Snow White
A kind princess, a jealous queen's mirror, seven little miners, and a poisoned apple
Page 1
On a tall green hill above a busy little kingdom stood a grand royal castle, and in it lived a princess named Snow White, so called because her skin was as fair as snow, her lips as red as roses, and her hair as black as ebony wood. Her own mother had died when she was small, and her father the King had married again — a new queen who was dazzlingly beautiful, but proud and cold, and who owned a magic mirror that always told the truth. For a while all was peaceful. Snow White grew up kind and gentle, loved by every servant, gardener and townsperson who knew her, while high in her chambers the Queen gazed at her mirror each day and asked it the one question that mattered to her vain heart: who in all the land was the fairest of them all?
Page 2
Every morning the Queen stood before her tall magic mirror, and every morning she asked it the same proud question — and every morning, for years, the mirror answered that she, the Queen, was the fairest in all the land, which pleased her very much. But Snow White grew lovelier with every passing year, until one cold morning the mirror gave a different answer. 'You, my Queen, are fair, it is true,' it said, 'but Snow White is now a thousand times more fair than you.' The Queen went white with fury. From that moment a bitter jealousy took root in her heart and would not let her rest. She could not bear that anyone should be thought lovelier than herself — and so, in the privacy of her chamber, she began to plot a cruel way to be rid of her gentle stepdaughter for good.
Page 3
The Queen summoned her royal huntsman, a big gruff man with a kind heart, and ordered him to take Snow White deep into the forest and never let her come home again. The huntsman did not dare disobey his queen, and so he led the trusting princess far out among the tall trees. But when the moment came, and Snow White turned her gentle, frightened face up to his, he simply could not do such a wicked thing. He fell to one knee, begged her forgiveness, and told her the whole terrible truth: she must run away, far away, and never return to the castle while the jealous Queen still lived. Then he let her go. Snow White thanked him with all her heart and fled into the green depths of the forest, alone and frightened but alive, with no idea at all where she would go.
Page 4
After wandering the forest until she was exhausted, Snow White came upon a tiny cottage tucked among the trees, and let herself quietly in. Everything inside was small and perfectly neat — but there were seven of everything: seven little chairs around a table, seven little plates and cups, and upstairs, in a row, seven little beds. Being a kind and grateful guest, she tidied what little was untidy, ate a small bite from each plate so as not to take too much from any one, and then, quite worn out, lay down across the little beds and fell fast asleep. The cottage belonged to seven dwarfs who worked all day in the mountain mines — and they were in for a great surprise when they came home that evening and found a sleeping princess in their house.
Page 5
The seven dwarfs were old and merry little miners who spent their days deep in the mountain, digging for diamonds and bright jewels by lantern-light. Each was different — one round and jolly, one grumpy, one always sneezing, one shy, and so on — but all seven were good-hearted. When they came home that evening and found the lovely princess asleep in their beds, they were astonished, and they listened with great sympathy to her story of the jealous Queen. At once they offered her a home: she could stay with them in safety, they said, and keep the little house while they worked, if only she would promise to let no stranger through the door while they were away. Snow White gladly agreed, and from that day the cottage in the forest was the happiest it had ever been.
Page 6
The days that followed were the happiest Snow White had known since her own mother was alive. While the seven dwarfs went off singing to the mine each morning, she kept their little house bright and warm, baked bread, tended the garden, and made friends with all the creatures of the forest — the deer, the rabbits, the birds and the squirrels, who were not the least bit afraid of her. In the evenings the dwarfs came home tired and happy to a hot supper and the sound of her singing, and they all sat together by the fire like one large family. But far away in her castle, the Queen had asked her mirror its question again — and the mirror had told her that Snow White was not only alive, but living in a cottage in the forest, and lovelier than ever. And so the Queen's cruel jealousy flared up once more.
Page 7
The jealous Queen disguised herself cleverly as a harmless old peddler-woman, with a basket of pretty things, and made her way through the forest to the dwarfs' cottage while the seven were far away at the mine. She knocked gently and offered her wares, and though Snow White remembered her promise and would not open the door at first, the old woman seemed so poor and so kind that at last the gentle princess leaned out to admire a single rosy apple — the most perfect apple she had ever seen. What she did not know was that the Queen had poisoned one side of it. 'Here, dearie, share it with me,' said the old woman slyly, biting the safe white side herself. And so, trusting and kind to the very last, Snow White took a bite of the red side — and at once fell into a deep, deathlike sleep.
Page 8
When the seven dwarfs came home that evening and found Snow White lying so still, they wept as though their hearts would break, for they had come to love her dearly. They could not bear to bury so lovely and gentle a princess away in the cold ground. Instead they built her a beautiful coffin all of clear glass, so that she could still be seen, resting as peacefully as if she were only asleep, and they carried it to a quiet, sunlit glade in the forest. There they set it upon a bed of flowers, and from that day on they took it in turns to keep watch over her, and so did all the creatures of the forest — the deer and the birds and the little rabbits — who came and stayed close, as if they too were waiting and hoping for her to wake.
Page 9
A long time passed, until one day a young prince came riding through that part of the forest with his companions and chanced upon the glade. The moment he saw the gentle princess resting in her glass coffin, he was struck to the heart, and begged the seven dwarfs to let him carry her and her coffin back to his own castle, where she might be honoured always. The kindly dwarfs, seeing how truly he cared, agreed. But as the prince's servants lifted the coffin to bear it away, they stumbled over a root — and the jolt shook loose the piece of poisoned apple that had lodged in Snow White's throat. Her eyes fluttered open, and she drew a breath, and sat up, alive and well and wondering, among her overjoyed little friends and the astonished prince.
Page 10
The prince asked Snow White to be his wife, and she, who had come to love his kind and gentle heart, happily said yes. They were married at his family's grand castle in the greatest celebration the kingdom had ever seen, and the seven faithful dwarfs were the guests of honour, seated right at the top table in their very best caps. All the people who had loved Snow White since she was a little girl came to cheer her, overjoyed that the gentle princess who had been lost was found again and happier than ever. As for the jealous Queen and her magic mirror — they were left far behind, their power quite undone; for in the end it was Snow White's kindness, and the love of the friends it had won her, that carried her safely through, and gave her a long and joyful life.
About this story
- Audience: kids (ages 6–12)
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