Snow White
Told by The Brothers GrimmGermanyTale type ATU 709
- Age
- 5 to 10
- Reading time
- 9 minutes
- Scariness
- 3 of 5Real danger, resolved before the end
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The story
One winter a queen sat sewing by a window with a black ebony frame, and she pricked her finger, and three drops of blood fell on the snow outside.
She looked at it for a while and thought: a child with skin that white, lips that red and hair that black.
And she got exactly that, and she died before the year was out.
The King married again the following spring. The new Queen was a beautiful and clever woman who owned a mirror in a heavy frame, and the mirror could not tell a lie.
Every morning she asked it the same question.
"Mirror, mirror, tell me true. Who is the fairest? Is it you?"
"You are the fairest," said the mirror. Every morning. For seven years.
Nobody in that castle ever asked why a woman who was told she was the fairest every single morning needed to hear it again the next day.
Then Snow White turned seven, and grew, and one morning the mirror said something else.
"You are fair, my Queen, that much is true. But Snow White now is fairer than you."
The Queen sent for the huntsman that afternoon.
"Take her into the forest," she said. "As far as you can walk in a day. Do not bring her back."
The huntsman took Snow White out past the last of the fields and into the deep wood, and about an hour in he stopped and could not go any further.
"Run," he said. "Go on. Run and don't come back this way."
"Where do I go?"
"I don't know," said the huntsman. "But not back."
So Snow White ran, and she ran until it got dark, and then she stopped running because there was nowhere left to run to.
In the morning she found a cottage.
It was very small and very tidy and there was nobody in it. There were seven little beds in a row, and seven plates on a table, and seven cups, and she was so tired and so hungry that she ate a little from each plate so as not to take too much from anyone, and then lay down across three of the beds and fell asleep.
The seven who lived there were miners, and they came home at dusk covered in dust with their lamps still lit.
They stood in a row and looked at her for a long time.
"She's asleep in my bed," said the fourth one.
"She's asleep in all our beds," said the first.
They let her sleep. In the morning she told them everything, and they listened all the way to the end without interrupting, which not many people do.
"Right," said the first one. "You can stay. We go out at first light and we're back at dusk, and while we're gone you keep that door shut. Not for anybody."
"Not for anybody," said Snow White.
And she meant it, and she was fine for nearly a fortnight.
Now, the Queen had asked the mirror again, because of course she had, and the mirror had told her the truth, because that was the only thing it could do.
So a pedlar woman came up the path with a pack on her back and pretty laces spread across both arms, and Snow White, who had been alone since first light and had a bodice that had never fitted properly, opened the door.
The laces were pulled so tight she could not breathe, and she went down on the floor, and the woman was gone before she landed.
The dwarfs came home at dusk and cut the laces with a knife, and she sat up gasping.
"Not for anybody," said the first one.
"I know."
A few days later an old woman came with combs. Beautiful ones, carved. Snow White knew, this time, and she opened the door anyway, because a fortnight is a long time and nobody had spoken to her all day.
The comb went into her hair and she dropped where she stood, and the dwarfs pulled it out that evening and she came round on the floor with all seven of them standing over her.
Nobody said anything at all, which was worse.
The third time, the Queen brought an apple.
It was the best apple anybody in that forest had ever seen, and Snow White stood in the doorway and would not take it.
"You think it's poisoned," said the old woman, and she sounded hurt. "Look."
And she cut the apple in half and ate one half herself, standing right there, and held out the other.
Only one half was poisoned. The Queen had thought about this for a long time.
Snow White took it, and the dwarfs came home to find her on the floor with no lace to cut and no comb to pull out, and nothing at all to do.
They could not bury her. That was the thing. They stood in the garden with the spades and none of them could start.
So they built a case of glass instead and set it among the trees on the hillside, and they took turns sitting with it, one of them always there, for a long time.
A king's son came through the forest that spring and saw it and stopped.
He asked to take her with him. He said it badly and he knew it. He said he could not explain it and he would not be able to leave her out here on a hill in a box, and the dwarfs, who had been thinking exactly that for a long time, said yes.
