger and terror. For they had ready red-hot iron shoes, in
which she had to dance until she fell down dead.
