Snow-White And Rose-Red

Sacred Texts  Household Tales Index  Previous: One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes 

 
 
 Snow-White And Rose-Red
 
 
      There was once a poor widow who lived in a lonely cottage. In front of
 the cottage was a garden wherein stood two rose-trees, one of which bore
 white and the other red roses. She had two children who were like the two rose
 - trees, and one was called Snow-white and the other Rose-red. They were
 as good and happy, as busy and cheerful, as ever two children in the world
 were, only Snow-white was more quiet and gentle than Rose-red. Rose-red
 liked better to run about in the meadows and fields seeking flowers and
 catching butterflies; but Snow-white sat at home with her mother, and helped
 her with her house-work, or read to her when there was nothing to do.
 
 
      The two children were so fond of each other that they always held each
 other by the hand when they went out together, and when Snow-white said, "We
 will not leave each other," Rose-red answered, "Never so long as we live,"
 and their mother would add, "What one has she must share with the other."
 
 
      They often ran about the forest alone and gathered red berries, and no
 beasts did them any harm, but came close to them trustfully. The little hare
 would eat a cabbage-leaf out of their hands, the roe grazed by their side,
 the stag leapt merrily by them, and the birds sat still upon the boughs, and
 sang whatever they knew.
 
 
      No mishap overtook them; if they had stayed too late in the forest and
 night came on, they laid themselves down near one another upon the moss, and
 slept until morning came, and their mother knew this and had not distress on
 their account.
 
 
      Once when they had spent the night in the wood and the dawn had roused
 them, they saw a beautiful child in a shining white dress sitting near their
 bed. He got up and looked quite kindly at them, but said nothing and went away
 into the forest. And when they looked round they found that they had been
 sleeping quite close to a precipice, and would certainly have fallen into it
 in the darkness if they had gone only a few paces further. And their mother
 told them that it must have been the angel who watches over good children.
 
 
      Snow-white and Rose-red kept their mother's little cottage so neat
 that it was a pleasure to look inside it. In the summer Rose-red took care
 of the house, and every morning laid a wreath of flowers by her mother's bed
 before she awoke, in which was a rose from each tree. In the winter Snow -
 white lit the fire and hung the kettle on the wrekin. The kettle was of copper
 and shone like gold, so brightly was it polished. In the evening, when the
 snowflakes fell, the mother said, "Go, Snow-white, and bolt the door," and
 then they sat round the hearth, and the mother took her spectacles and read
 aloud out of a large book, and the two girls listened as they sat and span.
 And close by them lay a lamb upon the floor, and behind them upon a perch sat
 a, white dove with its head hidden beneath its wings.
 
 
      One evening, as they were thus sitting comfortably together, some one
 knocked at the door, as if he wished to be let in. The mother said. "Quick,
 Rose-red, open the door, it must be a traveller who is seeking shelter."
 Rose-red went and pushed back the bolt, thinking that it was a poor man, but
 it was not; it was a bear that stretched his broad, black head within the
 door.
 
 
      Rose-red screamed and sprang back, the lamb bleated, the dove
 fluttered, and Snow-white hid herself behind her mother's bed. But the bear
 began to speak and said, "Do not be afraid, I will do you no harm! I am half -
 frozen, and only want to warm myself a little beside you."
 
 
 
 
      "Poor bear," said the mother, "lie down by the fire, only take care that
 you do not burn your coat." Then she cried, "Snow-white, Rose-red, come
 out, the bear will do you no harm, he means well." So they both came out, and
 by-and-by the lamb and dove came nearer, and were not afraid of him. The
 bear said, "Here, children, knock the snow out of my coat a little;" so they
 brought the broom and swept the bear's hide clean; and he stretched himself by
 the fire and growled contentedly and comfortably. It was not long before they
 grew quite at home, and played tricks with their clumsy guest. They tugged his
 hair with their hands, put their feet upon his back and rolled him about, or
 they took a hazel-switch and beat him, and when he growled they laughed. But
 the bear took it all in good part, only, when they were too rough, he called
 out, "Leave me alive, children,
 
 
 "Snowy-white, Rosy-red,
 Will you beat your lover dead?"
 
