In the middle of winter, white snowflakes fell from the sky like feathers. A Queen sat working at a window with a frame made of black wood. As she looked out at the snow, she pricked her finger with her needle, and three drops of red blood fell on the white snow. She thought to herself, "I wish I had a daughter with skin as white as snow, cheeks as red as blood, and hair as black as this window frame."
Soon after, she had a little girl. The child’s skin was white, her cheeks were rosy, and her hair was black. They named her Snowdrop. However, the Queen died, and a year later the King married a new wife. This Queen was very beautiful, but she was also very proud and vain. She could not stand the idea that anyone was more beautiful than she was.
She had a magic mirror. Every day, she looked into it and asked:
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?"
And the mirror always answered, "You, my Queen, are the fairest in the land."
But as Snowdrop grew up, she became more and more beautiful. When she was seven years old, she was as bright as the day. One day, the Queen asked her mirror the usual question, but it replied:
"You, my Queen, are fair to see,
But Snowdrop is lovelier far than thee!"
The Queen turned pale with anger. She called a servant and said, "Take Snowdrop into the forest. I never want to see her again!" The servant led the girl away, but he felt sorry for her. He could not kill her, so he left her alone in the woods.
Snowdrop wandered through the forest in fear. In the evening, she reached a tiny cottage among the hills. She went inside to rest. Everything inside was small and very clean. There was a table with seven little plates, seven little spoons, and seven little cups. Against the wall stood seven little beds. Snowdrop was very hungry, so she ate a little food from each plate and drank a little from each cup. Then, she tried the beds. The seventh bed was perfect, so she fell asleep.
The masters of the cottage were seven dwarfs who dug for gold in the mountains. When they returned and lit their lamps, they saw that someone had been there.
"Who has been sitting on my chair?" asked the first.
"Who has been eating from my plate?" asked the second.
Finally, they reached the seventh bed and found Snowdrop. "Good heavens!" they cried. "What a beautiful child!" They didn't wake her, and in the morning, Snowdrop told them her story. The dwarfs felt sorry for her and said, "If you cook, wash, and keep the house for us, you can stay. But be careful! Do not let anyone in while we are at work."
Back at the palace, the Queen asked her mirror who was the fairest. The mirror answered:
"Beyond the hills, where the dwarfs dwell,
Snowdrop is alive and well.
And she is still, O Queen, I say,
The fairest in the land today."
The Queen was furious. She dressed herself as an old seller and went to the dwarfs' cottage. She offered Snowdrop some beautiful laces for her dress. Snowdrop opened the door, and the Queen pulled the laces so tight that Snowdrop could not breathe. She fell to the floor, appearing dead.
When the dwarfs came home, they found her. They quickly cut the laces, and Snowdrop began to breathe again. They warned her once more to be careful.
The Queen returned home and asked her mirror again. When she heard that Snowdrop was still alive, she was shaking with rage. She made a poisoned comb and returned to the cottage. This time, as soon as the comb touched Snowdrop’s hair, the girl fainted. Again, the dwarfs returned just in time to pull the comb out and save her.
Finally, the Queen made a poisoned apple. One side was red and the other was white. The red side was full of poison. She went to the cottage dressed as a farmer’s wife. Snowdrop looked out the window and said, "I cannot let you in."
"Are you afraid of poison?" the woman laughed. "Look, I will eat the white half, and you eat the red half."
Snowdrop saw the woman eating and thought it was safe. She took a bite of the red side and immediately fell dead. This time, when the Queen asked her mirror, it replied: "You, my Queen, are the fairest of all."
When the dwarfs found Snowdrop, they could not wake her. They were so sad that they cried for three days. Because she still looked as beautiful as a living person, they could not bury her in the dark ground. They built a coffin of glass and gold and placed it on a mountain.
Snowdrop lay there for a long time. One day, a Prince arrived. He saw the beautiful girl and fell in love with her. He asked the dwarfs, "Please, let me take her to my palace. I will honor her forever." The dwarfs saw his love and agreed.
As the Prince’s servants carried the coffin away, they tripped over a bush. The movement caused the piece of poisoned apple to fall out of Snowdrop’s throat. She opened her eyes and asked, "Where am I?"
"You are safe with me," the Prince said happily. He told her everything and asked her to marry him.
Snowdrop agreed. They invited everyone to the wedding, including the evil Queen. When the Queen asked her mirror who was the fairest, it told her that the new young Queen was the loveliest in the land. When she arrived at the wedding and saw Snowdrop, she was so filled with rage and fear that she choked and died. Snowdrop and the Prince lived happily for many years, and they often visited the kind dwarfs in the mountains.