LITTLE SNOW WHITE

 It was in the middle of winter when the broad flakes of snow were

falling around, that a certain queen sat working at her window, the

frame of which was made of fine black ebony; and, as she was looking out

upon the snow, she pricked her finger, and three drops of blood fell

upon it. Then she gazed thoughtfully down on the red drops which

sprinkled the white snow and said, 

"Would that my little daughter may be

as white as that snow, as red as the blood, and as black as the ebony

window-frame!" 

And so the little girl grew up; her skin was a white as

snow, her cheeks as rosy as blood, and her hair as black as ebony; and

she was called Snow-White.

But this queen died; and the king soon married another wife, who was

                      very beautiful, but so proud that she could not bear to think that anyone

could surpass her. She had a magical looking-glass, to which she

used to go and gaze upon herself in it, and say--

  "Tell me, glass, tell me true!

    Of all the ladies in the land,

  Who is fairest? tell me who?"

And the glass answered, "You, Queen, are fairest in the land"

But Snow-White grew more and more beautiful; and when she was seven

years old, she was as bright as the day and fairer than the queen

herself. Then the glass one day answered queen when she went to consult

it as usual--

  "You, Queen, may'st fair and beauteous be,

  But Snow-White is lovelier far than you?"

When the queen heard this she turned pale with rage and envy; and

calling to one of her servants said, "Take Snow-White away into the wide

wood, that I may never see her more." Then the servant led the little

girl away but his heart melted when she begged him to spare her life,

and he said, "I will not hurt you, you pretty child." So he left her

there alone and though he thought it most likely that the wild beasts

would tear her to pieces, he felt as if a great weight were taken off

his heart when he had made up his mind not to kill her, but leave her to

her fate.

Then poor Snow-White wandered along through the wood in great fear and

the wild beasts roared around, but none did her any harm. In the evening

she came to a little cottage, and went in there to rest, for her weary

feet would carry her no further. Everything was spruce and neat in the

cottage: on the table was spread a white cloth, and there were seven

little plates with seven little loaves and seven little glasses with

wine in them and knives and forks laid in order, and by the wall stood

seven little beds. Then, as she was exceedingly hungry, she picked a

little piece off each loaf, and drank a very little wine out of each

glass; and after that, she thought she would lie down and rest. So she

tried all the little beds and one was too long, and another was too

short, till, at last, the seventh suited her; and there she laid herself

down and went to sleep. Presently in came the masters of the cottage,

who were seven little dwarfs that lived among the mountains, and dug and

searched about for gold. They lighted up their seven lamps and saw

directly that all was not right. 

The first said, "Who has been sitting on my stool?" 

The second, "Who has been eating off my plate?" 

The third,"Who has been picking at my bread?" 

The fourth, "Who has been meddling with my spoon?" 

The fifth, "Who has been handling my fork?" 

The sixth,"Who has been cutting with my knife?" 

The seventh, "Who has been drinking my wine?"

 Then the first looked around and said, 
"Who has been lying on my bed?" And the rest came running to him,
 and everyone cried out that somebody had been upon his bed.
 But the seventh saw Snow-White, and called upon his brethren to come and look at her; 
and they cried out with wonder and astonishment, 
and brought their lamps and gazing upon her, they said, "
Good heavens! what a lovely child she is!" 
And they were delighted to see her, and took care not to wake her; 
and the seventh dwarf slept an hour with each of the other dwarfs in turn, 

till the night was gone.

In the morning Snow-White told them all her story, and they pitied her,

and said if she would keep all things in order, and cook and wash, and

knit and spin for them, she might stay where she was, and they would

take good care of her. Then they went out all day long to their work,

seeking for gold and silver in the mountains, and Snow-White remained at

home; and they warned her, saying, "The queen will soon find out where

you are, so take care and let no one in." But the queen, now that she

thought Snow-White was dead, believed that she was certainly the

most handsome lady in the land; so she went to her glass and said--

  "Tell me, glass, tell me true!

    Of all the ladies in the land,

  Who is fairest? tell me who?"

And the glass answered--

  "You, Queen, you are fairest in all this land;

  But over the Hills, in the greenwood shade,

  Where the seven dwarfs their dwelling have made,

  There Snow-White is hiding and she

  Is lovelier far, O Queen, than you."

Then the queen was very much alarmed; for she knew that the glass always

spoke the truth, and she was sure that the servant had betrayed her. And

as she could not bear to think that anyone lived who was more beautiful

than she was, she disguised herself as an old pedlar woman and went her

way over the hills to the place where the dwarfs dwelt. 
Then she knocked at the door and cried, 
"Fine wares to sell!" 
Snow-White looked out of the window, and said, 
"Good day, good woman; what have you to sell?"

"Good wares, fine wares," replied she; "laces and bobbins of all colors." 
"I will let the old lady in; she seems to be a very good sort 
of a body," thought Snow-White; so she ran down, and unbolted the door.

"Bless me!" said the woman, "how badly your stays are laced.
 Let me lace them up with one of my nice new laces."
 Snow-White did not dream of any mischief; 
so she stood up before the old woman who set to work so nimbly 
and pulled the lace so tightly that Snow-White lost her breath,

and fell down as if she were dead. "There's an end of all thy beauty,"

said the spiteful queen, and went away home.

In the evening the seven dwarfs returned and I need not say how grieved

they were to see their faithful Snow-White stretched upon the ground

motionless as if she were quite dead. However, they lifted her up, and

when they found what was the matter, they cut the lace; and in a little

time, she began to breathe, and soon came to herself again. 
Then they said, "The old woman was the queen; take care another time, 
and let no one in when we are away."

