SNOW WHITE
Once upon a time as a Queen sits sewing at her window, she pricks her
finger on her needle and three drops of blood fall on the snow that had
fallen on her ebony
window frame. As she looks at the blood on the snow, she says to
herself, "Oh, how I wish that I had a daughter that had skin white as
snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony". Soon after that, the
queen gives birth to a baby girl who has skin white as snow, lips red as
blood, and hair black as ebony. They name her Princess Snow White. As
soon as the child is born, the queen dies.
Soon after, the king takes a new wife, who is beautiful but also very vain. The new queen possesses a magical mirror,
an animate object that answers any question, to whom she often asks:
"Magic mirror on the wall / Who is the fairest of them all?" (in German "Spieglein, Spieglein, an der Wand / Wer ist die Schönste im ganzen Land?"; in Italian
"Specchio, servo delle mie brame, chi è la più bella di tutto il
reame?" ) to which the mirror always replies "You, my queen, are fairest
of all." But when Snow White reaches the age of seven, she becomes as
beautiful as the day, and when the queen asks her mirror, it responds:
"Queen, you are full fair, 'tis true, but Snow White is fairer than
you." Though in another version, the mirror simply replies: "Snow White
is the fairest of them all."
The queen becomes jealous, and orders a huntsman to take Snow White into the woods to be killed. She demands that the huntsman, as proof of killing Snow White, return with her heart.
The huntsman takes Snow White into the forest, but after raising his
knife to stab her, he finds himself unable to kill her as he has fallen
deeply in love with her. Instead, he lets her go, telling her to flee
and hide from the Queen. He then brings the queen the heart of a boar, which is prepared by the cook and eaten by the queen.
In the forest, Snow White discovers a tiny cottage belonging to a group of seven dwarfs,
where she rests. There, the dwarfs take pity on her, saying "If you
will keep house for us, and cook, make beds, wash, sew, and knit, and
keep everything clean and orderly, then you can stay with us, and you
shall have everything that you want." They warn her to take care and let
no one in when they are away delving in the mountains. Meanwhile, the
Queen asks her mirror once again "Who's the fairest of them all?",
and is horrified to learn that Snow White is not only alive and well
and living with the dwarfs, but is still the fairest of them all.
Three times
the Queen disguises herself and visits the dwarfs' cottage while they
are away during the day, trying to kill Snow White. First, disguised as a
peddler, the Queen offers colorful stay-laces
and laces Snow White up so tight that she faints, causing the Queen to
leave her dead on the floor. However, Snow White is revived by the
dwarfs when they loosen the laces. Next, the Queen dresses as a
different old woman and brushes Snow White's hair with a poisoned comb. Snow White again collapses, but again is saved by the dwarfs. Finally, the Queen makes a poisoned apple,
and in the disguise of a farmer's wife, offers it to Snow White. When
she is hesitant to accept it, the Queen cuts the apple in half, eats the
white part and gives the poisoned red part to Snow White. She eats the
apple eagerly and immediately falls into a deep stupor. When the dwarfs find her, they cannot revive her, and they place her in a glass coffin, assuming that she is dead.
Time passes, and a prince traveling through the land sees Snow White.
He strides to her coffin. The prince is enchanted by her beauty and
instantly falls in love with her. He begs the dwarfs to let him have the
coffin. The prince's servants carry the coffin away. While doing so,
they stumble on some roots and the movement causes the piece of poisoned
apple to dislodge from Snow White's throat, awakening her (in later
adaptions of the tale, the prince kisses Snow White, which brings her
back to life). The prince then declares his love for her and soon a
wedding is planned.
The vain Queen, still believing that Snow White is dead, once again
asks her mirror who is the fairest in the land, and yet again the mirror
disappoints her by responding that "You, my queen, are fair; it is
true. But the young queen is a thousand times fairer than you."
Not knowing that this new queen was indeed her stepdaughter, she
arrives at the wedding, and her heart fills with the deepest of dread
when she realizes the truth. As punishment for her wicked ways, a pair
of heated iron shoes are brought forth with tongs and placed before the
Queen. She is then forced to step into the iron shoes and dance until
she drops dead.
source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White
Comment : I think the snow white story is very interesting. from the time I was little until now is still the mainstay of the story among the children. many things we can learn from the story snow white that the nature of pride, envy and jealousy will not make people happy. bad guys will get in return.
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