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Once upon
a time...
A poor widow once lived in a little cottage with a garden in
front of it, in which grew two rose trees, one bearing white roses
and the other red. She had two children, who were just like the two
rose trees; one was called Snow-white and the other Rose-red, and
they were the sweetest and best children in the world, always
diligent and always cheerful; but Snow-white was quieter and more
gentle than Rose-red. Rose-red loved to run about the fields and
meadows, and to pick flowers and catch butterflies; but Snow-white
sat at home with her mother and helped her in the household, or read
aloud to her when there was no work to do. The two children loved
each other so dearly that they always walked about hand in hand
whenever they went out together, and when Snow- white said, "We will
never desert each other," Rose-red answered: "No, not as long as we
live"; and the mother added: "Whatever one gets she shall share with
the other." They often roamed about in the woods gathering berries
and no beast offered to hurt them; on the contrary, they came up to
them in the most confiding manner; the little hare would eat a
cabbage leaf from their hands, the deer grazed beside them, the stag
would bound past them merrily, and the birds remained on the
branches and sang to them with all their might.
No evil ever befell them; if they tarried late in the wood and night
overtook them, they lay down together on the moss and slept till
morning, and their mother knew they were quite safe, and never felt
anxious about them. Once, when they had slept all night in the wood
and had been wakened by the morning sun, they perceived a beautiful
child in a shining white robe sitting close to their resting-place.
The figure got up, looked at them kindly, but said nothing, and
vanished into the wood. And when they looked round about them they
became aware that they had slept quite close to a precipice, over
which they would certainly have fallen had they gone on a few steps
further in the darkness. And when they told their mother of their
adventure, she said what they had seen must have been the angel that
guards good children.
Snow-white and Rose-red kept their mother's cottage so beautifully
clean and neat that it was a pleasure to go into it. In summer
Rose-red looked after the house, and every morning before her mother
awoke she placed a bunch of flowers before the bed, from each tree a
rose. In winter Snow-white lit the fire and put on the kettle, which
was made of brass, but so beautifully polished that it shone like
gold. In the evening when the snowflakes fell their mother said:
"Snow-white, go and close the shutters," and they drew round the
fire, while the mother put on her spectacles and read aloud from a
big book and the two girls listened and sat and span. Beside them on
the ground lay a little lamb, and behind them perched a little white
dove with its head tucked under its wings.
One evening as they sat thus cosily together someone knocked at the
door as though he desired admittance. The mother said: "Rose-red,
open the door quickly; it must be some traveller seeking shelter."
Rose-red hastened to unbar the door, and thought she saw a poor man
standing in the darkness outside; but it was no such thing, only a
bear, who poked his thick black head through the door. Rose-red
screamed aloud and sprang back in terror, the lamb began to bleat,
the dove flapped its wings, and Snow-white ran and hid behind her
mother's bed. But the bear began to speak, and said: "Don't be
afraid: I won't hurt you. I am half frozen, and only wish to warm
myself a little." "My poor bear," said the mother, "lie down by the
fire, only take care you don't burn your fur." Then she called out:
"Snow-white and Rose-red, come out; the bear will do you no harm; he
is a good, honest creature." So they both came out of their
hiding-places, and gradually the lamb and dove drew near too, and
they all forgot their fear. The bear asked the children to beat the
snow a little out of his fur, and they fetched a brush and scrubbed
him till he was dry. Then the beast stretched himself in front of
the fire, and growled quite happily and comfortably. The children
soon grew quite at their ease with him, and led their helpless guest
a fearful life. They tugged his fur with their hands, put their
small feet on his back, and rolled him about here and there, or took
a hazel wand and beat him with it; and if he growled they only
laughed. The bear submitted to everything with the best possible
good- nature, only when they went too far he cried: "Oh! children,
spare my life!
"Snow-white and Rose-red, Don't beat your lover dead."
When it was time to retire for the night, and the others went to
bed, the mother said to the bear: "You can lie there on the hearth,
in heaven's name; it will be shelter for you from the cold and wet."
As soon as day dawned the children led him out, and he trotted over
the snow into the wood. From this time on the bear came every
evening at the same hour, and lay down by the hearth and let the
children play what pranks they liked with him; and they got so
accustomed to him that the door was never shut till their black
friend had made his appearance.
When spring came, and all outside was green, the bear said one
morning to Snow-white: "Now I must go away, and not return again the
whole summer." "Where are you going to, dear bear?" asked
Snow-white. "I must go to the wood and protect my treasure from the
wicked dwarfs. In winter, when the earth is frozen hard, they are
obliged to remain underground, for they can't work their way
through; but now, when the sun has thawed and warmed the ground,
they break through and come up above to spy the land and steal what
they can; what once falls into their hands and into their caves is
not easily brought back to light." Snow-white was quite sad over
their friend's departure, and when she unbarred the door for him,
the bear, stepping out, caught a piece of his fur in the door-
knocker, and Snow-white thought she caught sight of glittering gold
beneath it, but she couldn't be certain of it; and the bear ran
hastily away, and soon disappeared behind the trees.
