wailed her three whole
days; and then they proposed to bury her; but her cheeks were still
rosy, and her face looked just as it did while she was alive; so they
said, "We will never bury her in the cold ground." And they made a
coffin of glass so that they might still look at her, and wrote her name
upon it in golden letters, and that she was a king's daughter. Then the
coffin was placed upon the hill, and one of the dwarfs always sat by it
and watched. And the birds of the air came, too, and bemoaned
Snow-White. First of all came an owl, and then a raven, but at last came
a dove.
And thus Snow-White lay for a long, long time, and still only looked as
though she were asleep; for she was even now as white as snow, and as
red as blood, and as black as ebony. At last a prince came and called at
the dwarfs' house; and he saw Snow-White and read what was written in
golden letters. Then he offered the dwarfs money, and earnestly prayed
them to let him take her away; but they said, "We will not part with her
for all the gold in the world." At last, however, they had pity on him,
and gave him the coffin; but the moment he lifted it up to carry it home
with him, the piece of apple fell from between her lips, and Snow-White
awoke, and exclaimed, "Where am I!" And the prince answered, "Thou art
safe with me." Then he told her all that had happened, and said, "I love
you better than all the world; come with me to my father's palace, and
you shall be my wife." Snow-White consented, and went home with the
prince; and everything was prepared with great pomp and splendor for
their wedding.
To the feast was invited, among the rest, Snow-White's old enemy, the
queen; and as she was dressing herself in fine, rich clothes, she looked
in the glass and said, "Tell me, glass, tell me true! Of all the ladies
in the land, Who is fairest? tell me who?" And the glass answered,
"Thou, lady, art the loveliest _here_, I ween; But lovelier far is the
new-made queen."
When she heard this, the queen started with rage; but her envy and
curiosity were so great, that she could not help setting out to see the
bride. And when she arrived, and saw that it was no other than
Snow-White, whom she thought had been dead a long while, she choked with
passion, and fell ill and died; but Snow-White and the prince lived and
reigned happily over that land, many, many years.
CATHERINE AND FREDERICK
Once upon a time there was a youth named Frederick a
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