It was a cold winter’s morning and snowflakes were falling gently. The queen was sitting alone by the window, embroidering, but she was not thinking about the design she was copying. Her mind was wandering. For some time, the king and queen had wanted to have a child, but no baby had arrived, and this morning the queen lost herself imagining how her life might be if one day her desire was at last fulfilled. Wrapped in thought, she accidentally pricked her finger and a drop of blood fell onto the cloth and, as she watched it, a thought came to her: “I would like a child who is cheerful and enchanting, with lips as red as this drop of blood, hair as black as ebony and skin as white as snow.” Perhaps some good fairy heard the queen’s prayer, because it was not long before her wish came true.
A child was born with lips as red as blood, hair as black as ebony and skin as white as snow. The queen called her Snow White and everyone celebrated for a whole month.
From that day on, the princess’s birthday became a festival and the whole country stopped to celebrate. They organized balls and receptions, and the palace cooks competed with one another to astonish the guests and the little princess with delicious and imaginative cakes, adding one layer for each year. In the midst of it all, Snow White enlivened the court with her laughter. These were happy years, but unfortunately they came to a sudden end when the queen was stricken with an unknown illness. No-one could help her; neither the doctors summoned from the four corners of the kingdom, nor the wise men who came from the Orient. Potions, herbs and spells had no effect, and soon they lost all hope of saving her.
Left alone, the king shut himself away in the castle with his daughter for days on end. The only thing he wanted was to spend every minute of the day with her, to console her for the loss of her mother. But he had many duties to perform, and very soon the kingdom could do without him no longer. He saw that he would have to leave Snow White alone at court for many months, and so he made a decision. He would marry again, so that the girl would have a mother, even though he knew that no-one could ever take the place of his beloved queen, either in his heart or in that of his daughter.
The bride’s retinue arrived at the castle one cold autumn morning. A carriage drawn by black horses was followed by a cart piled high with luggage, including a large crate, which the servants unloaded with particular care.
When the carriage stopped in the castle courtyard, a tall, extremely elegant woman got down. A maid ran to arrange her dress and take her hat, revealing shining hair that was black as the feathers of a crow, and a serious face that broke into a smile when she heard the exclamations of wonder from the crowd that had gathered to greet her.
THE NOBLEWOMAN WAS USED TO PEOPLE BEING STUNNED AT HER INCREDIBLE BEAUTY, BUT SHE WAS ALSO SO VAIN THAT IT PLEASED HER EVERY TIME.
The king and Snow White went to meet the future queen, who made a small, elegant bow to the king, and then she looked down at the girl. “So you are little Snow White. Your father has told me that you like to play in the woods.”
“Yes, I enjoy it very much,” replied the girl. “Do you like it as well?”
The lady smiled. “A real lady doesn’t play in the woods, little one, but perhaps one day I could come with you, we’ll see...” she replied. Then she drew herself up and walking majestically she went into the palace to meet the servants and see her rooms.
The princess had never seen the woods in the evening, and she would never have believed that the same trees that she climbed by day could become so scary when the sun set.
The branches seemed like monstrous arms ready to grab at her and scratch her face, the large roots were like elongated feet ready to trip her and make her fall, and the sounds of the night creatures sounded like muffled laughter.
Snow White ran with her hands over her ears, without knowing where she was going, without recognizing any of the paths she had taken so many times with her dog. Poor puppy! At the thought that she would never see him again, the girl burst into tears once more. She would never go home again or greet her father when he returned from a long journey to the furthest reaches of the kingdom; she would never again see the maids and the cooks who had been her real family all these years.
Snow White closed her eyes to dismiss these thoughts and stumbled into a large bush, fell to the ground and hid among the leaves. She had never felt so frightened and alone before! She did not move for a long time, and she jumped at every noise, but when at last she felt calmer, she got to her feet and looked about her, trying to decide which way to go. But it was getting dark, there was no moon, and she could see nothing, except perhaps...