A short time after this the mother sent the children into the wood
to collect fagots. They came in their wanderings upon a big tree
which lay felled on the ground, and on the trunk among the long
grass they noticed something jumping up and down, but what it was
they couldn't distinguish. When they approached nearer they
perceived a dwarf with a wizened face and a beard a yard long. The
end of the beard was jammed into a cleft of the tree, and the little
man sprang about like a dog on a chain, and didn't seem to know what
he was to do. He glared at the girls with his fiery red eyes, and
screamed out: "What are you standing there for? Can't you come and
help me?" "What were you doing, little man?" asked Rose-red. "You
stupid, inquisitive goose!" replied the dwarf; "I wanted to split
the tree, in order to get little chips of wood for our kitchen fire;
those thick logs that serve to make fires for coarse, greedy people
like yourselves quite burn up all the little food we need. I had
successfully driven in the wedge, and all was going well, but the
cursed wood was so slippery that it suddenly sprang out, and the
tree closed up so rapidly that I had no time to take my beautiful
white beard out, so here I am stuck fast, and I can't get away; and
you silly, smooth-faced, milk-and- water girls just stand and laugh!
Ugh! what wretches you are!"
The children did all in their power, but they couldn't get the beard
out; it was wedged in far too firmly. "I will run and fetch
somebody," said Rose-red. "Crazy blockheads!" snapped the dwarf;
"what's the good of calling anyone else? You're already two too many
for me. Does nothing better occur to you than that?" "Don't be so
impatient," said Snow-white, "I'll see you get help," and taking her
scissors out of her pocket she cut off the end of his beard. As soon
as the dwarf felt himself free he seized a bag full of gold which
was hidden among the roots of the tree, lifted it up, and muttered
aloud: "Curse these rude wretches, cutting off a piece of my
splendid beard!" With these words he swung the bag over his back,
and disappeared without as much as looking at the children again.
Shortly after this Snow-white and Rose-red went out to get a dish of
fish. As they approached the stream they saw something which looked
like an enormous grasshopper springing toward the water as if it
were going to jump in. They ran forward and recognized their old
friend the dwarf. "Where are you going to?" asked Rose-red; "you're
surely not going to jump into the water?" "I'm not such a fool,"
screamed the dwarf. "Don't you see that cursed fish is trying to
drag me in?" The little man had been sitting on the bank fishing,
when unfortunately the wind had entangled his beard in the line; and
when immediately afterward a big fish bit, the feeble little
creature had no strength to pull it out; the fish had the upper fin,
and dragged the dwarf toward him. He clung on with all his might to
every rush and blade of grass, but it didn't help him much; he had
to follow every movement of the fish, and was in great danger of
being drawn into the water. The girls came up just at the right
moment, held him firm, and did all they could to disentangle his
beard from the line; but in vain, beard and line were in a hopeless
muddle. Nothing remained but to produce the scissors and cut the
beard, by which a small part of it was sacrificed.
When the dwarf perceived what they were about he yelled to them: "Do
you call that manners, you toad- stools! to disfigure a fellow's
face? It wasn't enough that you shortened my beard before, but you
must now needs cut off the best bit of it. I can't appear like this
before my own people. I wish you'd been in Jericho first." Then he
fetched a sack of pearls that lay among the rushes, and without
saying another word he dragged it away and disappeared behind a
stone.
It happened that soon after this the mother sent the two girls to
the town to buy needles, thread, laces, and ribbons. Their road led
over a heath where huge boulders of rock lay scattered here and
there. While trudging along they saw a big bird hovering in the air,
circling slowly above them, but always descending lower, till at
last it settled on a rock not far from them. Immediately afterward
they heard a sharp, piercing cry. They ran forward, and saw with
horror that the eagle had pounced on their old friend the dwarf, and
was about to carry him off. The tender-hearted children seized hold
of the little man, and struggled so long with the bird that at last
he let go his prey. When the dwarf had recovered from the first
shock he screamed in his screeching voice: "Couldn't you have
treated me more carefully? You have torn my thin little coat all to
shreds, useless, awkward hussies that you are!" Then he took a bag
of precious stones and vanished under the rocks into his cave. The
girls were accustomed to his ingratitude, and went on their way and
did their business in town. On their way home, as they were again
passing the heath, they surprised the dwarf pouring out his precious
stones on an open space, for he had thought no one would pass by at
so late an hour. The evening sun shone on the glittering stones, and
they glanced and gleamed so beautifully that the children stood
still and gazed on them. "What are you standing there gaping for?"
screamed the dwarf, and his ashen-grey face became scarlet with
rage. He was about to go off with these angry words when a sudden
growl was heard, and a black bear trotted out of the wood. The dwarf
jumped up in great fright, but he hadn't time to reach his place of
retreat, for the bear was already close to him. Then he cried in
terror: "Dear Mr. Bear, spare me! I'll give you all my treasure.
Look at those beautiful precious stones lying there. Spare my life!
what pleasure would you get from a poor feeble little fellow like
me? You won't feel me between your teeth. There, lay hold of these
two wicked girls, they will be a tender morsel for you, as fat as
young quails; eat them up, for heaven's sake." But the bear, paying
no attention to his words, gave the evil little creature one blow
with his paw, and he never moved again.
The girls had run away, but the bear called after them: "Snow-white
and Rose-red, don't be afraid; wait, and I'll come with you." Then
they recognized his voice and stood still, and when the bear was
quite close to them his skin suddenly fell off, and a beautiful man
stood beside them, all dressed in gold. "I am a king's son," he
said, "and have been doomed by that unholy little dwarf, who had
stolen my treasure, to roam about the woods as a wild bear till his
death should set me free. Now he has got his well-merited
punishment."
Snow-white married him, and Rose-red his brother, and they divided
the great treasure the dwarf had collected in his cave between them.
The old mother lived for many years peacefully with her children;
and she carried the two rose trees with her, and they stood in front
of her window, and every year they bore the finest red and white
roses.
Snow-White and Rose-Red
Fairy Tale
from the Blue Fairy Book
Story Edited
by Andrew Lang |
