Fairy Tale History - "Snow White"

Made famous in modern times by the Disney motion picture version, “Snow White” is a tale that has existed, in numerous versions, for centuries. Though the basic story lines are similar, specific details of the versions differ. The earliest literary version of this tale, “The Young Slave”, is found in Giambattista Basile’s 1634 collection, Il Pentamerone (Heiner, Tatar 76). This tale features an aunt as the villain instead of the famous stepmother’s character. In addition, the seven dwarfs are not a part of this early tale. Varying versions of the tale developed later throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and Central America.

“The Young Slave”

In “The Young Slave”, Lilla, a young maiden, secretly gives birth to Lisa. Before her birth, a curse was accidentally placed on Lisa by a clumsy fairy, from which she would die at the age of seven after her mother combed her hair and the comb stuck in her head. The grieving Lilla placed the child in seven crystal caskets and hid her in a room in the castle she shared with her brother, the Baron of Selvascura. Upon her death, Lilla asked her brother to promise to never open the room where the girl’s body lay and to “always keep the key safely in the casket” (Basile 81). The Baron promises to honor his sister’s wishes.

Years later, after the Baron has married, he leaves home to attend an event, leaving his wife in charge of the castle. He begs her not to open the room. Overcome by curiosity, she does the opposite of what her husband asked her not to do. Upon discovering the girl’s body, she unlocks and opens the caskets and in a jealous rage, pulls her out by her hair. As a result, the comb dislodges from the girl’s head, which causes the dead/sleeping girl to awaken. The Baroness proceeds to subject the girl to constant physical abuse and makes her a slave of the castle. Upon his return, the Baron, unfortunately, has no idea that the girl is his niece.

One day, before going to a fair, the Baron asked everyone in the castle, including the slave girl (his niece), what they would like him to buy for them. The evil Baroness flew into a rage, shouting, “That’s right, class her with all the others, this thick-lipped slave . . . Don’t pay so much attention to a worthless bitch, let her go to the devil” (Basile 81). Fortunately, the Baron was a kind-hearted man and insisted on asking the slave girl what she wanted. She asked for “a doll, a knife and a pumice-stone” (82).

When the baron returned with her requested items, Lisa told her doll the emotional story of all that had happened to her, threatening to stab the doll at first, if she (the doll) didn’t answer her (but she does), and later threatening to kill herself. The Baron overhears the latter conversation, bursts in and thwarts the impending suicide, saving Lisa’s life. Now aware that this is his niece and of all of the abuse she had been subjected to, he sends her away to a relative to recover. Months later, the Baron brings Lisa back to the castle, “when she had become as beautiful as a goddess” (Basile 82), reveals her identity at a banquet, and allows her to tell the guests her heartbreaking story. The Baron drives away his evil wife and bestows Lisa with a handsome husband. And the story ends with Lisa stating, “Heaven rains favors on us when we least expect it.”

The Brothers Grimm “Snow White”

Famous for their version of “Snow White”, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm obtained the tale from two sisters, Jeannette and Amalie Hassenpflug (Heiner). Initially, the story’s villain was Snow White’s mother. Prior to publication, a version of the story involves the mother taking Snow White into the woods herself, rather than ordering her servant to do so. In this version, she takes her there to gather flowers, then abandons the child. By the time the first edition of Grimms’ Fairy Tales was published in 1812, the tale, which bore the German title, “Sneewittchen”, the duty of taking the child to the woods had been given to the servant. Later editions of the story change the villain from the mother to a stepmother. It is believed that this change was made to tone down the story for children (“Snow White”). The final revision of the story was published in 1854.

In the Brothers Grimm version, the story begins with a queen who pricks her finger sewing. When the blood from her finger falls to the snow, she expresses her wish to have a child who is “as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood of the window frame” (Grimm 249). Her wish came true and she called the child "Snow White". Unfortunately, the queen died soon after.

The king was remarried a year later to a beautiful but extremely vain woman. This version also describes her as “proud and domineering” (Grimm 250). She would often go to her magic mirror and repeat the famous line, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all?” (250)  As long as this truthful mirror satisfied her ego by telling her that she was the fairest of all, she was happy. However, as Snow White grew older and became more beautiful, the mirror began to say that Snow White was the fairest of all instead of the queen. The queen became envious and “from that moment on, she hated Snow White, and whenever she set eyes on her, her heart turned cold like a stone. Envy and pride grew as fast as weeds in her heart. By day or by night, she never had a moment’s peace” (250-251).

The evil queen ordered a huntsman to take the child into the forest, kill her, and bring back her heart and liver as proof that he killed her. The huntsman had pity on little Snow White and let her go, sending her off into the woods. He later killed a wild boar and brought its heart and liver to the queen. She boiled and devoured them, thinking she was finally rid of Snow White. According to Tatar, this cannibalistic act, common among witches and ogres, was done with the hopes that by eating Snow White’s organs, she would acquire her beauty.

Alone and frightened in the forest, Snow White eventually comes upon a cottage that was “indescribably dainty and spotless” (Grimm 251), where she makes herself at home by partaking of the “available” food and drink, then taking a nap in one of the beds (only after trying out all of the other beds for comfort). When the seven dwarfs come home from working in the mines, they are astonished to find the beautiful young girl sleeping in their home. When she awakens, she tells them what has happened to her and the dwarfs decide to let her stay if she agrees to “keep house” for them, which she does. As the dwarfs leave for work, they warn Snow White not to let anyone in the house because her stepmother would eventually find out where she was.