“Smoke! There’s a fire down there!” The astonished Snow White set off in the direction of the smoke that she could see in the distance. Moving aside the branches of a large spruce, she saw a small cottage in the middle of a clearing hidden in the depths of the woods. Above it, a column of smoke rose from the chimney and the light of an open fire glowed from the windows.
“I will ask the people inside for shelter,” said Snow White, and then she went up to the door and knocked timidly. “Is there anybody there? Can I come in?” There was no reply, so the girl tried knocking harder and, as she did so, the door, which had not been locked, opened slightly. Snow White bent down to go through the low entrance and went into the cottage, which was empty. “Perhaps I could just wait by the fire until the owner comes back. It would be far better than going back to those bushes in the woods!” she said to herself. She plucked up her courage and closed the little door behind her. She was in a room warmed by a fire, and she stared open-mouthed at what she saw.
Now they only needed one more vote. Long-beard opened his mouth to speak, but the only thing that came out was a sneeze so enormous that it rattled the windows!
“Long-beard, quiet, or you’ll wake her up!”
“To tell you the truth, I’m already awake...” said Snow White, coming out of her hiding place.
“Oh! Good morning, come down, we have to talk,” said Wise, placing the armchair in the middle of the room. “There, sit down. Now first, you need to know that you mustn’t be frightened. We won’t hurt you.”
“Thank you,” replied Snow White looking shyly at the dwarfs before her.
“What’s your name?” asked Long-beard.
“Snow White. I... I’m sorry to have come into your house without asking.”
“And eating our bread...”
“Stop that, Grouchy!” said Young, nudging him.
“Yes, and that too. But I didn’t know where to go. You see, I used to live in a palace beyond the forest, but now... Now I no longer have a home,” concluded Snow White, her eyes bright with tears.
“You can stay here!” said Young.
“WE’VE TALKED ABOUT IT, SNOW WHITE, AND WE’VE DECIDED THAT YOU CAN STAY HERE WITH US AS LONG AS YOU WANT TO,” SAID WISE.
““You can rest here until you find the solution to all your problems,” added Smiley.
“No-one will bother you,” said Bungler. “The forest is a quiet place!”
“During the day we work in the mine. It’s very hard work!” added Snoozy, yawning.
“But it’s also fun,” explained Long-beard, holding his pickax.
“We hack at the rock to get at the precious stones.”
“Which shine like your eyes...”
The summer passed and at last autumn arrived. Snow White did not wake up, but neither did her beauty show any sign of fading. Every morning the dwarfs were astonished to see that her face shone with the same serene smile. So after many months, the dwarfs resigned themselves to their loss and took up their work again.
But one day, when they came home from work, they saw something unexpected! Next to the crystal bed stood a young nobleman. He had been riding when he came upon the clearing, and when he saw Snow White he was dumbstruck.
Tying his horse to an old oak, the young man had approached, and was unable to tear his eyes away from her face.
“Stop there!” shouted Grouchy.
“Don’t you dare touch her!” added Long-beard, threatening him with his pickax.
“I mean her no harm, I assure you,” said the young man, without raising his eyes from the enigmatic smile that had enchanted him.
“I... I know this young woman,” he added. “She’s a princess. I met her at her birthday party, it seems so long ago... and since then I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind!”
“We know. Our Snow White has that effect on people!” Young said with conviction.
“Is she asleep?” asked the prince.
“She has fallen under an evil spell,” explained Wise. “She’s been asleep for months, and there’s no way of waking her.”
“But why is she smiling?” the prince asked.
“I recall a fairytale that I was often told at home when I was a child. It’s a little scary, but it has a happy ending! A woodland fairy wakes the king, who has fallen under the spell of a wicked witch. The spell is broken with a kiss. I was thinking... In this case, the king is a beautiful young woman, and I’m certainly no fairy, but we are in the woods, and it’s worth trying.”
So saying, the prince went up to Snow White and placed a kiss delicately onto her smiling lips. The dwarfs protested, but were astonished to see Snow White move slightly. First, her smile widened a little, then her eyelids fluttered open and at last she turned to look at the prince.
“I know you,” she whispered.
