A depiction from the Brothers Grimm story of Snow White originating in Germany
This unit again features famous fairy tales in an earlier and often more raw form from the Brothers Grimm of folklore legend. This unit contains the story of The Six Swans, King Thrushbeard, The Three Spinsters, and Snow-White. In Snow-White, a queen sits sewing at an open window during a winter snowfall when she pricks her finger with her needle, causing three drops of red blood to drip onto the freshly fallen white snow on the black windowsill. Then, she says to herself, "How I wish that I had a daughter that had skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony." Some time later, the queen gives birth to a baby daughter whom she names Snow White, but the queen dies in childbirth a short while later. A year later, Snow White's father, the king, marries again. His new wife is very beautiful, but she is a vain and wicked woman. The new queen possesses a magic mirror, which she asks every morning, "Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" The mirror always tells the queen that she is the fairest. The queen is always pleased with that, because the magic mirror never lies. But as Snow White grows up, she becomes more beautiful each day and even more beautiful than her stepmother. When the queen asks her mirror, it tells her that Snow White is the fairest. This gives the queen a great shock. She becomes envious, and from that moment on, her heart turns against Snow White, whom the queen grows to hate increasingly with time. Eventually, the angry queen orders a huntsman to take Snow White into the forest to be killed. As proof that Snow White is dead, the queen demands that he returns with her heart, which she will consume in order to become immortal. The huntsman succeeds in taking Snow White into the forest, but after raising his knife, he finds himself unable to kill her when Snow White finds out about her stepmother's plan, tearfully begging "Spare me this mockery of justice! I will run away into the forest and never come home again!". Eventually, the huntsman reluctantly agrees to spare Snow White and lets her go, bringing the queen the heart of a wild animal instead. After wandering through the forest for hours, Snow White discovers a tiny cottage belonging to a group of seven dwarfs. Since no one is at home, she eats some of the tiny meals, drinks some of their wine, and then tests all the beds. Finally, the last bed is comfortable enough for her and she falls asleep. When the dwarfs return home, they immediately become aware that there is a burglar in their house, because everything in their home is in disorder. Prowling about frantically, they head upstairs and discover the sleeping Snow White. She wakes up and explains to them what happened, and the dwarfs take pity on her and let her stay with them in exchange for housekeeping. They warn her to be careful when alone at home and to let no one in while they are working in the mountains. Meanwhile, the queen, believing that Snow White is dead, asks her mirror once again: "Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" The mirror tells her that Snow White is still the fairest in the land. The queen is furious when she learns that Snow White is still alive because of the huntsman, and decides to kill the girl herself with three attempts. First, the queen appears at the dwarfs' cottage, disguised as an old peddler, and offers Snow White colorful, silky laced bodices as a present; the queen laces her up so tightly that Snow White faints, but the dwarfs return just in time, and Snow White revives when the dwarfs loosen the laces. Next, the queen dresses as a comb seller and convinces Snow White to take a beautiful comb as a present; she brushes Snow White's hair with the poisoned comb and the girl faints again, but she is again revived by the dwarfs when they remove the comb from her hair. Last, the queen, disguising herself as a poor woman, offers Snow White a poisoned apple; at first Snow White is hesitant to accept it, so the queen cuts the apple in half, eating the white (harmless) half and giving the red poisoned half to Snow White; the girl eagerly takes a bite and falls down dead, causing the Queen to triumph. This time, the dwarfs are unable to revive Snow White. Assuming that she died, they place her in a glass casket. Three days later, a prince stumbles upon Snow White lying in her glass coffin during a hunting trip. After hearing her story from the seven dwarfs, the Prince is allowed to take Snow White to her proper resting place. Suddenly, while Snow White is being transported by the prince, one of his servants trips and loses his balance. This causes the piece of poisoned apple to dislodge from Snow White's throat, reviving her – It turns out that the princess was not deceased, but in a coma-like state (In the first edition, Snow White is carried to the palace without mishap. But later, a servant, frustrated by the inconvenience caused by the prince's fawning over her, picks up her body and hits her, and it is this that dislodges the apple.) Instantly, the prince is overjoyed that Snow White magically revived herself, declaring his love for her; immediately, he proposes to her, and Snow White agrees to marry him. Snow White and the prince invite everyone to come to their wedding party, including Snow White's stepmother. Meanwhile, the queen, still believing that Snow White is dead, again asks her magic mirror who is the fairest in the land. The mirror says that the Prince's bride is the fairest. Not knowing that the Prince's bride is her stepdaughter, the queen arrives at the wedding to investigate and is shocked to find that the bride is Snow White. She is frozen with rage and fear, but when she is about to start a pandemonium, the prince, who recognizes her as a threat to his kingdom, orders for her to wear a pair of red-hot iron slippers and dance in them until she drops dead for the attempted murder of Snow White, so that the wedding will peacefully continue.
Bibliography: Lucy and Walter Crane's Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm. http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/07/myth-folklore-unit-brothers-grimm-crane.html
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