Snow White

Question 1

What is a male counterpart to Snow White present in Trickster folklore?

Answer 1

the son in The Juniper Tree
- he was gifted the opportunity to use his voice to save himself (Snow White is kind, he is vengeful)

Question 2

What experience did the daughter get with her mother in “The Young Slave”?

Answer 2

• a young girl cheated to win a contest (jumping over a rose) and became pregnant
• she gave birth in hiding to a girl named Lisa
  
  • fairies sent her blessings, but one tripped and gave her a curse
    
    • (when she’s 7 her mom will kill her with a comb)
• when the girl died, her mom put her in 7 caskets of crystal and locked them away in a room
• the mom died of grief and asked her brother to look after her things, giving him her keys, but not open the room that one of the keys opened (the room with Lisa in it)

Question 3

What happened to the daughter after her mother’s death in “The Young Slave”?

Answer 3

• the brother went out on a trip, bestowing the keys to his wife and told her not to open the door
  
  • she did and found Lisa who’s body had grown over the years
• the wife thought that the brother was cheating on her with Lisa and that’s why she was locked away
  
  • she grabbed Lisa and the comb fell out of her hair so she woke up
• the wife cut Lisa’s hair and beat her and enslaved her
• later the brother went out again and asked everyone in the house what they wanted him to buy for them, slave Lisa included
  
  • she asked for a doll, knife, and pumice-stone
  • he was able to use them to get home safely (there was a spell)
• Lisa confided in the doll and the brother overheard her story
  
  • as she was recounting she was also threatening to kill herself with the knife she was sharpening on the stone
• the brother intervened and saved her, accepting her as his niece

Question 4

How did Snow White come to be and end up in the forest in the Grimms’ “Snow White”?

Answer 4

• a queen wished for a daughter as white as snow, red as blood, and black as ebony → she’d call her snow white
  
  • she gave birth to one but died right after
• the king married another vain woman who had a magic mirror → she asked it who the fairest was and it alway answered that it was her
• one day the mirror answered that it was Snow White instead
  
  • the queen hated her from then on
• years later she ordered a huntsman to take Snow White out and kill her, bringing the queen her lungs and liver as proof
  
  • he took pity on her and gutted a boar instead to bring organs back to the queen
    
    • the queen ate the organs

Question 5

How did Snow White manage to survive in the forest in the Grimms’ “Snow White”?

Answer 5

• Snow White, now alone in the forest, explored until she found a little cottage
  
  • everything in it was tiny and spotless
  • there was 7 of everything
  • she ate food and went to sleep in the 7th bed
• the dwarves came home and saw that someone had been in their cottage, finding Snow White asleep
  
  • she was so pretty they decided to let her sleep
• She eventually woke up and told the dwarves her story
  
  • they agreed to let her stay there if she cooked and cleaned for them

Question 6

What did the queen do when she discovered Snow White was still alive in the Grimms’ “Snow White”?

Answer 6

• after some time, the queen asked her mirror again who the fairest was, and it answered Snow White again → she realized the girl was still alive
• she disguised herself as an old woman and tried to sell Snow White staylaces
  
  • Snow White let her into the cottage and tie a staylace very tight around her in an attempt to kill her
  • the dwarves came home in time and saved her
• the queen went home and once again asked who the fairest was, again it said Snow White
  
  • she made a poisoned comb and disguised herself as an old woman selling wares
  • Snow White was hesitant to let her in but was convinced by the pretty comb
  • the queen poisoned her with it and left
  • the dwarves saved her again
• the queen went home and once again asked who the fairest was, again it said Snow White
  
  • she made a poisoned APPLE and disguised herself as an old woman selling apples
  • Snow White was hesitant to let her in but when the queen offered to split the apple in two to share she was willing to eat it
    
    • she gave her the poisoned part, and the queen ate the fine part
  • the queen poisoned her with it and left
• finally the mirror answered that the queen was the fairest again when she got home

Question 7

What happened after Snow White was finally killed by the queen in the Grimms’ “Snow White”?

