Snow White
Stories Aloud, based on the original
Once upon a time—in the middle of winter—a queen was sitting at her window and sewing.
The world outside was white upon white. The black window frame made the view look like a picture hanging on the wall. She was so pleased to be inside in the warm.
As she replaced her needle, she gazed absent-minded out at the wintry day. When suddenly, she pricked her finger on the needle! She held it up to look at it. A little bead of blood sat on her fingertip. She noticed how beautiful it looked. Red upon white, framed by black. How lovely! And as she smiled, she thought how delightful it would be to have a daughter.
And one year later, the queen had a lovely little daughter. She had skin so pure – white as snow. She had lips so full – red as blood. And she had hair so thick – black as ebony. How lovely! She was so striking to look at that she was called Snow White.
Alas, not long after she was born, the queen fell ill and died. The king didn’t wait very long before getting himself a new wife. This woman was cold, proud, and snobby. She couldn’t bear the thought that there may be some woman more beautiful than she. It was highly unlikely – she was very beautiful. But just to check, she would stand in front of her magical mirror every morning and say:
“Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all?”
And every morning the magic mirror would reply:
“Thou, oh queen, art the fairest of all”
Content with this, the queen remained happy. She knew the magic mirror could only tell the truth, so she really must be the most beautiful woman in the kingdom. How nice.
The queen never really took an interest in Snow White. She’d see her from time to time, but never looked after her. They had maids for that.
But when Snow White got a bit older, she started to grow more and more beautiful. Her pale skin, rosy lips, and black hair made her stand out in a crowd. And one day, when the queen had almost forgotten she had a stepdaughter, she noticed how beautiful Snow White had become.
She went to her trusty mirror and called:
“Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all?”
And as she waited—longer than usual—to be told that she was still the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, the mirror said:
“Well…”
Her mouth dropped open. “Well, what?” she snapped.
“Queen, you are full fair, ’tis true. But now Snow White is fairer than you.”
The queen turned a shade of yellowish green, before throwing her hair comb at her horrible, mean, nasty mirror.
How could that little squirt be prettier than her?
She was so wrapped in jealous that she couldn’t eat or sleep. She had to do something about it. So, one morning she called on her huntsman.
“Take the child far into the forest. Kill her and bring me her heart, so I know that she is dead!”
The huntsman did take Snow White far into the forest. He took his knife too. But as he looked at her smiling, perfect face he just couldn’t kill her. But what would he do? He needed to take back her heart!
So, he told her to run as fast as she could into the depths of the forest and to never come back. Then he hunted a bear and took the bear’s heart back to the queen.
Poor Snow White, all alone in an enormous forest. With nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat!
She was so scared. But she kept running. Through thorny bushes. Under broken trees. Over sharp rocks. And past wild animals!
She didn’t stop until evening. Then she flumped to the ground and was about to cry her heart out when… she saw a little cottage not far ahead. She got back up and went to explore.
She knocked twice, but there was no answer. So, she opened the door and stuck her head round to have a look.
“What a darling little cottage!” she said to herself, opening the door fully.
She could see seven little beds, with seven little pillows. There were seven little plates with seven knives and seven forks. The seven mugs were full of wine and the seven bowls were full of soup.
She saw the food and realized how hungry she was. She hadn’t eaten all day. So, she took a fork from one place and a knife from another. She took bread from one plate and soup from next. She took three sips of wine from three different mugs and felt very much better.
Then she saw the beds and realized how tired she was. She’d been running all day. So, she tried the first bed… too short. The second… too long. Third and fourth… too hard. The fifth was too low and the sixth, too high. But the seventh bed was quite perfect! So, she curled up and fell fast asleep.
Later that evening, the owners of the cottage came home from working in the mountains. They lit their seven candles and then looked around their home.
The first said: “Who has been sitting on my chair?”
The second: “Who has used my fork?”
The third: “And my knife?”
The fourth: “Who has been eating my bread?”
The fifth: “Who has taken my soup?”
The sixth: “Who’s been drinking out of my mug?”
The seventh: “Who has been sleeping on all our beds?”
They looked from the first bed to the second and the third. And all had a hollow where someone had tried to sleep.
They looked from the fourth to the fifth to the sixth. All had the same hollow.
When they looked at the seventh bed, they saw a beautiful woman fast asleep.
“Oh, what a lovely girl! Let’s let her sleep,” they said.
The next morning, still excited by their visitor, all seven of them went up and looked at her.
Suddenly, Snow White started to wake up. She opened her eyes and was astonished to see seven funny little faces smiling at her. She sat up with a jolt and, remembering where she was, she looked more closely at this strange group.
They were all really short. They had funny little faces, big pink noses and all had colourful hats. They were dwarfs! And they were very friendly too. They asked why she was here. And she told them of her evil stepmother and of her long journey through the forest.
The dwarfs had a quick family meeting and all decided that if Snow White wanted to stay with them, she would be welcome. She could keep everything neat and tidy and she could make the beds and cook!
Snow White thought it was a wonderful idea and got straight up to make pancakes!
Also waking up this morning, was the evil queen. She went straight up to her mirror, fixed her hair and said:
“Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all?”
The answer came:
“Thou, my queen, are fair; ’tis true. But little Snow White is still far fairer than you.”
