Snow White

"Snow White" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimms' Fairy Tales and numbered as Tale 53. The original German title was Sneewittchen, a Low German form, but the first version gave the High German translation Schneeweißchen, and the tale has become known in German by the mixed form Schneewittchen. The Grimms completed their final revision of the story in 1854.[1][2]

This article is about the fairy tale. For other uses, see Snow White (disambiguation).
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" redirects here. For the film, see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film).
Snow White
Schneewittchen by Alexander Zick
Folk tale
NameSnow White
Data
Aarne-Thompson grouping709
CountryGermany

The fairy tale features such elements as the magic mirror, the poisoned apple, the glass coffin, and the characters of the Evil Queen and the Seven Dwarfs. The seven dwarfs were first given individual names in the 1912 Broadway play Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and then given different names in Walt Disney's 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Grimm story, which is commonly referred to as "Snow White",[3] should not be confused with the story of "Snow-White and Rose-Red" (in German "Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot"), another fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.

In the Aarne–Thompson folklore classification, tales of this kind are grouped together as type 709, Snow White. Others of this kind include "Bella Venezia", "Myrsina", "Nourie Hadig", "Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree",[4] "The Young Slave", and "La petite Toute-Belle".

Plot
The fable's antagonist the Evil Queen with the protagonist Snow White as depicted in The Sleeping Snow White by Hans Makart (1872)

At the beginning of the story, a queen sits sewing at an open window during a winter snowfall when she pricks her finger with her needle, causing three drops of red blood to drip onto the freshly fallen white snow on the black windowsill. Then, she says to herself, "How I wish that I had a daughter that had skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and hair as black as ebony." Some time later, the queen gives birth to a baby daughter whom she names Snow White, but the queen dies in childbirth a short while later.[1][5]

A year later, Snow White's father, the king, marries again. His new wife is very beautiful, but she is a vain and wicked woman who practices witchcraft. The new queen possesses a magic mirror, which she asks every morning, "Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" The mirror always tells the queen that she is the fairest. The queen is always pleased with that, because the magic mirror never lies. But when Snow White was seven years old, her fairness has surpassed her stepmother's fairness in the process. For example, when the queen asks her mirror, it tells her that Snow White is the fairest.[1][5]

This gives the queen a great shock. She becomes envious, and from that moment on, her heart turns against Snow White, whom the queen grows to hate increasingly with time. Eventually, the angry queen orders a huntsman to take Snow White into the forest to be killed; as proof that Snow White is dead, the queen demands that he returns with her heart, which she will consume in order to become immortal. The huntsman takes Snow White into the forest, but after raising his dagger, he finds himself unable to kill her when Snow White almost immediately finds out about her stepmother's evil plan, tearfully begging, "Spare me this mockery of justice! I will run away into the forest and never come home again!"; after seeing the tears in the princess's eyes, the huntsman reluctantly agrees to spare Snow White and brings the queen the heart of a wild animal instead.[1][5]

After wandering through the forest for hours, Snow White discovers a tiny cottage belonging to a group of seven dwarfs. Since no one is at home, she eats some of the tiny meals, drinks some of their wine, and then tests all the beds. Finally, the last bed is comfortable enough for her and she falls asleep. When the dwarfs return home, they immediately become aware that there is a burglar in their house, because everything in their home is in disorder. Prowling about frantically, they head upstairs and discover the sleeping Snow White. She wakes up and explains to them about her stepmother's assassination attempt, and the dwarfs take pity on her and let her stay with them in exchange for a job as a housemaid. They warn her to be careful when alone at home and to let no one in while they are working in the mountains.[1][5]

10 years later, Snow White grows into a beautiful young maiden. Meanwhile, the queen, who already had gotten rid of Snow White after a decade, asks her mirror once again: "Magic mirror on the wall, who now is the fairest one of all?" The mirror tells her that not only is Snow White still the fairest in the land, she is currently hiding with the dwarfs.[1] The queen is furious when she learns that Snow White used her wits to fake her death by tricking the huntsman, and decides to kill the girl herself with three attempts. First, she appears at the dwarfs' cottage, disguised as an old peddlar, and offers Snow White colorful, silky laced bodices as a present. The queen laces her up so tightly that Snow White collapses; the dwarfs return just in time, and Snow White revives when the dwarfs loosen the laces.[1][5] Next, the queen dresses up as a comb seller and convinces Snow White to take a beautiful comb as a present; she brushes Snow White's hair with the poisoned comb. The girl gets knocked out by the poison from the comb, but she is again revived by the dwarfs when they remove the comb from her hair; finally, the queen disguises herself as a farmer's wife and offers Snow White a poisoned apple. Snow White is hesitant to accept it, so the queen cuts the apple in half, eating the white (harmless) half and giving the red poisoned half to Snow White; the girl eagerly takes a bite, and then falls into a state of suspended animation, causing the Queen to finally triumph. This time, the dwarfs are unable to revive Snow White, and assuming that the queen has finally assassinated her after a decade, they place her in a glass casket as a funeral for her.[1][5]

A few days later, a prince stumbles upon a dead Snow White lying in her glass coffin during a hunting trip. After hearing her story from the Seven Dwarfs, the prince is allowed to take Snow White to her proper resting place back at her father's castle. All of a sudden, while Snow White is being transported, one of the prince's servants trips and loses his balance. This dislodges the piece of the poisoned apple from Snow White's throat, magically reviving her. [6] The Prince soon becomes overjoyed over this miracle, and declares his love for the alive and well Snow White, who, surprised to meet him face to face, humbly accepts his marriage proposal. Soon, the prince invites everyone in the land to their wedding, excluding Snow White's stepmother.

