Snow White

Snow White is one of our Favorite Fairy Tales. Note: This version is great for young kids.
The "scarier" version is Little Snow-White.
There was once a queen who had no children, and it grieved her sorely.
One winter's afternoon she was sitting by the window sewing when she
pricked her finger, and three drops of blood fell on the snow. Then she
thought to herself:

"Ah, what would I give to have a daughter with skin as white as snow
and cheeks as red as blood."

After a while a little daughter came to her with skin as white as snow
and cheeks as red as blood. So they called her Snow White.

But before Snow White had grown up, her mother, the Queen, died and
her father married again, a most beautiful princess who was very vain of
her beauty and jealous of all women who might be thought as beautiful
as she was. And every morning she used to stand before her mirror and
say:

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

Who is the fairest of us all?"

And the mirror always used to reply:

"Queen, Queen, on thy throne,

The greatest beauty is thine own."

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

Who is the fairest of us all?"

the mirror replied:

"Queen, Queen, on thy throne,

Snow White's the fairest thou must own."

Then the Queen grew terribly jealous of Snow White and thought and
thought how she could get rid of her, till at last she went to a hunter and
engaged him for a large sum of money to take Snow White out into the
forest and there kill her and bring back her heart.

But when the hunter had taken Snow White out into the forest and
thought to kill her, she was so beautiful that his heart failed him, and he
let her go, telling her she must not, for his sake and for her own, return
to the King's palace. Then he killed a deer and took back the heart to
the Queen, telling her that it was the heart of Snow White.

Snow White wandered on and on till she got through the forest and
came to a mountain hut and knocked at the door, but she got no reply.
She was so tired that she lifted up the latch and walked in, and there
she saw three little beds and three little chairs and three little cupboards
all ready for use. And she went up to the first bed and lay down upon it,
but it was so hard that she couldn't rest; and then she went up to the
second bed and lay down upon that, but that was so soft that she got
too hot and couldn't go to sleep. So she tried the third bed, but that was
neither too hard nor too soft, but suited her exactly; and she fell asleep
there.

In the evening the owners of the hut, who were three little dwarfs who
earned their living by digging coal in the hills, came back to their home.
And when they came in, after they had washed themselves, they went
to their beds, and the first of them said:

"Somebody has been sleeping in my bed!"

And then the second one said:

"And somebody's been sleeping in my bed!"

And the third one called out in a shrill voice, for he was so excited:

"Somebody is sleeping in my bed, just look how beautiful she is!"

So they waited till she woke up, and asked her how she had come
there, and she told them all that the hunter had said to her about the
Queen wanting to slay her.

Then the dwarfs asked her if she would be willing to stop with them and
keep house for them; and she said that she would be delighted.

Next morning the Queen went up as usual to her mirror, and called out:
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

Who is the fairest of us all?"

And the mirror answered as usual:

"Queen, Queen, on thy throne,

Snow White's the fairest thou must own."

And the Queen knew that Snow White had not been slain. So she sent
for the hunter and made him confess that he had let Snow White go;
and she made him search about beyond the forest, till at last he brought
back word to her that Snow White was dwelling in a little hut on the hill
with some coal-miners.

Then the Queen dressed herself up like an old woman, and, taking a
poisoned comb with her, went back the next day to the hut where Snow
White was living. Now the dwarfs had warned her not to open the door
to anybody lest evil might befall her; and she found it very lonesome
keeping always within doors.

When the Queen, disguised as an old woman, came to the door of the
house she knocked upon it with her stick, but Snow White called out
from within:

"Who is there? Go away! I must not let anybody come in."

So when Snow White came to the window the Queen said:

"Oh, what beautiful black hair; you ought to have a comb to bind it up;"
and she showed her the comb that she had brought with her.

But Snow White said:

"I have no money and cannot afford to buy so fine a comb."

Then the Queen said:

"That is no matter; perhaps you have something golden that you can
give me in exchange."

And Snow White thought of a golden ring that her father had given to
her, and offered to give it for the comb. The Queen took it and gave
Snow White the comb and bade her good-bye, and went back to the
palace.

Snow White lost no time in going to the mirror, and binding up her hair
and putting the comb into it. But it had scarcely been in her hair a few
minutes when she fell down as if she were dead, and all the blood left
her cheeks, and she was Snow White indeed.

When the dwarfs came home that evening they were surprised to find
that the table was not spread for them, and looking about they soon
found Snow White lying upon the ground as if she were dead. But one
of them listened to her heart and said: "She lives! She lives!"
And they began to consider what caused Snow White to fall into such a
swoon. They soon found the comb, and when they took it out Snow
White soon opened her eyes and became as lively as she ever was
before.

Next morning the Queen went to the mirror on the wall and said to it:

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

Who is the fairest of us all?"

Then the mirror said as before:

"Queen, Queen, on thy throne,

Snow White's the fairest thou must own."

Then the Queen knew that something had happened to the comb and
that Snow White was still alive. So she dressed herself once more as an
old woman and took with her a poisoned ribbon and went to the hut of
the three dwarfs. And when she got there she knocked at the door, but
Snow White called out:

"You cannot enter; I must not open the door."

Then, as before, the Queen called out in reply:

"Then come to the window, and you can see my wares."

"You are looking more beautiful than ever, but how unbecomingly you
arrange your hair. Did you use th