A LOVE STORY

Schneewittchen, or Snow White as it is called now, was published in the early nineteenth century by the Brothers Grimm as Tale 53. There are many different iterations of the components in this tale, even within the writings of the Brothers Grimm. In this instance, it is a love story. I’ve taken some liberties to truncate this tale and make some minor changes to the storyline. Quotations come from Grimm’s Household Tales, Volume 1, Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm (Margaret Raine Hunt, tr.)

Once upon a time there was a queen who gave had a baby girl named Snow White. But the queen died giving birth to the infant, and Snow White was raised by others in the palace. When Snow White turned a year old, Snow White’s father (the King) remarried, but his wife and new Queen was a witch who practiced magic and who was evil to the core. The new Queen was also very vain, and desired above all else to be the fairest woman in all the realm.

The Queen had a magic mirror which she called a looking glass, and she would say to the looking glass each day:

“’Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall,

Who in this land is the fairest of all?'”

And the looking glass would reply that the Queen was—that is, until Snow White reached her seventh birthday. At that point, the looking glass would reply:

“‘Thou art fairer than all who are here, Lady Queen.

But more beautiful still is Snow-white, as I ween.'”

“…envy and pride grew higher and higher in [the Queen’s] heart like a weed…”
Grimm’s Household Tales, Volume I, Tale 53

As the tale goes, “…envy and pride grew higher and higher in [the Queen’s] heart like a weed, so that she had no peace day or night.” She hired a huntsman to take Snow White deep into the forest and kill her. Then, the huntsman was bidden to return to the Queen with Snow White’s heart, which the Queen believed would bestow eternal life if eaten. But the huntsman took pity on Snow White and let her escape. He saw a wild boar passing by and shot it with an arrow, so he could cut out its heart and take it to the Queen as proof that Snow White was dead.

Snow White wandered through the Wood until she found a cottage where seven dwarfs lived. These dwarfs allowed her to live with them. Meanwhile, the evil Queen (thinking Snow White was dead) asked the looking glass:

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

And the looking glass replied:

“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.”

The evil Queen was enraged! She would kill Snow White herself if she must. So, she took out a hair comb and cast a spell on it. She disguised herself as a peddler, and visited the house where Snow White and the seven dwarfs lived. She fooled Snow White and seduced the young girl into letting her comb the girl’s hair, when suddenly the spell started to take effect, and poor Snow White collapsed on the floor senseless. Hearing the dwarfs return, the Queen slipped into the Wood. When the dwarfs found Snow White, they immediately removed the comb and Snow White was restored to perfect health.

Finally, the Queen poisoned one half of an apple. She disguised herself as an old woman and went to the cottage in the Wood when the dwarfs were away. She bid Snow White to come to the door and offered the poor young girl an apple. Snow White refused the apple.

“’I dare not take anything.’ ‘Are you afraid of poison?’ said the old woman; ‘look, I will cut the apple in two pieces; you eat the red cheek, and I will eat the white.’ The apple was so cunningly made that only the red cheek [of the apple] was poisoned. Snow-White longed for the fine apple, and when she saw that the woman ate part of it, she could resist no longer, and stretched out her hand and took the poisonous half. But hardly had she a bit of it in her mouth than she fell down dead.”

This time the dwarfs could not save her and they wept quite bitterly. Meanwhile, after returning to the palace, the Queen asked her magic looking glass who the fairest woman was, and the looking glass replied:

“Oh, Queen, in this land thou art fairest of all.”

The Queen cackled with delight.

The dwarfs could not immediately bury her because of their sadness, so they built a glass coffin to enclose Snow White’s body. According to the legend, “They put the coffin out upon the mountain, and one of them always stayed by it and watched it. And birds came too, and wept for Snow-white; first an owl, then a raven, and last a dove.”

By chance, a passing prince saw Snow White and immediately loved her. He intended to honor the girl who appeared to be dead (but who, in truth, only appeared to be dead.) When the coffin was accidentially shattered by the prince’s servants, the prince immediately kissed Snow White and only seconds later, Snow White’s eyes opened as if she was being roused from a deep sleep, caused by the spell. She was alive and everyone (the dwarfs and the animals of the forest rejoiced (but especially the prince.)

The evil Queen met a bitter end of her own. In a short time, the prince took Snow White for his bride, and they rode to a distant land where they lived happily ever after.

There are many similarities to this story that can be found in the Bible. Eve ate fruit which was spiritually poisonous to her and Adam, and a curse fell over the land. Like Snow White, Eve was begiled by the evil one. Jesus, God’s Son and our Prince awakens us from the spell, and will presently take us to a distant land where we will live hasppily ever after with Him.

You can know the happiness that Snow White found by accepting Jesus, our Prince, into your life. He’s handsome, wealthy more than anyone can imagine, gentle and loving, and he’ll take away your pain and tears (Revelation 21:4: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”) He’ll carry you away to His kingdom where you will find peace, joy, and fulfillment forever more.