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Every morning the seven dwarfs all went to their work in the mountains and mined for copper and gold. Every evening they came back in time for supper. This meant of course that Snow-White was alone the whole day, and the good dwarfs, who knew her story, often warned her.
"Beware of your stepmother!" they would say. "She is certain, sooner or later, to find out that you are here; so be sure never to let anyone come in."
But the Queen of course thought that Snow-White was dead, and so, once more, she felt sure that she was once again the most beautiful lady in the land. But one day she went to the looking-glass and said:
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall! Who is the fairest one of all?"
and the glass answered:
"O Queen, thou art fairest of all I see,
But over the hills, where the seven dwarfs dwell,
Snow-White is still alive and well,
And none is so fair as she."
At this the Queen was very much astonished and also very angry, but there could be no doubt about it, for she knew that the looking-glass always spoke the truth. She could not bear to know that anyone was more beautiful than she, and she resolved that, come what might, she would find out some way of killing Snow-White. She meant to make sure that there would be no mistake this time, and so she decided that she would do the deed herself. So one day she set out. She had painted her face brown and had dressed herself like an old pedlar-woman, and no one could have known her.
In this disguise she went by a secret way and she had to cross seven mountains. But at last she came to the little house where the dwarfs lived. Then she knocked at the door and called out in a disguised voice:
"Pretty things to sell! Come buy! Come buy! Very cheap! Very cheap!"
Snow-White, who was glad to have some one to talk to, looked out of the window and answered:
"Good-day, my good woman! What have you got in your pedlar's pack?"
"Good things, pretty things," the pretended pedlar answered. "Ribbons and laces to lace up your bodice, see how pretty!" and she pulled out a long lace—rather like a shoe-lace it was, but twice as long and plaited out of bright-coloured silk, with a pretty silver tag at each end.
"Surely I can let in the good harmless old pedlar-woman?" thought Snow-White to herself, and with that she unbolted the door, let the old woman come in and set down her basket, and, after a little chat, Snow-White bought the long pretty coloured lace.
"Child," said the pretended pedlar-woman, "what an untidy fright you look. Let me just lace your bodice up properly!"
Snow-White had no suspicion, but stood before her and the old woman took out the old lace and laced her up with the pretty new one. But the wicked Queen laced so quickly, and she laced so tightly, that Snow-White couldn't breathe and fell down in a faint, as if she were dead.
"Now I'm the fairest of all!" said the Queen to herself, with an evil smile. Then leaving Snow-White where she lay, the pretended pedlar was off again in a hurry over the mountains, for she feared of course that the dwarfs might come back and catch her at her wicked work.
In the evening, the seven dwarfs came home as usual, and how shocked they were when they saw their dear Snow-White lying quiet and still on the ground, and when she seemed not even to be breathing. They lifted her up, and when they saw that her bodice was laced very tightly they cut the lace. Directly they had done this she began to breathe a little, and, after a while, she came to life again. When she felt better and had told the good dwarfs what had happened they shook their heads and said:
"That old pedlar-woman can have been none other than the wicked Queen! Take care, little Snow-White, and be sure to let no one come in when you are alone."
As soon as the Queen reached the palace again, she went straight to the looking glass and once more she asked:
''Mirror, mirror, on the wall! Who is the fairest one of all?"
But the glass answered as it had the last time:
"O Queen, thou art fairest of all I see,
But over the hills, where the seven dwarfs dwell,
Snow-White is still alive and well,
And none is so fair as she!"
When she heard that, after all, Snow-White was still alive, the Queen's blood ran cold with spite and malice.
This time she worked for long at her spells and enchantments.
What she was making this time was a poisoned comb. It was a very pretty comb and any girl would have admired it and have wanted to wear it in her hair. But it was so deadly that only to touch it was almost enough to kill you. But the Queen, of course, could touch it freely for she was so wicked already that it could do her no harm. Then she dressed herself up again, in quite a different disguise this time.
Again she made her way to the dwarfs' cottage, knocked on the door and called out saying that she had pretty things to sell.
Snow-White looked out of the window, and this time she answered:
"Go away! I can't let anyone come in!"
"I suppose you can look?” said the disguised Queen and she picked the poisoned comb out of her basket and held it up.
Snow-White leaned out of the window, looked at it and thought how pretty it was. At last, when they had bargained for a while. Snow-White bought the comb and at once stuck it into her hair. Hardly had she done so, when she fell down unconscious.
"Lovely you may be," laughed the wicked Queen, "but you are done for now!" and once more she hurried away as fast as she could.
Luckily, the dwarfs came home early that evening, and when they found Snow-White senseless they at once suspected the wicked Queen, and it was not long before they found that Snow-White was wearing something new —the pretty comb—and they at once pulled it out of her hair. Hardly had they done so when Snow-White began to come round, and when she felt better she told them, all that had happened.
The dwarfs were very cross with her, though they were too frightened to scold her much. But they told her that she had been silly, and that she really must be more on her guard.
Meanwhile the Queen went quickly back to her palace and her looking-glass. How she trembled with rage when she got exactly the same answer as before, and learned that Snow-White was still alive. She vowed that Snow-White should die, even if it cost her her own life.
