This book contains the following stories:
Blood Red, Snow White
Set at the time of the Russian Revolution, the end of a centuries old dynasty, the rise of the Bolsheviks sent shockwaves around the world. This is the story of one man who was there. It's real history - about the riches and excesses, the glory of the Russian nobility, Nicholas and Alexandra, their haemophiliac son, Alexei, notorious Rasputin, Lenin and Trotsky who ruled from palaces where the Czars had once danced till dawn. The man was real too, his name was Arthur Ransome. He was a writer, accused of being a spy, perhaps even a double agent, and he left his wife and beloved daughter and fell in love with Russia and a Russian woman, Evgenia.Fictionalising history and blending it with real life, part i is told as a fairy tale. Wise and foolish kings, princesses, enchantresses (characters more suited to fairy tale than reality), wishes and magic, Russia with its vast cold plains and mighty cities, its riches and poverty, all play a part in the downfall of the Czars and rise of the
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
A queen sat sewing and pricked her finger. A spot of blood fell on her white cloth and she sighed. 'How I wish I could have a daughter with cheeks as red as blood, hair as black as ivory and skin as white as snow'. The queen's wish was granted and soon she gave birth to a beautiful daughter who she named Snow White. But then the queen died and the king remarried. The new queen was very vain and every day she would ask her mirror 'Mirror mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all', to which the mirror would reply, 'You are the fairest o queen'. Time passed and the queen got older and her face dropped, and Snow White grew into a beautiful woman. The day came when the mirror in all honesty could not say that the queen was the most beautiful of them all, but had to reply 'O queen lovely as you are, Snow White is now fairer'. The queen was very cross and ordered a huntsman to take Snow White into the forest and kill her, bringing back her heart as proof of the deed. The huntsman could not bear to kill Snow White so he left her alive in the forest and took back the heart of an animal instead. But the mirror revealed that Snow White was still alive and living as a housemaid with seven dwarfs. The Queen set out to kill Snow White herself. When the girl ate the poisoned apple she dropped down as if dead and the Queen was satisfied. The dwarfs wept over the glass coffin. A prince was so taken with Snow White's beauty that he lifted her from the coffin, dislodging the apple and so brought her magically back to life. The two were married, and the Queen superceded.