Well, the queen was astounded! The mirror could not lie. So the huntsman must have been lying! He must have given her a beast’s heart instead of the girl’s. Snow White must still be alive!
So long as she was not the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, her jealousy would not let her sleep or eat. She needed to find her and kill her.
As she couldn’t trust anyone else to do it for her, she decided to go herself. She painted her face, put on an ugly nose, and dressed like a poor pedlar woman. She asked the mirror where to find Snow White. And she made the long journey into the forest.
Knocking on the door of the cottage, she called:
“Pretty things! Pretty things to sell!”
Snow White heard her and came to the window.
“Ah, my dear, would you like to buy some pretty laces to tie your dress? Your dress is so loose!”
“It is?” She hadn’t realized. She let in the old woman who started to put new laces into her dress. But the woman pulled very hard. The evil queen smiled as she watched Snow White gasp for breath. As Snow White collapsed to the floor, she gathered her things and left.
When the dwarfs got home, they were sad to see the girl on the floor. They lifted her onto a bed and noticed that her dress was far too tightly tied and they loosened it. Then she began to breathe and after a little while, felt as good as new.
She told the dwarfs what had happened and they told her to be careful, the pedlar woman was probably her wicked stepmother. She promised not to let anyone else into the cottage when she was home alone.
The evil queen was just getting home after her long journey and she made her way straight to the mirror.
“Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all?”
The answer came:
“Thou, my queen, are fair; ’tis true.
But over the hills,
where the seven dwarfs dwell,
Snow White is still alive and well.”
“No! How could she be? I watched her die! I will need a new plan.”
So, she set about reading all her books on witchcraft and made a poisonous comb. Then she put on another disguise and set off into the forest again.
Knocking on the door of the little cottage, she called:
“Pretty things! Pretty things to sell!”
Snow White heard her and said, “Nothing today, thank you.”
But the queen called: “Well, you can perhaps just look. I do have this wonderful comb.”
Snow White looked up to see the woman holding a beautiful comb and she opened the door to have closer look.
“Lovely isn’t it? Let me show you how good it is.”
And Snow White sat still while the wicked woman combed it through her ebony hair.
No sooner had the comb touched her, than the poison took effect. Within seconds, the girl fell down senseless.
Smiling her evil smile, the queen left to consult her mirror.
Luckily, it wasn’t long before the dwarfs came home and found her. They suspected the wicked queen and they found the poisoned comb. They took it out of her hair and she almost immediately started to recover.
Again, she told them of a woman and again they told her that it must be her stepmother and that she must not open the door again.
Racing home, the queen ran up to the mirror and:
“Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all?”
The answer came:
“Thou, my queen, are fair; ’tis true.
But over the hills,
where the seven dwarfs dwell,
Snow White is still alive and well.”
“No!”
This time she was so angry that she trembled with rage.
“Snow White will die, even if it kills me!” she screamed.
She rifled through her witchcraft books again and found a better poison which she put into a delicious looking apple. Then she got dressed up again, this time as a farmer’s wife, and she left.
She knocked on the cottage door one last time and waited.
“Nothing today, thank you,” came the response.
“Oh well, never mind. I’m sure I will sell all these apples, so here, I will leave one on the step for you.”
“No, thank you, I don’t want to take anything.”
“Are you afraid of poison perhaps? Look, I shall cut it in half and we shall share it.”
And with that the wicked queen bit into the normal part of the apple.
On seeing this, Snow White thought there was no harm, so she gladly accepted the other half. But hardly had she taken a bite, than she fell down dead!
“Ha ha ha! White as snow, red as blood and black as ebony. The dwarfs cannot wake you this time, Snow White.”
And with that she headed back to her castle and her mirror to hear her favorite words:
“Thou, oh queen art the fairest of all”
And she would relax, eat and sleep again.
But poor Snow White would not! She was dead and when the dwarfs came home, they tried to wake her but it was no use. The evil queen had killed her.
For three whole days the dwarfs wept and then decided that instead of burying her, they would put her inside a glass coffin, so that they could always see her pretty face. She still looked lovely. They wrote her name on the glass in gold letters and under it wrote: Daughter of the King.
They carried the coffin to the top of a mountain and every day one of the dwarfs would sit beside her. She had many visitors, the owls, the bunnies, the squirrels, the ravens, the badgers, the butterflies and the doves all came to look at her beautiful face.
Much time passed, but Snow White didn’t change. Her face was like snow, her lips red like blood and her hair black like ebony.
Many years later, a prince was travelling through the forest and asked to rest a while with the seven dwarfs. He noticed the coffin on the mountaintop and went to have a look. He found Snow White so beautiful that he fell in love with her and wanted to take her home.
He begged the dwarfs, who were moved by his love and they let him take her.
But on the way, the servants who were carrying the coffin tripped and the glass smashed on the floor. The shock of the fall sent Snow White flying towards the ground and as she hit it, the piece of poisonous apple fell out of her mouth. She opened her eyes and sat up.
“Oh heavens, where am I?” she cried.
The king’s son was amazed; he walked over to his love and told her what had happened.
“I love you more than everything in the world, come with me to my father’s palace and marry me!”
Snow White smiled, she thought he was rather nice and she went with him.
The wedding was a wonderful affair, with flowers and music and seven little ushers.
The dwarfs had a wonderful time and they all lived happily ever after.