Fairy tales and folklore are a part of all of our childhoods , so each week I will be presenting a new adaptation of a classic story in the hopes that it will entertain , amuse , and maybe even take you back to a time when true love , magic powers , talking animals , high adventure , and happy endings all seemed possible . I hope you enjoy it . I think you will . EMAIL : face4077 @ insightbb . com " Sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince . " We tell this to our daughters and it 's true . Besides which if you 're too proud to kiss a frog , you don 't really deserve a prince , do you ? The original Grimm version of this story is entitled " The Frog King or Iron Henry . " In this version , it is not a kiss from a beautiful princess that ends the spell but being thrown across the room by said princess and hitting the opposite wall . After his transformation , we meet his manservant , Henry , who has been wearing iron bands until his master is restored . It is unclear why the brothers chose to include this character who has no bearing on the rest of the story whatsoever , but it 's no mystery why he has been forgotten to us . With or without Iron Henry , The Frog Prince endures because of its simple , universal themes of the deception of appearances and the importance of keeping promises . Also cuz it has a frog in it . Frogs are cool . And I humbly dedicate this story to my all - time favorite talking amphibian , Kermit the aforementioned Frog . O nce upon a time there lived a king and queen who were blessed with a daughter , whom they named Anna . She was very beautiful and fair , but her mother , equally beautiful and fair , died bringing her into this world . For this reason the widowed King doted upon her and , it must be said , spoiled her quite a bit . As she grew older , Anna remained beautiful and fair , but she had grown so used to having everything her way that she was not a lovely person . She fired servants for making the slightest mistake . She treated all others as though they were beneath her . She refused the company of all princes seeking marriage . She despised men . For what man , she thought , could ever be good enough for me ? Anna 's only real love was a golden ball which had once belonged to her mother . One day - the day of her eighteenth birthday , in fact - Anna was playing with her ball by the old well in the courtyard . Suddenly she heard an unfamiliar voice say " Good afternoon , milady . " She was so startled that she dropped her beloved golden ball into the well . Furious and frightened , Anna looked around for the stupid man who had caused her to drop the ball , but all that her eye fell upon was a medium - sized bullfrog sitting on the edge of the well . " This is no time to talk about that ! Can 't you see my life is ruined now that I don 't have my golden ball ? " The Frog was about to retort , but now Princess Anna had begun to cry . Mean and spoiled though she was , the Frog hated to see anyone cry . " It means I 'm a frog ! I don 't work for you . I will , however , be more than happy to get your ball , Princess Anna … as a favor . One which you must repay . " " Either that or you never see your beloved golden ball again , " said the Frog . He then sat quietly humming to himself , waiting for the Princess to answer . It infuriated the Princess how smug the Frog was acting . She figured he had no right , being an amphibian and all . " After I bring back the ball , you must invite me to your home . I will sit at the table as a guest . Then I will spend the night on your pillow , next to your head , and before I go to sleep … you must kiss me goodnight . " Now , the idea of kissing a frog was disgusting to Anna , as was the idea of treating one with kindness , even friendship . Eating and sleeping with a frog ? Revolting ! Besides , she was known throughout the land for her perfect complexion ; could her reputation withstand the risk of warts ? But she saw that unless she at least pretended to agree to the terms that she would never see her ball again , so she quietly said yes . The Frog was delighted and dove eagerly into the water . It was not an easy task for the ball was quite heavy and , as I 'm sure you know , swimming through a dark well while carrying a golden ball in one flipper is exceedingly difficult , even for such an expert swimmer as the Frog . Finally , he succeeded and pushed the ball over the edge of the well where it fell into Anna 's waiting hands . As soon as she got it , without another word to the Frog , she ran off home . The poor Frog was completely exhausted and didn 't even have the energy to shout " Wait ! " after the princess before collapsing onto the grass . Princess Anna had completely forgotten about her encounter with the Frog when she and her father sat down to dinner . About halfway through the meal , however , a footman entered the dining hall and reminded her , thus : " A frog ? " said the King , quizzically . " Do we know any frogs ? " He racked his brain to try and remember any amphibians he had spoken to in his life . " He says he is a friend of the princess . " The footman then told the King just what the Frog had told him , and how Anna had seemingly broken her promise . This made the King very angry , and insisted that the Frog sit at the table right between himself and his