Answer 7

• the dwarves found and mourned Snow White, deciding she was too pretty to be buried and set her in a glass coffin
• a Prince eventually found the dwarves and coffin, and asked them if he could take it (and treat Snow White like his beloved)
  
  • as his servants began to carry it, they stumbled and tilted the coffin a bit and the poisonous apple came out of Snow White’s mouth
  • she came to life
• the prince declared her his bride and she went with him to his castle
• the queen was invited to their wedding, not knowing that the bride was Snow White until her mirror said that she was the fairest again
• she went to the wedding and Snow White forced her to dance in iron slippers until she died

Question 8

How did Snow White end up in the forest in Sexton’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”?

Answer 8

• Snow White was a virgin
• the stepmother was old and thus ugly
• the stepmother would ask her mirror who the fairest was
  
  • it always said her until it said Snow White
• she asked the hunter to kill Snow White and bring her heart for the queen to eat, but he couldn’t and brought a boar’s heart instead
  
  • the queen ate it
• after wandering in the woods, Snow White found the dwarves’ cottage
  
  • she went to sleep after eating
• the dwarves came home and Snow White told them her story
  
  • they warned her that the queen would be back to kill her

Question 9

What happened after the queen discovered Snow White was still alive in Sexton’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”?

Answer 9

• the mirror again answered that Snow White was the fairest
  
  • the queen disguised herself as an old woman and tried to kill Snow White by lacing her too tight
  • the dwarves saved her
• the mirror again answered that Snow White was the fairest
  
  • the queen disguised herself as an old woman and tried to kill Snow White by combing her hair with a poisoned comb
  • the dwarves saved her
• the queen came again with a poisoned apple
• the dwarves tried to find poison on Snow White but couldn’t putting her in a glass coffin instead
• a Prince found the coffin and insisted that he take it
  
  • when his servants was moving her, Snow White woke up when someone stumbled and forced the apple out of her mouth
• she married the prince and the queen (who was invited to the wedding) was forced to dance to dead in hot iron shoes

Question 10

What led up to Snow White being ‘killed’ in Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples”?

Answer 10

• written in the POV of the step mother
• one night Snow White came to the step mother’s room, claiming she was hungry
  
  • the queen gave her a dried apple that was hanging in her room
  • when she tried to brush her cheek, Snow White bit the queen’s hand and sucked on her blood
• the king became listless and didn’t wanna have sex with the queen anymore
  
  • she saw scars on him one night
  • he got weaker and weaker and died
• the queen reflects on Snow White, wishing she had killed her ealrier
  
  • apparently her eating her heart is a lie told by Snow White
  • she instead still ordered her heart to be cut out, but kep it with bulbs of garlic above her bed

Question 11

What happened after Snow White was ‘killed’ in Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples”?

Answer 11

• her kingdom held a Spring Fair every year where ‘scary’ people from the forest would come to participate
  
  • each year less and less of them came, to the point where if there was another year without them buying or trading the fair couldn’t run
• the Lord of the Fair asked the queen to ask her mirror where all the forest folk were going
  
  • she saw Snow White stalking a monk, he paid her for sex but she drank his blood instead
• the queen decided to deal with Snow White, pulling on knowledge from old books and travellers
  
  • she made three poisoned apples
• the queen found Snow White’s house in the forest and tried to sell her ribbons but ran away, dropping her basket with the ribbons and poisoned apples
  
  • when she got home the heart above her bed had stopped beating, so she knew the apples were eaten

Question 12

What happened the year after Snow White was ‘killed’ for the second time in Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples”?

Answer 12

• the Spring Fair had a few more people that year
• a little while after a prince found the queen…and had sex with her?
  
  • he instructed her not to move
• when he left the queen imagined him being happy to find Snow White’s unmoving body, and she’s not sure how but she was awoken to the heart beating again
• the prince, Snow White, and his guards came into the queen’s room and Snow White put her heart back in her chest
  
  • they announced that they were to marry
  • the queen was kept in prison until their wedding day when she was locked inside of a kiln and died