It was the middle of winter, when the broad flakes of snow were fallingaround, that the queen of a country many thousand miles off sat workingat her window. The frame of the window was made of fine black ebony, andas she sat looking out upon the snow, she pricked her finger, and threedrops of blood fell upon it. Then she gazed thoughtfully upon the reddrops that sprinkled the white snow, and said, 'Would that my littledaughter may be as white as that snow, as red as that blood, and asblack as this ebony windowframe!' And so the little girl really did growup; her skin was as white as snow, her cheeks as rosy as the blood, andher hair as black as ebony; and she was called Snowdrop.

But this queen died; and the king soon married another wife, who becamequeen, and was very beautiful, but so vain that she could not bearto think that anyone could be handsomer than she was. She had a fairylooking-glass, to which she used to go, and then she would gaze uponherself in it, and say:

'Tell me, glass, tell me true! Of all the ladies in the land, Who is fairest, tell me, who?'

And the glass had always answered:

'Thou, queen, art the fairest in all the land.'

But Snowdrop grew more and more beautiful; and when she was seven yearsold she was as bright as the day, and fairer than the queen herself.Then the glass one day answered the queen, when she went to look in itas usual:

'Thou, queen, art fair, and beauteous to see, But Snowdrop is lovelier far than thee!'

When she heard this she turned pale with rage and envy, and called toone of her servants, and said, 'Take Snowdrop away into the wide wood,that I may never see her any more.' Then the servant led her away; buthis heart melted when Snowdrop begged him to spare her life, and hesaid, 'I will not hurt you, thou pretty child.' So he left her byherself; and though he thought it most likely that the wild beasts wouldtear her in pieces, he felt as if a great weight were taken off hisheart when he had made up his mind not to kill her but to leave her toher fate, with the chance of someone finding and saving her.

Then poor Snowdrop wandered along through the wood in great fear; andthe wild beasts roared about her, but none did her any harm. In theevening she came to a cottage among the hills, and went in to rest, forher little feet would carry her no further. Everything was spruce andneat in the cottage: on the table was spread a white cloth, and therewere seven little plates, seven little loaves, and seven little glasseswith wine in them; and seven knives and forks laid in order; and bythe wall stood seven little beds. As she was very hungry, she pickeda little piece of each loaf and drank a very little wine out of eachglass; and after that she thought she would lie down and rest. So shetried all the little beds; but one was too long, and another was tooshort, till at last the seventh suited her: and there she laid herselfdown and went to sleep.

By and by in came the masters of the cottage. Now they were seven littledwarfs, that lived among the mountains, and dug and searched for gold.They lighted up their seven lamps, and saw at once that all was notright. The first said, 'Who has been sitting on my stool?' The second,'Who has been eating off my plate?' The third, 'Who has been picking mybread?' The fourth, 'Who has been meddling with my spoon?' The fifth,'Who has been handling my fork?' The sixth, 'Who has been cutting withmy knife?' The seventh, 'Who has been drinking my wine?' Then the firstlooked round and said, 'Who has been lying on my bed?' And the rest camerunning to him, and everyone cried out that somebody had been upon hisbed. But the seventh saw Snowdrop, and called all his brethren to comeand see her; and they cried out with wonder and astonishment and broughttheir lamps to look at her, and said, 'Good heavens! what a lovely childshe is!' And they were very glad to see her, and took care not to wakeher; and the seventh dwarf slept an hour with each of the other dwarfsin turn, till the night was gone.

In the morning Snowdrop told them all her story; and they pitied her,and said if she would keep all things in order, and cook and wash andknit and spin for them, she might stay where she was, and they wouldtake good care of her. Then they went out all day long to their work,seeking for gold and silver in the mountains: but Snowdrop was left athome; and they warned her, and said, 'The queen will soon find out whereyou are, so take care and let no one in.'

But the queen, now that she thought Snowdrop was dead, believed that shemust be the handsomest lady in the land; and she went to her glass andsaid:

'Tell me, glass, tell me true! Of all the ladies in the land, Who is fairest, tell me, who?'

And the glass answered:

'Thou, queen, art the fairest in all this land: But over the hills, in the greenwood shade, Where the seven dwarfs their dwelling have made, There Snowdrop is hiding her head; and she Is lovelier far, O queen! than thee.'

Then the queen was very much frightened; for she knew that the glassalways spoke the truth, and was sure that the servant had betrayed her.And she could not bear to think that anyone lived who was more beautifulthan she was; so she dressed herself up as an old pedlar, and wenther way over the hills, to the place where the dwarfs dwelt. Then sheknocked at the door, and cried, 'Fine wares to sell!' Snowdrop lookedout at the window, and said, 'Good day, good woman! what have you tosell?' 'Good wares, fine wares,' said she; 'laces and bobbins of allcolours.' 'I will let the old lady in; she seems to be a very goodsort of body,' thought Snowdrop, as she ran down and unbolted the door.'Bless me!' said the old woman, 'how badly your stays are laced! Let melace them up with one of my nice new laces.' Snowdrop did not dream ofany mischief; so she stood before the old woman; but she set to workso nimbly, and pulled the lace so tight, that Snowdrop's breath wasstopped, and she fell down as if she were dead. 'There's an end to allthy beauty,' said the spiteful queen, and went away home.

