Reading Notes: Part B for Week 15: Crane - Snow-White
There was once a very beautiful queen. In the middle of winter, a daughter was born to her. She had skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony, just as the mother had wished. However, the queen died when the wee girl, Snow-White, was born to her.
After a year had passed, the king took another wife, but she was proud and unwilling to be surpassed in beauty by any other maiden. She possessed a magic looking-glass, to which she asked who the fairest maiden was of them all. Every time she asked, the looking-glass would say that it was she was the fairest of them all, for it only spoke the truth.
Now, Snow-White grew prettier, and when she was seven years old, the looking-glass proclaimed her as the fairest of them all. The queen was greatly angered by this proclamation and set about Snow-White's doom. So, she called upon a huntsman to take Snow-White out to the woods and take out her heart as a token.
Upon arriving in the middle of the woods, the huntsman took pity upon the young and beautiful girl and decided to spare her life. So, he took the heart of a young boar that happened to come by and took it to the queen. Now, Snow-White was left in the forest all alone, wandering through the woods and wild animals until she happened upon a little house. In this little house, she ate and drank a little from each of the seven plates and cups, and she fell asleep in one of the seven beds upstairs.
This story illustrates how envy and jealously can wreck havoc upon our relationships with others. Though this is an extreme case where the queen wishes death upon Snow-White, readers can emphasize with the poor child as she runs from her evil step-mother's wrath. The urge of envy is explored in this story, as told by the step-mother's actions and wrath upon the poor child.
Bibliography: Snow-White from Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane (1886)
After a year had passed, the king took another wife, but she was proud and unwilling to be surpassed in beauty by any other maiden. She possessed a magic looking-glass, to which she asked who the fairest maiden was of them all. Every time she asked, the looking-glass would say that it was she was the fairest of them all, for it only spoke the truth.
Now, Snow-White grew prettier, and when she was seven years old, the looking-glass proclaimed her as the fairest of them all. The queen was greatly angered by this proclamation and set about Snow-White's doom. So, she called upon a huntsman to take Snow-White out to the woods and take out her heart as a token.
Upon arriving in the middle of the woods, the huntsman took pity upon the young and beautiful girl and decided to spare her life. So, he took the heart of a young boar that happened to come by and took it to the queen. Now, Snow-White was left in the forest all alone, wandering through the woods and wild animals until she happened upon a little house. In this little house, she ate and drank a little from each of the seven plates and cups, and she fell asleep in one of the seven beds upstairs.
This story illustrates how envy and jealously can wreck havoc upon our relationships with others. Though this is an extreme case where the queen wishes death upon Snow-White, readers can emphasize with the poor child as she runs from her evil step-mother's wrath. The urge of envy is explored in this story, as told by the step-mother's actions and wrath upon the poor child.
Disney's Snow-White - Courtesy of Fanpop
Bibliography: Snow-White from Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane (1886)
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