The queen, finally happy to be rid of Snow White after ten years, again asks her magic mirror who is the fairest in the land. The mirror says that there was a bride of a prince, who is more fairer than her. Unaware that the bride is her stepdaughter herself, the queen decides to visit the wedding and investigate. Once she arrives, the Queen becomes frozen with rage and fear when she finds out that the prince's bride is her stepdaughter, Snow White herself. The finally fed-up Queen tries to sow chaos and assassinate her again, but the prince recognizes her as a threat to Snow White after he learns the truth from his bride; as a punishment for the attempted murder of Snow White, the prince orders for the Queen to wear a pair of red-hot iron slippers and dance in them until she drops dead. With the evil Queen finally defeated and dead, Snow White's wedding with the prince can peacefully continue.

  • Franz Jüttner's illustrations from Sneewittchen (1905)
  • 1. The Queen asks the magic mirror
  • 2. Snow White in the forest
  • 3. The dwarfs find Snow White asleep
  • 4. The dwarfs leave Snow White in charge
  • 5. The Queen visits Snow White
  • 6. The Queen has poisoned Snow White
  • 7. The Prince awakes Snow White
  • 8. The Queen discovers and confronts Snow White at her wedding

Inspiration

Many scholars have theorized about the possible origins of the tale. In 1994, a German historian named Eckhard Sander published Schneewittchen: Märchen oder Wahrheit? (Snow White: Fairy Tale or Truth?), claiming he had uncovered an account that may have inspired the story that first appeared in Grimm’s Fairy Tales. According to Sander, the character of Snow White was based on the life of Margaretha von Waldeck, a German countess born to Philip IV in 1533. At the age of 16, Margaretha was forced by her stepmother, Katharina of Hatzfeld, to move away to Brussels. There, Margaretha fell in love with a prince who would later become Philip II of Spain. Her father and stepmother disapproved of the relationship, however, deeming it ‘politically inconvenient’. Margaretha mysteriously died at the age of 21, apparently having been poisoned. Historical accounts point to the King of Spain who, in opposing the romance, may have dispatched Spanish agents to murder her.[7]

Scholar Graham Anderson compares the story of Snow White to the Roman legend of Chione, recorded in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The name Chione means "Snow" in Greek and, in the story, she is described as the most beautiful woman in the land, so beautiful that the gods Apollo and Mercury both fell in love with her. Mercury put her to sleep with the touch of his caduceus and raped her in her sleep. Then Apollo, disguised as an old crone, approached her and raped her again. These affections led Chione to openly boast that she was more beautiful than the goddess Diana herself, resulting in Diana shooting her through the tongue with an arrow.[8][9]

Karlheinz Bartels, a pharmacist and scholar from Lohr am Main, a town in northwestern Bavaria, found evidence that Snow White was Maria Sophia Margarethe Catharina, Baroness von und zu Erthal, who was born in Lohr on June 25, 1725.[10][11] Her father, Philipp Christoph von und zu Erthal, was the local representative of the Prince Elector of Mainz.[12] After the death of Maria Sophia's birth mother in 1738, her father remarried in 1743. The stepmother, Claudia Elisabeth von Reichenstein, was domineering and employed her new position to the advantage of her children from her first marriage. A magic mirror referred to as “The Talking Mirror”, known as always telling the truth, can still be viewed today in the Spessart Museum in the Lohr Castle, where Maria Sophia's stepmother lived. This mirror was presumably a present from Maria Sophia's father to his second wife. It was a product of the Lohr Mirror Manufacture (Kurmainzische Spiegelmanufaktur).[13] Her gravestone was found in 2019.[14]

Variations

The principal studies of traditional Snow White variants are Ernst Böklen's, Schneewittchen Studien of 1910, which (re)prints fifty Snow White variants,[15] and studies by Steven Swann Jones.[16] In their first edition, the Brothers Grimm published the version they had first collected, in which the villain of the piece is Snow White's jealous biological mother. In a version sent to another folklorist prior to the first edition, additionally, she does not order a servant to take her to the woods, but takes her there herself to gather flowers and abandons her; in the first edition, this task was transferred to a servant.[17] It is believed that the change to a stepmother in later editions was to tone down the story for children.[18][19]

A popular version of Snow White is the 1937 American animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Walt Disney. Disney's variation of Snow White gave the dwarfs names and included a singing Snow White. The Disney film also is the only version in which Snow White and her prince meet before she bites the apple; in fact, it is this meeting that sets the plot in motion. Instead of her lungs and liver, as written in the original, the huntsman is asked by the queen to bring back Snow White's heart. While the heart is mentioned, it is never shown in the box. Snow White is much more mature (an adolescent). And she is discovered by the dwarfs after cleaning the house, not vandalizing it. Furthermore, in the Disney movie the evil queen tries only once to kill Snow White (by a poisoned apple) and fails (this was likely to save time). She then dies by falling down a cliff and being crushed by a boulder, after the dwarfs had chased her through the forest. In the original, the queen is forced to dance to death.[20]

Many later versions omit the Queen's attempted cannibalism, eating what she believed to be the lungs and liver of Snow White. This may be a reference to old Slavic mythology which includes tales of witches eating human hearts.