His servants lifted the case to carry it down the hill, and one of them caught his foot on a root, and the case went down hard.
The piece of apple came out of her throat.
Snow White opened her eyes in a glass box in a wood full of people she had never met, which is a great deal to wake up to.
"You dropped me," she said.
"We did," said the prince. "I'm terribly sorry."
They were married in the summer. All seven of the miners came, in clean shirts, and stood at the front and did not sit down once.
And when the Queen heard of it she went to the mirror one last time, and it told her the truth, and she smashed it.
She was sent away that autumn, over the mountains, to a small cold house where there was nothing to look into.
Whether that was the worst thing that could have happened to her, or the only thing that could have saved her, nobody in the story ever agrees.
What is the moral of Snow White?
Someone who keeps asking whether they are good enough will never believe the answer.
The Queen has a mirror that tells the truth and she asks it the same question every single morning. That is the actual illness in this story, and it has nothing to do with Snow White. She was already the fairest for years and it never once made her happy, because the point was never the answer, it was the asking. Snow White, meanwhile, is not clever and does not become clever. She opens the door three times. What she has instead is that people like her enough to keep coming back for her, which the Queen, with all her power, cannot manage even once.
Talk about it
- Snow White is warned three times and opens the door three times. Is she foolish, or is something else going on?
- The Queen has everything she wants. Why do you think she keeps asking the mirror?
- The huntsman lets Snow White go and lies to the Queen about it. Was he right to lie?
- The dwarfs go to work every day and come home to check on her. What does that tell you about them?
- At the end the Queen is sent away rather than punished. Do you think that is fair?
Who is in the story
Snow White
protagonist · human
Sent into a forest to be got rid of, taken in by seven miners, and told three times not to open the door.
- Kind
- 10 out of 10
- Brave
- 6 out of 10
- Clever
- 4 out of 10
- Honest
- 9 out of 10
- Curious
- 8 out of 10
- Patient
- 6 out of 10
The Queen
antagonist · human
Owns a mirror that cannot lie, and asks it the same question every morning for seven years.
- Kind
- 1 out of 10
- Brave
- 6 out of 10
- Clever
- 10 out of 10
- Honest
- 2 out of 10
- Curious
- 8 out of 10
- Patient
- 9 out of 10
The Huntsman
helper · human
Given an order he cannot carry out, and walks an hour into the forest before admitting it to himself.
- Kind
- 9 out of 10
- Brave
- 8 out of 10
- Clever
- 6 out of 10
- Honest
- 4 out of 10
- Curious
- 3 out of 10
- Patient
- 6 out of 10
The Prince
deuteragonist · human
Comes through the forest in spring, sees a glass case among the trees, and asks badly for something he cannot explain.
- Kind
- 9 out of 10
- Brave
- 6 out of 10
- Clever
- 6 out of 10
- Honest
- 10 out of 10
- Curious
- 7 out of 10
- Patient
- 7 out of 10
The Seven Miners
helper · human
Seven miners who come home covered in dust, find a stranger asleep across three of their beds, and let her sleep.
- Kind
- 10 out of 10
- Brave
- 7 out of 10
- Clever
- 7 out of 10
- Honest
- 9 out of 10
- Curious
- 5 out of 10
- Patient
- 9 out of 10
In a nutshell
A queen owns a mirror that cannot lie, and one morning it gives her an answer she does not want. Her stepdaughter is sent into the forest to be got rid of, finds a cottage belonging to seven miners, and is warned three times not to open the door. She opens it three times.
Scene by scene
20 moments from the tale.
- Scene 1The Queen's Mirror Roomquiet and strange
Three drops of blood on the snow
A queen pricks her finger sewing by a black window frame, and wishes for a child with skin that white, lips that red and hair that black.
She wished for a child the colour of what she saw
- Scene 2The Queen's Mirror Roomcool and new
The mirror could not tell a lie
The King marries again in the spring. The new Queen brings very little with her and one heavy thing that is carried in under a sheet and set against the wall.
She arrived with one thing that mattered
- Scene 3The Queen's Mirror Roomunsettling
Mirror, mirror
The Queen asks the mirror the question she has asked every morning for seven years, and this time the answer is different.
