b, they immediately
drew it out. Then the maiden very soon revived and told them all that
had happened. So again they warned her against the wicked stepmother,
and bade her open the door to nobody.

Meanwhile the Queen, on her arrival home, had again consulted her
mirror, and received the same answer as twice before. This made her
tremble and foam with rage and jealousy, and she swore that Snow-White
should die if it cost her her own life. Thereupon she went into an inner
secret chamber where no one could enter, and made an apple of the most
deep and subtle poison. Outwardly it looked nice enough, and had rosy
cheeks which would make the mouth of everyone who looked at it water;
but whoever ate the smallest piece of it would surely die. As soon as
the apple was ready the Queen again dyed her face, and clothed herself
like a peasant's wife, and then over the seven mountains to the house of
the seven Dwarfs she made her way.

She knocked at the door, and Snow-White stretched out her head and said,
"I dare not let anyone enter; the seven Dwarfs have forbidden me."

"That is hard on me," said the old woman, "for I must take back my
apples; but there is one which I will give you."

"No," answered Snow-White; "no, I dare not take it."

"What! are you afraid of it?" cried the old woman. "There, see--I will
cut the apple in halves; do you eat the red cheeks, and I will eat the
core." (The apple was so artfully made that the red cheeks alone were
poisoned.) Snow-White very much wished for the beautiful apple, and
when she saw the woman eating the core she could no longer resist, but,
stretching out her hand, took the poisoned part. Scarcely had she placed
a piece in her mouth when she fell down dead upon the ground. Then the
Queen, looking at her with glittering eyes, and laughing bitterly,
exclaimed, "White as snow, red as blood, black as ebony! This time
the Dwarfs cannot reawaken you."

When she reached home and consulted her mirror--

"Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of us all?"

it answered:

"The Queen is fairest of the day."

[Illustration]

Then her envious heart was at rest, as peacefully as an envious heart
can rest.

When the little Dwarfs returned home in the evening they found
Snow-White lying on the ground, and there appeared to be no life in
her body; she seemed to be quite dead. They raised her up, and tried
if they could find anything poisonous. They unlaced her, and e