Variants

Europe

Italy

In most Italian versions the heroine is not the daughter of a king but an innkeeper, the antagonist is not her stepmother but her biological mother, and instead of dwarfs she takes refugee with robbers, as we can see in La Bella Venezia an Abruzzian version collected by Antonio De Nino, in which the mother asks her customers if they have seen a woman more beautiful than her. If they say they didn't, she only charges them half the prize, if they say they did she charges them twice the price. When the customers tell her that her daughter is prettier than her, she gets jealous.[21] In Maria, her Evil Stepmother and the Seven Robbers (Maria, die böse Stiefmutter und die sieben Räuber), a Sicilian version collected by Laura Gonzenbach the heroine also lives with robbers, but the antagonist is her stepmother and she's not an innkeeper.[22][23]

Sometimes the heroine's protectors are female instead of male, like in The Cruel Stepmother (La crudel matrigna), a variant collected by Angelo de Gubernatis in which, like in the Grimm's version, Snow White's counterpart, called here Caterina, is the daughter of a king, and the antagonist is her stepmother, who orders her servants to kill her stepdaughter after she hears people commenting how much prettier than her Caterina is one day the two women are going to mass together. Instead of a male protector, Caterina takes refugee in a house by the seashore where an old woman lives. Later a witch discovers that Caterina's still alive and where she lives, so she goes to tell it to the queen, who sends her back to the cottage to kill her with poisoned flowers instead of an apple.[24] A similar version from Siena was collected by Sicilian folklorist Giuseppe Pitrè, in which the heroine, called Ermellina, runs away from home riding an eagle who takes her away to a palace inhabited by fairies. Ermellina's stepmother sends a witch disguised as her stepdaughter's servants to the fairies' palace to kill her twice, the first with poisoned sweatmeats and the second with an enchanted dress.[25] Pitré also collected a variant from Palermo titled Child Margarita (La 'Nfanti Margarita) where the heroine stays in a haunted castle.[26][27]

There's also a couple of conversions that combines the ATU tale type 709 with the second part of the type 410 Sleeping Beauty, in which after the heroine is awoken the prince's mother tries to kill her and the children she has with the prince. Gonzenbach collected two variants from Sicily, the first one called Maruzzedda and the second Beautiful Anna; and Vittorio Imbriani collected a version titled La Bella Ostessina.[28][29]

In some versions the antagonists are not the heroine's mother or stepmother, but her two elder sisters, like a version from Trentino collected by Christian Schneller,[30] or a version from Bologne collected by Carolina Coronedi-Berti. In this last version the role of both the mirror and the dwarfs is played by the Moon, that tells the elder sisters the youngest, called Ziricochel, is the prettiest, and later hides her in his palace. When the sisters discover Ziricochel is still alive they sent an astrologer to kill her. After several attempts she finally manages to turn her into a statue with an enchanted shirt. Ziricochel is revived after the prince's sisters take the shirt off.[31]

Italo Calvino included the version from Bologne collected by Coronedi Berti, retitling it Giricoccola, and the Abruzzian version collected by De Nino in Italian Folktales.

France

Paul Sébillot collected two variants from Brittany in northwestern France. In the first one, titled The Enchanted Stockings (Les Bas enchantés), starts pretty similar to Gubernatis' version, with the heroine being the daughter of a queen, and her mother wanting to kill her after soldier marching in front of her balcony says the princess is prettier than the queen. The role of the poisoned apple is fulfilled by the titular stockings, and the heroine is revived after the prince's little sister takes them off when she's playing.[32][33] In the second, titled La petite Toute-Belle, a servant accuses the heroine of stealing the stuff she stole, and throws her in a well. The heroine survives the fall and ends up living with three dragons that live at the bottom of the well. When the heroine's mother discovers her daughter is still alive she sends a fairy to kill her two times, first with sugar aldmonds, that the dragons warn her they're poisoned before she eats them, and a red dress.[34] In another version from Brittany, this one collected by François Cadic, the heroine is called Rose-Neige (Eng: Snow-Rose) because her mother pricked her finger with a rose in a snowy day and wished to have a child as beutiful as the rose. The role of the dwarfs is played by Korrigans, dwarf-like creatures from the Breton folklore.[35] Louis Morin collected a version from Troyes in northeastern France, where like in the Grimm's version the mother questions a magic mirror.[36] A version from Corsica titled Anghjulina was collected by Geneviève Massignon, where the roles of both the huntsman and the dwarfs are fulfilled by a goup of bandits that Anghjulina's mother asks to kill her daughter, but they instead take her away to live with them in the woods.[37]

Belgium and the Netherlands

A Flemish version from Antwerp collected by Victor de Meyere is quite similar to the version collected by the brothers Grimm. The heroine is called Sneeuwwitje (Snow White in Dutch), she's the queen's stepdaughter, and her stepmother questions a mirror. Instead of dwarfs the princess is taken in by seven kabouters, and instead of going to kill Snow White herself the queen sents two times the witch that sold her the magic mirror, first with a comb and the second with an apple. But the most significant difference is the fact that the role of the prince is here fulfilled by Snow White's father the king.[38]

Iberian Peninsula

One of the first versions from Spain, titled The Beautiful Stepdaughter (La hermosa hijastra), was collected by Manuel Milá y Fontanals, in which a demon tells the stepmother that her stepdaughter is prettier than her when she's looking at herself in the mirror. The stepmother orders her servants to take her stepdaughter to the forest and kill her, bringing a bottle with her blood as proof. But the servants spare her life and instead kill a dog Eight days later the demon warns her that the blood in the bottle is not her stepdaughter's, and the stepmother sends her servants again, bringing one of her toes as proof. The stepdaughter later discovers four men living in the forest, inside a rock that can open and close with the right words. Everyday after she sees the men leave she enters the cave and cleans it up. Noticing it must be an intruder the men take turns to stay at the cavern, but the first one falls asleep during his watch. The second one manages to catch the girl, and they agree to let the girl live with them. Later the same demon that told her stepmother that her stepfaughter was prettier gives the girl an enchanted ring, that has the same role that the apple in the Grimm's version.[39] The version in Catalan included by Francisco Maspons y Labrós in the second volume of Lo Rondallayre follows that plot pretty closely, with some minor differences.[40]

