It was the middle of winter, and the snowflakes were falling from the
sky like feathers. Now, a Queen sat sewing at a window framed in black
ebony, and as she sewed she looked out upon the snow. Suddenly she
pricked her finger and three drops of blood fell on to the snow. And
the red looked so lovely on the white that she thought to herself: 'If
only I had a child as white as snow and as red as blood, and as black
as the wood of the window frame!' Soon after, she had a daughter,
whose hair was black as ebony, while her cheeks were red as blood, and
her skin as white as snow; so she was called Snowdrop. But when the
child was born the Queen died. A year after the King took another
wife. She was a handsome woman, but proud and overbearing, and could
not endure that any one should surpass her in beauty. She had a magic
looking-glass, and when she stood before it and looked at herself she
used to say:
'Mirror, Mirror on the wall,
Who is fairest of us all?'
then the Glass answered,
'Queen, thou'rt fairest of them all.'
Then she was content, for she knew that the Looking-glass spoke the
truth.
But Snowdrop grew up and became more and more beautiful, so that when
she was seven years old she was as beautiful as the day, and far
surpassed the Queen. Once, when she asked her Glass,
'Mirror, Mirror on the wall,
Who is fairest of us all?'
it answered--
'Queen, thou art fairest here, I hold,
But Snowdrop is fairer a thousandfold.'
Then the Queen was horror-struck, and turned green and yellow with
jealousy. From the hour that she saw Snowdrop her heart sank, and she
hated the little girl.
[Illustration: 'Mirror, Mirror on the wall,
Who is fairest of us all?']
The pride and envy of her heart grew like a weed, so that she had no
rest day nor night. At last she called a Huntsman, and said: 'Take the
child out into the wood; I will not set eyes on her again; you must
kill her and bring me her lungs and liver as tokens.'
The Huntsman obeyed, and took Snowdrop out into the forest, but when
he drew his hunting-knife and was preparing to plunge it into her
innocent heart, she began to cry:
'Alas! dear Huntsman, spare my life, and I will run away into the wild
forest and never come back again.'
And because of her beauty the Huntsman had pity on her and said,
'Well, run away, poor child.' Wild beasts will soon devour you, he
thought, but still he felt as though a weight were lifted from his
heart because he had not been obliged to kill her. And as just at
that moment a young fawn came leaping by, he pierced it and took the
lungs and liver as tokens to the Queen. The Cook was ordered to serve
them up in pickle, and the wicked Queen ate them thinking that they
were Snowdrop's.
Now the poor child was alone in the great wood, with no living soul
near, and she was so frightened that she knew not what to do. Then she
began to run, and ran over the sharp stones and through the brambles,
while the animals passed her by without harming her. She ran as far as
her feet could carry her till it was nearly evening, when she saw a
little house and went in to rest. Inside, everything was small, but as
neat and clean as could be. A small table covered with a white cloth
stood ready with seven small plates, and by every plate was a spoon,
knife, fork, and cup. Seven little beds were ranged against the walls,
covered with snow-white coverlets. As Snowdrop was very hungry and
thirsty she ate a little bread and vegetable from each plate, and
drank a little wine from each cup, for she did not want to eat up the
whole of one portion. Then, being very tired, she lay down in one of
the beds. She tried them all but none suited her; one was too short,
another too long, all except the seventh, which was just right. She
remained in it, said her prayers, and fell asleep.
When it was quite dark the masters of the house came in. They were
seven Dwarfs, who used to dig in the mountains for ore. They kindled
their lights, and as soon as they could see they noticed that some one
had been there, for everything was not in the order in which they had
left it.