 
      When it was bed-time, and the others went to bed, the mother said to
 the bear, "You can lie there by the hearth, and then you will be safe from the
 cold and the bad weather." As soon as day dawned the two children let him out,
 and he trotted across the snow into the forest.
 
 
      Henceforth the bear came every evening at the same time, laid himself
 down by the hearth, and let the children amuse themselves with him as much as
 they liked; and they got so used to him that the doors were never fastened
 until their black friend had arrived.
 
 
      When spring had come and all outside was green, the bear said one morning
 to Snow-white, "Now I must go away, and cannot come back for the whole
 summer." "Where are you going, then, dear bear,?" asked Snow-white. "I must
 go into the forest and guard my treasures from the wicked dwarfs. In the
 winter, when the earth is frozen hard, they are obliged to stay below and
 cannot work their way through; but now, when the sun has thawed and warmed the
 earth, they break through it, and come out to pry and steal; and what once
 gets into their hands, and in their caves, does not easily see daylight
 again."
 
 
      Snow-white was quite sorry for his going away, and as she unbolted the
 door for him, and the bear was hurrying out, he caught against the bolt and a
 piece of his hairy coat was torn off, and it seemed to Snow-white as if she
 had seen gold shining through it, but she was not sure about it. The bear ran
 away quickly, and was soon out of sight behind the trees.
 
 
      A short time afterwards the mother sent her children into the forest to
 get fire-wood. There they found a big tree which lay felled on the ground,
 and close by the trunk something was jumping backwards and forwards in the
 grass, but they could not make out what it was. When they came nearer they saw
 a dwarf with an old withered face and a snow-white beard a yard long. The
 end of the beard was caught in a crevice of the tree, and the little fellow
 was jumping backwards and forwards like a dog tied to a rope, and did not know
 what to do.
 
 
 
 
      He glared at the girls with his fiery red eyes and cried, "Why do you
 stand there? Can you not come here and help me?" "What are you about there,
 little man?" asked Rose-red. "You stupid, prying goose!" answered the dwarf;
 "I was going to split the tree to get a little wood for cooking. The little
 bit of food that one of us wants get burnt up directly with thick logs; we do
 not swallow so much as you coarse, greedy folk. I had just driven the wedge
 safely in, and everything was going as I wished; but the wretched wood was too
 smooth and suddenly sprang asunder, and the tree closed so quickly that I
 could not pull out my beautiful white beard; so now it is tight in and I
 cannot get away, and the silly, sleek, milk-faced things laugh! Ugh! how
 odious you are!"
 
 
      The children tried very hard, but they could not pull the beard out, it
 was caught too fast. "I will run and fetch some one," said Red-rose. "You
 senseless goose!" snarled the dwarf; "why should you fetch some one? You are
 already two too many for me; can you not think of something better?" "Don't be
 too impatient," said Snow-white, "I will help you," and she pulled her
 scissors out of her pocket, and cut off the end of the beard.
 
 
      As soon as the dwarf felt himself free he laid hold of a bag which lay
 amongst the roots of the tree, and which was full of gold, and lifted it up,
 grumbling to himself, "Uncouth people, to cut off a piece of my fine beard.
 Bad luck to you!" and then he swung the bag upon his back, and went off
 without even once looking at the children.
 