In an Aragonese version titled The Good Daughter (La buena hija) collected by Romualdo Nogués y Milagro there's no mirror, instead the story starts with the mother already hating her daughter because she's prettier, and ordering a servant to kill her, bringing as proof her heart, tongue and her little finger. The servant spares her, and bring the mother the heart and tongue from a dog he ran over, and says he lost the finger. The daughter is taken in by robbers living in a cavern, but despite all she still misses her mother. One day an old woman appears and gives her a ring, saying that if she puts it on she'll see her mother. The daughter actually falls unconscious when she does put it on, because the old woman is actually a witch who wants to kidnap her, but she can't because of the scapular the girl is wearing, so she locks her in a crystal casket, where the girl is latter find by the prince.[41]

In a version from Mallorca collected by Antoni Maria Alcover i Sureda titled Na Magraneta a queen wishes to have a daughter after eating a pomegranate and calls her Magraneta. Like in the Grimm's version the queen asks her mirror who's the most beautiful. The dwarf's role is fulfilled by thirteen men who are described as big as giants, that live in a castle in the middle of the forest called "Castell de la Colometa", whose doors can open and close by command. When the queen discovers thanks to her mirror that her daughter is still alive she sends an evil fairy disguised as an old woman. The role of the poisoned apple is fulfilled by an iron ring.[42]

Aurelio Macedonio Espinosa Sr. collected two Spanish versions. The first one, titled Blanca Flor, is from Villaluenga de la Sagra, in Toledo. In this one the villain is the heroine's own biological mother, and like in Na Magraneta she questions a mirror if there's a woman more beautiful than her. Instead of ordering a huntsman or servant to kill her daughter, after the mirror tells the woman her daughter has surpassed she tries to get rid of her daughter herself, inviting her to go for a walk in the countryside, and when they reach a rock she recites some spells from her book, making the rock swallow her daughter. Fortunately thanks to her prayers to the Virgin the daughter survives and gets out the rock, and she's later taken in by twelve robbers living in a castle. When the mother discovers her daughter is still alive she sends a witch to kill her, who gives the daughter an enchanted silk shirt, that the moment she puts it on she falls in a death like state. She's later revived when a sexton takes the shirt off.[43] The second one, titled The Envious Mother (La madre envidiosa), comes from Jaraíz de la Vera, Cáceres. Here the villain is also the heroine's biological mother, and she's an innkeeper who questions a witch if there's a woman prettier than her. Instead of a shirt here the role of the apple is fulfilled by enchanted shoes.[44] Aurelio de Llano Roza de Ampudia collected an Asturian version from Teverga titled The Envious Stepmother (La madrastra envidiosa), in which the stepmother locks her stepdaughter in a room with the hope that none will see her and think she's more beautiful. But the attempt turned out to be useless when one of her guests tells her the girl locked in a room is prettier than her. The story ends with the men that found the heroine's body discussing who should marry the girl once she's revived, and she replies telling them that she chooses to marry the servant who revived her.[45] Aurelio Macedonio Espinosa Jr. collected four versions. The first one is titled Blancanieves, is from Medina del Campo, Valladolid, and follows the plot of the Grimm's version pretty close with barely any significant differences.[46] The same happens with the second one, titled Blancaflor, that comes from Tordesillas, another location from Valladolid.[47] The last two are the ones that present more significant differences, although like in Grimm's the stepmother questions a magic mirror. The Bad Stepmother (La mala madrastra) comes from Sepúlveda, Segovia, and also has instead of seven dwarfs the robbers that live in a cave deep in the forest, that can open and close at command. Here the words to make it happen are "Open, parsley!" and "Close, peppermint!".[48] The last one, Blancaflor, is from Siete Iglesias de Trabancos, also in Valladolid, ends with the heroine buried after biting a poisoned pear, and the mirror proclaiming that now that her stepdaughter is finally dead the stepmother is the most beautiful again.[49]

One of the first Portuguese versions was collected by Francisco Adolfo Coelho. It was titled The Enchanted Shoes (Os sapatinhos encantados), where the heroine is the daughter of an innkeeper, who asks muleteers if they have seen a woman prettier than her. One day one answers that her daughter is prettier. The daughter takes refugee with a group of robbers who live in the forest, and the role of the apple is fulfilled by the titular enchanted shoes.[50] Zófimo Consiglieri Pedroso collected another version, titled The Vain Queen, in which the titular queen questions her maids of honor and servants who's the most beautiful. One day, when she asks the same question to her chamberlain, he replies the queen's daughter is more beautiful than her. The queen order her servants to behead her daughter bring back his tongue as proof, but they instead spare her and bring the queen a dog's tongue. The princess takes in with a man, who gives her two options, live with him as his wife or his daughter, and the princess chooses the second. The rest of the tale is quite different to most versions, with the titular queen completely disappeared from the story, and the story focusing instead of a prince that falls in love with the princess.[50]

British Isles

In the Scottish version Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree, queen Silver-Tree asks a trout in a well, instead of a magic mirror, who's the most beautiful. When the trout tells her that Gold-Tree, her daughter, is more beautiful, Silver-Tree pretends to fall ill, declaring that her only cure is to eat her own daughter's heart and liver. To save his daughter's life, the king marries her off to a prince, and serves his wife a goat's heart and liver. After Silver-Tree discovers that she has been deceived thanks to the trout, she visits her daughter and sticks her finger on a poisoned thorn. The prince later remarries, and his second wife removes the poisoned thorn from Gold-Tree, reviving her. The second wife then tricks the queen into drinking the poison that was meant for Gold-Tree.[51] In another Scottish version, Lasair Gheug, the King of Ireland's Daughter, the heroine's stepmother frames the princess for the murder of the queen's first born and manages to make her swear she'll never tell the truth to anybody. Lasair Gheug, a name that in Gaelic means Flame of Branches, take refugee with thirteen cats, who turn out to be an enchanted prince and her squires. After marrying the prince and having three sons with him the queen discovers her stepdaughter is still alive also thanks to a talking trout, and sends three giants of ice to put her in a death-like state. Like in Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree the prince takes a second wife after it, and it's the second wife the one who revives the heroine.[52] Thomas William Thompson collected an English version from Blackburn simply titled Snow White that follows Grimm's plot much closer, although with some significant differences like Snow White being taken in by three robbers instead of seven dwarfs.[53]

