"Children's Books - Snow White" - читать интересную книгу автора (Children's Books)

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS

Once upon a time . . . in a great castle, a Prince's daughter grew up happy
and contented, in spite of a jealous stepmother. She was very pretty, with
blue eyes and long black hair. Her skin was delicate and fair, and so she was
called Snow White. Everyone was quite sure she would become very beautiful.
Though her stepmother was a wicked woman, she too was very beautiful, and the
magic mirror told her this every day, whenever she asked it.
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the loveliest lady in the land?" The
reply was always; "You are, your Majesty," until the dreadful day when she
heard it say, "Snow White is the loveliest in the land." The stepmother was
furious and, wild with jealousy, began plotting to get rid of her rival.
Calling one of her trusty servants, she bribed him with a rich reward to take
Snow White intc the forest, far away from the Castle. Then, unseen, he was to
put her to death. The greedy servant, attracted to the reward, agreed to do
this deed, and he led the innocent little girl away. However, when they came to
the fatal spot, the man's courage failed him and, leaving Snow White sitting
beside a tree, he mumbled an excuse and ran off. Snow White was all alone in
the forest.
Night came, but the servant did not return. Snow White, alone in the dark
forest, began to cry bitterly. She thought she could feel terrible eyes spying
on her, and she heard strange sounds and rustlings that made her heart thump.
At last, overcome by tiredness, she fell asleep curled under a tree.
Snow White slept fitfully, wakening from time to time with a start and
staring into the darkness round her. Several times, she thought she felt
something, or somebody touch her as she slept.
At last, dawn woke the forest to the song of the birds, and Snow White too,
awoke. A whole world was stirring to life and the little girl was glad to see
how silly her fears had been. However, the thick trees were like a wall round
her, and as she tried to find out where she was, she came upon a path. She
walked along it, hopefully. On she walked till she came to a clearing. There
stood a strange cottage, with a tiny door, tiny windows and a tiny chimney
pot. Everything about the cottage was much tinier than it ought to be. Snow
White pushed the door open.
"l wonder who lives here?" she said to herself, peeping round the kitchen.
"What tiny plates! And spoons! There must be seven of them, the table's laid
for seven people." Upstairs was a bedroom with seven neat little beds. Going
back to the kitchen, Snow White had an idea.
"I'll make them something to eat. When they come home, they'll be glad to
find a meal ready." Towards dusk, seven tiny men marched homewards singing.
But when they opened the door, to their surprise they found a bowl of hot
steaming soup on the table, and the whole house spick and span. Upstairs was
Snow White, fast asleep on one of the beds. The chief dwarf prodded her gently.
"Who are you?" he asked. Snow White told them her sad story, and tears
sprang to the dwarfs' eyes. Then one of them said, as he noisily blew his
nose:
"Stay here with us!"
"Hooray! Hooray!" they cheered, dancing joyfully round the little girl.
The dwarfs said to Snow White:
"You can live here and tend to the house while we're down the mine. Don't