And when the child was born, the Queen died.
A year after, the King took to himself another wife. She was beautiful
but proud, and she could not bear to have any one else more beautiful.
She had a wonderful Looking-glass, and when she stood in front of it,
and looked at herself in it, and said:
"Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall,
Who in this land is the fairest of all?"
the Looking-glass answered:
"Thou, O Queen, art the fairest of all!"
At last she was well pleased, for she knew the Looking-glass spoke the
truth.
Now Snow-white grew up, and became more and more beautiful; and when
she was seven years old she was as beautiful as the day, and more
beautiful than the Queen herself. And once when the queen asked her
Looking-glass:
"Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall,
Who in this land is the fairest of all?"
it answered:
"Thou art fairer than all who are here, Lady Queen,
But more beautiful by far is Snow-white, I ween."
Then the Queen was angry, and turned green with envy. From that hour,
whenever she looked at Snow-white, her breath came and went, she hated
the girl so much.
And envy grew higher and higher in her heart like a weed, so that she
had no peace day or night.
Pages:
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393