Snow-White And The Dwarfs

ONCE UPON A TIME, IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER,
when snowflakes fell like feathers, a certain Queen sat at her window sewing. The frame of the window by which she sat was made of fine black ebony-wood and, as she sewed, and as she looked out at the fast-falling snow, the Queen happened to prick her finger with her needle. She said to herself:

"Iwish I could have a little daughter with a skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony."

Well, it wasn't long before, sure enough, a little daughter was born to her and, as the little thing began to grow and toddle about, she was the prettiest little girl you could wish to see, with a white skin, rosy cheeks, red lips, merry dark eyes and shining silky black hair. What this little Princess's real name was, I don't know, but what I do know is that everyone called her "Snow-White."

Unfortunately, before her little daughter was grown up the good Queen died and, after mourning her for a year, the King married another wife. The new Queen was tall and very beautiful, but she was proud and haughty, and she had such a jealous nature that she could not bear to have any woman or girl about the court who might possibly be thought as beautiful as she was, This new Queen was an enchantress and she had a magic looking-glass, and she would often stand in front of it to admire herself. Then she would say to it:

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall! Who is the fairest one of all?"

and the looking-glass would answer:

"Thou, O Queen, art fairest of all!"

Now the Queen knew very well that this mirror always told the truth, and as soon as it had said that, she felt quite satisfied.

But as time passed, and as Snow-White grew, she became more and more beautiful, so that soon she was as beautiful as the day.

When seven more years had gone by the Queen happened to look in her mirror as usual and she asked her usual question:

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall! Who is the fairest one of all?"

This time the looking-glass answered:

"Thou art fair indeed, my Queen! But fairer still is Snow-White, I ween!"

At this unexpected answer the Queen turned pale with anger, and almost fainted. Presently, in her rage, she called a huntsman before her and said to him:

“Take Snow-White away into the forest and kill her! I can no longer bear to have her in my sight!"

Well, the huntsman had to do as he was told, so he led Snow-White away, but when it came to killing her, he found he could not do it. So, instead, he left her by her­self in the forest. Though he thought that most likely the wild beasts would get her, yet, all the same, the poor man felt as if a stone had rolled away from his heart because at least it was not he who had killed the pretty innocent girl.

Poor Snow-White felt very much frightened as she wandered all alone through the trees, but none of the wild creatures did her any harm. All day she wandered till she got to the very edge of the forest, and to where the mountains began. Evening had come, and she had begun to feel very tired and hungry. All of a sudden what should she see at the forest's edge but a tidy little cottage. She went up and knocked, and, at last, when no one answered, she opened the door and went in.

Everything inside was shining and neat. There were seven small chairs, and on the table was spread a white cloth. The table was laid with seven little plates with seven little loaves on them, and the seven little glasses each had wine in it. Knives and forks to suit were all laid out in order, while, by the wall, stood seven tidy little beds.

Now Snow-White was very tired and hungry, so she picked a little piece of bread off each small loaf, and she drank a very little wine out of each glass, and, after that, what she longed for most was to lie down and rest. She tried all the beds, but she thought that one was too long, and another was too short, but at last, the seventh bed suited her exactly, and so she lay down on it and it wasn't long before she was sound asleep.

Presently it grew dark, and then back came the owners of the cottage.

Now these were seven dwarfs, who worked all day among the mountains digging and mining for copper and gold. As soon as they had shut the door of the cottage, each dwarf lighted up his little lamp, and now, in the light, they soon saw that things didn't seem to be quite as usual. The first dwarf said:

"Who's been sitting on my chair?"

"Who's been eating off my plate?" said the second.

"Who's been eating my bread?" said the third.

"Who's been meddling with my spoon?" said the fourth.

"Who's been handling my fork?" said the fifth.

"Who's been cutting with my knife?" said the sixth.

The seventh said:

"Who's been drinking my wine?"

Then the first dwarf looked round and said, "Who's been lying on my bed?" and each of the others had a look and soon saw that someone had been also lying on his bed. At last the seventh dwarf went to look and there, on his bed, with her black hair spread out on the white pillow lay Snow-White herself, fast asleep.

Then all the dwarfs brought their lamps to look at her, and when they had looked, they turned to each other with wonder and astonishment.

"What a lovely child!" said the eldest, and the others all agreed with him. They decided to take great care not to wake her, but of course the trouble was that now the seventh dwarf had nowhere to sleep. However, they soon thought of a plan. This was that he should sleep for an hour with each of the other dwarfs in turn, until the night was gone.

In the morning, Snow-White was rather frightened at her first sight of the seven little old men. But they asked her name and where she came from in such a friendly way that she soon told them her whole story. Then the dwarfs said:

"If you will take care of our house, cook for us, make the beds, wash, sew, and knit, and if you will keep everything neat and clean, you can live with us and you shall want for nothing."

"With all my heart,” answered Snow-White, and so she stayed with them.