daughter because , after all , a promise is a promise . The Frog was brought in at once and placed in the chair between the King and the Princess . This was , of course , remarkably foolish , and the Frog was quickly moved onto the table itself . The Frog was very grateful to the King and the King himself grew quite fond of him in return . For a Frog he possessed a great deal of knowledge about royal customs and how best to speak to a King . Moreover , he was a great wit and was very much the life of the party . Princess Anna , however , did not enjoy the meal at all and was angry at the Frog for getting her in such trouble with her father . " But you promised ! " said the Frog . " You promised that I could sleep on the pillow next to you . And , as your father said , a promise is a promise . " Anna knew that if she didn 't keep her promise , the Frog would tell her father and she 'd be in trouble again . So , having no choice , she laid out her best satin pillow for the Frog to sleep on . " Good night , " said the Frog and fell fast asleep , so tired from the exciting day he 'd had that he completely forgot the princess 's promise of a kiss . Anna couldn 't sleep that night . She was up all night thinking of how that horrid frog had embarrassed her . How he had extorted her with that well business . He probably did it on purpose , she thought . To force me to drop it in so I 'd need him to help me . She stayed very mad at the frog for many hours . But nighttime has an interesting effect on people . And as the night wore on , Anna looked at the Frog and had to admit he was sort of cute … in a slimy way . And he had been very kind and brave in retrieving her ball . Maybe he did deserve her respect . Just then she remembered that she had promised to kiss him and hadn 't . So she leaned in and kissed the Frog gently on the lips . And then something wonderful happened . The little Frog , still sleeping , was instantly transformed into a handsome young man … Anna was so amazed that it was a moment before she realized that the man was , like the Frog , completely naked . This sort of thing happens all the time when evil curses are involved , but no one ever talks about it . She screamed . The Young Man awoke and saw at once what had happened . " Oh of course , " said her companion and he wrapped the covers around himself . " I 'm sorry about that . You know how it can be with these evil curses . " " A prince , that 's right . You see , my mother and father had a difficult time having a child , so they went to see the witch , Griselda , who made them a potion guaranteed to solve their problem . She didn 't ask for money in return , only a promise that she would be my godmother and come to the christening . But on the day of the christening , my parents forgot to invite her . She was so angry that she cursed me and turned me into a frog . My mother and father continued to take care of me , of course , but kept me a secret . One day I realized I was bringing them too much shame and just ran - or rather hopped away . Then I met you . And your kindness has broken the spell . Thank you for keeping your promises , Anna . " And all at once Anna saw how foolish she had been to be repulsed by the Frog who had helped her . And as she looked at Prince Robin of Willead she felt something she didn 't expect . Genuine affection . For someone other than herself . She kissed him again and again and again … As for today 's story , I 've always had one big problem with it . In its original telling , Jack climbs the beanstalk and robs the giant with no just provocation . We are asked to assume that just because he is a giant , he is evil , and that stealing from him is justified . Breaking and entering , theft , even bigotry . Jack is , in essence , the villain of the original story . So the biggest difference you 'll find in my version is that I 've turned the giant into a clearer bad guy . I have also made a few ommissions . The giant 's cry of " fee - fi - fo - fum , " the hen that laid golden eggs , Jack 's repeated trips up the beanstalk , and the singing harp . In fact , I did try to incorporate the singing harp into my version , but I found she did not fit . As it is , I am working on an original story called " The Singing Harp , " which I am hoping to share with you all in the near future . J ack 's life was very dull . He never went on an adventure . He never went anywhere , did anything or met anyone . Every day was the same routine . He woke up , milked the cow , put away the empty milk pail , did his chores , tried milking the cow again , failed again , got shouted at by his mother for continuing to waste time milking the cow when she was clearly as dry as a bone , went to bed . Just dull . Dull dull dull dull dull ! His father had disappeared many years ago and he and his mother ( and Cowsie , the cow ) were alone . They were also very poor . The farm had long ago dried up , work was scarce , Jack 's mother was getting older and weaker , and if their luck didn 't change soon they would likely starve to death . In the end Jack 's mother made a decision , which , as you may have noticed , mothers tend to do quite frequently . Jack was to go to market and sell their only possession : Cowsie . This was bad news for Jack , who loved the cow like a sister . On the other hand , it was worse news for the cow who , being unable to give milk like she used to , would probably be sold to a butcher or a tanner , a prospect which does not appeal to a cow of spirit at all . But Jack had no choice . It was either sell Cowsie or they would be as dry as she was . So the next day he led the cow to market to be sold , but when they got there the merchants and vendors all laughed at him . Especially when he told them what price he was asking . " Ten pounds ! " they cried , incredulous . " That cow doesn 't even weigh ten pounds ! " " I 'll give you five beans for that old thing , " said one merchant . Jack was almost as insulted as Cowsie about this deal , but they needed food and beans were better than nothing , so he agreed to the trade . As Cowsie looked on in horror , Jack handed him the rope around her neck and the Merchant reached into his pocket and dropped five beans into Jack 's hand . When Jack got home , however , having sold the family 's only possession for five beans , his mother was furious . Jack , of course , had no explanation for his actions and was still sulking about losing Cowsie anyway . In a rage , Jack 's mother snatched the beans from Jack and threw them out the window . Poor Jack was sent to bed without his supper . Not that there was any supper in the house , but it was a symbolic gesture just the same . The next morning , Jack woke up feeling terrible . He had done something awful and now he and his mother would starve to death . On top of which someone in the village was probably going to have Cowsie for dinner ! He decided to go back to market and try to find a job . If nothing else , maybe he could buy Cowsie back . He got up , washed and dressed quickly and ran out the front door before his mother woke up . He felt certain that she would be angry with him , and thought it best to avoid her . But when he got outside he saw something new . You see , when Jack took the beans , he didn 't realize what he was getting . He had thought it rather odd that the Merchant had the five beans right there in his pocket , but was so broken up about Cowsie that he had forgotten it . The truth is that earlier that same day , the Merchant had received them from a Strange Old Man as payment for a small morsel of bread . " My friend , " said the Strange Old Man . " These beans are magic . Plant them in the light of a full moon and they will grow into something spectacular . " The Merchant didn 't believe it , but took pity on the Old Man and his unfortunate smell and made the trade . When Jack 's mother had thrown the beans out the window , they had magically planted themselves in the ground . And , growing in the light of the full moon , had sprouted into an enormous beanstalk reaching up to the heavens . Jack was intrigued and amazed . He knew he had to go to market to get a job , but after such a dull life as he had led , simply couldn 't resist the prospect of a real adventure . He started to climb the beanstalk . It was a difficult climb and it took Jack the better part of the morning . Finally he reached the top and , incredible though it may seem , he found a giant golden castle on the clouds . Driven by curiosity , the promise of adventure , and the knowledge that if he didn 't his story would come to a crashing end , Jack made immediately toward the castle . Frightened but excited , Jack knocked on the massive front door . And who should answer it but a giant ! A woman as tall as a mountain ! Jack , unfortunately , was one of those men who was always intimidated by tall women , so he was more than usually nervous at the prospect of meeting a giant . " Well , young man , " said the giant . " You must come in , then . " Much to Jack 's surprise , the giant ( whose name was Nelphina ) was very kindly and took pity on Jack , who hadn 't had a good meal in days . She fed him and let him rest on a few of her husband 's handkerchiefs , folded up . She took very good care of young Jack . The truth was that Nelphina was grateful for Jack 's kind company for , you see , she was not very happy in life for reasons that are about to become pretty obvious . Because that night Nelphina 's husband came home . Nelphina 's husband was a brute of a giant called Dobson . He went out drinking every night and came home angry and cruel . Nelphina knew that Dobson would not like to know that his wife was offering hospitality to Jack , so when she heard her husband come home , she shut Jack up in a bureau drawer . Luckily it was one of those drawers that locks , so Jack was able to watch the proceedings through the keyhole . " Welcome home ? " cried Dobson , drunk and angry . " I 've come home to barns that have been cleaner than this place . And you call yourself a wife ! ? ! ? " Angrily , Dobson reached out a massive hand and struck Nelphina hard across the face . Without another word he lumbered off to bed . Jack , watching from his hiding place inside the drawer was shocked . He had only known Nelphina for a short time , but couldn 't believe that she would put up with that . So when Nelphina let him out again , he was furious . " It 's not as bad as it seems , " she replied . " He only does it when he 's drunk . Not that I can remember the last time he came home sober . I guess I was inattentive in my housework today . I was just so busy helping you , Jack . " " Perhaps