That night she went up to her secret room in a distant part of the palace and with her she took an apple. It was a very pretty apple that was rosy on one side and almost white on the other. It was a very nice apple indeed, so pretty in fact that anyone who saw it was sure to long for it. She put poison in its rosy half, but the white half she left as it was. When this had been done, she dressed herself up again, this time as a jolly, fat countrywoman, and off she went once more with a whole basket of apples.
Once more she knocked at the door of the dwarfs' cottage, but Snow-White only opened a window and said:
"I can't let anyone in! The Seven Dwarfs have forbidden me!"
"That's all the same to me," said the woman, "I shall soon sell my lovely apples to someone else! Do the dwarfs really leave you here all alone all day? Poor child! I feel so sorry for you! I'll give you one of my apples!"
"No," said Snow-White, "I mustn't even take anything."
"Silly girl," said the woman, "what are you afraid of? Do you think that it's poisoned? Look! To prove that it isn't I'll share one with you." With that, the pretended country-woman took a bite out of the white side of the apple.
Snow-White longed to have a bite as well and when she saw that the woman had eaten part of the very same apple and had taken no harm, she stretched out her hand. Hardly had she taken a bite out of the rosy side when she fell down, as if dead.
Then the Queen looked in through the window at her and, with a dreadful laugh, she said:
"White as snow, red as blood, black as ebony-wood! This time even the dwarfs cannot wake you up again!”
Back she hurried to the palace and this time, when the Queen spoke to her looking-glass:
f'Mirror, mirror, on the wall! Who is the fairest one of all ?"
the mirror answered, as it had, right at the beginning:
"Thou, O Queen, art fairest of all!"
Then the Queen's heart was at rest—as far as an envious and wicked heart can have rest.
That evening, when the dwarfs came home, they found once more that Snow-White was lying on the ground, quite still and not breathing. They lifted her up, and they looked and searched to see if they could find anything poisonous. They unlaced her bodice, they combed her hair, and they even washed her all over with wine and water. But alas! All in vain!
At last they laid Snow-White's body on a bench, and all seven dwarfs sat round it, and for three days and three nights the poor dwarfs watched and wept.
And now, they thought, the time had come when they would have to bury her. But, strange to say, she still looked as if she was living; and though she did not breathe, her cheeks were still rosy. The dwarfs hadn't the heart to bury the lovely girl in the dark ground, so they made a coffin of clear glass and they laid her in it so that she could be seen from all sides, and on the glass coffin they Wrote in golden letters, "SNOW-WHITE”, and that she was a King's daughter.
Then they put the coffin out on a rock on the mountainside and took it in turns to stay by it and watch. The birds watched too, and they too wept for Snow-White, first the raven and then the dove.
And now Snow-White lay for a long time in the coffin, and she did not change, but only looked as if she were asleep, with her skin as white as snow, her cheeks as red as blood, and her hair as black as ebony.
At last one day a King's son came that way to hunt and when he spied the dwarfs' cottage he rode towards it, and, as he rode, he saw, on a rock on the mountainside guarded by a dwarf, a glass coffin with a beautiful girl in it. He stopped and read what was written on it in the gold letters. The Prince stayed that night in the cottage and all that night he dreamed of the beautiful girl. In the morning he said to the dwarfs:
"Let me have the coffin and what is in it! If you will do that I will give you all the treasure you ask."
"We would not sell it for all the world!" said the dwarfs, but the Prince would not take No for an answer. He said that he had dreamed all night about Snow-White and he could not live unless he could go on looking at this beautiful creature. He begged so hard that, at last, the dwarfs took pity on him and gave him the glass coffin and what was in it. So the King's son had the coffin carried down by his servants, meaning to take it home. Four of his huntsmen carried it on their shoulders, and as they went, it happened that one of them stumbled over a tree root. Then a strange thing happened. The shock jolted the coffin so that it almost fell on its side, and, as they righted it, the poisonous piece of apple came out of Snow-White's throat. Suddenly she stirred and opened her eyes, and then, when they had lifted up the lid of the coffin she grew warm again.
"Oh Heavens! Where am I?" she murmured, looking round with frightened eyes.
The King's son was full of joy and answered:
"You are with me!"
Well, it was not long before they had told each other all that had happened, and when the tale was ended the Prince said:
"I love you more than anything in the world! All night long I dreamed of you! Come with me to my father's palace, and be my wife!”
Snow-White agreed, said good-bye to the kind dwarfs, and away they went together to his father's kingdom.
The wedding was to be celebrated with great pomp and splendour and soon everything was ready. All the great people for miles around were invited, but no one was told who the bride was. One of the great people who was sent an invitation was the wicked Queen.
When she had dressed herself in her royal robes the tall and splendid Queen stood once more in front of her looking-glass.
i'Mirror, mirror, on the wall!
Who is the fairest one of all?"
and this time the mirror answered in words that it had never spoken before:
"Thou, O Queen, art great in thy pride!
But fairer still is the new-made bride!"
You can guess how furious the Queen was at this. Who could the bride be? She hurried off in a towering passion of jealousy, and when at last she got to the neighbouring Palace, and saw that the bride was none other than Snow-White, the wicked Queen dropped down dead with rage.
But Snow-White and her Prince lived happily ever after.
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