This book contains the following stories:
Snow White and Rose Red
A widow lived in a cottage in the woods. Two little rose trees stood outside the cottage one with roses as red as red, the other with roses as white as white. The widow had two daughters: Snow White was pale and fair like the white roses, Rose Red was rosy cheeked like the red ones. One winter a bear knocked on the door of the cottage looking for shelter from the bitter cold. The girls were so kind that he spent the winter with them, then in Spring left to guard his treasures from the wicked dwarfs. The girls were to have their own encounters with grumpy dwarfs, but when one particular dwarf offered them up to a fierce bear so he could keep his jewels they were a bit miffed. To their good fortune the bear turned out to be their winter bear, and he finished off the dwarf instead. The death of the dwarf broke a spell and the bear turned into a handsome prince. Fortunately the prince had a brother, so both girls got husbands and lived happily ever after.
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.
