Array The Brothers Grimm - Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm - A New English Version

And soon afterwards she had a little daughter, and she was as white as snow and as red as blood and as black as ebony, so they called her Little Snow White. As soon as the baby was born, the queen died.

A year later, the king married another wife. She was a beautiful woman, but she was proud and arrogant, and she couldn’t bear to think that anyone was more beautiful than she was. She had a magic mirror, and every morning she used to stand in front of it and gaze at her reflection and say:

And the mirror would reply:

She was satisfied then, because she knew that the mirror could only tell the truth.

But meanwhile, Snow White was growing up. When she was seven years old she was as lovely as a spring day, and even more beautiful, in fact, than the queen.

So one day when the queen asked her mirror:

the mirror answered:

Immediately the queen took fright. Envy churned in her bowels, and her flawless complexion took on a sickly yellow-green. From that moment on, she only had to look at Snow White to feel her heart tightening with malice. Her envy and pride grew strong like a weed in her soul, and she felt no peace by day or by night.

Finally she called one of the king’s huntsmen and said to him, ‘Take that child deep into the woods. I never want to set eyes on her again. Make sure she’s dead, and bring me her lungs and liver as proof.’

The huntsman did as she ordered. When he had taken Snow White far into the heart of the forest, he took out his knife, and was about to thrust it into her innocent heart when she began to cry, ‘Oh please, dear huntsman, spare my life! I’ll run away into the wild woods and never come home again, I promise!’

She was so beautiful that the huntsman took pity on her and said, ‘You poor child, go on then — run away.’

‘The wild beasts will eat her soon in any case,’ he thought, but knowing that he wouldn’t have to kill her was like feeling a heavy weight lift from his heart.

Just then a young boar came running through the bushes. The huntsman killed it and cut out its lungs and liver, and took them back to the queen as proof of Snow White’s death. The cook was ordered to season them well, dredge them in flour and fry them, and the wicked queen ate them all up. And that, she thought, was the end of Snow White.

But meanwhile, Snow White was alone in the great forest with no idea what to do or where to go. She looked all around, but nothing she could see among the leaves and the bushes was any help. She was frightened, and she began to run, ignoring the sharp stones and the brambles and the small animals that leaped at her. She ran and she ran, and just as the light was fading and the evening was near, she saw a little cottage. She knocked, but there was no one at home, so she went inside hoping to rest.

Everything in the house was small, but very neat and clean. There was a pot of stew beside the fire, and a little table covered with a snowy-white tablecloth, on which stood seven little bowls, with a slice of bread beside each one, and seven little knives and forks and spoons and seven little mugs. Upstairs there were seven little beds, all standing in a row, all neatly made with snowy-white linen, and a little table beside each bed with a little glass and a little toothbrush.

Snow White was very hungry and thirsty, so she ate some stew from the pot and took a bite of each slice of bread and a sip of wine from each mug. And then she realized how tired she was, so she lay down on one of the beds, but it was too big; and she tried another, but it was too short; but the seventh one was just right. So she said her prayers, and lay down and closed her eyes and was asleep in a moment.

Presently, when it was dark, the owners of the cottage came home. They were seven dwarfs, and they earned their living by mining for precious ore under the mountains. They came in and lit their lanterns, and then they saw that things were not as they had left them.

‘Someone’s been sitting in my chair!’

‘Someone’s been eating from my bowl!’

‘There’s a bite out of my bread — look!’

‘The ladle’s been used — someone’s eaten some stew!’

‘And they’ve used my knife—’

‘And they’ve used my fork—’

‘And they’ve drunk from my mug!’

They looked at each other with wide eyes. Then they all looked up at the ceiling, and they all tiptoed up the stairs, and they all looked at their beds, and whispered:

‘Someone’s tried my bed!’

‘And mine—’

‘And mine—’

‘And mine—’

‘And mine—’

‘And mine—’

‘Oh, look !’

The seventh dwarf had found Snow White asleep. They all tiptoed up and looked at her in wonder. The lantern light shone over her face on the snowy-white pillow.

‘Good heavens! What a beautiful child!’

‘Who can she be?’

‘We can’t wake her up! She’s fast asleep…’

‘What a lovely face!’

‘I wonder where she came from?’

‘It’s a mystery, brothers! A deep mystery!’

‘Come back downstairs. We must discuss what to do…’

They tiptoed back downstairs and sat around the table.

‘She looks exhausted, poor little thing.’

‘Better not wake her up.’

‘The morning’ll be soon enough for that.’

‘Maybe she’s escaping from a witch…’

‘Fool! There’s no such things as witches.’

‘I think she’s a angel.’

‘And so she might be, but she’s in my bed, and where am I going to sleep?’

The other six agreed to let the seventh one share their beds, an hour each throughout the night. And so they went to sleep.

When Snow White woke up in the morning and found the seven dwarfs all looking at her (they’d woken up and got dressed already), she was alarmed.

‘Don’t be frightened, miss!’

‘We’re friendly enough!’

‘Not pretty, maybe—’

‘But we won’t do you no harm.’

‘That’s a promise!’

‘You’re safe here.’

‘What’s your name, my dear?’

‘I’m called Snow White,’ she said.

They asked where she came from, how she’d found her way to their cottage, and so on, and she told them how her stepmother had tried to kill her, and how the huntsman had spared her life, and how she’d run in a panic through the bushes and the brambles till she found their cottage.

The dwarfs withdrew to the corner of the room and whispered together, and then came back and said:

‘If you’ll keep house for us—’

‘Sweep and clean, you know, all that—’

‘And cook! Don’t forget cooking!’

‘Yes, and cook, and make the beds—’

‘And wash the linen—’

‘And sew and knit and darn our socks—’

‘Then you can stay with us, my dear, and you shall have everything you want.’

‘Oh, I’ll do that with all my heart!’ said Snow White.

So they agreed on that, and Snow White began to keep house for them. Every morning they tramped off to the mountain to dig for gold and copper and silver, and when they came back in the evening their dinner was ready for them, and the cottage was neat and clean and everything was in order.

During the day, of course, Snow White was all alone, and the dwarfs warned her: ‘Be careful. That stepmother of yours will be looking for you once she finds out you’re alive. Don’t let anyone in!’