The same question, every morning, for seven years
- Scene 4The Queen's Mirror Roomquiet and businesslike
As far as you can walk in a day
The huntsman is sent for that same afternoon and given his instructions in the room with the mirror in it. Nobody raises a voice and nothing is explained.
She gave him a distance, not a reason
- Scene 5The Deep Foreststunned
Run and don't come back this way
The huntsman walks Snow White an hour into the deep wood and finds he cannot go any further.
An hour in, he stopped
- Scene 6The Deep Forestspent
Nowhere left to run to
Snow White runs through the deep wood until the light goes, and then stops, and sits down in the leaf litter with her back against a tree.
She stopped because there was nothing left to run at
- Scene 7The Miners' Cottagecareful
A little from each plate
In the morning she finds a very small, very tidy house with seven of everything in it and nobody home. She eats a little from every plate instead of a whole one from any.
So as not to take too much from anyone
- Scene 8The Miners' Cottagewarm
She's asleep in all our beds
Seven miners come home at dusk covered in dust and find a stranger asleep across three of their beds.
They stood in a row and looked at her
- Scene 9The Miners' Cottagesteady
Without interrupting
In the morning she tells the seven the whole of it from the beginning, and none of them cuts across her, and none of them asks her to prove any part of it.
Nobody said a word until she had finished
- Scene 10The Miners' Cottagesettled
Not for anybody
Over breakfast the miners tell her she can stay, and give her one instruction about the door.
One rule, and she meant it
- Scene 11The Queen's Mirror Roomcold and tidy
Because of course she had
The Queen puts the question to the mirror once more, hears the answer, and then goes quietly to a chest and lifts out a shapeless brown cloak.
It could only ever tell her the truth
- Scene 12The Miners' Cottageuneasy
Pretty laces on both arms
A pedlar woman comes up the path with a heavy pack and bright laces along both arms. Snow White has been on her own since first light, and the bodice has never fitted.
A bodice that had never fitted properly
- Scene 13The Miners' Cottagesheepish
I know
The seven come home at dusk, cut the laces, and get her sitting up against a bed frame. Then one of them says the rule back to her, once.
Two words, and nobody made a speech
- Scene 14The Miners' Cottagelonely
Nobody had spoken to her all day
An old woman comes with carved combs. Snow White knows exactly what is happening, and opens the door regardless.
She knew. She opened it anyway
- Scene 15The Miners' Cottagesilent
Which was worse
She comes round on the floor with the comb pulled out and all seven of them standing over her, and this time not one of them says anything at all.
This time nobody said the rule
- Scene 16The Miners' Cottagechilling
You think it's poisoned
Snow White refuses the apple, so the old woman cuts it in half and eats one half herself, standing right there.
Only one half was poisoned
- Scene 17The Glass Case on the Hillgrief
Seven spades and nobody moving
The miners stand in the garden with spades and none of them can begin, so they build a case of glass instead.
They could not start
- Scene 18The Glass Case on the Hillawkward and kind
He said it badly and he knew it
A king's son comes up through the birches in spring, stops at the case, and asks for something he cannot justify. The one on the stool has been thinking the same thing for months.
He could not explain it, and said so
- Scene 19The Glass Case on the Hillcomic relief
You dropped me
Carrying the case down the hill, a servant catches his foot on a root. The piece of apple comes out of her throat.
A servant tripped, and that was that
- Scene 20The Queen's Mirror Roomfinal
Nothing to look into
Hearing of the wedding, the Queen asks the mirror one final time, receives the truth, and smashes it.
She asked one last time
Where it happens
The Deep Forest
forest
An hour past the last of the fields, and then a good deal further.
The Glass Case on the Hill
hillside
Among the trees on the hillside, where one of them was always sitting.
The Miners' Cottage
cottage
Very small, very tidy, seven of everything.
The Queen's Mirror Room
room
A cold room in a castle with one heavy mirror in it and very little else.
How they are connected
The QueenSnow Whiteenemy
One of them thinks about the other constantly. It is not the one you would expect.