we can help each other , " said Jack , a plan forming in his brain . " My mother and I are very hungry , and I was going to seek work to earn money to feed us . You 've been so kind to me , would you let me work here ? In your home ? I will work very hard . " " I don 't doubt that you would , Jack , " said Nelphina . " And I would like someone to help me keep this place clean . I will give you a job . " Jack was delighted . " But we must keep it secret . If my husband found out you were here , there would be dire consequences … for both of us . " He helped Nelphina by cleaning in the hard - to - reach places and by persuading spiders and other pests to leave . In addition to room and board , Jack earned a large salary which he put aside to give to his mother when he returned home . The giants had a lot of gold , but instead of giving him coins ( which were about five times bigger than Jack ) Nelphina used a nail to chip off tiny pieces for him to put in his sack . He would have to wait until he visited the jeweler 's to know for sure , but Jack didn 't need to know the exchange rate to know that he and his mother would be set for life . Between chores , he and Nelphina would talk . Jack told her that Dobson was wrong to hit her the way he did and that she should stand up for herself . In doing so , since this story took place once upon a time and long ago , Jack was making enormous leaps forward in the field of women 's rights . And it worked . Little by little , every day , Jack was convincing Nelphina . Then , one night , Dobson came home early , and drunker than usual . When he saw Jack , he mistook him for a cockroach and tried several times to smash him . Jack tried to convince him that he had the wrong number of legs for a cockroach , but his very small protests fell on deaf ( or at least very large ) ears . Jack was able to get away and seek refuge in his drawer , but the noise brought Nelphina who was shocked to see her husband trying to step on her friend . " Stop ! " she cried . " That little man is my friend ! " " How dare you bring strangers into my castle , woman ! " And he reached out a hand to strike her , but Nelphina struck him first . " I will not be treated so cruelly anymore , " said Nelphina . Well , Dobson was mad before , but now he was furious . He turned his rage to Jack and in the most horrible Ogrific voice imaginable he bellowed , " Get out ! ! " Jack , for his part , didn 't need telling twice . He grabbed the sack of gold he had earned as payment and ran . But Dobson , who didn 't know Nelphina was paying him for his services , thought that Jack was stealing his gold . So he gave chase . Jack was small enough to elude Dobson for most of the race to the beanstalk . He climbed down quickly and ran to find his axe , for he knew that Dobson was right behind him . As he was searching , he found his mother , who had thought that Jack had run away after she had been so cruel about his beans a month ago . " Where is my axe , mother ? I have to chop down this beanstalk ! " Jack found his axe and chopped the beanstalk down . All the work he had done in the giants ' castle had made him very strong and it was easy to chop down the stalk . Soon it began to give and topple over . And as it fell , Jack could hear Dobson the Giant screaming as he fell faster and faster , further and further . At last there was a deafening thud … then silence . The Wicked Old Giant was dead . Jack was glad to be rid of the giant , and to be home again with his tresaure … but at the same time he felt sad that he would never see his friend Nelphina again . Just the same , he went straight to the market the next day and bought back Cowsie ( " Moo ! " she said excitedly when she saw Jack ) whom the butcher had decided to try and fatten up before he slaughtered her . Had Jack come home even one day later , he would 've missed her entirely . He was also able to buy lots of food , new clothes , medicine for his poor old mother , and hire a few workers to help get the farm back on its feet . Several weeks after his return from the beanstalk , Jack was sitting in his favorite chair on the front porch , hanging out with Cowsie . " You know , Cowsie , " he said as the sun sank slowly in the west , " I think things are going to turn out happily ever after for all of us . " Nowadays , it 's very trendy to take digs at Disney , but the fact remains that he is one of the world 's last great storytellers . He gets blamed for " ruining " fairy tales , when all he did was bring them back into the public eye and breathe new life into them . So I thought it not inappropriate to start with the story he started with ( Incidentally , if you don 't like Walt Disney , this might not be the blog for you ) . His film remained very reliable to the original , so my story remained very reliable to his . I wanted the dwarfs to have names , but I couldn 't give them the names from the Disney version for fear of legal action , so I made up names . As I said , we remain fairly reliable to the Grimm in this version , save for two somewhat grisly elements of the original . The Queen actually eats what she believes to be Snow White 's heart and , when the story ends , the Queen is forced to wear metal shoes , turned red hot in a stove and dance at Snow White 's wedding . Yuch ! Thanks for your discretion , Walt ! O nce upon a time and long ago there was a good and noble king who was married to a good and noble queen and they ruled a good and noble kingdom by the good and noble forest . And they were very , very happy except for one thing : They longed to have a child . For years they had hoped and prayed for a child , but to no avail . Then one December day , when the trees were all wondering why they had to lose their leaves before the freezing wind came , the queen was sitting by the window , doing her needlepoint ( which is a thing queens do in these stories ) , when she looked out the ebony - framed window and said , very simply , " Please , Lord , send me a child . " As soon as she had said that , she slipped with her needle and pricked her own finger . Three drops of blood fell on the black window pane . And in that moment , the queen knew that she would have a child with lips as red as blood , hair as black as ebony , and skin as white as snow . She also knew that she would never live to see her child grow . Indeed , the fair queen died giving birth to the princess . Granting his wife 's last wish , the king named the child Snow White . As predicted , the young princess had skin to match her name , red , red lips and hair that would make a raven want to get out of the business entirely . Soon after Snow White was born , the king remarried . His new bride was beautiful of face and figure , but was NOT good and noble . She was very vain . The only possession she brought to the castle when she arrived was a large mirror , which she hung in her chambers . And every morning , Snow White 's stepmother would stand in front of the mirror and say : " Mirror , mirror , on the wall : Who is the fairest of them all ? " And every morning , the mirror said , " Of all the maidens I have seen , The fairest of all is you , my queen . " It could 've just said " you are , " but most mirrors talk in verse , which is why you should never ask a mirror anything about oranges . The years passed as they have been known to do . Snow White 's father died and her stepmother , the Queen was now the sole ruler of the kingdom . She ruled not kindly , not cruelly , but inattentively . She paid little heed to the needs and wishes of her subjects , preferring to spend her time searching the countryside for lovely maids and subjecting them to hard work and toil to rob them of their beauty . For you see , to the Wicked Queen , being beautiful was the only thing that mattered . And she did not tolerate anyone being more beautiful than she . But Snow White was growing into a beautiful young woman in her own right . And with each passing year she looked more and more like her beautiful mother . Her skin had grown more pure and pale , her lips deeper and redder and her hair blacker than black . How much more black could her hair be ? The answer is none . None more black . Anyhoo , seeing her stepdaughter changing day by day into a more and more beautiful girl angered the Queen and she immediately put the princess to work as a scullery . Snow White was forced to work as a maid in her own home . Did Snow White despair ? Did she lose hope ? Did she cry and bemoan her fate ? Well , if you 'll stop asking so many questions I 'll tell you ! Sheesh ! She did not . For you see , beautiful though she was , the most beautiful thing about her was her spirit . Her heart . Her endless love and joy . So she would sing as she worked . One day , she was gathering water from the well ( which her father had always told her was a magic wishing well and Show White had no reason to doubt him ) singing her wishing song . It was a beautiful song sung in a beautiful voice and it went something like this : I won 't tell you what she wished , because then it wouldn 't come true . But while she was singing , she heard a tiny sound . She looked around and there , in the middle of the castle courtyard , was a tiny bluebird . All alone . With a look on his face that Snow White knew very well . Loneliness . " Are you all right , little friend ? " Snow White asked . The bird chirped sadly in answer , but Snow White knew exactly what was wrong . " Are you lost ? " she asked and the bird seemed ( to Snow White at least ) to say " yes . " Snow White held the little bird gently in her hand and spent fully half an hour searching the trees for the bird 's family , and sure enough she found them . The bird flitted away happily and Snow White continued to sing . So the Queen called her faithful huntsman to her chambers and gave him his instructions . He was to take Snow White into the forest , far away from the castle so that her screams would not be heard , and kill her . Then the Queen gave the Huntsman a box into which he was to put Snow White 's heart and bring it back to her as proof that he had done as she asked . The Huntsman was shocked by this assignment . He was no murderer . He hunted to provide food for the castle , but he had principles . He only killed old animals who had led a full happy life and were having trouble walking . But to kill such a beautiful little princess as Snow White was inhuman . Of course , he had no choice . It was kill Snow White and bring back her heart , or he himself would die . The next day , the Huntsman invited the young princess on a trip into the woods . There the girl frolicked , played with some animals