 
      Some time after that Snow-white and Rose-red went to catch a dish of
 fish. As they came near the brook they saw something like a large grasshopper
 jumping towards the water, as if it were going to leap in. They ran to it and
 found it was the dwarf. "Where are you going?" said Rose-red; "you surely
 don't want to go into the water?" "I am not such a fool!" cried the dwarf;
 "don't you see that the accursed fish wants to pull me in?" The little man had
 been sitting there fishing, and unluckily the wind had twisted his beard with
 the fishing-line; just then a big, fish bit, and the feeble creature had not
 the strength to pull it out; the fish kept the upper hand and pulled the dwarf
 towards him. He held on to all the reeds and rushes, but it was of little
 good, he was forced to follow the movements of the fish, and was in urgent
 danger of being dragged into the water.
 
 
      The girls came just in time; they held him fast and tried to free his
 beard from the line, but all in vain, beard and line were entangled fast
 together. Nothing was left but to bring out the scissors and cut the beard,
 whereby a small part of it was lost.
 
 
      When the dwarf saw that he screamed out, "Is that civil, you toad -
 stool, to disfigure one's face? Was it not enough to clip off the end of my
 beard? Now you have cut off the best part of it. I cannot let myself be seen
 by my people. I wish you had been made to run the soles off your shoes!" Then
 he took out a sack of pearls which lay in the rushes, and without saying a
 word more he dragged it away and disappeared behind a stone.
 
 
      It happened that soon afterwards the mother sent the two children to the
 town to buy needles and thread, and laces and ribbons. The road led them
 across a heath upon which huge pieces of rock lay strewn here and there. Now
 they noticed a large bird hovering in the air, flying slowly round and round
 above them; it sank lower and lower, and at last settled near a rock not far
 off. Directly afterwards they heard a loud, piteous cry. They ran up and saw
 with horror that the eagle had seized their old acquaintance the dwarf, and
 was going to carry him off.
 
 
      The children, full of pity, at once took tight hold of the little man,
 and pulled against the eagle so long that at last he let his booty go. As soon
 as the dwarf had recovered from his first fright he cried with his shrill
 voice, "Could you not have done it more carefully? You dragged at my brown
 coat so that it is all torn and full of holes, you helpless clumsy creatures!"
 Then he took up a sack full of precious stones and slipped away again under
 the rock into his hole. The girls, who by this time were used to his
 thanklessness, went on their way and did their business in the town.
 
 
      As they crossed the heath again on their way home they surprised the
 dwarf, who had emptied out his bag of precious stones in a clean spot, and had
 not thought that any one would come there so late. The evening sun shone upon
 the brilliant stones; they glittered and sparkled with all colours so
 beautifully that the children stood still and looked at them. "Why do you
 stand gaping there?" cried the dwarf, and his ashen-grey face became copper
 - red with rage. He was going on with his bad words when a loud growling was
 heard, and a black bear came trotting towards them out of the forest. The
 dwarf sprang up in a fright, but he could not get to his cave, for the bear
 was already close. Then in the dread of his heart he cried, "Dear Mr. Bear,
 spare me, I will give you all my treasures; look, the beautiful jewels lying
 there! Grant me my life; what do you want with such a slender little fellow as
 I? you would not feel me between your teeth. Come, take these two wicked
 girls, they are tender morsels for you, fat as young quails; for mercy's sake
 eat them!" The bear took no heed of his words, but gave the wicked creature a
 single blow with his paw, and he did not move again.
 
 
      The girls had run away, but the bear called to them, "Snow-white and
 Rose-red, do not be afraid; wait, I will come with you." Then they knew his
 voice and waited, and when he came up to them suddenly his bearskin fell off,
 and he stood there a handsome man, clothed all in gold. "I am a King's son,"
 he said, "and I was bewitched by that wicked dwarf, who had stolen my
 treasures; I have had to run about the forest as a savage bear until I was
 freed by his death. Now he has got his well-deserved punishment."
 
 
 
 
      Snow-white was married to him, and Rose-red to his brother, and they
 divided between them the great treasure which the dwarf had gathered together
 in his cave. The old mother lived peacefully and happily with her children for
 many years. She took the two rose-trees with her, and they stood before her
 window, and every year bore the most beautiful roses, white and red.