1
It was a cold winter’s day. A white sheet of snow lay over the palace grounds and trees and on the roofs and chimneys. The Queen sat by the window, humming a lullaby to herself as she sewed a little dress. She looked out of the window and saw a black raven, and as she looked, she suddenly pricked her finger with the needle. She looked down and saw a drop of blood fall on her gown. It was so red!
“I wish I have a daughter with skin as white and pure as snow, hair as black as a raven, and lips as red as this drop of blood on my gown,” thought the Queen.
Not long afterwards, the Queen’s wish came true. After a few months, a baby girl was born to her. The baby’s skin was really as white and pure as snow, her curly hair as black as the raven and her lips as red as blood.
She was a lovely baby.
“I shall name this beautiful child of mine Snow White,” said the Queen to her husband.
So the Princess was named Snow White. Each day saw her grow more and more beautiful. She was very kind to everyone in the palace, and they all loved her.
Sadly for Snow White, her mother died within a few years and her father married again. The new Queen was a very beautiful lady, but she was vain and proud of her beauty. She wanted to be the most beautiful woman in the world.
She had a magic mirror in her room. She would look into it every morning and ask:
“Mirror, Mirror, on the wall,
Who is the fairest one of all?”
And the mirror would reply:
“O Queen, you are the fairest one of all.”
The Queen would smile and be very happy because she knew that her magic mirror never lied. It also made her vainer. Nobody in the palace loved her; rather, they were afraid of her.
The years passed by as the Queen watched Snow White grow into a beautiful girl. This did not please her. As Snow White grew older, she became more and more beautiful. This made the Queen very jealous, because she feared that the Princess would become prettier than her.
One day, when she asked her mirror:
“Mirror, Mirror, on the wall,
Who is the fairest one of all?”
The mirror answered:
“O Queen, you are fair,
But Snow White is the fairest one of all.”
The Queen was mad with jealousy. She had to do something. Snow White had to die. She could not allow Snow White to become more beautiful than herself!
She decided to get rid of her. She would have Snow White killed!
2
The Queen called for a hunter and said to him, “I want you to take Snow White deep into the forest and then kill her. And to prove that you have really killed her, bring back her heart and show it to me. You are to tell no one of this plot.”
The hunter was shocked and sad to hear the Queen give such cruel orders. He, like everyone in the royal household, loved the little princess. He did not want her to die, and he did not want to be the one to kill her. He would have to think of some way to save her. However, he bowed before the Queen and promised to follow her orders.
There was a very large forest not far from the palace. Usually Snow White was allowed to go to a certain part of this forest, where there were many birds, rabbits and deer.
One morning, the Queen called Snow White and said to her, “Snow White, go with the hunter to the forest. I know that you love to go there, and play with the birds and animals. Today is such a fine day! Go and enjoy yourself.”
“Oh, thank you, Mother!” said Snow White happily, because she really loved going to the forest. She loved the birds singing and warbling upon tree trunks, the rabbits with their fluffy tails hopping in and out of holes or chasing each other, and the gentle deer with their beautiful eyes frolicking about. They loved her too, and always came to greet her and play with her whenever she visited them.
So Snow White went happily with the hunter, singing and skipping as she went along. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and white clouds were drifting about. It really was a gorgeous day. The forest creatures welcomed her and ran along with her. She played with them for many hours. They were having a wonderful time.
Snow White suddenly realised that they had gone very deep into the forest.
They walked for a long time. Still the guard walked on, taking her deeper and deeper into the forest.
“Why are we going so deep into the forest?” Snow White turned and asked the guard anxiously. “It’s time to go back to the palace. We are already late. The Queen will be very angry.”
The guard looked very sad. He did not want to kill Snow White. She was such a good and kind girl, and very beautiful, too. Everybody in the palace loved her. He told her why the Queen had sent them to the forest. He had been ordered, he said, not only to kill her, but also to carry back her heart as proof that he had really killed her.
“The Queen does not trust anybody, you know,” he said.
Snow White could not believe his words.
“How can the Queen be so cruel? What have I done?” she sobbed.
“Dear Princess, do not cry. You haven’t done anything wrong. The Queen is jealous of your beauty, so she wants you dead.”
“Oh! Please don’t kill me. I will never return to the palace, but will go far away. The Queen will never see me again.”
“Run, little Princess, run. I will not kill you,” remarked the guard sympathetically.
3
Snow White began to run away from the guard, deeper and deeper into the forest. The guard killed a small animal and took its heart back to the Queen. She was very happy to see it, because she thought it was Snow White’s heart.
Alone in the forest, Snow White began to feel very frightened, and drew the creatures of the forest around her. The birds chirped to cheer her up.
It was now getting dark, so she began to run again. She did not know where she was. She had never come to this part of the forest before. There were tall trees and dark shadows around her. Her forest friends followed her, all very frightened. In the distance she saw a small cottage and ran towards it.
“I wonder who lives in that cottage? It must be a wood-man’s cottage,” she said.
She knocked at the door. No one answered. But the door was open, so she pushed it and went inside. It was dark inside. She found some candles and matchsticks. She lit a candle, raised it high above her head and looked around.
“What a beautiful cottage!” she exclaimed. “Everything is so neat and clean.”
She saw a long table laid for seven people. There were seven plates, seven bowls, seven forks and knives and seven drinking cups. There were seven chairs around the table. There was food and drinks in the plates and cups.
“Whoever lives here is very short!” she observed. “Everything is so small – chairs, plates, bowls, forks, knives and the drinking cups!”
Snow White was very hungry. She had been walking and running the whole day without food. She had eaten some nuts and berries that she had found in the forest. Now she ate a piece of bread from each plate and drank some milk from each cup. She sliced and ate the cheese that she found in the centre of the table.
“Now, let me