Fairy Tales
Snow White and the seven dwarfs
Part 11
Sshe was so hungry Snow White ate a little bread from each little
plate and drank a bit of milk from each cup. She was so tired, she lay
down on one of the little beds and fell fast asleep.
After dark, the owners of the house returned home. They were the
seven dwarfs who mined for gold in the mountains. As soon as they
arrived home, they saw that someone had been there -- for not everything
was in the same order as they had left it.
The first one said, “Who has been sitting in my chair?”
The second one, “Who has been eating from my plate?”
The third one, “Who has been eating my bread?”
The fourth one, “Who has been eating my vegetables?”
The fifth one, “Who has been eating with my fork?”
The sixth one, “Who has been drinking from my cup?”
But the seventh one, looking at his bed, found Snow White lying there
asleep. The seven dwarfs all came running up, and they cried out with
amazement. They fetched their seven candles and shone the light on Snow
White.
“Oh good heavens! “ they cried. “This child is beautiful!”
They were so happy that they did not wake her up, but let her
continue to sleep in the bed. The next morning they asked her , “What is
your name?”“My name is Snow White,” she answered.
“How did you find your way to our house?” they asked. She told them
that her stepmother had tried to kill her, that the huntsman had spared
her life, and that she had run through the forest and stumbled on their
house. The dwarfs then said, “If you will keep house for us, and cook,
make beds, wash, sew, and knit, and keep everything clean and orderly,
you can stay with us, and you shall have everything that you want.”
“Yes,” said Snow White, “with all my heart.So Snow White lived
happily with the dwarfs. Every morning they went into the mountains
looking for gold, and in the evening when they came back home Snow White
had their meal ready and their house tidy. During the day she was alone,
except for the small animals of the forest that she often played with.
Now the queen, believing that she had eaten Snow White’s heart,
thought that she was again the most beautiful woman of all. She stepped
before her mirror and said: Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who in this land is fairest of all?
It answered: You, my queen, are fair; it is true.
But Snow White, beyond the mountains
With the seven dwarfs,
Is still a thousand times fairer than you.
This startled the queen, for she knew that the mirror did not lie,
and she realized that the huntsman had deceived her and that Snow White
was still alive. Then she thought, and thought again, how she could rid
herself of Snow White -- for as long as long as she was not the most
beautiful woman in the entire land her jealousy would give her no rest.
At last she thought of something. She made a poisoned apple. From the
outside it was beautiful and anyone who saw it would want it but it was
poisoned. She disguised herself as an old peddler woman,and travelled to
the dwarfs cottage and knocked on the door.
“I’ll easily get rid of my apples. Here, I’ll give you one of them.”
“No,” said Snow White, “I cannot accept anything from strangers.”“Look,
I’ll cut the apple in two. You eat half and I shall eat half.” Snow
White longed for the beautiful apple, and when she saw that the peddler
woman eating part of it she could not resist, and took the poisoned
half. She barely had a bite when she fell to the ground dead. Now the
queen asked her mirror :Mirror, mirror, on the wall,Who in this land is
fairest of all?
It finally answered:You, my queen, are fairest of all.
Then her cruel and jealous heart was at rest.When the dwarfs came
home they found Snow White lying on the ground. She was dead. They
lifted her. They talked to her, shook her and wept over her. They laid
her on a bed of straw, and all seven sat next to her and mourned for her
and cried for three days. They were going to bury her, but she still
looked as fresh as a living person, and still had her beautiful red
cheeks.They said, “We cannot bury her in the black earth,” and they had
a transparent glass coffin made, so she could be seen from all sides.
They laid her inside, and with golden letters wrote her name on it, and
that she was a princess.
Then they put the coffin outside on a mountain, and one of them
always stayed with it and watched over her. The animals too came and
mourned for Snow White. Now a prince entered the woods . He saw the
coffin on the mountain with beautiful Snow White in it, and he read what
was written on it with golden letters.
Then he said to the dwarfs, “Let me have the coffin. I will give you
anything you want for it.”But they answered, “We will not sell it for
all the gold in the world.”Then he said, “Give it to me, for I cannot
live without being able to see Snow White. I will honour her and respect
her as my most cherished one.”
Then it happened that one of them stumbled on some brush, and this
dislodged from Snow White’s throat the piece of poisoned apple that she
had bitten off. Not long afterwards she opened her eyes, lifted the lid
from her coffin, sat up, and was alive again. The prince said joyfully,
“You are with me and their wedding was planned with splendour and
majesty and the prince and Snow White lived happily ever after.
Concluded
|