and picked wildflowers . It was her intention to make a gift of them to her stepmother , little knowing the Queen 's treachery . When he felt the moment was right , the Huntsman stalked up to Snow White and raised his knife above her . And it 's likely he would 've done it … but at the last moment , the princess turned around and looked up at him . She did not scream , she was too afraid . She just stared into the Huntsman 's eyes . The knife fell from his hand . He couldn 't go through with it . Snow White was very frightened and very confused . The Huntsman told her all about the Queen 's orders and her terribly jealousy . He begged Snow White to run away and never come back . It was the only way she could be safe . The Huntsman himself would have to kill a deer or a boar and use its heart to fool the Queen . So Snow White ran into the woods . She ran and ran and ran , blinded by her tears , until she could run no further and then she collapsed onto the forest floor and cried herself almost to sleep . She could not believe it . She had never done anything cruel to anyone , and now her own stepmother , the only family she had left in the world , wanted her deadIt had never occurred to her , however , that the cottage the little bird had found for her would be occupied already . Now she saw that whoever lived here was very untidy . And very small . The tables and chairs were almost half the size of normal furniture . Miniature shoes and shortened tools littered the floor . Half - sized cups and dishes . The only thing full - sized were the cobwebs , and those were oversized . As were the cobs living in them . " Oh my , " thought Snow White . " I don 't know who lives here , but they need a mother very badly . " But Snow White was too tired to worry about that right now . " I 'm sure they won 't mind if I just lie down for a little while , " she thought . " I 'll be happy to help them clean this place in the morning . " With that Snow White ascended the stairs and found the bedroom . It contained seven tiny beds . Snow White would 've thought this strange had she not been so tired . So , with a yawn three times bigger than anything in the room , she lay down across three of the beds and fell right to sleep . Never suspecting that the owners of the house would be on their way home at that very moment . Snow White had seen the tiny things and assumed that the cottage was occupied by children . Orphans , she guessed , who had run away from home , like she had . But she was quite wrong . For the owners of the cottage were dwarfs . Little people . And since dwarfs are well known to be miners , it should come as no surprise that they had been working all day in their diamond mine . The day 's work was done , however , and they were coming home again . But when they got there and found the door wide open and a light inside , they panicked . " Maybe a monster ! " " AAAAAAAAAH ! " The dwarf who screamed was called Lefty and was known for overreacting like this . Once his friends , Bildor and Russell , had calmed him down and convinced him to come down from the tree , they began seriously to worry . They didn 't have any friends who could 've stopped by for an unexpected visit , so it was safe to assume that the party within was of an unwelcome sort . But imagine their surprise when they went upstairs and saw a pretty girl sleeping in their beds instead . They all stood over her , looking at her , amazed at how beautiful she was when Snow White suddenly woke up . " I 'm sorry to burst into your home like this , " said Snow White . " It 's just that I have nowhere else to go . My stepmother , the Queen , wishes to kill me - " " AAAAAAAAAH ! " said Lefty . “… and I have no home , " continued Snow White once she was assured that Lefty would be okay . " But if you let me stay here , I 'll be happy to look after you . I 'll clean and cook and - " " No , " said Gustav the Dwarf , " you 're a princess . " " That 's right , " said Louis the Dwarf . " You are unaccustomed to such hard work . " But Snow White explained about her stepmother 's cruelty and how she had been cleaning her own home for some time now . In fact , she told them , after cleaning an entire castle every day , a tiny cottage would be a welcome relief . The dwarfs still didn 't like the idea of this pretty young girl picking up after them , but they agreed to let her stay and do as she liked because , frankly , the only idea they liked less than making her clean up the house was them having to do it themselves . The next morning , far from where Snow White was spending her morning cleaning house , the Queen stood in front of her mirror and said , " Mirror , mirror , on the wall : Who is the fairest of them all ? " To her great surprise , the Mirror once again told her that it was Snow White . Well , actually it said , " The Huntsman lies , Snow White survives . She is fairer than you … Er … By a factor of five ? " When the Queen learned of her Huntsman 's treachery , she vowed to kill Snow White herself . She knew , however , that she would need to disguise herself before she approached the princess . So she came up with a plan . First she asked the Mirror where Snow White was . The next day , the Queen arrived at the Dwarfs ' cottage disguised as an old woman in tattered clothes and carrying a basket of apples . Knowing