Once upon a time, in the middle of winter, a queen sat sewing by an open window. Snow was falling. She pricked her finger, and three drops of blood fell on the white snow.

The red looked so beautiful against the white that the queen made a wish. "I wish for a daughter with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as the ebony wood of this window frame."

Before long, her wish came true. She had a daughter with snow-white skin, red lips, and black hair. They named her Snow White. But the queen died soon after, and the king married again.

The new queen was beautiful, but she was proud and vain. She owned a magic mirror, and every morning she stood before it and asked, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall — who is the fairest of them all?"

And the mirror always replied, "You, my queen, are the fairest of them all."

Years passed. Snow White grew up, and she grew more beautiful every year. One morning, the queen asked her mirror the same question, and the mirror said, "You are fair, my queen, that is true. But Snow White is a thousand times fairer than you."

The queen went pale with rage. From that moment, she hated Snow White.

She called a huntsman and ordered him to take the girl deep into the forest and kill her. The huntsman led Snow White into the dark woods, but when the moment came, he could not do it. She was too kind, too innocent.

"Run," he told her. "Run far away and never come back."

Snow White ran. She ran through the forest until her legs ached and her feet were bleeding. Just when she thought she could go no further, she found a tiny cottage in a clearing.

She knocked, but no one answered. The door was unlocked, so she went inside. Everything was small — a little table with seven little plates, seven little cups, and seven little beds in a row.

She was so tired that she lay across three of the little beds and fell fast asleep.

When evening came, the owners of the cottage returned. They were seven dwarfs who spent their days mining for gold and gems in the mountains.

"Someone has been sitting in my chair!" said the first.

"Someone has been eating from my plate!" said the second.

Then the seventh dwarf found Snow White, fast asleep.

When she woke, she told them her story. The dwarfs felt sorry for her. "Stay with us," they said. "You can keep the house while we work in the mines. But be careful — don't let anyone in. The queen may find you."

Snow White was happy with the dwarfs. She cooked and cleaned and sang, and they loved her dearly.

But the queen asked her mirror again, and the mirror said, "Over the hills where the seven dwarfs dwell, Snow White is alive and well — and she is still the fairest of them all."

The queen was furious. She disguised herself as an old peddler woman and found the cottage. "Pretty things to sell!" she called. "Lovely laces and ribbons!"

Snow White forgot the dwarfs' warning and opened the door. The queen offered to lace her bodice tightly — and laced it so tight that Snow White could not breathe. She fell to the floor.

When the dwarfs came home, they found her and quickly loosened the laces. Snow White gasped and came back to life. "You must not open the door to strangers!" they begged.

But the queen tried again, this time with a poisoned comb. And then again, with a poisoned apple — the most dangerous trick of all. She disguised herself as a farmer's wife and offered Snow White a beautiful red apple.

"See? I'll eat the white half myself," said the queen, cutting the apple in two. She ate the harmless half and gave the poisoned red half to Snow White.

Snow White took one bite and fell down dead.

When the dwarfs came home, they could not wake her. They wept and wept. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful, that they could not bear to put her in the ground. They made a coffin of clear glass and set it on a hilltop, and one of them always sat beside it to keep watch.

Time passed. One day, a prince came riding through the forest. He saw the glass coffin and the beautiful girl inside, and he was struck to his heart.

"Please," he said to the dwarfs. "Let me take her with me. I will honor her and watch over her."

The dwarfs could see how much the prince cared. They agreed. But as his servants lifted the coffin, one of them stumbled. The jolt knocked the piece of poisoned apple from Snow White's throat.

Snow White opened her eyes.

She sat up, looked at the prince, looked at the seven dwarfs, and smiled. "Where am I?" she whispered.

The prince told her everything. He asked her to come to his castle, and she said yes.

They were married in a great celebration, and the seven dwarfs were the guests of honor. Snow White never forgot them, and they visited her every year.

As for the wicked queen — when she asked her mirror one last time, the mirror said, "The young queen is the fairest of them all." And the queen's heart twisted with rage. She was never happy again, and that was punishment enough.