Once there was a Queen. She was sitting at the window. There was snow outside in the garden-snow on the hill and in the lane1, snow on the hunts and on the trees: all things were white with snow.
The Queen was making a coat for a little child. She said, “I want my child to be white as this cloth, white as the snow. And I shall call her Snow-white.”
Some days after that the Queen had a child. The child was white as snow. The Queen called her Snow-white.
But the Queen was very ill, and after some days she died. Snow-white lived, and was a very happy and beautiful child.
One year after that, the King married another Queen. The new Queen was very beautiful; but she was not a good woman.
A wizard2 had given this Queen a glass. The glass could speak. It was on the wall in the Queen’s room. Every day the queen looked in the glass to see how beautiful she was. As she looked in the glass, she asked: “Tell me, glass upon the wall, who is most beautiful of all?” And the glass spoke3 and said: “The Queen is most beautiful of all.”
Year went by. Snow-white grew up and became a little girl. every day the Queen looked in the glass and said, “Tell me, glass upon the wall, who is most beautiful of all?” And the glass said, “Snow-white is most beautiful of all.”
When the Queen heard this, she was very angry. She said, “Snow-white is not more beautiful than I am. There is no one who is more beautiful than I am.”
Then the Queen sat on her bed and cried.
After one hour the Queen went out of her room. She called one of the servants, and said, “Take Snow-white into the forest and kill her.”
The servant took Snow-white to the forest, but he did not kill her, because she was so beautiful and so good. He said, “I shall not kill you; but do not go to the King’s house, because the Queen is angry and she will see you. If the Queen sees you, she will make some other man kill you. Wait here in the forest; some friends will help you.” Then he went away.
Poor Snow-white sat at the foot of a tree and cried. Then she saw that night was coming. She said, “I will not cry. I will find some house where I can sleep tonight. I cannot wait here: the bears will eat me.”
She went far into the forest. Then she saw a little hut4. She opened the door of the hut, and went in. In the hut she saw seven little beds. There was a table, and on the table there were seven little loaves and seven little glasses. She ate one of the loaves. Then she said, “I want some water to drink.” So she drank some water out of one of the glasses. Then she fell asleep on one of the seven little beds.
The hut was the home of seven Little Men. When it was night, the seven Little Men came to the hut. Each Little Man had a big beard, and a little blue coat. Each Little Man came into the hut, and took his little lamp. Then each Little Man sat down, and ate his little loaf, and drank his little glass of water.
But one Little Man said, “Someone has eaten my little loaf.” And another Little Man said, “Someone has drunk5 my little glass of water.” Then the seven Little Men went to bed, but one Little Man said, “Someone is sleeping on my little bed.” All the seven Little Men came to look at Snow-white as she slept on the Little Men’s bed. They said, “She is very beautiful.”
Snow-white awoke, and saw the seven Little Men with their big beards standing6 near her bed. She was afraid. The Little men said, “Do not be afraid. We are your friends. Tell us how you came here.” Snow-white said, “I will tell you.” Then she told them her story.
They said, “Do not be afraid. Live here with us. But see that the door shut when we are not in the house with you. Do not go out. If you go out, the bad Queen will find you. Then she will know that you are not dead, and will tell someone to kill you.” So Snow-white lived in the hut with the seven Little Men.
After some days Snow-white went into the garden. One of the Queen’s servants was going through the forest, and he saw her. He went and told the Queen, “Snow-white is in a hut in the forest.” The Queen was very angry when she heard that Snow-white was not dead.
The Queen took an apple. She made a hole in the red side of the apple, and put some powder into the hole. Then she put on old clothes and went to the hut. She called, “Is any one there?” Snow-white opened the door, and came out to her. The Queen said, “I have some pretty apples. Eat one of my pretty apples.” Snow-white took the apple and said, “Is it good?” The Queen said, “See, I will eat this white side of the apple; you eat the red side. Then you will know that it is good.”
Snow-white ate the red side of the apple. When the powder was in her mouth, she fell down dead. The Queen went back to her house. She went into her room. she looked into the glass and said, “Tell me, glass upon the wall, who is most beautiful of all?” The glass said, “The Queen is most beautiful of all.” Then the Queen know that Snow-white was dead.
The Little Men came back to the hut. When they saw that Snow-white was dead, the poor Little Men cried. Then they put Snow-white in a box made of glass. They took the glass box to a hill and put it there, and said, “Everyone who goes by will see how beautiful she was.” Then each Little Man put one white flower on the box, and they went away.
Just as they were going away, a Prince came by. He saw the glass box and said, “What is that?” Then he saw Snow-white in the box. He said, “She was very beautiful: but do not put her there. There is a hall in the garden of my father’s house. It is all made of white stone. We will take the glass box and put it in the hall of beautiful white stone.”
The Little Men said, “Take her.” Then the Prince told his servants to take up the box. They took up the box. Just then one of the servants fell down. The box fell, and Snow-white fell with the box. The bit of apple fell out of her mouth: she awoke, and sat up, and said, “Where am I?”
The Prince said, “You are with me. I never saw anyone as beautiful as you. Come with me and be my Queen.”
The Prince married Snow-white, and she became his Queen.
A man went and told this to the bad Queen. When she heard it she was so angry that she fell down dead.
Snow-white lived and was very happy ever after. And the Little Men came to see her every year.
