After a year had passed the King took to himself another wife. She was
a beautiful woman, but proud and haughty, and she could not bear that
anyone else should surpass her in beauty. She had a wonderful
looking-glass, and when she stood in front of it and looked at herself
in it, and said—

“Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall,
Who in this land is the fairest of all?”


the looking-glass answered—

“Thou, O Queen, art the fairest of all!”


Then she was satisfied, for she knew that the looking-glass spoke the
truth. But Snow-white was growing up, and grew more and more beautiful; and
when she was seven years old she was as beautiful as the day, and more
beautiful than the Queen herself. And once when the Queen asked her
looking-glass—

“Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall,
Who in this land is the fairest of all?”


it answered—

“Thou art fairer than all who are here, Lady Queen.”
But more beautiful still is Snow-white, as I ween.”


Then the Queen was shocked, and turned yellow and green with envy. From
that hour, whenever she looked at Snow-white, her heart heaved in her
breast, she hated the girl so much. And envy and pride grew higher and higher in her heart like a weed, so
that she had no peace day or night. She called a huntsman, and said,
“Take the child away into the forest; I will no longer have her in my
sight. Kill her, and bring me back her heart as a token.” The huntsman
obeyed, and took her away; but when he had drawn his knife, and was
about to pierce Snow-white’s innocent heart, she began to weep, and
said, “Ah dear huntsman, leave me my life! I will run away into the
wild forest, and never come home again.”

And as she was so beautiful the huntsman had pity on her and said, “Run
away, then, you poor child.” “The wild beasts will soon have devoured
you,” thought he, and yet it seemed as if a stone had been rolled from
his heart since it was no longer needful for him to kill her. And as a
young boar just then came running by he stabbed it, and cut out its
heart and took it to the Queen as proof that the child was dead. The
cook had to salt this, and the wicked Queen ate it, and thought she had
eaten the heart of Snow-white. But now the poor child was all alone in the great forest, and so
terrified that she looked at every leaf of every tree, and did not know
what to do. Then she began to run, and ran over sharp stones and
through thorns, and the wild beasts ran past her, but did her no harm. She ran as long as her feet would go until it was almost evening; then
she saw a little cottage and went into it to rest herself. Everything
in the cottage was small, but neater and cleaner than can be told. There was a table on which was a white cover, and seven little plates,
and on each plate a little spoon; moreover, there were seven little
knives and forks, and seven little mugs. Against the wall stood seven
little beds side by side, and covered with snow-white counterpanes. Little Snow-white was so hungry and thirsty that she ate some
vegetables and bread from each plate and drank a drop of wine out of
each mug, for she did not wish to take all from one only. Then, as she
was so tired, she laid herself down on one of the little beds, but none
of them suited her; one was too long, another too short, but at last
she found that the seventh one was right, and so she remained in it,
said a prayer and went to sleep. When it was quite dark the owners of the cottage came back; they were
seven dwarfs who dug and delved in the mountains for ore. They lit
their seven candles, and as it was now light within the cottage they
saw that someone had been there, for everything was not in the same
order in which they had left it. The first said, “Who has been sitting on my chair?”

The second, “Who has been eating off my plate?”

The third, “Who has been taking some of my bread?”

The fourth, “Who has been eating my vegetables?”

The fifth, “Who has been using my fork?”

The sixth, “Who has been cutting with my knife?”

The seventh, “Who has been drinking out of my mug?”

Then the first looked round and saw that there was a little hole on his
bed, and he said, “Who has been getting into my bed?” The others came
up and each called out, “Somebody has been lying in my bed too.” But
the seventh when he looked at his bed saw little Snow-white, who was
lying asleep therein. And he called the others, who came running up,
and they cried out with astonishment, and brought their seven little
candles and let the light fall on little Snow-white. “Oh, heavens! oh,
heavens!” cried they, “what a lovely child!” and they were so glad that
they did not wake her up, but let her sleep on in the bed. And the
seventh dwarf slept with his companions, one hour with each, and so got
through the night. When it was morning little Snow-white awoke, and was frightened when
she saw the seven dwarfs. But they were friendly and asked her what her
name was. “My name is Snow-white,” she answered. “How have you come to
our house?” said the dwarfs. Then she told them that her step-mother
had wished to have her killed, but that the huntsman had spared her
life, and that she had run for the whole day, until at last she had
found their dwelling. The dwarfs said, “If you will take care of our
house, cook, make the beds, wash, sew, and knit, and if you will keep
everything neat and clean, you can stay with us and you shall want for
nothing.” “Yes,” said Snow-white, “with all my heart,” and she stayed
with them. She kept the house in order for them; in the mornings they
went to the mountains and looked for copper and gold, in the evenings
they came back, and then their supper had to be ready. The girl was
alone the whole day, so the good dwarfs warned her and said, “Beware of
your step-mother, she will soon know that you are here; be sure to let
no one come in.”

But the Queen, believing that she had eaten Snow-white’s heart, could
not but think that she was again the first and most beautiful of all;
and she went to her looking-glass and said—

“Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall,
Who in this land is the fairest of all?”


and the glass answered—

“Oh, Queen, thou art fairest of all I see,
But over the hills, where the seven dwarfs dwell,
Snow-white is still alive and well,
And none is so fair as she.”


Then she was astounded, for she knew that the looking-glass never spoke
falsely, and she knew that the huntsman had betrayed her, and that
little Snow-white was still alive. And so she thought and thought again how she might kill her, for so
long as she was not the fairest in the whole land, envy let her have no
rest. And when she had at last thought of something to do, she painted
her face, and dressed herself like an old peddler-woman, and no one
could have known her.