Snow White
The best known version of Snow white is the one by the Brothers Grimm.
There are many non-German versions, the dwarfs are generally robbers, while the magic mirror is a dialog with the sun or moon.
In an Albanian, version “Griechische und albanesische Märchen”. Gesammelt, übersetzt and erläutert (1864), the main character lives with 40 dragons. Her sleep is caused by a ring. The beginning of the story has a twist, in that a teacher urges the heroine to kill her evil stepmother so that she would take her place. The origin of this tale is debated; it is though to be writen no later than the Middle Ages. There are possibly two Albanian versions of Snow White: one where her stepmother tries to kill her, and another where her two jealous sisters try to kill her.
In their first edition, the Brothers Grimm published, the villain of the tale is Snow White's jealous mother. In a version sent to another folklorist prior to the first edition, the mother does not order a servant to take her to the woods, but goes there herself to gather flowers and abandons her; in the first edition, published, this task was transferred to a servant. It is believed that the character iof the mother was changed to that of a step mother to make it more ‘child friendly’.
The Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale begins; The queen sits at her window sewing. She pricks her finger on the needle and a drop of blood falls on the snow, on the ebony window frame. She wishes: "Oh, how I wish that I had a daughter that had skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony". Soon after she has a baby girl named Princess Snow White who has skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony. As soon as she is born, the queen dies.
Soon after, the king marries again to a wife who is beautiful but also very vain. She possesses a magical mirror that answers any question, like the one she often asks: "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who in the land is fairest of all?" and the mirror always replies "You, my queen, are fairest of all." But as 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."
The queen becomes jealous, and orders a huntsman to take Snow White into the woods to be killed, and requests he returns with Snow Whites heart as proof. The huntsman lures Snow White into the forest, but after raising his knife to stab her, 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 and eaten by the queen.
In the forest, Snow White discovers a tiny cottage belonging to seven dwarfs, where she rests. They warn her to take care and let no one in when they are away. Meanwhile, the Queen asks her mirror once again "Who's the fairest of them all?", and is horrified to learn that Snow White is not only alive and well and living with the dwarfs, but is still the fairest of them all.
Three times the Queen disguises herself and visits the dwarfs' cottage while they are away during the day, trying to kill Snow White. First, as a peddler, she offers colourful stay-laces and laces Snow White up so tight that she faints. Snow White is revived by the dwarfs. Next, the Queen dresses as a different old woman and brushes Snow White's hair with a poisoned comb. Snow White again collapses, but again is saved by the dwarfs. Finally, the Queen makes a poisoned apple, and in the disguise of a farmer's wife, offers it to Snow White. When she is hesitant to accept it, the Queen cuts the apple in half, eats the white part and gives the poisoned red part to Snow White. She eats the apple eagerly and immediately falls into a deep state of unconsciousness. When the dwarfs find her, they cannot revive her, and they place her in a glass coffin, assuming that she is dead.
Time passes, and a prince travelling through the land sees Snow White. 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. While doing so, they stumble on some bushes causing the piece of poisoned apple to dislodge from Snow White's throat, awakening her. The prince then declares his love for her and soon a wedding is planned.
The vain Queen, still believing that Snow White is dead, once again asks her mirror who is 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 than you."
Not knowing that this new queen was indeed her stepdaughter, she arrives at the wedding, and her heart fills with the deepest of dread when she realizes the truth.
As punishment, a pair of heated iron shoes are brought forth with tongs and placed before the Queen. She is then forced to step into the iron shoes and dance until she falls down dead.
Modern adaptions of Snow white:
Literature:
- In 1982, Roald Dahl's book Revolting Rhymes rewrote the story in a more modern way. In this version, Snow White was a savvy young woman who stole the magic mirror to help the dwarfs gamble on winning horses.
- Bill Willingham's Fables comic book series
- Mirror, Mirror, a novel by Gregory Maguire
- The Blood Confession a novel by Alisa M. Libby
Film/television:
- 1916 silent film titled Snow White was made by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation and produced by Adolph Zukor and Daniel Frohman.
- 1933 Betty Boop cartoon, Snow White
- 1937 Disney animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In the Disney version, Snow White wakes from her enchanted sleep as soon as the Prince kisses her, copied by Sleeping Beauty. Furthermore, the prince and Snow White have met prior to her enchanted sleep, so that he has fallen in love with the awake rather than the sleeping princess, an unusual variation in the Snow White tales. A sequel was made by Filmation Studios in 1988 and released theatrically in 1993, was called Happily Ever After.
- 1987 fantasy film Snow White
- 1997 fantasy/horror film Snow White: A Tale Of Terror
- The 2007 film Sydney White is a modern retelling of the classic fairy tale
