There was once a poor widow who lived in a lonely cottage. In front ofthe cottage was a garden wherein stood two rose-trees, one of which borewhite and the other red roses. She had two children who were like thetwo rose-trees, and one was called Snow-white, and the other Rose-red.They were as good and happy, as busy and cheerful as ever two childrenin the world were, only Snow-white was more quiet and gentle thanRose-red. Rose-red liked better to run about in the meadows and fieldsseeking flowers and catching butterflies; but Snow-white sat at homewith her mother, and helped her with her housework, or read to her whenthere was nothing to do.

The two children were so fond of one another that they always held eachother by the hand when they went out together, and when Snow-white said:'We will not leave each other,' Rose-red answered: 'Never so long as welive,' and their mother would add: 'What one has she must share with theother.'

They often ran about the forest alone and gathered red berries, and nobeasts did them any harm, but came close to them trustfully. The littlehare would eat a cabbage-leaf out of their hands, the roe grazed bytheir side, the stag leapt merrily by them, and the birds sat still uponthe boughs, and sang whatever they knew.

No mishap overtook them; if they had stayed too late in the forest, andnight came on, they laid themselves down near one another upon the moss,and slept until morning came, and their mother knew this and did notworry on their account.

Once when they had spent the night in the wood and the dawn had rousedthem, they saw a beautiful child in a shining white dress sitting neartheir bed. He got up and looked quite kindly at them, but said nothingand went into the forest. And when they looked round they found thatthey had been sleeping quite close to a precipice, and would certainlyhave fallen into it in the darkness if they had gone only a few pacesfurther. And their mother told them that it must have been the angel whowatches over good children.

Snow-white and Rose-red kept their mother's little cottage so neat thatit was a pleasure to look inside it. In the summer Rose-red took careof the house, and every morning laid a wreath of flowers by her mother'sbed before she awoke, in which was a rose from each tree. In the winterSnow-white lit the fire and hung the kettle on the hob. The kettlewas of brass and shone like gold, so brightly was it polished. In theevening, when the snowflakes fell, the mother said: 'Go, Snow-white, andbolt the door,' and then they sat round the hearth, and the mother tookher spectacles and read aloud out of a large book, and the two girlslistened as they sat and spun. And close by them lay a lamb upon thefloor, and behind them upon a perch sat a white dove with its headhidden beneath its wings.

One evening, as they were thus sitting comfortably together, someoneknocked at the door as if he wished to be let in. The mother said:'Quick, Rose-red, open the door, it must be a traveller who is seekingshelter.' Rose-red went and pushed back the bolt, thinking that it was apoor man, but it was not; it was a bear that stretched his broad, blackhead within the door.

Rose-red screamed and sprang back, the lamb bleated, the dove fluttered,and Snow-white hid herself behind her mother's bed. But the bear beganto speak and said: 'Do not be afraid, I will do you no harm! I amhalf-frozen, and only want to warm myself a little beside you.'

'Poor bear,' said the mother, 'lie down by the fire, only take care thatyou do not burn your coat.' Then she cried: 'Snow-white, Rose-red, comeout, the bear will do you no harm, he means well.' So they both cameout, and by-and-by the lamb and dove came nearer, and were not afraidof him. The bear said: 'Here, children, knock the snow out of my coat alittle'; so they brought the broom and swept the bear's hide clean;and he stretched himself by the fire and growled contentedly andcomfortably. It was not long before they grew quite at home, and playedtricks with their clumsy guest. They tugged his hair with their hands,put their feet upon his back and rolled him about, or they took ahazel-switch and beat him, and when he growled they laughed. But thebear took it all in good part, only when they were too rough he calledout: 'Leave me alive, children,

Snow-white, Rose-red, Will you beat your wooer dead?'

When it was bed-time, and the others went to bed, the mother said to thebear: 'You can lie there by the hearth, and then you will be safe fromthe cold and the bad weather.' As soon as day dawned the two childrenlet him out, and he trotted across the snow into the forest.

Henceforth the bear came every evening at the same time, laid himselfdown by the hearth, and let the children amuse themselves with him asmuch as they liked; and they got so used to him that the doors werenever fastened until their black friend had arrived.

When spring had come and all outside was green, the bear said onemorning to Snow-white: 'Now I must go away, and cannot come back for thewhole summer.' 'Where are you going, then, dear bear?' asked Snow-white.'I must go into the forest and guard my treasures from the wickeddwarfs. In the winter, when the earth is frozen hard, they are obligedto stay below and cannot work their way through; but now, when the sunhas thawed and warmed the earth, they break through it, and come out topry and steal; and what once gets into their hands, and in their caves,does not easily see daylight again.'

Snow-white was quite sorry at his departure, and as she unbolted thedoor for him, and the bear was hurrying out, he caught against the boltand a piece of his hairy coat was torn off, and it seemed to Snow-whiteas if she had seen gold shining through it, but she was not sure aboutit. The bear ran away quickly, and was soon out of sight behind thetrees.

A short time afterwards the mother sent her children into the forestto get firewood. There they found a big tree which lay felled on theground, and close by the trunk something was jumping backwards andforwards in the grass, but they could not make out what it was. Whenthey came nearer they saw a dwarf with an old withered face and asnow-white beard a yard long. The end of the beard was caught in acrevice of the tree, and the little fellow was jumping about like a dogtied to a rope, and did not know what to do.

