A very long time ago, in mid winter, when the snowflakes were falling like feathers from heaven, a beautiful queen sat sewing at her window, which had a frame of black ebony. As she worked, she looked sometimes at the falling snow, and it happened that she pricked her finger with her needle, so that three drops of blood fell upon the snow.The Queen said to herself as she looked it, “Ah me! If only I had a dear little child who had skin as white as the snow, lips as rosy as the blood, and hair as black as the ebony window-frame.”
Soon afterwards she had a little daughter, with skin white as snow, lips rosy as blood, and hair as black as ebony– and she was therefore called “Little Snow-White.”
But alas! When the little one was born, the good queen died.
A year passed away, and the King took another wife. She was a beautiful woman, but proud and haughty, and she could not bear that anyone else should surpass her in beauty. She had a mirror and when she stood in front of it and asked,
“Mirror, mirror upon the wall, Who is the fairest of us all?”
the mirror answered-
“Thou, O Queen, art the fairest of all,”
and the Queen was contented, because she knew the mirror could speak nothing but the truth.
But as time passed on, Little Snow-White grew more and more beautiful, until when she was seven years old, she was as lovely as the bright day, and still more lovely than the Queen herself, so that when the lady one day asked her mirror-
“Mirror, mirror upon the wall, Who is the fairest fair of us all?”
it answered-
“O Lady Queen, though fair ye be, Snow-White is fairer far to see.”
严冬时节，鹅毛一样的大雪片在天空中到处飞舞着，有一个王后坐在王宫里的一扇窗子边，正在为她的女儿做针线活儿，寒风卷着雪片飘进了窗子，乌木窗台上飘落 了不少雪花。她抬头向窗外望去，一不留神，针刺进了她的手指，红红的鲜血从针口流了出来，有三点血滴落在飘进窗子的雪花上。她若有所思地凝视着点缀在白雪 上的鲜红血滴，又看了看乌木窗台，说道：“但愿我小女儿的皮肤长得白里透红，看起来就像这洁白的雪和鲜红的血一样，那么艳丽，那么骄嫩，头发长得就像这窗 子的乌木一般又黑又亮！”
她的小女儿渐渐长大了，小姑娘长得水灵灵的，真是人见人爱，美丽动人。她的皮肤真的就像雪一样的白嫩，又透着血一样的红润，头发像乌木一样的黑亮。所以王后给她取了个名字，叫白雪公主。
但白雪公主还没有长大，她的王后妈妈就死去了。
不久，国王爸爸又娶了一个妻子。这个王后长得非常漂亮，但她很骄傲自负，嫉妒心极强，只要听说有人比她漂亮，她就不能忍受。她有一块魔镜，她经常走到镜子面前自我欣赏，并问道：
"魔镜魔镜告诉我！这儿所有的女人谁最漂亮？”
镜子回答道：
“是你，王后！你就是这儿最漂亮的女人。”
听到这样的话，她就会满意地笑起来。因为她知道镜子从不说谎。 但白雪公主慢慢地长大，并出落得越来越标致漂亮了。到了七岁时，她长得比明媚的春光还要艳丽夺目，比王后更美丽动人。直到有一天，王后像往常一样地去问那面魔镜时，魔镜回答道：
"王后，你是美丽漂亮的，但是白雪公主要比你更加漂亮！”
