Reading B Week 15: Snow White

(Snow White and the Evil Queen from Once Upon A Time)

Once upon a time, in the winter, a queen sat at her spinning wheel.  She pricked her finger & 3 drops of blood fell on the snow.  She thought to herself if only I had a child with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as this ebony wood.  Within a year, the queen had that child, but died.  The king remarried to a woman that didn't want anyone to be more beautiful than her.  She even had a looking glass she stood in to ask if she was the fairest in the land.  Every day it told her she was indeed the fairest in the land.  But Snow White grew prettier every day.

Once Snow White turned 7 years old, the queen asked her mirror the same question.  The mirror told her that she was indeed still fair, but that Snow White was prettier than her now.  So the queen sent a huntsman to take Snow out into the woods and kill her.  The huntsman didn't want to do this & Snow begged for her life.  The huntsman let her go into the woods, thinking the wild animals would get her and the job would be done, but not by him.  The queen had wanted Snow's heart to prove the job was done, but he killed a young boar & took her its heart instead.  Snow was very scared and ran through the woods, but nothing harmed her.  She came upon a clean & neat little cottage in the woods.  There were 7 little beds, and 7 places set at the table.  They were small, but she thought nothing of it.  She took a little from each cup & bowl, then felt very sleepy.  She tried each bed until she found one the right size & laid down & went to sleep. 

The dwarfs were miners and they came home at the end of a long day to find something not quite right.  They all noticed that something had been disturbed from each of them.  Then they saw that all the beds had been tried and that she was still asleep in the 7th.  They saw she was such a beautiful child, that the let her sleep.  The next morning, she told them all her story.  The dwarfs told her that if she'd keep their house, cook & clean, that she'd want for nothing and was welcome to stay with them & be safe.  She agreed.  They warned her though that she must trust no one because her step-mother would soon find her.  The queen thought all was well until one day she went to the mirror and it told her that Snow was still alive and much prettier than her and exactly where she lived with the 7 little men.  The queen thought of a plan & went out disguised as an old woman with wares to sell.  She put Snow in fine lace, but laced her so tight, so quick, that Snow fell as if dead.  The queen thought she'd finally put an end to Snow.  She went home & the dwarfs came back & saw that Snow was laced too tight, so they cut it & she could breathe again.  The queen went back to her mirror and the mirror told her that Snow still lived.  The queen was furious & went back as a different old woman.  She gave Snow a poisoned hair comb that as soon as it was put in her hair, she fell as if dead.  The dwarfs came home, saw the comb, took it out of her hair, and she was alive again.  The told her she must never talk to anyone again because it was once again her evil step-mother.  The queen was furious went the mirror again told her that Snow was the most beautiful.  So she made a poison apple that anyone who saw would long for, but it would kill them with one bite.  She went back and deceived Snow again, who took a bite of the apple & fell as if dead.  The queen was satisfied that the dwarfs couldn't save her so she left. 

The dwarfs came home & tried everything, but couldn't bring Snow back this time.  So they couldn't bear to bury her, but made her a beautiful glass coffin & placed it on a mountain.  But Snow always looked the same, as if she was sleeping.  One day, a prince came along & decided he must have Snow with him to look at always.  He desperately bargained with the dwarfs for her.  They agreed, he had his servants bring Snow with him back to the castle.  But along the way, the tripped, jostling the coffin, which dislodged the piece of poison apple from Snow's throat.  At that, Snow sat up.  The prince was so happy & begged Snow to be his wife.  There was a grand wedding and the evil Queen was invited.  Before she left, she asked the mirror again, and it told her there was a young bride who was prettier.  She was furious & when she went to the wedding she saw it was Snow.  But she couldn't do anything because she was fixed with shoes that she had to dance in until she died.

Bibliography:  Snow White by Grimm Brothers (Crane).  Weblink.