that the Dwarfs would be in their mine all day , she assumed that Snow White would be all alone , and so she was . As she drew nearer the cottage , she heard Snow White singing her wishing song : " All alone , my dear ? " she asked . " Why yes I am , " said Snow White , because no one had ever told her not to talk to strangers . And , ironically , her only enemy in the world was not a stranger , but was in fact her own stepmother . So , it probably wouldn 't have done her any good if she had known not to talk to strangers . Anyway , back to the story already in progress . They spoke of this and that for some time when finally , the Queen let out a cry of despair and staggered against the wall of the cottage . " Just my poor old heart , dearie , " she said as the girl led her inside and brought her a chair . " Thank you for your kindness . Here . I was selling apples today , but you may have this one if you like . " Now , as has been said , Snow White had no idea that she shouldn 't be talking to this old woman , but she didn 't understand that this was the Queen who was trying to kill her . Nor did Snow White know what kind of apple it was . So she thanked the old woman , took the bright red apple and took a bite . But then the Queen began to laugh . For the apple Snow White had just taken a bite out of had been coated in a secret potion . As soon as she had swallowed the bite of apple , Snow White fell instantly asleep and could only be awakened by Love 's First Kiss . But she slept so soundly , she appeared dead , so the Queen knew that she had no chance of being kissed . But there was one thing the Queen hadn 't counted on : The baby bluebird ! Ever since she started living with the seven dwarfs , the bluebird had been looking after Snow White . And he saw everything that had happened . He flew as fast as he could to the mines to tell the dwarfs what had happened . Sadly , however , they were too late . When the dwarfs arrived home that night they were shocked at what they saw . The front door open , and lying outside the house was Snow White . They rushed to her , but they were too late . Snow White had eaten the apple . She was dead . The dwarfs were very sad . They had come to love Snow White in just a few days . She had been kind to them and they loved her very much . And now she was gone . They knew that they had to give her a proper funeral , but couldn 't find it in their hearts to bury her . You see , Snow White was so beautiful , even in death , that the dwarfs couldn 't bear to think that they 'd never see her again . So they constructed a coffin made out of glass and Gimble and Heinrich placed Snow White inside and kept constant vigil by her side . Some time later , a handsome prince rode up to the cottage of the seven dwarfs . He had heard stories about this princess who lay in a glass coffin in the woods and wanted to see for himself . When he looked upon Snow White , he could almost not believe she was dead . She was so beautiful . Respectfully , he asked the dwarfs if he might be allowed to give Snow White a kiss . They could see that he cared for her as much as they did , so they agreed . And they lifted the lid off the coffin and the prince gave Snow White a single gentle kiss . And you know something ? It worked ! Snow White woke up at once and looked for the first time into the eyes of her true love . Now , this prince lived in a land far away from that in which he found Snow White . And when she awoke , the prince took Snow White to that far away land . So that every time thereafter that the queen asked her mirror who was the fairest in the land , it would say that she was , and she never suspected that Snow White still lived . As for the seven kind dwarfs , they became butlers and servants and lived and worked in the castle , taking care of Snow White and playing with the many children she bore . And they all lived happily ever after . Welcome one and all to my new and improved blog ! Before , I was blogging on random topics ranging from art to politics to why I 'd make an excellent fraggle , but I lost interest in this as a creative outlet and , besides , nobody was reading it anyway . So the blog fell by the wayside until now . For some time now , I have been working on a book of fairy tales . I have written several new adaptations of classic stories and even one or two original fairy tales of my own devising . Though someday I hope to see them published in book form , I thought this would be a good way to share my stories with the world . So , every Friday , look for a new story . I would also just like to say at the outset , that my stories are culled from several different versions . For instance , my " Cinderella " includes elements from the Grimm Brothers story , a few film versions , television adaptations and a few ideas that I threw in . This is pretty much how fairy tales were written by Jacob and Wilhelm ( as well as many others who don 't get nearly enough credit ) for centuries . I 'm just continuing the tradition in my own way . With that , I embark on this new endeavor , in the hopes that my stories will bring a smile to your face , a tear to your eye , or just take you back to a time when true love , magic powers , talking animals , high adventure and happy endings all seemed possible . I hope you enjoy it . I think you will .