The 1819 Grimm versionThe story begins as many fairy tales do, with a queen dreaming of a daughter. Three drops of blood fall on the snow after the queen sews and pricks her finger. She is stunned by the contrast. “If only I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood in this frame.”The queen is blessed soon after with the birth and blessing of a girl, but she dies in childbirth.
Within one year, the king marries again “a beautiful woman, but she was proud and arrogant” (per Grimm). The new queen is worried that someone will take away her beauty so she asks her magic mirrored if she is still the most gorgeous. All goes well until Snow White grows more beautiful. Then there’s hell to pay. The Grimm version doesn’t mention the king again. We are left to wonder if he died as well or if his wife allowed him to abuse Snow White.
Disney’s version skips Snow White’s origins and sets the stage by telling us Snow White lives alongside her “Wicked Stepmother”Snow White is dressed in rags and made to work by her mother. “scullery maid.”In the Disney classic, there is no mention of Snow White’s parents. This led to audience members to believe that both parents are dead. Mari Ness TorIt was suggested that they simplified the story due to the time constraints of an 88 minute running time.