Scandinavia

One of the first Danish versions collected was Svenhvide (Snow White), by Mathias Winther.[54] Evald Tang Kristensen collected a version titled The Pretty Girl and the Crystal Bowls (Den Kjønne Pige og de Klare Skåle), that like some Italian variants combines the tale type 709 with the type 410. In this version the stepmother questions a pair of crystal bowls instead of a magic mirror, and when they tell her that her stepdaughter is prettier, she sends her to a witch's hut where she's tricked to eat a porridge that makes her pregnant. Ashamed that her daughter has become pregnant out of wedlock she kicks her out, but the girl is taken in by a shepherd. Later a crow lets a ring fall on the huts' floor, and when the heroine puts it on she falls in a death like state. Believing she's dead the shepherd kills himself and the heroine is later revived when she gives birth to twins, each one of them with a star on their foreheads, and one of them sucks the ring out of her finger. She's later found by a prince, whose mother tries to kill the girl and her children. [55][56]

A Swedish version titled The Daughter of the Sun and the Twelve Bewitched Princes (Solens dotter och de tolv förtrollade prinsarna) starts pretty similar to the Grimm's version, with a queen wishing to have a child as white as snow and as red as blood, but that child turned out to be not the heroine but the villain, her own biological mother. Instead of a mirror the queen asks the Sun, who tells her that her daughter will surpass her in beauty. Because of it the queen orders that her daughter must be raised in the countryside, away from the Royal Court, but when It's time fir the princess to come back the queen orders a servant to throw her in a well before she arrives. In the bottom the princess meets twelve princes cursed to be chimeras, and she agrees to lives with them. When the queen and the servant discover she's alive they gave her poisoned candy that she eats. After being revived by a young king she marries her and has a son with him, but the queen goes to the castle pretending to be a midwife, turns her daughter into a golden bird sticking a needle on her head and takes her place. After disenchanting the twelve princes with her singing the princess returns to the court, where she's finally restored to her human form and her mother punished.[57]

Greece and Mediterranean Area

French folklorist Henri Carnoy collected a Greek version, titled Marietta and the Witch her Stepmother (Marietta et la Sorcière, sa Marâtre), in which the heroine is manipulated by her governess to kill her own mother, so her governess could marry her father. Soon after she marries Marietta's father the new stepmother orders her husband to get rid of her daughter. Marietta ends up living in a castle with forty giants. Meanwhile Marietta's stepmother, believing her stepdaughter is dead, she asks the Sun who's the most beautiful. When the Sun answers Marietta is more beautiful she realises her stepdaughter is still alive, and disguised as a pedlar goes to the giants' castle to kill her. She goes twice, the first trying to kill her with an enchanted ring, and the second with poisoned grapes. After Marietta is awoken and marries the prince, the stepmother goes to the prince's castle pretending to be a midwife, sticks a fork on Marietta's head, who's turned into a pigeon, and takes her place. After several transformations Marietta recovers her human form and her stepmother is punished. [58] Georgios A. Megas collected another Greek version, titled Myrsina, in which the antagonists are the heroine's two elder sisters, and the role of the seven drawrfs is fulfilled by the Twelve Months.[59]

Austrian diplomat Johann Georg von Hahn collected a version from Albania, that also starts with the heroine, called Marigo, killing her mother so her governess can marry her father. But after that Marigo's stepmother asks the king to get rid of the princess, but instead of killing her the king just abandons her daughter in the woods. Marigo finds a castle inhabited by forty dragons instead of giants, that take her in as their surrogate sister. After discovering her stepdaughter is still alive thanks also to the Sun the queen sends her husband to the dragons' castle to kill Marigo two times, first with enchanted hair-pins and the second with an enchanted ring.[60] In another Albanian version, titled Fatimé and collected by French folklorist Auguste Dozon, the antagonists are also the heroine's two elder sisters like in Myrsina.[61]

Russia and Eastern Europe

Alexander Afanasyev collected a Russian version titled The Magic Mirror, in which the reason why the heroine has to leave her parents’ house is different than the usual. Instead of the daughter of a king is the daughter of a merchant, who’s left with her uncle while her father and brothers goes to travel. During their absence the heroine’s uncle attempts to assault her, but she frustrates his plans. To get his revenge he writes a letter to the heroine’s father, accusing her of misconduct. Believing what’s written in the letter the merchant sends his son back home to kill his own sister, but the merchant’s son doesn’t trust his uncle’s letter, and after discovering what’s in the letter are lies, he warns her sister, who escapes and takes in with two bogatiers. The elements of the stepmother and the mirror are introduced much latter, after the merchant returns home believing his daughter is dead and remarries the woman who owns the titular magic mirror, that tells her that her stepdaughter is still alive and is more beautiful than her.[62] In another Russian version the heroine is the daughter of a Tsar, and her stepmother decides to kill her after asking three different mirrors and all of them told her her stepdaughters is more beautiful than her. The dwarfs’ role is fulfilled by twelve brothers cursed to be hawks, living at the top of a glass mountain.[63]

