Snow White (Fairytale)

This article focuses on the fairytale, "Snow White". For the film, see "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". For the Enchanted Forest character, see Snow White.

Snow White

	
		
		
	
	
Story
Background Information
Written by:
The Brothers Grimm
Publication:
1812
Adaptation Information
Featured episode(s):
See below

"Snow White", also known as "Schneewittchen", is a fairytale featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by the German authors Jacob and Wilhelm of the Brothers Grimm and incorporated into the book Grimms' Fairy Tales in 1812.

Traditional Plot

A Queen sits by her window and, as she sews, admires the falling snow. As she does so, she pricks her finger, causing three drops of blood fall onto the snow covering the ebony windowsill. The Queen then wishes for a daughter with lips red as blood, hair black as ebony and skin white as snow.

Sometime later, the Queen gives birth to a daughter with all the qualities she wished for and names her Snow White only to pass away shortly afterward. The following year, the King remarries, taking a woman of great beauty as his new wife. But unbeknownst to him, the new Queen's great beauty is surpassed by her vanity. Each day, she approaches a Magic Mirror and asks the same question: "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" And each day, the Magic Mirror responds in her favor, telling her she is the fairest in the land.

Time passes and Snow White reaches the age of seven, becoming more beautiful than she was as a child. One day, the Queen asks her Magic Mirror if she is the fairest one of all and the Mirror replies, "Queen, you are very fair, 'tis true, but Snow White is fairer than you."

The jealous Queen hires a Huntsman to take Snow White into the woods, kill her and bring back her lungs and liver as proof that the deed has been successfully carried out. He obeys but is unable to kill the young princess and allows her to flee. The Huntsman then proceeds to kill a wild boar and carves out its lungs and liver before bringing them back to the Palace, where the Queen has the chef prepare them for dinner.

Meanwhile, Snow White comes across a small cottage and, immediately after entering, falls asleep. That night, she wakes up to find seven dwarfs, who own the cottage and have returned from working all day in the mines. After Snow White explains her situation, the dwarfs agree to let her live with them as long as she acts as their housekeeper and does not answer the door while they're away.

Several days later, the Queen asks the Magic Mirror if she is still the fairest only to learn Snow White is alive and still more beautiful than her. Disguising herself as a peddler woman, she travels to the cottage with several stay-laces and gives one of them to Snow White before offering to lace them for her. The Queen laces them so tightly that her stepdaughter faints and, believing her to be dead, leaves triumphantly only to later learn that the dwarfs returned to the cottage and cut Snow White free of the laces.

Determined to make her second attempt a success, the Queen disguises herself as an old woman and returns to the cottage with a poison-coated comb. Snow White allows the Queen to enter the cottage and lets her brush her hair only to succumb to the comb's effects. The Queen returns to the Palace and, hours later, the dwarfs return to the cottage. Upon finding the princess, they remove the poisoned comb and, after she explains what happened, make her promise to heed their warning.

The Queen, meanwhile, finds out her plan has once again failed and creates a poisoned apple before returning to the cottage in the guise of a farmer's wife. Snow White, however, recalls the dwarfs' warning and refuses to open the door. To gain her trust, the Queen cuts the apple in two and eats the harmless white half. Snow White then accepts the poisoned red half and takes a bite only to fall into a state of suspended animation. The victorious Queen departs for the Palace, confident she is now the fairest of them all.

Night falls and the dwarfs return home but are unable to revive the princess. Believing she is dead and unable to bring themselves to bury her, the seven men build a glass coffin and keep eternal vigil at her side. As the years gradually pass, Snow White grows into a beautiful young woman.

Years later, the Prince of a neighboring kingdom is traveling through the forest when he comes across the dwarfs protecting the coffin. Enchanted by Snow White's beauty, the Prince asks the dwarfs for permission in taking the coffin back to his castle. They agree and the Prince orders his servants to lift up the coffin.

As they make their way back to the Prince's castle, however, the servants stumble on a tree stump, causing the apple half to dislodge from Snow White's throat. Seeing her come back to life, the Prince declares his love for Snow White and they return to his castle to prepare for their wedding.

The Queen, who is among the guests invited to the wedding, asks the Magic Mirror if she is the fairest of them all. When the Mirror tells "the young Queen is a thousand times fairer than you", the enraged Queen makes her way to the Prince's castle and, to her dread, realizes Snow White is the bride. As punishment for her crimes, she is forced to wear heated iron shoes and dance until she drops dead.

