ith
the needle, and three drops of blood fell upon the snow. And the red
looked pretty upon the white snow, and she thought to herself:

"Would that I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as
black as the wood of the window-frame!" Soon after that she had a
little daughter, who was as white as snow, and as red as blood, and
her hair was as black as ebony; so she was called Little Snow-white.
And when the child was born, the Queen died.

A year after, the King took to himself another wife. She was beautiful
but proud, and she could not bear to have any one else more beautiful.
She had a wonderful Looking-glass, and when she stood in front of it,
and looked at herself in it, and said:

"Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall,
Who in this land is the fairest of all?"

the Looking-glass answered:

"Thou, O Queen, art the fairest of all!"

At last she was well pleased, for she knew the Looking-glass spoke the
truth.

Now Snow-white grew up, and became more and more beautiful; and when
she was seven years old she was as beautiful as the day, and more
beautiful than the Queen herself. And once when the queen asked her
Looking-glass:

"Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall,
Who in this land is the fairest of all?"

it answered:

"Thou art fairer than all who are here, Lady Queen,
But more beautiful by far is Snow-white, I ween."

Then the Queen was angry, and turned green with envy. From that hour,
whenever she looked at Snow-white, her breath came and went, she hated
the girl so much.

And envy grew higher and higher in her heart like a weed, so that she
had no peace day or night. She called a huntsman, and said:

"Take the child away into the wood; I will no longer have her in my
sight. Kill her, and bring me back her heart as a token." The huntsman
did as he was told, and took her away; but when he had drawn his knife,
and was about to pierce Snow-white's little heart, she began to weep,
and said:

"Ah, dear huntsman, leave me my life! I will run away into the wild
wood, and never come home again."

And as she was so beautiful the huntsman had pity on her and said:

"Run away, then, you poor child." The wild beasts will soon kill her,
thought he; and yet it seemed as if a stone had been rolled from his
heart, since it was no longer needful for him to kill her. As a young
boar just then came running by he stabbed it, and cut out its heart
and took it to the Queen as a p