He glared at the girls with his fiery red eyes and cried: 'Why do youstand there? Can you not come here and help me?' 'What are you up to,little man?' asked Rose-red. 'You stupid, prying goose!' answered thedwarf: 'I was going to split the tree to get a little wood for cooking.The little bit of food that we people get is immediately burnt up withheavy logs; we do not swallow so much as you coarse, greedy folk. I hadjust driven the wedge safely in, and everything was going as I wished;but the cursed wedge was too smooth and suddenly sprang out, and thetree closed so quickly that I could not pull out my beautiful whitebeard; so now it is tight and I cannot get away, and the silly, sleek,milk-faced things laugh! Ugh! how odious you are!'

The children tried very hard, but they could not pull the beard out, itwas caught too fast. 'I will run and fetch someone,' said Rose-red. 'Yousenseless goose!' snarled the dwarf; 'why should you fetch someone? Youare already two too many for me; can you not think of something better?''Don't be impatient,' said Snow-white, 'I will help you,' and she pulledher scissors out of her pocket, and cut off the end of the beard.

As soon as the dwarf felt himself free he laid hold of a bag which layamongst the roots of the tree, and which was full of gold, and lifted itup, grumbling to himself: 'Uncouth people, to cut off a piece of my finebeard. Bad luck to you!' and then he swung the bag upon his back, andwent off without even once looking at the children.

Some time afterwards Snow-white and Rose-red went to catch a dishof fish. As they came near the brook they saw something like a largegrasshopper jumping towards the water, as if it were going to leap in.They ran to it and found it was the dwarf. 'Where are you going?' saidRose-red; 'you surely don't want to go into the water?' 'I am not sucha fool!' cried the dwarf; 'don't you see that the accursed fish wantsto pull me in?' The little man had been sitting there fishing, andunluckily the wind had tangled up his beard with the fishing-line; amoment later a big fish made a bite and the feeble creature had notstrength to pull it out; the fish kept the upper hand and pulled thedwarf towards him. He held on to all the reeds and rushes, but it was oflittle good, for he was forced to follow the movements of the fish, andwas in urgent danger of being dragged into the water.

The girls came just in time; they held him fast and tried to free hisbeard from the line, but all in vain, beard and line were entangled fasttogether. There was nothing to do but to bring out the scissors and cutthe beard, whereby a small part of it was lost. When the dwarf saw thathe screamed out: 'Is that civil, you toadstool, to disfigure a man'sface? Was it not enough to clip off the end of my beard? Now you havecut off the best part of it. I cannot let myself be seen by my people.I wish you had been made to run the soles off your shoes!' Then he tookout a sack of pearls which lay in the rushes, and without another wordhe dragged it away and disappeared behind a stone.

It happened that soon afterwards the mother sent the two children to thetown to buy needles and thread, and laces and ribbons. The road led themacross a heath upon which huge pieces of rock lay strewn about. Therethey noticed a large bird hovering in the air, flying slowly round andround above them; it sank lower and lower, and at last settled near arock not far away. Immediately they heard a loud, piteous cry. They ranup and saw with horror that the eagle had seized their old acquaintancethe dwarf, and was going to carry him off.

The children, full of pity, at once took tight hold of the little man,and pulled against the eagle so long that at last he let his booty go.As soon as the dwarf had recovered from his first fright he criedwith his shrill voice: 'Could you not have done it more carefully! Youdragged at my brown coat so that it is all torn and full of holes, youclumsy creatures!' Then he took up a sack full of precious stones, andslipped away again under the rock into his hole. The girls, who bythis time were used to his ingratitude, went on their way and did theirbusiness in town.

As they crossed the heath again on their way home they surprised thedwarf, who had emptied out his bag of precious stones in a clean spot,and had not thought that anyone would come there so late. The eveningsun shone upon the brilliant stones; they glittered and sparkled withall colours so beautifully that the children stood still and staredat them. 'Why do you stand gaping there?' cried the dwarf, and hisashen-grey face became copper-red with rage. He was still cursing when aloud growling was heard, and a black bear came trotting towards them outof the forest. The dwarf sprang up in a fright, but he could not reachhis cave, for the bear was already close. Then in the dread of his hearthe cried: 'Dear Mr Bear, spare me, I will give you all my treasures;look, the beautiful jewels lying there! Grant me my life; what do youwant with such a slender little fellow as I? you would not feel mebetween your teeth. Come, take these two wicked girls, they are tendermorsels for you, fat as young quails; for mercy's sake eat them!' Thebear took no heed of his words, but gave the wicked creature a singleblow with his paw, and he did not move again.

The girls had run away, but the bear called to them: 'Snow-white andRose-red, do not be afraid; wait, I will come with you.' Then theyrecognized his voice and waited, and when he came up to them suddenlyhis bearskin fell off, and he stood there a handsome man, clothed all ingold. 'I am a king's son,' he said, 'and I was bewitched by that wickeddwarf, who had stolen my treasures; I have had to run about the forestas a savage bear until I was freed by his death. Now he has got hiswell-deserved punishment.

Snow-white was married to him, and Rose-red to his brother, and theydivided between them the great treasure which the dwarf had gatheredtogether in his cave. The old mother lived peacefully and happily withher children for many years. She took the two rose-trees with her, andthey stood before her window, and every year bore the most beautiful

roses, white and red.