Once upon a time in the middle of winter, when the flakes of snow were falling like feathers from the sky, a queen sat at a window sewing, and the frame of the window was made of black ebony. And whilst she was sewing and looking out of the window at the snow, she pricked her finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell upon the snow. And the red looked pretty upon the white snow, and she thought to herself, would that I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood of the window-frame.
Soon after that she had a little daughter, who was as white as snow, and as red as blood, and her hair was as black as ebony, and she was therefore called little Snow White. And when the child was born, the queen died.
After a year had passed the king took to himself another wife. She was a beautiful woman, but proud and haughty,1 and she could not bear that anyone else could surpass her in beauty. She had a wonderful looking-glass, and when she stood in front of it and looked at herself in it, and said,
“Looking-glass, looking-glass, on the wall,
Who in this land is the fairest of all?”
The looking-glass answered,
“Thou, o queen, art the fairest of all.”
Then she was satisfied, for she knew that the looking-glass spoke the truth.
But Snow White was growing up, and grew more and more beautiful, and when she was seven years old she was as beautiful as the day, and more beautiful than the queen herself. And once when the queen asked her looking-glass,
“Looking-glass, looking-glass, on the wall,
Who in this land is the fairest of all?”
It answered,
“Thou art fairer than all who are here, lady queen.
But more beautiful still is Snow White, as I ween.”2
Then the queen was shocked, and turned yellow and green with envy. From that hour, whenever she looked at Snow White, her heart heaved in her breast, she hated the girl so much. And envy and pride grew higher and higher in her heart like a weed, so that she had no peace day or night.
She called a huntsman, and said, “Take the child away into the forest. I will no longer have her in my sight. Kill her, and bring me back her lung and liver as a token.”
The huntsman obeyed, and took her away but when he had drawn his knife, and was about to pierce Snow White’s innocent heart, she began to weep, and said, “Ah dear huntsman, leave me my life. I will run away into the wild forest, and never come home again.”
And as she was so beautiful the huntsman had pity on her and said, “Run away, then, you poor child.”
“The wild beasts will soon have devoured you,” thought he, and yet it seemed as if a stone had been rolled from his heart since it was no longer needful for him to kill her.
And as a young bear just then came running by he stabbed it, and cut out its lung and liver and took them to the queen as proof that the child was dead. The cook had to salt them, and the wicked queen ate them, and thought she had eaten the lung and liver of Snow White.
But now the poor child was all alone in the great forest, and so terrified that she looked at all the leaves on the trees, and did not know what to do. Then she began to run, and ran over sharp stones and through thorns, and the wild beasts ran past her, but did her no harm.
She ran as long as her feet would go until it was almost evening, then she saw a little cottage and went into it to rest herself.
Everything in the cottage was small, but neater and cleaner than can be told. There was a table on which was a white cover, and seven little plates, and on each plate a little spoon, moreover, there were seven little knives and forks, and seven little mugs. Against the wall stood seven little beds side by side, and covered with snow-white counterpanes.
Little Snow White was so hungry and thirsty that she ate some vegetables and bread from each plate and drank a drop of wine out of each mug, for she did not wish to take all from one only. Then, as she was so tired, she laid herself down on one of the little beds, but none of them suited her, one was too long, another too short, but at last she found that the seventh one was right, and so she remained in it, said a prayer and went to sleep.
When it was quite dark the owners of the cottage came back. They were seven dwarfs who dug and delved in the mountains for ore.3 They lit their seven candles, and as it was now light within the cottage they saw that someone had been there, for everything was not in the same order in which they had left it.
The first said, “Who has been sitting on my chair?”
The second, “Who has been eating off my plate?”
The third, “Who has been taking some of my bread?”
The fourth, “Who has been eating my vegetables?”
The fifth, “Who has been using my fork?”
The sixth, “Who has been cutting with my knife?”
The seventh, “Who has been drinking out of my mug?”
Then the first looked round and saw that there was a little hollow on his bed, and he said, “Who has been getting into my bed?”
The others came up and each called out, “Somebody has been lying in my bed too.”
But the seventh when he looked at his bed saw little Snow White, who was lying asleep therein. And he called the others, who came running up, and they cried out with astonishment, and brought their seven little candles and let the light fall on little Snow White.
“Oh, heavens, oh, heavens,” cried they, “what a lovely child.”
And they were so glad that they did not wake her up, but let her sleep on in the bed. And the seventh dwarf slept with his companions, one hour with each, and so passed the night.
When it was morning little Snow White awoke, and was frightened when she saw the seven dwarfs.
But they were friendly and asked her what her name was.
“My name is Snow White,” she answered.
“How have you come to our house,” said the dwarfs.
Then she told them that her step-mother had wished to have her killed, but that the huntsman had spared her life, and that she had run for the whole day, until at last she had found their dwelling.
The dwarfs said, “If you will take care of our house, cook, make the beds, wash, sew and knit, and if you will keep everything neat and clean you can stay with us and you shall want for nothing.”
“Yes,” said Snow White, “with all my heart.” And she stayed with them.
She kept the house in order for them. In the mornings they went to the mountains and looked for copper and gold, in the evenings they came back, and then their supper had to be ready.
The girl was alone the whole day, so the good dwarfs warned her and said, “Beware of your step-mother, she will soon know that you are here, be sure to let no one come in.”
