LITTLE SNOW-WHITE
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Grimm, Jacob, Grimm, Wilhelm, Olcott, Frances Jenkins, and Cramer, Rie
it answered at last:
“Oh, Queen, in this land thou art fairest of all.”
Then her envious heart had rest, so far as an envious heart can have rest.
The Dwarfs, when they came home in the evening, found little Snow-White lying upon the ground. She breathed no longer and was dead. They lifted her up, looked to see whether they could find anything poisonous, unlaced her, combed her hair, washed her with water and wine, but it was all of no use. The poor child was dead, and remained dead. They laid her upon a bier, and all seven of them sat round it and wept for her, and wept three days long.
Then they were going to bury her, but she still looked as if she was living, and still had her pretty red cheeks. They said, “We could not bury her in the dark ground,” and they had a transparent coffin of glass made, so that she might be seen from all sides. They laid her in it, and wrote her name upon it in golden letters, and that she was a King’s Daughter.
Then they put the coffin out upon the mountain, and one of them always stayed by it to watch it. And birds came too, and wept for little Snow-White; first an owl, then a raven, and last a dove.
And now little Snow-White lay a long, long time in the coffin. She did not change, but looked as if she were asleep; for she was as white as snow, as red as blood, and her hair was as black as ebony.
It happened, however, that a King’s Son came into the forest, and went to the Dwarfs’ house to spend the night. He saw the coffin on the mountain, and the beautiful little Snow-White within it, and read what was written upon it in golden letters.
Then he said to the Dwarfs, “Let me have the coffin. I will give you whatever you want for it.”
But the Dwarfs answered, “We will not part with it for all the gold in the world.”
Then he said, “Let me have it as a gift, for I cannot live without seeing little Snow-White. I will honor and prize her as my dearest possession,” As he spoke in this way the good Dwarfs took pity upon him, and gave him the coffin.
And now the King’s Son had it carried away by his servants on their shoulders. And it happened, that they stumbled over a tree-stump, and with the shock the poisonous piece of apple, which little Snow-White had bitten off, came out of her throat. And before long she opened her eyes, lifted up the lid of the coffin, sat up, and was once more alive.
“Oh, where am I?” she cried.
The King’s Son, full of joy, said, “You are with me,” and told her what had happened, and said, “I love you more than everything in the world. Come with me to my father’s palace, you shall be my wife.”
And little Snow-White was willing, and went with him, and their wedding was held with great show and splendor. But the wicked Queen was also bidden to the feast. When she had arrayed herself in beautiful clothes, she went before the Looking-Glass, and said:
“Looking-Glass, Looking-Glass, on the wall, Who in this land is the fairest of all?”
the Glass answered:
“Oh, Queen, of all here the fairest art thou, But the young Queen is fairer by far, I trow!”
Then the wicked woman uttered a curse, and was so wretched, so utterly wretched, that she knew not what to do. At first she would not go to the wedding at all, but she had no peace, and must go to see the young Queen.
And when she went in she knew little Snow-White. And she stood still with rage and fear, and could not stir. But iron slippers had already been put upon the fire, and they were brought in with tongs, and set before her. Then she was forced to put on the red-hot shoes, and dance until she dropped down dead.