Show Adaptation

• The Queen's hatred of Snow White originated when the young princess was unable to keep a secret from the Queen's mother, Cora - an act of betrayal that resulted in the death of Regina's lover, Daniel.
• Snow White's mother is poisoned by Cora so that Regina can become queen instead, and also as revenge for Eva's role in ruining Cora's engagement to Snow White's father, Leopold, and Cora giving up her first-born daughter. 
• The diamonds mined by the seven dwarves are used to make fairy dust.
• The seven dwarves have the names Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Bashful, Happy, Sneezy and Doc, as in the Disney film
• The prince is nicknamed "Charming" by Snow White. He is a shepherd in the guise of his twin brother who meets Snow White when she robs him.
  • The prince and his twin brother are characters also adapted from the story "The Prince and the Pauper".
• The Huntsman presents the Queen with a stag's heart instead of a boar's lungs and liver.
• The Poisoned Apple does not really contain poison, but a Sleeping Curse. The Queen obtained the curse from Maleficent rather than brewing it herself.
• Snow White eats the poisoned apple to save Prince Charming's life after being presented it by the Queen.
• Originally, the Magic Mirror was once a Genie, and becomes trapped as the Queen's slave after making a wish to forever stay by her side.
  • The Genie is also a character adapted from the "Aladdin" story.
• The Evil Queen arranged the murder of Snow White's father with the Magic Mirror's help.
• The Evil Queen learned magic from Rumplestiltskin.
• There were eight dwarves, but Stealthy was killed, leaving the remaining seven.
• Grumpy's name was originally Dreamy.
• The Evil Queen disguises herself as a miller's daughter and names herself "Wilma" with the help of Rumplestiltskin.

Characters Featured

Original Character	Adaptated as	First Featured in
Snow White	Snow White / Mary Margaret Blanchard	"Pilot"
The Queen	Evil Queen / Regina Mills	"Pilot"
The Prince	Prince Charming / David Nolan	"Pilot"
The Magic Mirror	Magic Mirror / Sidney Glass	"The Thing You Love Most"
The Huntsman	Huntsman / Sheriff Graham	"Pilot"
The Dwarves	Doc	"Pilot"
	Grumpy / Leroy
	Happy
	Sleepy / Walter
	Bashful
	Sneezy / Mr. Clark
	Dopey
The King	King Leopold	"Fruit of the Poisonous Tree"
The Good Queen	Queen Eva	"The Queen Is Dead"

Episodes Featured

"Pilot" "Snow Falls" "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" "7:15 A.M." "Dreamy" "The Stable Boy" "An Apple Red as Blood" "A Land Without Magic" "We Are Both"

"The Doctor" "The Cricket Game" "The Queen Is Dead" "The Evil Queen" "Lost Girl" "Snow Drifts" "There's No Place Like Home" "Unforgiven" "Best Laid Plans"

"Mother" "Operation Mongoose Part 1" "Operation Mongoose Part 2" "Souls of the Departed" "Labor of Love" "A Bitter Draught" "Heartless" "Page 23" "The Song in Your Heart"

Locations Featured

Original Location	Adaptated as	First Featured in
The Prince's Castle	Royal Castle	"Pilot"
The Evil Queen's Castle	Evil Queen's Palace	"The Thing You Love Most"
The Dwarves' Cottage	Dwarves' Cottage	"7:15 A.M."

Items Featured

Original Location	Adaptated as	First Featured in
The Glass Coffin	Glass Coffin	"Pilot"
The Poisoned Apple	Poisoned Apple	"True North"
The Dwarves' Axes	Dwarf Pick Axes	"Dreamy"

References

Stories

A – M The Adventures of Pinocchio | The Adventures of Tom Sawyer | Aesop's Fables | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | Arthurian legend | "Beauty and the Beast" | Beowulf | The BFG | Carrie | Celtic mythology | "Cinderella" | A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court | The Count of Monte Cristo | The Curse of Capistrano | Don Quixote | The Emerald City of Oz | Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus | "The Frog Prince" | Germanic mythology | "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" | Greek mythology | "Hansel and Gretel" | The Hundred and One Dalmatians | "Jack and the Beanstalk" | "Jack and Jill" | "Jack the Giant Killer" | "Little Bo Peep" | "Jack Sprat" | La Cenerentola | "The Little Mermaid" | "Little Red Riding Hood" | The Lord of the Rings | The Marvelous Land of Oz | Mary Reilly | Moby-Dick | Mulan | The Mysterious Island N – Z Nursery rhymes | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | One Thousand and One Nights | The Patchwork Girl of Oz | Peter and the Wolf | Peter and Wendy | "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" | "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" | Polynesian mythology | Pride and Prejudice | The Prince and the Pauper | "Rapunzel" | "Rip Van Winkle" | Robin Hood | Roman mythology | "Rumpelstiltskin" | The Scarlet Letter | Slavic mythology | "Sleeping Beauty" | "The Snow Queen" | "Snow White" | "Snow-White and Rose-Red" | "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" | Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde | Swan Lake | "Three Billy Goats Gruff" | The Three Musketeers | The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark | Treasure Island | Through the Looking-Glass | Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea | "The Ugly Duckling" | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz