face looked just as it did while she was alive; so they said, “We will never bury her in the cold ground.”  And they made a coffin of glass so that they might still look at her, and wrote her name upon it in golden letters, and that she was a king’s daughter.  And the coffin was placed upon the hill, and one of the dwarfs always sat by it and watched.  And the birds of the air came too, and bemoaned Snow-White.  First of all came an owl, and then a raven, but at last came a dove.

And thus Snow-White lay for a long, long time, and still only looked as though she were asleep; for she was even now as white as snow, and as red as blood, and as black as ebony.  At last a prince came and called at the dwarfs’ house; and he saw Snow-White, and read what was written in gold letters.  Then he offered the dwarfs money, and earnestly prayed them to let him take her away; but they said, “We will not part with her for all the gold in the world.”  At last, however, they had pity on him, and gave him the coffin; but the moment he lifted it up to carry it home with him, the piece of apple fell from between her lips, and Snow-White awoke, and said, “Where am I?” And the prince answered, “Thou art safe with me.”  Then he told her all that had happened, and said, “I love you better than all the world; come with me to my father’s palace, and you shall be my wife.”  And Snow-White consented, and went home with the prince; and everything was prepared with great pomp and splendour for their wedding.

To the feast was invited, among the rest, Snow-White’s old enemy, the queen; and as she was dressing herself in fine, rich clothes, she looked, in the glass, and the glass answered,

      “Thou, lady, art the loveliest here, I ween;
      But lovelier far is the new-made queen.”

When she heard this, she started with rage; but her envy and curiosity were so great, that she could not help setting out to see the bride.  And when she arrived, and saw that it was none other than Snow-White, who she thought had been dead a long while, she choked with passion, and fell ill and died; but Snow-White and the prince lived and reigned happily over that land many, many years.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CINDERELLA

The wife of a rich man fell sick:  and when she felt that her end drew nigh, she called her only daughter to her bedside, and said, “Always be a good girl, and I will look down from heaven and watch over you.”  Soon afterwards she shut her eyes and died, and was buried in the garden; and the little girl went every day to her grave and wept, and was always good and kind to all about her.  And the snow spread a beautiful white covering over the grave:  but by the time the sun had melted it away again, her father had married another wife.  This new wife had two daughters of her own, that she brought home with her:  they were fair in face but foul at heart, and it was now a sorry time for the poor little girl.  “What does the good-for-nothing thing want in the parlour?” said they; “they who would eat bread should first earn it; away with the kitchen maid!” Then they took away her fine clothes, and gave her an old frock to put on, and laughed at her and turned her into the kitchen.