Meanwhile, the wicked queen now believes she is rid of Snow White and needs an ego boost. So, she goes to the magic mirror to repeat her famous question of who’s the fairest of all. The honest mirror says Snow White is the fairest and reveals that she is living with the seven dwarfs. With this news, the evil queen devises a plan to get rid of her stepdaughter. She disguises herself as an old peddler woman and sets off to the dwarfs’ cottage, where a naïve Snow White is fooled (and disobedient to the dwarfs’ orders), opens the door, and falls victim to queen’s scheme. She laces Snow White so tightly that she “fell down as if dead” (255). The dwarfs return home and are able to revive her by cutting the staylace.

The evil queen again discovers from her magic mirror that her plot to kill Snow White was unsuccessful. She comes up with another plan, disguising herself as an old woman. Naïve Snow White again succumbs to the evil woman’s scheme of the poisoned comb. Again, the dwarfs come home and rescue the girl. Afterward, the queen finds out from the mirror that Snow White is alive.

In yet another scheme, the evil queen poisons an apple and disguises herself as a peasant woman. Snow White again falls for the trick and takes a bite of the apple and dies. Now, according to the mirror, the queen is once again the fairest of all. After the dwarfs find Snow White dead, they place her in a glass coffin at the top of a mountain.

One day, a prince saw the coffin and asked the dwarfs if he could have the coffin. As his servants moved the coffin, they stumbled, dislodging the apple from Snow White’s throat. She awakened and the prince took her with him to be his bride.

The wicked queen, who was invited to the wedding, asked the mirror who was the fairest of all. This time, the mirror told her that “the young queen is a thousand times more fair” (Grimm 261). The wicked queen was “paralyzed with fear” (261) and had to see the young queen. Upon arrival at the wedding, Snow White and queen recognize each other. The wicked queen ends up having “to put on the red-hot iron shoes and dance in them until she dropped to the ground dead” (261).

Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”

Walt Disney based his version of “Snow White” on the Grimm’s version, with some revisions and creative license. The feature film was released in 1938 as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, placing some emphasis, with the title, on the dwarfs, for the entertainment factor, although the wicked stepmother is the most active character in versions of the tale. Gilbert and Gubar point out that the story should have been titled “Snow White and her Wicked Stepmother” instead. However, for child-appeal, it is understandable why Disney added the seven dwarfs to the title, as it would be a better marketing strategy and more appealing to younger audiences as well as their parents (and stepparents) (see fig. 1).

   

Fig. 1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney Special Platinum Edition).
 Source: Walt Disney, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney Special Platinum Edition)”, Amazon, Amazon, 2015, Web, 19 Apr. 2015.

Fig. 2. Cover of the Little Golden Book “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.

The written version of the Disney tale (see fig. 2) is adapted from the film. Both (film and print) versions eliminate the story about Snow White’s biological mother and the child’s birth. The story follows the Grimm version, adding how the queen “forced the princess to dress in rags and work from dawn to dusk” and that Snow White remained “sweet, gentle, and cheerful”, dreaming of “a handsome prince who would come and carry her off to his castle” (Disney). In the written version, when the queen sends the huntsman to kill Snow White in the forest, she doesn’t ask for any proof (with bodily organs), but rather warns him of the penalty if he fails to carry out the deed. In the forest, the huntsman falls to his knees and begs for Snow White’s forgiveness before telling her to run. As the frightened child wanders through the forest, the animals comfort her and lead her to the dwarfs’ cottage.

Unlike the Grimm version, the Disney dwarfs’ cottage was a mess. It was dusty and the sink was full of dirty dishes. Snow White thinks maybe orphan children live there and need a caretaker. She and her animal friends from the forest clean the house together.

The seven dwarfs enter the story, this time with individual names and matching personalities. After they discover Snow White sleeping in their home, Grumpy warns the others, “She’s going to be trouble! Mark my words!” (Disney) Despite Grumpy’s warnings, the dwarfs decide to let her stay. Snow White and her little friends party after dinner.

The wicked queen, in this version, only makes one additional attempt on Snow White’s life, with the poisoned apple, of which Snow White partakes and dies. The dwarfs are warned by the birds and animals that something is wrong. As they hurry back to their cottage, they see the Queen leaving and chase after her to the top of a mountain. A lightning bolt cracks the mountain and the evil queen falls to her death.

In the Disney version, when the handsome prince passes by and sees Snow White in the glass and gold coffin, he brings her back to life/breaks the queen’s evil spell with a kiss. Similar to other versions, the prince whisks Snow White away to his castle and they live happily ever after.

Works Cited

Basile, Giambattista. “The Young Slave.” The Classic Fairy Tales. Norton Critical Edition. Comp. Maria Tatar. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 80-83. Print.

Disney Enterprises. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Illus. Don Williams. New York: Golden Books, 2003. Kindle file.

Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. “Snow White and Her Wicked Stepmother.” The Classic Fairy Tales. Norton Critical Edition. Comp. Maria Tatar. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 291-297. Print.

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. “Snow White.” The Annotated Brothers Grimm. Ed. And trans. Maria Tatar. New York: Norton & Company, 2012. 246-261. Print.

Heiner, Heidi Anne. “History of Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs.” SurLaLune Fairy Tales. SurLaLane Fairy Tales, 12 Sep. 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

“Snow White.” Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Apr. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Tatar, Maria. “Introduction: Snow White.” The Classic Fairy Tales. Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 74-80. Print.