When the queen got home, she went to her glass and spoke to it, but to

her surprise it replied in the same words as before.

Then the blood ran cold in her heart with spite and malice to hear that

Snow-White still lived and she dressed herself up again in a disguise,

but very different from the one she wore before and took with her a poisoned comb.
 When she reached the dwarfs' cottage, she knocked at the door, and cried, 
"Fine wares to sell!" 

but Snow-White said, "I dare not let anyone in."

 Then the queen said, "Only look at my beautiful combs;"

and gave her the poisoned one. And it looked so pretty that the little

girl took it up and put it into her hair to try it, but the moment it

touched her head the poison was so powerful that she fell down

senseless. "There you may lie," said the queen, and went her way. 

But by good luck, the dwarfs returned very early that evening and when they saw

Snow-White lying on the ground, they thought what had happened, and soon

found the poisoned comb. And when they took it away, she recovered, and

told them all that had passed and they warned her once more not to open

the door to anyone.

Meantime the queen went home to her glass and trembled with rage when

she received exactly the same answer as before and she said,

"Snow-White shall die if it costs me my life." So she went secretly

into a chamber, and prepared a poisoned apple: the outside looked very

rosy and tempting, but whosoever tasted it was sure to die. Then she

dressed herself up as a peasant's wife, and traveled over the hills to

the dwarfs' cottage, and knocked at the door but Snow-White put her

head out of the window, and said,

 "I dare not let anyone in, for the dwarfs have told me not to." 

"Do as you please," said the old woman,

"but at any rate take this pretty apple; I will make you a present of it." 
"No," said Snow-White, "I dare not take it." 

"You silly girl!" answered the other, "what are you afraid of? do you think it is

poisoned? Come! do you eat one part, and I will eat the other."

Now the apple was so prepared that one side was good, though the other side was

poisoned. Then Snow-White was very much tempted to taste, for the apple

looked exceedingly nice; and when she saw the old woman eat, she could

refrain no longer. But she had scarcely put the piece into her mouth

when she fell down dead upon the ground. 

"This time nothing will save thee," said the queen; and she went home to her glass, 

and at last it said--"You, Queen, are the fairest of all the fair." 

And then her envious heart was glad and as happy as such a heart could be.

When evening came, and the dwarfs returned home, they found Snow-White

lying on the ground; no breath passed her lips, and they were afraid

that she was quite dead. They lifted her up, and combed her hair, and

washed her face with wine and water but all was in vain. So they laid

her down upon a bier, and all seven watched and bewailed her three whole

days and then they proposed to bury her; but her cheeks were still

rosy, and her face looked just as it did while she was alive; so they

said, "We will never bury her in the cold ground." And they made a

coffin of glass so that they might still look at her, and wrote her name

upon it in golden letters, and that she was a king's daughter. Then the

coffin was placed upon the hill, and one of the dwarfs always sat by it

and watched. And the birds of the air came, too, and bemoaned

Snow-White. First of all came an owl, and then a raven, but at last came

a dove.

And thus Snow-White lay for a long, long time, and still only looked as

though she were asleep; for she was even now as white as snow and as

red as blood, and as black as ebony. At last a prince came and called at

the dwarfs' house and he saw Snow-White and read what was written in

golden letters. Then he offered the dwarfs money, and earnestly prayed

them to let him take her away, but they said, 

"We will not part with her  for all the gold in the world." 

At last, however, they had pity on him, and gave him the coffin; 

but the moment he lifted it up to carry it home

with him, the piece of apple fell from between her lips, and Snow-White

awoke, and exclaimed, "Where am I!" 

And the prince answered, "You are safe with me." 
Then he told her all that had happened, and said, 
"I love you better than all the world; come with me to my father's palace, and

you shall be my wife." Snow-White consented and went home with the

prince and everything was prepared with great pomp and splendor for their wedding.

To the feast was invited, among the rest, Snow-White's old enemy, the

queen; and as she was dressing herself in fine, rich clothes, she looked

in the glass and said, "Tell me, glass, tell me true! Of all the ladies

in the land, Who is fairest? tell me who?" And the glass answered,

"You, lady, are the loveliest _here_, I ween; But lovelier far is the

new-made queen."

When she heard this, the queen started with rage; but her envy and

curiosity were so great, that she could not help setting out to see the

bride. And when she arrived and saw that it was no other than

Snow-White, whom she thought had been dead a long while, she choked with

passion, and fell ill and died; but Snow-White and the prince lived and

reigned happily over that land, many, many years.

Project Gutenberg:  www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11

"Snow White" is a nineteenth-century German fairy tale which is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimms' Fairy Tales. It was titled in German: Sneewittchen (in modern orthography Schneewittchen) and numbered as Tale 53. The name "Sneewittchen" was Low German and in the first version it was translated with "Schneeweißchen". The Grimms completed their final revision of the story in 1854.

The fairy tale features such elements as the magic mirror, the poisoned apple, the glass coffin, and the characters of the evil queen and the Seven Dwarfs. The seven dwarfs were first given individual names in the 1912 Broadway play Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and then given different names in Walt Disney's 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Grimm story, which is commonly referred to as "Snow White", should not be confused with the story of "Snow White and Rose Red" (in German "Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot"), another fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.

In the Aarne–Thompson folklore classification, tales of this kind are grouped together as type 709, Snow White. Others of this kind include "Bella Venezia", "Myrsina", "Nourie Hadig", "Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree", The Young Slave and La petite Toute-Belle.

(Wikipedia)