In the evening the seven dwarfs came home; and I need not say howgrieved they were to see their faithful Snowdrop stretched out upon theground, as if she was quite dead. However, they lifted her up, and whenthey found what ailed her, they cut the lace; and in a little time shebegan to breathe, and very soon came to life again. Then they said, 'Theold woman was the queen herself; take care another time, and let no onein when we are away.'

When the queen got home, she went straight to her glass, and spoke to itas before; but to her great grief it still said:

'Thou, queen, art the fairest in all this land: But over the hills, in the greenwood shade, Where the seven dwarfs their dwelling have made, There Snowdrop is hiding her head; and she Is lovelier far, O queen! than thee.'

Then the blood ran cold in her heart with spite and malice, to see thatSnowdrop still lived; and she dressed herself up again, but in quiteanother dress from the one she wore before, and took with her a poisonedcomb. When she reached the dwarfs' cottage, she knocked at the door, andcried, 'Fine wares to sell!' But Snowdrop said, 'I dare not let anyonein.' Then the queen said, 'Only look at my beautiful combs!' and gaveher the poisoned one. And it looked so pretty, that she took it up andput it into her hair to try it; but the moment it touched her head,the poison was so powerful that she fell down senseless. 'There you maylie,' said the queen, and went her way. But by good luck the dwarfscame in very early that evening; and when they saw Snowdrop lying onthe ground, they thought what had happened, and soon found the poisonedcomb. And when they took it away she got well, and told them all thathad passed; and they warned her once more not to open the door toanyone.

Meantime the queen went home to her glass, and shook with rage when sheread the very same answer as before; and she said, 'Snowdrop shall die,if it cost me my life.' So she went by herself into her chamber, and gotready a poisoned apple: the outside looked very rosy and tempting, butwhoever tasted it was sure to die. Then she dressed herself up as apeasant's wife, and travelled over the hills to the dwarfs' cottage,and knocked at the door; but Snowdrop put her head out of the window andsaid, 'I dare not let anyone in, for the dwarfs have told me not.' 'Doas you please,' said the old woman, 'but at any rate take this prettyapple; I will give it you.' 'No,' said Snowdrop, 'I dare not take it.''You silly girl!' answered the other, 'what are you afraid of? Do youthink it is poisoned? Come! do you eat one part, and I will eat theother.' Now the apple was so made up that one side was good, though theother side was poisoned. Then Snowdrop was much tempted to taste, forthe apple looked so very nice; and when she saw the old woman eat, shecould wait no longer. But she had scarcely put the piece into her mouth,when she fell down dead upon the ground. 'This time nothing will savethee,' said the queen; and she went home to her glass, and at last itsaid:

'Thou, queen, art the fairest of all the fair.'

And then her wicked heart was glad, and as happy as such a heart couldbe.

When evening came, and the dwarfs had gone home, they found Snowdroplying on the ground: no breath came from her lips, and they were afraidthat she was quite dead. They lifted her up, and combed her hair, andwashed her face with wine and water; but all was in vain, for the littlegirl seemed quite dead. So they laid her down upon a bier, and all sevenwatched and bewailed her three whole days; and then they thought theywould bury her: but her cheeks were still rosy; and her face looked justas it did while she was alive; so they said, 'We will never bury her inthe cold ground.' And they made a coffin of glass, so that they mightstill look at her, and wrote upon it in golden letters what her namewas, and that she was a king's daughter. And the coffin was set amongthe hills, and one of the dwarfs always sat by it and watched. And thebirds of the air came too, and bemoaned Snowdrop; and first of all camean owl, and then a raven, and at last a dove, and sat by her side.

And thus Snowdrop lay for a long, long time, and still only looked asthough she was asleep; for she was even now as white as snow, and as redas blood, and as black as ebony. At last a prince came and called at thedwarfs' house; and he saw Snowdrop, and read what was written in goldenletters. Then he offered the dwarfs money, and prayed and besought themto let him take her away; but they said, 'We will not part with her forall the gold in the world.' At last, however, they had pity on him, andgave him the coffin; but the moment he lifted it up to carry it homewith him, the piece of apple fell from between her lips, and Snowdropawoke, and said, 'Where am I?' And the prince said, 'Thou art quite safewith me.'

Then he told her all that had happened, and said, 'I love you far betterthan all the world; so come with me to my father's palace, and you shallbe my wife.' And Snowdrop consented, and went home with the prince;and everything was got ready with great pomp and splendour for theirwedding.

To the feast was asked, among the rest, Snowdrop's old enemy the queen;and as she was dressing herself in fine rich clothes, she looked in theglass and said:

'Tell me, glass, tell me true! Of all the ladies in the land, Who is fairest, tell me, who?'

And the glass answered:

'Thou, lady, art loveliest here, I ween; But lovelier far is the new-made queen.'

When she heard this she started with rage; but her envy and curiositywere so great, that she could not help setting out to see the bride. Andwhen she got there, and saw that it was no other than Snowdrop, who, asshe thought, had been dead a long while, she choked with rage, and felldown and died: but Snowdrop and the prince lived and reigned happilyover that land many, many years; and sometimes they went up into themountains, and paid a visit to the little dwarfs, who had been so kindto Snowdrop in her time of need.