Snow White's Enduring Tale

Here’s a tighter English retelling, trimmed a bit further:

One winter a queen pricked her finger at an ebony frame and wished for a child with skin like snow, lips like blood, and hair like ebony. She bore a daughter who matched the wish and named her Snow White. The queen died; the king remarried a vain woman with a speaking mirror. Each day the new queen asked, “Who is the fairest?” and for years the mirror said, “You,” until Snow White grew lovely enough to change the answer.

Enraged, the queen ordered a huntsman to take Snow White into the forest and kill her. He could not. He told the girl to run and brought the queen an animal’s heart as proof. Lost among dark trees, Snow White found a small, neat cottage with seven plates, seven mugs, and seven beds. At dusk seven dwarfs returned from their mine. They heard her story, gave her shelter, and set one rule: do not open the door to anyone.

The mirror soon exposed the failure. Disguised as a pedlar, the queen tried three times. First she laced Snow White’s bodice so tight the girl fainted; the dwarfs cut the laces and saved her. Next she slid a poisoned comb into Snow White’s hair; the dwarfs pulled it out and revived her. At last she offered a perfect apple, white on one side and red on the other. She bit the pale side to prove it safe. Snow White bit the red side and fell as if dead.

Unable to bury what still looked alive, the dwarfs made a glass coffin and kept watch on a forest hill. A prince passed, saw the maiden, and asked to take the coffin with honor. As his men lifted it, they stumbled; the jolt dislodged the apple piece from her throat. Snow White gasped and woke.

The prince asked for her hand; she agreed, and the dwarfs were welcomed as family. Hearing of the wedding, the queen questioned her mirror. “Snow White,” it said. She came in disguise, recognized the bride, and withdrew.

Snow White and the prince lived quietly and ruled with care. She kept the cottage habits she had learned; he remembered how quickly safety can break. The dwarfs visited often. The path between the hill and the palace stayed worn, and the tale ends there: danger faced, deceit unmasked, a life returned.