Arthur and Albert Schott collected a Romanian version titled The Magic Mirror (Deutsch: Der Zauberspiegel Romanian: Oglinda fermecată), in which the villain is the heroine’s biological mother. After the titular mirror tells her that her daughter is prettiest, she takes her to go for a walk in the woods and feeds her extremely salty bread, so her daughter will become so thirsty that she would agree to let her tear out her eyes in exchange for water. Once the daughter is blinded her mother leaves her in the forest, where she manages to restore her eyes and is taken in by twelve thieves. After discovering her daughter is still alive the mother sends an old woman to the thieves’ house three times. The first she gives the daughter a ring, the second earrings and the third poisoned flowers. After the heroine marries the prince she has a child, and the mother goes to the castle pretending to be a midwife to kill both her daughter and the newborn. After succeeding killing the last one she’s stopped in time before she can kill the heroine.[64]

Media
Snow White in the trailer of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
The famous "Heigh-Ho" sequence from the 1937 adaption
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In film

In television

In literature
  • Snow White (1967), a postmodern novel by Donald Barthelme which describes the lives of Snow White and the dwarfs.
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1971), a poem by Anne Sexton in her collection Transformations, in which she re-envisions sixteen of the Grimm's Fairy Tales.[68]
  • Snow White in New York (1986), a picture book by Fiona French set in 1920s New York.
  • "Snow, Glass, Apples", a 1994 short story written by Neil Gaiman, which all but explicitly rewrites the tale to make Snow White a vampire-like entity that is opposed by the Queen, while the prince is strongly implied to have necrophiliac tastes.
  • Tímakistan (2013), a novel by Andri Snær Magnason, an adaptation of Snow White.
  • Boy, Snow, Bird (2014), a novel by Helen Oyeyemi which adapts the Snow White story as a fable about race and cultural ideas of beauty.[69]
  • Winter (2015), a novel by Marissa Meyer loosely based on the story of Snow White.
  • Sadie: An Amish Retelling of Snow White (2018) by Sarah Price
  • Shattered Snow (2019), a time travel novel by Rachel Huffmire, ties together the life of Margaretha von Waldeck and the Grimm Brothers’ rendition of Snow White.
  • The Princess and the Evil Queen (2019), a novel by Lola Andrews, retells the story as a sensual love tale between Snow White and the Evil Queen.

In theatre

In other media
  • The Haunt of Fear (1953) was a horror comic which featured a gruesome re-imaging of Snow White.
  • Prétear (Prétear - The New Legend of Snow-White) is a manga (2000) and anime (2001) loosely inspired by the story of Snow White, featuring a sixteen-year-old orphan who meets seven magical knights sworn to protect her.
  • Sonne (2001) is a music video for the song by Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein, where the band are dwarfs mining gold for Snow White.
  • Fables (2002), a comic created by Bill Willingham, features Snow White as a major character in the series.
  • MÄR (Märchen Awakens Romance) is a Japanese manga (2003) and anime (2005) series where an ordinary student (in the real world) is transported to another reality populated by characters that vaguely resemble characters from fair tales, like Snow White, Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk) and Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.
  • Snow White with the Red Hair is a manga (2006) and anime (2015) which open with a loose adaptation of the fairy tale, with a wicked prince pursuing a girl with strikingly red hair.
  • Charmed (2008), an album by Sarah Pinsker, features a song called "Twice the Prince" in which Snow White realizes that she prefers a dwarf to Prince Charming.
  • Dark Parables (2010–present), a series of computer video games featuring fairy tales. Snow White appears as a recurring character in a few installments.
  • The Pucca Spring/Summer 2011 fashion show was inspired by Snow White and her wicked step mother, the Queen. The opening model, Stella Maxwell, was dressed as a Lolita-esque modern day Snow White in hoody, miniskirt and high heels.[70] Due to her towering shoes, she fell on the catwalk and dropped the red apple she was carrying.[71]
  • The Boys (2011), Girls' Generation's third studio album, features a concept photo by Taeyeon inspired by Snow White.
  • Joanne Eccles, an equestrian acrobat, won the title of Aerobatic World Champion (International Jumping of Bordeaux) in 2012. She interpreted Snow White during the first part of the event.
  • RWBY (2013) is a web series which features characters called "Weiss Schnee" and "Klein Sieben", German for "White Snow" and "Small Seven" (grammatically incorrect, though, since it would be "Weisser Schnee" and "Kleine Sieben").
  • The Wolf Among Us (2013), the Telltale Games video game based on the comic book series Fables.
  • In the Efteling amusement park, Snow White and the dwarfs live in the Fairytale Forest adjoining the castle of her mother-in-law.

Trademark

In 2013, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a trademark to Disney Enterprises, Inc. for the name "Snow White" that covers all live and recorded movie, television, radio, stage, computer, Internet, news, and photographic entertainment uses, excluding literary works of fiction and nonfiction.[72]

Religious interpretation

Erin Heys'[73] "Religious Symbols" article at the website Religion & Snow White analyzes the use of numerous symbols in the story, their implications, and their Christian interpretations, such as the colours red, white, and black; the apple; the number seven; and resurrection.[74]

Other interpretations

The Brothers Grimm story of "Snow White" takes an unusual turn from its other fairy-tale counterparts in that it can be interpreted as a story with a lesson centered around desirable qualities for women. This includes an interpretation of the fairy tale revolving around the "realization of absolute beauty" as an ideal sought by both the Queen and Snow White.[75] The Queen's—Snow White's step-mother—defining characteristic is her cunning, or intelligence, whereas Snow White's is her beauty.[76] Snow White consistently foils the Queen's jealous attempts to kill her because strangers pity and help her due to her childlike innocence and beauty. For example, the huntsman, who was ordered to kill Snow White, describes her as a "pretty child" and lets her go, which carries over to when the seven dwarfs decide not to cast her out when they find Snow White in their home. Even when the Queen devises the poison apple and kills Snow White, she is saved by the Prince because he finds her to be "the fairest of them all." The Queen dies at the end of the story while Snow White lives happily ever after with the Prince, implying that the Queen's cunning was not enough to counter the power of Snow White's elegance. This suggests that the moral of the story is that beauty is more desirable than intelligence. Despite the modern connotations of this concept, one must consider the time period at which the story was written; Snow White as told by the Brothers Grimm was first published in 1812, where at the time, it was arguably common place for people to live according to traditional gender roles.