Snow WhiteThe Seven Minersfamily
One rule, broken three times, and they come back for her every time.
The HuntsmanSnow Whiterescuer
He is sent to get rid of her and instead tells her to run, then goes home and lies about it.
The PrinceSnow Whitefriend
He asks to take her home, drops her down a hill, and that is what saves her.
Things you might not know
The Brothers Grimm never gave the seven miners names. Every set of names you have heard was invented later, by playwrights and storytellers who wanted to tell them apart.
There is no kiss in the Grimms' version. Snow White wakes because a servant trips carrying the glass case and the piece of apple is jolted out of her throat. The kiss was added much later.
In the Grimms' first edition it was Snow White's own mother who wanted her dead. Wilhelm changed her to a stepmother in a later edition, exactly as he did in Hansel and Gretel.
The Queen visits three times: laces, a comb, and an apple. Most modern retellings quietly cut one or two, because three visits make Snow White look careless. The Grimms kept all three on purpose.
The apple trick only works because the Queen poisons one half. She eats the safe half standing in the doorway. It is the single cleverest thing any Grimm villain does.
Folklorists file this as ATU 709, and versions have been recorded across Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. In the Armenian version a mother consults the moon rather than a mirror.
Some scholars have connected the tale to Margarete von Waldeck, a sixteenth-century German countess whose family owned copper mines worked by children. The link is disputed but the mines were real.
The Grimms' ending is far harsher: the Queen is made to dance in red-hot iron shoes until she dies. Almost every modern version changes it, and so have we.
What things stand for
- The mirror
- Not magic so much as a habit. It only answers what it is asked, and the Queen asks the same thing every day.
- The three visits
- Laces, a comb, an apple. Each one is something Snow White already wanted, offered by someone who worked out what she was missing.
- The apple
- Half poisoned and half not, so it can be shared. The trick only works because the Queen eats some first.
- The glass case
- The dwarfs cannot bear to bury her, so they make something that lets them keep looking. Grief, made out of glass.
- Snow, blood and ebony
- White, red and black. The three colours are named in the very first paragraph and the whole story keeps returning to them.
The same story elsewhere
Folk tales are not owned by whoever wrote them down first.
Sun, Moon and Talia
Italy, 1634
Basile's earlier tale shares the sleeping-death and the waking, though the details are much darker and it is closer to Sleeping Beauty.
Myrsina
Greece, traditional
The heroine is driven out by jealous sisters rather than a stepmother, and is taken in by twelve months of the year rather than seven miners.
Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree
Scotland, 1892
Collected by Joseph Jacobs. A mother rather than a stepmother, a poisoned thorn rather than an apple, and the heroine's rival wife saves her.
Nourie Hadig
Armenia, traditional
A mother consults the moon rather than a mirror, and the girl is taken in by a household of forty thieves.
Where you might already know it from
Most children meet a screen version first. Here is what those changed.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
other, Jessie Braham White, 1912
A play staged on Broadway. It was the first version to give each of the seven dwarfs his own name, something the Grimms never did.
Schneewittchen
other, Engelbert Humperdinck, words by Adelheid Wette, 1888
A little play with songs that the brother and sister wrote together a few years before their famous Hansel and Gretel. Only four of its songs survive.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
book, Wanda Gag, 1938
A fresh translation of the Grimm tale, illustrated by the translator herself. It was named a Caldecott Honor Book.
Questions parents ask
- What is the moral of Snow White?
- Someone who keeps asking whether they are good enough will never believe the answer.
- What is Snow White about?
- A queen owns a mirror that cannot lie, and one morning it gives her an answer she does not want. Her stepdaughter is sent into the forest to be got rid of, finds a cottage belonging to seven miners, and is warned three times not to open the door. She opens it three times.
- What age is Snow White for?
- Snow White suits ages 5-10.
- How long does Snow White take to read?
- About 9 minutes read aloud.
- Where does Snow White come from?
- Snow White is a traditional tale from Germany.
Sing it
Every story here has its own song. This one is uneasy, then warm, about 88 beats a minute.
Who Is The Fairest
acoustic folk waltz
There is no recording yet. The words are here so you can sing it yourself.
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