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Once upon a time

, as a queen sits sewing at her window, she pricks her finger on her needle and a drop of blood falls on the snow that had fallen on her ebony window frame.As she looks at the blood on the snow, she says to herself, "Oh, how I wish that I had adaughter that had skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony". Soonafter that, the queen gives birth to a baby girl who has skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony." They name her Princess Snow White. As soon as thechild is born, the queen dies.Soon after, the new king takes a newwife, who is beautiful but very vain. The queen possesses a magical mirror that answers any question, to whom she often asks: "Mirror,mirror on the wall, who in the land is fairest of all?" to which the mirror always replies"You, my queen, are fairest of all." But when Snow White reaches the age of seven, she becomes as beautiful as the day, and when the queen asks her mirror, it responds: "Queen,you are full fair, 'tis true, but Snow White is fairer than you." Though in another version,the mirror simply replies: "Snow White is the fairest of them all."The queen becomes jealous, and orders a huntsman to take Snow White into thewoodsto be killed. She demands that the huntsman return with Snow White's heart as proof of her killing. The huntsman takes Snow White into the forest, but after raising his knife to stabher, he finds himself unable to kill her. Instead, he lets her go, telling her to flee and hide,and brings the queen the heart of a young deer, which is then prepared by the cook andeaten by the queen.In the forest, Snow White discovers a tiny cottage belonging to seven dwarfs, where sherests. There, the dwarfs take pity on her, saying "If you will keep house for us, and cook,make beds, wash, sew, and knit, and keep everything clean and orderly, then you can staywith us, and you shall have everything that you want." They warn her to take care and letno one in when they are away delving in the mountains. Meanwhile, the Queen asks her mirror once again

"Who's the fairest of them all?"

, and is horrified to learn that SnowWhite is not only alive and well and living with the dwarfs, but is still the fairest of themall.Three timesthe Queen disguises herself and visits the dwarfs' cottage while they areaway during the day, trying to kill Snow White. First, disguised as a peddler, the Queenoffers colorful stay-laces and laces Snow White up so tight that she fainted, causing theQueen to leave her for dead. Snow White is revived by the dwarfs, however, when theyloosen the laces. Next, the Queen dresses as a different old woman and brushes SnowWhite's hair with a poisoned comb. Snow White again collapses, but again is saved bythe dwarfs. Finally, the Queen makes a poisoned apple, and in the disguise of a farmer'swife, offers it to Snow White. When she is hesitant to accept it, the Queen cuts the applein half, eats the white part and gives the poisoned red part to Snow White. She eats theapple eagerly and immediately falls into a deep stupor. When the dwarfs find her, theycannot revive her, and they place her in a glass coffin, assuming that she is dead.Time passes, and a prince traveling through the land sees Snow White. He strides to her coffin. The prince is enchanted by her beauty and instantly falls in love with her. He begs

the dwarfs to let him have the coffin. The prince's servants carry the coffin away. Whiledoing so, they stumble on some bushes and the movement causes the piece of poisonedapple to dislodge from Snow White's throat, awakening her. The prince then declares hislove for her and soon a wedding is planned.The vain Queen, still believing that Snow White is dead, once again asks her mirror whois the fairest in the land, and yet again the mirror disappoints her by responding that"You, my queen, are fair; it is true. But the young queen is a thousand times fairer thanyou." Not knowing that this new queen was indeed her stepdaughter, she arrives at thewedding, and her heart fills with the deepest of dread when she realizes the truth.As punishment for her wicked ways, a pair of heated iron shoes are brought forth withtongs and placed before the Queen. She is then forced to step into the iron shoes anddance until she falls down dead.In their first edition, theBrothers Grimm published the version they had first collected, in which the villain of the piece is Snow White's jealous

mother

. In a version sent to another folklorist prior the first edition, additionally, she does not order a servant to bring her tothe woods, but brings her there herself to gather flowers and abandons her herself; in thefirst edition, this task was transferred to a servant.

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It is believed that the change to astepmother in later editions was to tone down the story for children.

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Snow White's triple seeming-death and resurrection, beyond an amusement or wish-fulfillingtemporary escape, fulfills the initiatoryprocess of life, as Mircea Eliade described it: "What is called 'initiation' coexists with the human condition, reaffirms theultimate religious significance of life and the real possibility of a 'happy ending'".

[5]

Maria Tatar interprets the tale

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as a polarization of women into the evil and active versusthe innocent, passive and domestic.The story of Snow White may have been intertwined with those of some historicalfigures. Scholars have uncovered parallels between the legendary Snow White andMargarete von Waldeck (1533-1554). Like Snow White, Margarete was a strikinglyattractive young woman. Like Snow White she had a problematic relationship with her stepmother. She grew up in the mining town of Waldeck where small children known as dwarfs worked in the mines. At 16, Margarete moved toBrussels. There, she attracted theromantic interest of several nobles, including Phillip II of Spain. Phillip II hoped to marryher because she was beautiful, but she became ill as a result of poisoning. Ruthless politics were a part of medieval court, where marriage to a powerful personage was oftenviewed as a way for a clan to gain allies to the detriment of rivals. Margarete died at theage of 21. The handwriting of her will, written shortly before her death, shows evidenceof tremor. The perpetrator was never exposed but it could not have been her stepmother,who was already dead at the time. The poignant tale of a beautiful young woman whose