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gollark: Retroactively, yes.
gollark: Also, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-27144233
gollark: Thusly, I am to deploy memetic hazards and/or my C code.
gollark: I agree with HelloBoi however.

See also

References
  1. Jacob Grimm & Wilhelm Grimm: Kinder- und Hausmärchen; Band 1, 7. Ausgabe (children's and households fairy tales, volume 1, 7th edition). Dietrich, Göttingen 1857, page 264–273.
  2. Jacob Grimm; Wilhelm Grimm (2014-10-19). The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First ... ISBN 9781400851898. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  3. Bartels, Karlheinz (2012). Schneewittchen – Zur Fabulologie des Spessarts. Geschichts- und Museumsverein Lohr a. Main, Lohr a. Main. pp. 56–59. ISBN 978-3-934128-40-8.
  4. Heidi Anne Heiner. "Tales Similar to Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs". Retrieved 22 September 2010.
  5. English translation of the original
  6. Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (2014). Zipes, Jack (ed.). The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: the complete first edition. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691160597. OCLC 879662315., I pp. 184-85.
  7. Sander, Eckhard (1994). Schneewittchen: Marchen oder Wahrheit? : ein lokaler Bezug zum Kellerwald.
  8. Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XI, 289
  9. Anderson, Graham (2000). Fairytale in the ancient world. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-23702-4. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  10. Bartels, Karlheinz (2012). Schneewittchen – Zur Fabulologie des Spessarts. Geschichts- und Museumsverein Lohr a. Main, Lohr a. Main; second edition. ISBN 978-3-934128-40-8.
  11. Vorwerk, Wolfgang (2015). Das 'Lohrer Schneewittchen' – Zur Fabulologie eines Märchens. Ein Beitrag zu: Christian Grandl/ Kevin J.McKenna, (eds.) Bis dat, qui cito dat. Gegengabe in Paremiology, Folklore, Language, and Literature. Honoring Wolfgang Mieder on His Seventieth Birthday. Peter Lang Frankfurt am Main, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien. pp. 491–503. ISBN 978-3-631-64872-8.
  12. Loibl, Werner (2016). Der Vater der fürstbischöflichen Erthals - Philipp Christoph von und zu Erthal (1689-1748). Geschichts- und Kunstverein Aschaffenburg e.V., Aschaffenburg 2016. ISBN 978-3-87965-126-9.
  13. Loibl, Werner (2012). Die kurmainzische Spiegelmanufaktur Lohr am Main (1698–1806). Geschichts- und Kunstverein Aschaffenburg, Aschaffenburg 2012. ISBN 978-3-87965-116-0. ISBN 978-3-87965-117-7
  14. "'Snow White' gravestone surfaces in Germany". 6 August 2019.
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  16. Steven Swann Jones, ‘The Structure of Snow White’, Fabula, 24 (1983), 56–71, reprinted and slightly expanded in Fairy Tales and Society: Illusion, Allusion, and Paradigm, ed. by Ruth B. Bottigheimer (Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 1986), pp. 165–84. The material is also repeated in a different context in his The New Comparative Method: Structural and Symbolic Analysis of the Allomotifs of Snow White (Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1990).
  17. Kay Stone, "Three Transformations of Snow White", in The Brothers Grimm and Folktale, ed. by James M. McGlathery (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988), pp. 52–65 (pp. 57-58), ISBN 0-252-01549-5.
  18. Maria Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales, p 36, ISBN 0-691-06722-8
  19. Orbach, Israel (1960). "The Emotional Impact of Frightening Stories on Children". Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 1 (3): 379–389. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1993.tb00999.x. PMID 8463375.
  20. Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales, p 194, ISBN 978-1-60710-313-4
  21. De Nino, Antonio Usi e costumi abruzzesi Volume Terzo. Firenze: Tipografia di G. Barbèra 1883 pp. 253-257
  22. Gonzenbach, Laura Sicilianische Märchen vol. 1 Leipzig: Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann 1870 pp. 4-7
  23. Zipes, Jack The Robber with the Witch's Head: More Story from the Great Treasury of Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales Collected by Laura Gonzenbach New York and London: Routledge 2004 pp. 22-25
  24. De Gubernatis, Angelo Le Novellino di Santo Stefano Torino: Augusto Federico Negro 1869 pp. 32-35
  25. Crane, Thomas Frederick Italian Popular Tales Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company 1885 pp. 326-331
  26. Pitrè, Giuseppe Fiabe, novelle e racconti popolari siciliane Volume Secondo. Palermo: Luigi Pedone Lauriel 1875 pp. 39-44
  27. Zipes, Jack The Collected Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales of Giuseppe Pitré Volume 1 New York and London: Routledge 2009 pp. 260-263
  28. Imnbriani, Vittorio La Novellaja fiorentina Livorno: Coi tipi di F. Vigo 1877 pp. 239-250
  29. Monnier, Marc Les Contes populaires en Italie Paris: G. Charpentier 1880 pp. 341-357
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  31. Coronedi Berti, Carolina Favelo bolognesi Monti 1883 pp. 8-10
  32. Sébillot, Paul Contes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne Paris: G. Charpentier 1880 pp. 146-150
  33. Tatar, Maria The Fairest of Them All: Snow White and Other 21 Tales of Mothers and Daughters Harvard University Press 2020 pp. 89-93
  34. Sébillot, Paul Contes des landes et des grèves Rennes: Hyacinthe Caillière 1900 pp. 144-152
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  42. Alcover, Antoni Maria Aplec de Rondaies Mallorquines S. Galayut 1915 pp. 80-92
  43. Espinosa, Aurelio Macedonio Cuentos Populares Españoles Standford University Press 1924 pp. 227-230
  44. Espinosa, Aurelio Macedonio Cuentos Populares Españoles Standford University Press 1924 pp. 230-231
  45. Llano Roza de Ampudia, Aurelio Cuentos Asturianos Recogidos de la Tradición Oral Madrid: Cario Ragio 1925 pp. 91-92
  46. Espinosa, Aurelio Macedonio Cuentos populares de Castilla y León Volumen 1 Madrid: CSIC 1987 pp. 331-334
  47. Espinosa, Aurelio Macedonio Cuentos populares de Castilla y León Volumen 1 Madrid: CSIC 1987 pp. 334-336
  48. Espinosa, Aurelio Macedonio Cuentos populares de Castilla y León Volumen 1 Madrid: CSIC 1987 pp. 337-342
  49. Espinosa, Aurelio Macedonio Cuentos populares de Castilla y León Volumen 1 Madrid: CSIC 1987 pp. 342-346
  50. Zipes, Jack The Golden Age of Folk and Fairy Tales: From the Brothers Grimm to Andrew Lang Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company 2013 pp. 580-582
  51. Jacobs, Joseph Celtic Fairy Tales London: David Nutt 1892 pp. 88-92
  52. Bruford, Alan and Donald A. MacDonald Scottish Traditional Tales Edinburgh: Polygon 1994 pp. 98-106
  53. Briggs, Katharine Mary A Dictionary of British Folktales in the English Language London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1970 pp. 494-495
  54. Winter, Mathias Danske folkeeventyr 1823 pp. 40-47
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  56. Badman, Stephen Folk and Fairy Tales from Denmark vol. 1 2015 pp. 263-267
  57. Sanavio, Annuska Palme Fiabe popolari svedesi Milano: Rizzoli 2017 Tale nº 7
  58. Carnoy, Henri et Nicolaides, Jean Traditions populaires de l'Asie Mineure Paris 1889 pp. 91-106
  59. Megas, Georgios A. Folktales of Greece Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press pp. 106-113 1970
  60. Hahn, Johann Georg von Griechische und Albanesische Märchen Zweiter Theil Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann 1864 pp. 134-143
  61. Dozon, Auguste Contes Albanais Paris: Ernst Leroux 1881 pp. 1-6
  62. Haney, Jack V. The Complete Folktales of A.N. Afanas'ev Volume II University Press of Mississippi 2015 nº 211
  63. Löwis of Menar, August von Russische Volksmärchen Jena: Eugen Diederichs 1927 pp. 123-134
  64. Schott, Arthur und Albert Rumänische Volkserzählungen aus dem Banat Bukarest: Kriterion 1975 pp. 34-42
  65. "Update: Relativity Confirms Julia Roberts In Snow White Pic". Deadline.com.
  66. Breznican, Anthony (2011-03-26). "Armie Hammer cast as prince in 'Snow White'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  67. "Red Shoes and The 7 Dwarfs (2019)". Repelis (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  68. Anne Sexton (2001). Transformations. ISBN 9780618083435. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  69. "Helen Oyeyemi's 'Boy, Snow, Bird' turns a fairy tale inside out". LA Times. 2014-02-27. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  70. Davis, Mari. "Concept Korea Spring 2011".
  71. Annabella Winsteald (17 March 2019). "Model Stella Maxwell FALLS during Pucca by Kwak Hyun Joo Spring/Summer 2011 - 3 ANGLES OF VIEW" – via YouTube.
  72. "US Patent and Trademark Office – Snow White trademark status". Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  73. Heys, Erin. "Home". Religion & Snow White. Archived from the original on October 23, 2014.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  74. Heys, Erin. "Religious Symbols". Religion & Snow White. Archived from the original on October 28, 2014.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  75. Takenaka, Nanae (September 4, 2016). "The Realization of Absolute Beauty: An Interpretation of the Fairytale Snow White". Journal of Analytical Psychology. 61 (4): 497–514. doi:10.1111/1468-5922.12237. PMID 27530170.
  76. Takenaka, Nanae (2016). "The realization of absolute beauty: an interpretation of the fairytale Snow White". Journal of Analytical Psychology. 61 (4): 497–514. doi:10.1111/1468-5922.12237. ISSN 1468-5922. PMID 27530170.

