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Once upon a time . . .
in a great castle, a Prince's daughter grew up happy and contented, in spite of a jealous
stepmother. She was very pretty, with blue eyes and long black hair. Her skin was delicate
and fair, and so she was called Snow White. Everyone was quite sure she would become very
beautiful. Though her stepmother was a wicked woman, she too was very beautiful, and the
magic mirror told her this every day, whenever she asked it. "Mirror, mirror on the
wall, who is the loveliest lady in the land?" The reply was always; "You are,
your Majesty," until the dreadful day when she heard it say, "Snow White is the
loveliest in the land." The stepmother was furious and, wild with jealousy, began
plotting to get rid of her rival. Calling one of her trusty servants, she bribed him with
a rich reward to take Snow White into the forest, far away from the Castle. Then, unseen,
he was to put her to death. The greedy servant, attracted to the reward, agreed to do this
deed, and he led the innocent little girl away. However, when they came to the fatal spot,
the man's courage failed him and, leaving Snow White sitting beside a tree, he mumbled an
excuse and ran off. Snow White was all alone in the forest. Night came, but the servant
did not return. Snow White, alone in the dark forest, began to cry bitterly. She thought
she could feel terrible eyes spying on her, and she heard strange sounds and rustlings
that made her heart thump. At last, overcome by tiredness, she fell asleep curled under a
tree. Snow White slept fitfully, wakening from time to time with a start and staring into
the darkness round her. Several times, she thought she felt something, or somebody touch
her as she slept. At last, dawn woke the forest to the song of the birds, and Snow White
too, awoke. A whole world was stirring to life and the little girl was glad to see how
silly her fears had been. However, the thick trees were like a wall round her, and as she
tried to find out where she was, she came upon a path. She walked along it, hopefully. On
she walked till she came to a clearing. There stood a strange cottage, with a tiny door,
tiny windows and a tiny chimney pot. Everything about the cottage was much tinier than it
ought to be. Snow White pushed the door open. "l wonder who lives here?" she
said to herself, peeping round the kitchen. "What tiny plates! And spoons! There must
be seven of them, the table's laid for seven people." Upstairs was a bedroom with
seven neat little beds. Going back to the kitchen, Snow White had an idea. "I'll make
them something to eat. When they come home, they'll be glad to find a meal ready."
Towards dusk, seven tiny men marched homewards singing. But when they opened the door, to
their surprise they found a bowl of hot steaming soup on the table, and the whole house
spick and span. Upstairs was Snow White, fast asleep on one of the beds. The chief dwarf
prodded her gently. "Who are you?" he asked. Snow White told them her sad story,
and tears sprang to the dwarfs' eyes. Then one of them said, as he noisily blew his nose:
"Stay here with us!" "Hooray! Hooray!" they cheered, dancing joyfully
round the little girl. The dwarfs said to Snow White: "You can live here and tend to
the house while we're down the mine. Don't worry about your stepmother leaving you in the
forest. We love you and we'll take care of you!" Snow White gratefully accepted their
hospitality, and next morning the dwarfs set off for work. But they warned Snow White not
to open the door to strangers. Meanwhile, the servant had returned to the castle, with the
heart of a roe deer. He gave it to the cruel stepmother, telling her it belonged to Snow
White, so that he could claim the reward. Highly pleased, the stepmother turned again to
the magic mirror. But her hopes were dashed, for the mirror replied: "The loveliest
in the land is still Snow White, who lives in the seven dwarfs' cottage, down in the
forest." The stepmother was beside herself with rage. "She must die! She must
die!" she screamed. Disguising herself as an old peasant woman, she put a poisoned
apple with the others in her basket. Then, taking the quickest way into the forest, she
crossed the swamp at the edge of the trees. She reached the bank unseen, just as Snow
White stood waving goodbye to the seven dwarfs on their way to the mine. Snow White was in
the kitchen when she heard the sound at the door: KNOCK! KNOCK! "Who's there?"
she called suspiciously, remembering the dwarfs advice. "I'm an old peasant woman
selling apples," came the reply. "I don't need any apples, thank you," she
replied. "But they are beautiful apples and ever so juicy!" said the velvety
voice from outside the door. "I'm not supposed to open the door to anyone," said
the little girl, who was reluctant to disobey her friends. "And quite right too! Good
girl! If you promised not to open up to strangers, then of course you can't buy. You are a
good girl indeed!" Then the old woman went on. "And as a reward for being good,
I'm going to make you a gift of one of my apples!" Without a further thought, Snow
White opened the door just a tiny crack, to take the apple. "There! Now isn't that a
nice apple?" Snow White bit into the fruit, and as she did, fell to the ground in a
faint: the effect of the terrible poison left her lifeless instantaneously. Now chuckling
evilly, the wicked stepmother hurried off. But as she ran back across the swamp, she
tripped and fell into the quicksand. No one heard her cries for help, and she disappeared
without a trace. Meanwhile, the dwarfs came out of the mine to find the sky had grown dark
and stormy. Loud thunder echoed through the valleys and streaks of lightning ripped the
sky. Worried about Snow White they ran as quickly as they could down the mountain to the
cottage. There they found Snow White, lying still and lifeless, the poisoned apple by her
side. They did their best to bring her around, but it was no use. They wept and wept for a
long time. Then they laid her on a bed of rose petals, carried her into the forest and put
her in a crystal coffin. Each day they laid a flower there. Then one evening, they
discovered a strange young man admiring Snow White's lovely face through the glass. After
listening to the story, the Prince (for he was a prince!) made a suggestion. "If you
allow me to take her to the Castle, I'll call in famous doctors to waken her from this
peculiar sleep. She's so lovely . . . I'd love to kiss her. . . !" He did, and as
though by magic, the Prince's kiss broke the spell. To everyone's astonishment, Snow White
opened her eyes. She had amazingly come back to life! Now in love, the Prince asked Snow
White to marry him, and the dwarfs reluctantly had to say good bye to Snow White. From
that day on, Snow White lived happily in a great castle. But from time to time, she was
drawn back to visit the little cottage down in the forest. |
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