# Little Snow-White explained — Household Tales

> Chapter companion for Household Tales by Jacob Grimm.

## What happens

A queen gives birth to a daughter as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony, but dies soon after. The king remarries a beautiful but vain and cruel woman who cannot bear anyone more beautiful than herself. When Snow-White surpasses her in beauty, the stepmother orders a huntsman to kill her, but he lets her escape into the forest. Snow-White finds refuge with seven dwarfs, but the stepmother, using a magic mirror to track her, attempts to kill her three times—with a poisoned lace, a poisoned comb, and a poisoned apple. The third attempt succeeds until a prince finds her, revives her, and marries her. At the wedding, the stepmother is forced to dance in red-hot iron slippers until she dies.

## Themes in this chapter

### Jealousy and Envy

The stepmother's envy of Snow-White's beauty drives the entire plot, leading her to attempt murder multiple times.

### Virtue Rewarded and Vice Punished

Snow-White's kindness and innocence are rewarded with marriage and happiness, while the stepmother's cruelty ends in a gruesome death.

### Magic and the Supernatural

The magic mirror, the poisoned comb and apple, and the stepmother's witchcraft are central supernatural elements.

## Character check-ins

### Little Snow-White

The protagonist, a princess of unparalleled beauty, who survives multiple murder attempts by her stepmother and ultimately marries a prince.

### the Queen

Snow-White's vain and wicked stepmother who repeatedly tries to kill her out of jealousy, using magic and disguises.

### the huntsman

A servant ordered to kill Snow-White but who spares her life and brings back a boar's heart as proof.

### the prince

A king's son who discovers Snow-White in her glass coffin, falls in love, and marries her.

## Key lines

> Would that I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood of the window-frame.

The queen wishes for a daughter with snow-white skin, blood-red lips, and ebony-black hair.

_This wish establishes Snow-White's iconic appearance and foreshadows her name._

> Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall, Who in this land is the fairest of all?

The queen asks her magic mirror who is the most beautiful in the kingdom.

_This repeated question drives the stepmother's jealousy and the narrative's conflict._

> Then she was forced to put on the red-hot shoes, and dance until she dropped down dead.

The stepmother is made to wear iron slippers heated red-hot and dance until she dies.

_This grim punishment concludes the tale with a vivid image of poetic justice._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se/chapters/little-snow-white
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se/chapters