Snow White

They lifted her tenderly and sought for some poisonous object which might have caused the mischief, unlaced her frock, combed her hair, and washed her with wine and water, but all in vain - dead she was and dead she remained. They laid her upon a bier, and all seven of them sat round about it, and wept as though their hearts would break, for three whole days.

When the time came that she should be laid in the ground they could not bear to part from her. Her pretty cheeks were still rosy red, and she looked just as though she were still living.

“We cannot hide her away in the dark earth,” said the dwarfs, and so they made a transparent coffin of shining glass, laid her in it, and wrote her name upon it in letters of gold; and that she was a king’s daughter. Then they put the coffin out upon the mountain top, and one of them always stayed by it and watched it. And birds came too and wept for Snow White; first an owl, then a raven, and at last a dove.

For a long, long time little Snow White lay in the coffin, but she did not change; she only looked as though she slept, for she was still as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony.

It chanced that a king’s son came into the wood, and went to the dwarfs’ house, meaning to spend the night there. He saw the coffin upon the mountain top, with little Snow White lying within it, and he read the words that were written upon it in letters of gold.

He said to the dwarfs, “If you will but let me have the coffin, you may ask of me what you will, and I will give it to you.”

But the dwarfs answered, “We would not sell it for all the gold in the world.”

Then said the prince, “Let me have it as a gift, I pray you - for I cannot live without seeing little Snow White, and I will prize your gift as the dearest of my possessions.”

The good little dwarfs pitied him when they heard these words, and so gave him the coffin. The king’s son then bade his servants place it upon their shoulders and carry it away, but as they went they stumbled over the stump of a tree, and the violent shaking shook the piece of poisonous apple which had lodged in Snow White’s throat out again, so that she opened her eyes, raised the lid of the coffin, and sat up, alive once more.

“Where am I?” She cried, and the happy prince answered, “Thou art with me, dearest.”

Then he told her all that had happened, and how he loved her better than the whole world, and begged her to go with him to his father’s palace and be his wife. Snow White agreed and went with him, and the wedding was celebrated with great splendour and magnificence.

Little Snow White’s wicked step mother was invited to the feast, and when she had dressed herself in her most beautiful clothes, she stood before her mirror, and said, “Mirror, mirror upon the wall, who is the fairest fair of all?”

And the mirror answered, “O Lady Queen, though fair ye be, The young queen is fairer to see.”

Oh! How angry the wicked woman was then, and so terrified too, that she scarcely knew what to do. At first she thought she would not go to the wedding at all, but then she felt that she could not rest until she had seen the young queen. No sooner did she enter the palace than she recognised little Snow White, and could not move for terror.

Then a pair of red hot iron shoes was brought into the room with tongs and set before her, and these she was forced to put on and to dance in them until she could dance no longer, but fell down dead, and that was the end of the wicked queen.