Once upon a time in mid winter, when the snowflakes were falling like feathers from heaven, a beautiful queen sat sewing at her window, which had a frame of black ebony wood. As she sewed, she looked up at the snow and pricked her finger with her needle. Three drops of blood fell into the snow. The red on the white looked so beautiful, that she thought, "If only I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as this frame." Soon afterward she had a little daughter and therefore they called her Little Snow-White.

Now the queen was the most beautiful woman in all the land, and very proud of her beauty. She had a mirror, which she stood in front of every morning, and asked:

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who in this land is fairest of all?” And the mirror always said: “You, my queen, are fairest of all.”

Now Snow-White grew up, and when she was seven years old, she was so beautiful, that she surpassed even the queen herself. Now when the queen asked her mirror:

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who in this land is fairest of all?” The mirror said: “You, my queen, are fair; it is true. But Little Snow-
White is still a thousand times fairer than you.”

When the queen heard the mirror say this, she became pale with envy, and from that hour on, she hated Snow-White. Whenever she looked at her, she thought that Snow-White was to blame that she was no longer the most beautiful woman in the world. This turned her heart around. Her jealousy gave her no peace. Finally she summoned a huntsman and said to him, "Take Snow-White out into the woods to a remote spot, and stab her to death.”

The huntsman took Snow-White into the woods. When he took out his hunting knife to stab her, she began to cry, and begged fervently tha the might spare her life, promising to run away into the woods and never return. The huntsman took pity on her and he thought, "I'm glad that I don't have to kill her." Just then a young boar came running by. He killed it, cut out its lungs and liver, and took them back to the queen as proof of Snow-White's death.

Snow-White was now all alone in the great forest. She was terribly afraid, and began to run. She ran over sharp stones and through thorns the entire day. Finally, just as the sun was about to set, she came to a little house. The house belonged to seven dwarfs. They were working in a mine, and not at home. Snow-White went inside and found everything to be small, but neat and orderly. There was a little table with seven little plates, seven little spoons, seven little knives and forks, seven little mugs, and against the wall there were seven little beds, all freshly made.

Snow-White wanted to lie down and go to sleep. She tried each of the seven little beds, one after the other, but none felt right until she came to the seventh one, and she lay down in it and fell asleep.

When night came, the seven dwarfs returned home from the work. They lit their seven little candles, and saw that someone had been in their house.

When Snow-White woke up, they asked her who she was and how she had found her way to their house. She told them how her mother had tried to kill her, how the huntsman had spared her life, how she had run the entire day, finally coming to their house. The dwarfs pitied her and said, "If you will keep house for us, and cook, sew, make beds, wash, and knit, and keep everything clean and orderly, then you can stay here. Watch out for the queen, and do not let anyone in."

The queen thought that she was again the most beautiful woman in the land, and the next morning she stepped before the mirror and asked:

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who in this land is fairest of all?” The mirror answered once again: “You, my queen, are fair; it is true. But
Little Snow-White beyond the seven mountains is a thousand times fairer than you.”

It startled the queen to hear this, and she knew that she had been deceived, that the huntsman had not killed Snow-White.

"Snow-White will die, if it costs me my life!" She made a poisoned apple. Then she disguised herself as a peasant woman, went to the dwarfs' house and knocked on the door.

Snow-White bit into the apple, but she barely had the bite in her mouth when she fell to the ground dead.

The queen was happy, went home, and asked her mirror: “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, Who in this land is fairest of all?” And it answered: “You, my queen, are fairest of all.”

"Now I'll have some peace," she said, "because once again I'm the most beautiful woman in the land. Snow-White will remain dead this time."

That evening the dwarfs returned home from the mines. Snow-White was lying on the floor, and she was dead. They had a glass coffin made for her, and laid her inside, so that she could be seen easily. They wrote her name and her ancestry on it in gold letters, and one of them always stayed at home and kept watch over her.

One day a young prince came to the dwarfs' house and wanted shelter for the night. When he came into their parlor and saw Snow-White lying here in a glass coffin, illuminated so beautifully by seven little candles, he could not get enough of her beauty.

The prince had it carried to his castle and in so doing the terrible piece of apple that she had bitten off came out of her throat, and
Snow-White came back to life.

She walked up to the prince, who was beside himself with joy to see his beloved Snow-White alive.