Snow White

Quick Answer

Why This Story Works for Bedtime

Better for older kids or read gently. The cozy dwarf cottage and the final safe ending make it bedtime-friendly when told with warmth.

Story Synopsis

Snow White grows up kind and bright, but the Queen’s jealousy sharpens each time the magic mirror praises the girl. Forced to flee, Snow White runs into the forest and finds a small cottage belonging to seven dwarfs. They welcome her with rules of care and friendship, and the home becomes a snug place of routine and safety. But envy follows. The Queen returns in disguise with a poisoned apple. Snow White falls into a deep sleep, and the dwarfs keep watch with love. In the end, help arrives, the spell is undone, and Snow White’s story turns from danger back to warmth.

Story Excerpt

Once upon a time, in the middle of winter, snow fell softly from the sky like white feathers. A queen sat by a window with a black ebony frame, sewing quietly and watching the drifting flakes. As she stitched, the needle pricked her finger, and three drops of red fell onto the snow. How bright the red looked on the white. The queen paused and whispered to herself, “ If only I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood of this window - frame. ” Not long after, she did have a little daughter — white as snow, rosy as blood, with hair as dark as ebony. They called her Snow White. But soon after the child’s birth, the gentle queen grew very still and did not wake again, and the palace felt colder for a long time. A year passed, and the king married again. The new queen was beautiful, but she was also proud, and she could not bear the thought of anyone being more beautiful than she was. She owned a wonderful looking - glass, and each day she stood before it and asked in a clear, certain voice : “ Looking - glass, Looking - glass, on the wall, Who in this land is the fairest of all? ” And the looking - glass answered, “ Thou, O Queen, art the fairest of all! ” Then the queen would smile, satisfied, because she knew the looking - glass always spoke the truth. But Snow White grew — steadily, quietly — until she was seven years old, and her beauty was like a…

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