A year later the king took another wife. She was a lovely woman, but she was proudhearted and haughty, and could not bear anyone being more beautiful than herself. She had a wondrous mirror, and when she approached and admired herself in the reflection, she said,
“Little mirror, little mirror, hanging on my wall,
Tell me, won’t you, who in the land is the loveliest of all?”
To which the mirror promptly replied,
“Your majesty, you are the loveliest in the land.”
The queen was happy to hear it, since she knew that the mirror spoke the truth.
But Snow White grew lovelier day by day, and when she turned seven she was lovelier than the dawn and lovelier even than the queen.
And when, as she was wont, the queen once again inquired of her mirror,
“Little mirror, little mirror, hanging on my wall,
Tell me, won’t you, who in the land is the loveliest of all?”
The mirror replied,
“Your majesty, you are the loveliest here, it’s true,
But Snow White is a thousand times lovelier than you.”
Whereupon the queen turned yellow and green with envy. From then on her heart sank to her stomach whenever she set eyes on Snow White – she hated the girl. Envy and haughtiness grew like weeds in the garden of her heart, for day and night she could think of nothing else. So she called for a hunter and said to him, “Take that child to the deepest wood. I don’t want to see her again. You must kill her and bring me back her lungs and liver as proof.”
The hunter did as he was told and led the girl into the deepest wood, and as he drew his hunting knife to pierce her innocent heart, Snow White started crying and said, “Dear hunter, let me live. I’ll run into the heart of the forest and never come out again.”
And as the girl was so lovely, the hunter took pity and said, “Run then, you poor child!” The wild animals will soon tear you to shreds, he thought, but still, it was as if a stone fell from his heart, because he did not have to kill her. And when a baby boar came leaping by, he killed it, cut out its lungs and liver, and brought these as proof to the queen. She bid the cook salt and sauté them, and the evil wench devoured them, believing they were the lungs and liver of Snow White.
Now the poor child found herself all alone in the deep dark woods, and seeing all the leaves trembling on the trees, felt so afraid that she didn’t know what to do. So she started running and ran over the sharp pointed stones and through the thorns, and wild animals leapt past her, but they did her no harm. She kept on running as long as her feet held out, until it grew dark, and there before her she saw a little house and went inside to rest.
In this little house everything was small, but so dainty and tidy she could not believe her eyes. There was a little table bedecked with a white tablecloth and seven little plates, each plate with its own little spoon, as well as seven little knives and forks and goblets. Against the wall, seven little beds stood one beside another, all covered with snow-white bedspreads. Because she was so hungry and so thirsty, Snow White nibbled a little greens and a little bread from each plate and drank a drop of wine from every goblet, for she did not want to take everything from just one. Once she was done eating and drinking, since she was so tired, she lay herself down in a little bed, but none of them quite fit. One was too long, the other was too short, but finally she lay down in the seventh bed and it was just right, and there she lay, commended her soul to God, and fell asleep.
In the dark of night the residents of the little house returned. They were seven dwarfs who dug and hammered for ore in the mountains. They lit their seven little lanterns, and in the flickering light they saw that someone had been there, for things were not quite as they’d left them.
The first one asked, “Who sat in my little chair?”
The second asked, “Who ate from my little plate?”
The third: “Who nibbled at my bread?”
The fourth: “Who sampled my greens?”
The fifth: “Who poked with my little fork?”
The sixth: “Who cut with my little knife?”
And the seventh asked, “Who drank from my little goblet?”
Then the first one looked around, noticed a sag in his bedcover, and said, “Who lay in my little bed?”
The others came running and cried, “Someone lay in my bed too.”
But when the seventh one looked over at his bed and spotted Snow White lying there fast asleep, he called to the others. They all came running over and cried out in amazement, fetched their seven little lanterns, and illuminated the sleeping child. “God in heaven! God in heaven!” they exclaimed. “That child is so lovely!” They were so struck by the sight of her that they didn’t wake her but let her go right on sleeping. The seventh dwarf went from bed to bed, spending an hour sleeping under the covers of each of his comrades, and so the night elapsed.