From Grimm's: "Once upon a time in midwinter, when the snowflakes were falling like feathers from heaven, a queen sat sewing at her window, which had a frame of black ebony wood. As she sewed she looked up at the snow and pricked her finger with her needle. Three drops of blood fell into the snow. The red on the white looked so beautiful that she thought to herself, "If only I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood in this frame."
Soon afterward she had a little daughter who was as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony wood, and therefore they called her Little Snow-White. And as soon as the child was born, the queen died."
~oOo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was not long after that Snow White's father took another wife, and Snow White was cast out by the jealous, demented woman who would sit in front of her mirror each morning and say:
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who in this land is fairest of all?"
In the beginning, the mirror had answered truthfully that it was she, the Queen, but soon the princess surpassed the beauty of the step mother and the envious woman in her rage could not bear to be thus supplanted and sent the girl into the woods to die.
Snow White had never been in the woods and of course was not properly dressed for hunting (nor gathering either). She was in her fine gown with her hair up when the horses and their Queen's riders dumped her (rather unceremoniously) in the middle of the forest clearing. She'd stood, brushed herself off and muttered under her breath as they rode off.
There was a little path off the clearing and she heard water rushing. A stream? Perhaps. She decided it would not hurt to follow it and, breaking off the dainty heels of her tiny shoes so they would not catch in the mire she set off toward the break in the trees. The path itself wound down through the underbrush and she had to duck low to keep her face from being upbraided by low swinging branches. It seemed this path was made for animals and not upright standing people -- at least not tall ones.
She followed the foot path anyway, picking her way along until it came to another clearing and a small, squat little cottage. She arched a fine black brow. A cottage in the middle of the wood?
But everything was strange and half kilter -- short. The fence was too low at the gate and she stepped easily over it. The door was unlocked (it's not breaking and entering if the door is unlocked is it?) and it was short, too. She had to duck to enter as it squeaked on its hinges. "Someone will have to oil that," she said aloud as she moved into the quaint little foyer.
Along the wall were seven hooks, seven coats, and seven hats. Along the floor were seven sets of slippers. She laughed. "What manner of men live here?" she asked herself... though clearly she expected no answer. But already she could hear a low fire crackling in the other room and she moved to see a hearth, barely stoked with a large stew pot over it, simmering on the coals. A kitchen. And a table... with seven small chairs. She wondered if perhaps children lived here alone... but surely not.
It was then that she heard voices at the front door and then the creaking of the hinges and a deep resounding male voice. "Someone is in our house!" said a voice. "Hush you'll alert them," said another. "Get the pick axe," said a third. She looked around for a for a weapon and all she could see were large wooden spoons and so she picked one up to brandish it like a sword.
A bald head appeared around the frame of the door. Two eyes and the tops of two ears. Snow white stood her ground and then took a few steps forward with her wooden spoon and as soon as she saw hands... "SMACK!"
The little man fell backward, scrambling and squealing in surprise. "It's a Lady! And she hit me! Why'd she hit me?!"
"Because you were going to pick axe her?" said another voice.
"But she hit me! With a spoon!"
"But Jack, you like spoons," said a third.
"Is she cute?" said yet another.
"Bah!" said Jack. "She's bloody gorgeous!"
Snow White peered around the door frame, spoon in hand, brandishing it over her head. "Put your hands out!" she said. "Let me see them empty!"
Seven sets of chubby hands shot out. Various things clattered to the floor.... a pick axe, a pail, two shovels, a bar of soap, and some clothespins. Snow White arched her brow at the clothespins then looked back up at the faces of the seven short little men, moving fully into the doorway now to see them all as they stood there, hands up and out in arrested motion. Two had their mouths open, three were grinning, and the last two looked as though they were about to cry. She couldn't help it -- a soft and lyric laughter bubbled up her throat as she looked at them. She pointed to the one they all called Jack. "You there. I'm hungry and I've been walking a long way...."
At that point one of the grinning ones interrupted her: "Can I touch your feet?"
She glared at him. "You can lick my shoes -- after I sit down."
"Yes, Miss."
She then grinned. "Oh dear... I need names for you all." She moved back into the kitchen, motioning for them to follow, which they did. She took a seat in one of the little chairs. Jack ducked his head and went to the bowl to get her dinner.... She just leaned back, pointing her spoon at one of the nearest little men. "You there, you're going to be Nipply." She nodded. He'd been holding the clothes pins. "And you," she pointed to another and then another, "you're Tootsy.... and you're Sissy." She sighed happily. Maybe getting kicked out of the Castle wasn't such a bad thing after all. Seven little men to scramble at her beck and call? She could get used to this...
~oOo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile: Back at the castle...
The jealous and demented queen was at her mirror again.
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who in this land is fairest of all?"
And the mirror replied:
"My Queen, it is of course Snow White, who commands seven men as Her Slave Boys. Not you who will never even have half the number of Her Toys."
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To be continued ....
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