Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Children's stories; Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Fairy tales
Snowdrop agreed and went with him, and their wedding was celebrated
with great magnificence. Snowdrop's wicked stepmother was invited to
the feast; and when she had put on her fine clothes she stepped to her
Glass and asked--
'Mirror, Mirror on the wall,
Who is fairest of us all?'
The Glass answered--
'Queen, thou art fairest here, I hold,
The young Queen fairer a thousandfold.'
Then the wicked woman uttered a curse, and was so terribly frightened
that she didn't know what to do. Yet she had no rest: she felt obliged
to go and see the young Queen. And when she came in she recognised
Snowdrop, and stood stock still with fear and terror. But iron
slippers were heated over the fire, and were soon brought in with
tongs and put before her. And she had to step into the red-hot shoes
and dance till she fell down dead.
The Pink
There was once a Queen, who had not been blessed with children. As she
walked in her garden, she prayed every morning that a son or daughter
might be given to her. Then one day an Angel came, and said to her:
'Be content: you shall have a son, and he shall be endowed with the
power of wishing, so that whatsoever he wishes for shall be granted to
him.' She hurried to the King, and told him the joyful news; and when
the time came a son was born to them, and they were filled with
delight.
Every morning the Queen used to take her little son into the gardens,
where the wild animals were kept, to bathe him in a clear, sparkling
fountain. It happened one day, when the child was a little older, that
as she sat with him on her lap she fell asleep.
The old Cook, who knew that the child had the power of wishing, came
by and stole it; he also killed a Chicken, and dropped some of its
blood on the Queen's garments. Then he took the child away to a secret
place, where he placed it out to be nursed. Then he ran back to the
King, and accused the Queen of having allowed her child to be carried
off by a wild animal.
When the King saw the blood on the Queen's garments he believed the
story, and was overwhelmed with anger. He caused a high tower to be
built, into which neither the sun nor the moon could penetrate. Then
he ordered his wife to be shut up in it, and the door walled up. She
was to stay there for seven years, without eating or drinking, so as
gradually to pine away. But two Angels from heaven, in the shape of
white doves, came to her, bringing food twice a day till the seven
years were ended.
Meanwhile the Cook thought, 'If the child really has the power of
wishing, and I stay here, I might easily fall into disgrace.' So he
left the palace, and went to the boy, who was then old enough to talk,
and said to him, 'Wish for a beautiful castle, with a garden, and
everything belonging to it.' Hardly had the words passed the boy's
lips than all that he had asked for was there.
After a time the Cook said, 'It is not good for you to be so much
alone; wish for a beautiful Maiden to be your companion.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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