Hey there, tiktakers! Did you miss fairy tales? Well, today we'll talk about Snow White, a
character popularized all around the world thanks to the 1937 Disney movie, which also
inaugurated the company's list of classic animations. They say that when Walt Disney
himself was looking for a story for his first film he remembered that the first time he
went to a movie theater, when he was 15 years old, was precisely to watch an adaptation
of "Snow White".
This Disney movie is based on the story written in 1812 by the Grimm brothers, two German
authors who dedicated their work to recovering and publishing popular tales. And, as you
may know from other Grimm brothers' fables we've shared in this channel, those tales
were originally very dark and macabre, and had to be toned down when they were adapted.
This also happened with "Snow White", where the original tale, which we will now share
with you, is very different to Disney's adaptation.
Once upon a time there was a benevolent queen who, walking around the palace's garden in
winter, pricked her finger with the thorn of a red rose, and let three drops of blood
fall on the snow. This made her want to have a daughter with skin as white as the snow,
with lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony. Her wish came true, and she gave
birth to a princess who she and her husband named Snow White.
Unfortunately the queen fell ill, and died shortly after giving birth. Later on the king
married another beautiful woman, becoming Snow White's stepmother. That woman was a
very powerful sorceress, who was also selfish, evil and big-headed. She owned a magic mirror,
and every day she would ask it who was the most beautiful woman in the kingdom. The mirror
would always answer that it was her, without a doubt.
When Snow White grew up, and turned 17, she turned into a very beautiful woman. Her evil
stepmother kept asking her mirror who was the most beautiful in the kingdom, until,
one day, it said. "My queen is filled with beauty, but princess Snow White is now one
thousand times more beautiful". The queen, in a fit of jealous rage, ordered a hunter
to kill her stepdaughter in the forest. And to make sure he did, he had to bring her Snow
White's heart, liver, and lungs.
However, the hunter could not bear to kill her, and so he let her escape, bringing the
queen the heart of a young deer, which was then prepared by the royal cook and devoured
by the evil sorceress. Meanwhile, Snow White discovered a small house in the middle of
the forest, which belonged to seven dwarfs, and she let herself in to rest. When the dwarfs
came back to their house and saw her, they made an agreement with her: They would let
her stay so long as she kept the house clean, cooked, made their beds, and washed and sewed
their clothes.
They also warned her that she could not let anybody else in the house while they were
working in the mountain mines. Meanwhile, the queen was horrified to learn through her
mirror that Snow White was still alive, and was still the most beautiful in the kingdom.
Thus, she decided to create different disguises to trick her, and try to kill her herself.
The first time she approached Snow White, she was dressed as a seller of jewelry and
trinkets, and offered her a colorful neck strap. When Snow White tried it on, the stepmother
tightened it so hard that Snow White passed out due to asphyxiation, and so the queen
thought she had successfully killed her. However, once the dwarfs came back and found her unconscious,
they took out the neck strap and she woke up.
The queen came back a second time, disguised as a seller of combs, offering Snow White
one that was poisoned. She refused to use it, but the sorceress managed to stab her
head with the comb, and the princess once again fell unconscious. When the dwarfs got
back home they realized the comb didn't actually stab Snow White's head, and only chafed it.
Once they removed the comb, the princess woke up once more.
For her last attempt, the evil queen prepared a poisoned apple, disguised herself as an
old lady, and offered it to Snow White. She would not accept it, so the queen cut it in
half and ate the non-poisoned part of it, giving her the one that was poisoned. The
young princess bit the apple, and immediately fell into a deep slumber. This time around
the dwarfs could not wake her up, but given that she was still very beautiful, they decided
to put her inside of a crystal coffin so they could keep admiring her.
Some time later a prince that was crossing through the kingdom passed by the dwarfs'
house, and when he saw Snow White he immediately fell for her. With the dwarfs permission,
he ordered his servants to take her to his castle. However, on the way there they tripped,
and the coffin holding Snow White fell to the ground, making her spit the bit of poisoned
apple stuck in her throat, and she woke up. The prince declared his love for her, and
the couple decided to get engaged, and celebrate their wedding.
Meanwhile, the evil queen learned through her mirror that there was once again someone
more beautiful than her – a young princess about to get married. Without knowing who
it was, the queen decided to assist the ceremony after being invited. However, once she discovered
it was her stepdaughter Snow White, she got scared and tried to leave unnoticed.
But, Snow White recognized her and rushed to tell the prince all the damage she had
done to her. As a punishment, the prince ordered to forge a pair of iron shoes, heated them
red-hot, and forced the evil stepmother to put them on, and dance non-stop until she
dropped dead.
As you can see, Disney decided to change or omit the darkest details of the story and
give the queen a different ending: In her last confrontation with the dwarfs she dies
accidentally, crushed by a rock. Disney also added some other elements inspired by other
tales, such as Snow White wearing rags and being exploited by her stepmother, just like
"Cinderella". Or the fact that she wakes up with the loving kiss of the prince, just like
"The Sleeping Beauty".
Times change, and with them so do classic fables, which become less cruel but keep the
same morals. And in Snow White's story, the moral is that envy only leads to isolation
and self-destruction. And what about you tiktakers? Which version of the story do you prefer?