Further reading
  • Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm & Applebaum, Stanley (Editor and Translator) (2003-01-01). Selected Folktales/Ausgewählte Märchen: A Dual-Language Book. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-486-42474-X.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  • Jones, Steven Swann (1990). The New Comparative Method: Structural and Symbolic Analysis of the allomotifs of 'Snow White'. Helsinki: FFC., N 247.
  • Walt Disney's Snow White and the seven dwarfs : an art in its making featuring the collection of Stephen H. Ison (1st ed.). Indianapolis Museum of Art. ISBN 0786861444.
  • Da Silva, Francisco Vaz. "Red as Blood, White as Snow, Black as Crow: Chromatic Symbolism of Womanhood in Fairy Tales." Marvels & Tales 21, no. 2 (2007): 240–52. Accessed June 20, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/41388837.
  • Hemming, Jessica. "Red, White, and Black in Symbolic Thought: The Tricolour Folk Motif, Colour Naming, and Trichromatic Vision." Folklore 123, no. 3 (2012): 310–29. Accessed June 20, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/41721562.
  • Joisten, Charles. "Une version savoyarde du conte de Blanche-Neige". In: Le Monde alpin et rhodanien. Revue régionale d'ethnologie, n° 3-4/1978. pp. 171-174. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/mar.1978.1063] ; www.persee.fr/doc/mar_0758-4431_1978_num_6_3_1063
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