And now for a read aloud of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
There once was a queen who was very beautiful, but she was very vain.
She could not bear to think that anyone might be more beautiful than she.
The queen had a magic mirror, and she would look into it and say:
“Mirror, mirror on the wall,Who is fairest of us all?”
And the mirror would answer:“You, Queen, are the fairest of us all.”And she was satisfied,
for she knew the mirror spoke the truth.
The queen’s stepdaughter was a darling little girl named Snow White.
As Snow White grew up, she grew prettier and prettier, and when she was seven years old,
she was more beautiful than the queen herself.
So one day, when the queen went to her mirror and asked:
“Mirror, mirror on the wall,Who is fairest of us all?”
The mirror answered:
"Though you are fair, O Queen, ‘tis true, Snow White is fairer still than you.”
When the queen heard this, she turned green with jealousy, and from that moment her heart
turned against Snow White.
Envy grew in her like weeds, until one day she called for a huntsman, and said, “Take
the child into the woods and away from my kingdom.”
The huntsman took the child into the forest, but he took pity on Snow White and told her
to run away.
As the huntsman galloped away, poor Snow White found herself alone in the woods.
She felt afraid and ran as long as her feet would carry her, until at last, as evening
fell, she came upon a little house deep in the woods.
She went inside to rest.
Inside the house everything was very small, but as neat and clean as possible.
By the wall stood seven little beds, side by side, covered with clean white quilts.
Nearby stood a little table, covered with a white cloth and set with seven little plates,
seven knives and forks, and seven little drinking cups.
Snow White was very hungry, but she didn’t want to eat anyone’s whole meal, so she
took a little porridge and bread from each plate, and a little sip from each cup.
After that, she felt so tired that she lay down on one of the beds and fell asleep.
When it was quite dark, the owners of the little house came home.
They were seven dwarfs, who worked every day in the mountains, digging with their picks
and shovels for gold.
When they had lighted their seven candles, they saw that everything in the house was
not the same as they had left it.
They looked around and saw Snow White lying asleep in a bed.
They all came running up with their candles, and said, “Oh, goodness gracious!”
She was sleeping so peacefully that they did not wake her.
The next morning, Snow White woke and saw the seven dwarfs.
They seemed quite friendly, so she told them how the queen had made her leave the kingdom,
and how she had run the whole day long, until at last she had found their little house.
Then the dwarfs said, “If you will keep house for us, you may stay with us, and we
will make sure you have everything you need.”
Every morning, the dwarfs went to the mountain to dig for gold.
When the dwarfs were away during the day, Snow White was alone in the house.
The dwarfs warned her, saying, “Don’t let anyone in the house!
Beware of the queen, for she may find out you are here.”
And indeed, one day the queen went to her mirror and said:
“Mirror, mirror on the wall,Who is fairest of us all?”And the mirror answered:“O
Queen, you are of beauty rare, But Snow White living in the glen With the seven little men
Is a thousand times more fair.”
The queen gasped.
She knew the mirror spoke the truth, and that Snow White must be still in the kingdom.
She thought of a plan to get rid of Snow White.
She went to a dark and secret room, and there she made a poisonous apple.
It was so big, beautiful, and red that anyone who saw it would long for it, but whoeverate
even a piece of it would sleep forever.
Then the queen made herself look like a peddler, and went across the seven mountains to the
home of the seven dwarfs.
When she knocked at the door, Snow White put her head out the window and said, “I dare
not let anyone in.
The seven dwarfs told me not to.”
“All right, I’ll go,” said the old woman.
“But here, let me give you one of my apples.”
“No,” said Snow White, “I’m not supposed to take anything.”
“Goodness, child, you act like the apples are poisoned!” said the old woman.
“Look here, I’ll take a bite of this apple myself, all right?”
But the wicked queen had thought of everything: When shemade the poisonous apple, she put
the poison only in one side—the side that she now held out facing toward Snow White.
Snow White looked at the lovely apple and wanted it so much that when she saw the old
woman take a bite of the other side—the side without the poison—Snow White could
not resist.
She stepped outside, took the apple, bit the poisonous part of the apple, and fell down
as if she would never get up again.
When the queen went home, she rushed to her mirror and
asked: “Mirror, mirror on the wall,Who is fairest
of us all?”And the mirror answered:“You are now the fairest of all.”
The dwarfs came home and found Snow White lying there, asif dead.
They lifted her up and looked for some way to help her, but they found nothing, and nothing
they did helped the child.
And they sat around her, all seven of them, and wept.
They loved her so much that for many years Snow White lay in the dwarfs’ home.
All the while she never changed, but looked as if she were asleep, with skin as white
as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony.
Then one day a prince was riding through the woods.
He stopped at the dwarfs’ house.
From there he could see the beautiful Snow White.
She was so beautiful that he felt he had to kiss her.
As the prince gently lifted Snow White, a piece of poison apple came out of Snow White’s
throat!
Snow White sat up and cried, “Oh!
What happened?”
The prince, full of joy, said, “You were in a deep sleep.
I am the prince, and I love you more than anything in the world.
Come with me to my father’s castle and be my bride.”
A splendid wedding was held for the prince and Snow White.
Snow White’s wicked stepmother, the queen, was invited to the wedding.
When she had dressed herself in beautiful clothes, she went to her mirror and asked:
“Mirror, mirror on the wall,Who is fairest of us all?”And the mirror answered:“Though
you are fair, O Queen, ’tis true, The new bride is fairer still than you.”
The queen screamed with anger.
First she thought she would not go to the wedding.
Then she thought she had to go and see the new bride.
And when she saw the new bride, she recognized her as Snow White, and she was filled with
a terrible rage.
In a wild fury, she screamed and stomped her feet and jumped up and down, as though she
were wearing red-hot shoes, and ran away and never came back.
She never caused Snow White trouble again.
And Snow White and the prince lived happily ever after.
The end.