Snow White - Snow White (English)

This is a story from Grimm's Fairy Tales (no. 53). A childless queen is sewing in winter and pricks her finger with a needle, and three drops of blood fall onto the snow. The queen sees this and wishes she had a child who is as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as an ebony window frame. She gives birth to a daughter who is exactly what she wants, and then dies. The second mother has a magic mirror and hears that her stepdaughter is 1000 times more beautiful. She orders a hunter to kill her daughter in the forest, but the hunter lets her escape. The daughter is hidden in a hut of seven dwarfs in the mountains. The stepmother finds out that the daughter is still alive through the mirror, so she disguises herself as a traveling merchant and kills her with a sash, a poisoned comb, and a poisoned apple. The prince, moved by the beauty of the daughter in a glass coffin, accepts her and carries her away. The vibrations cause the apple to fall from her throat, bringing her back to life, and the two are married. Although some were added by the Brothers Grimm from other tales, this type of stepchild tale is found throughout almost all of Europe.

[Toshio Ozawa]

"Kenji Takahashi's translation of "The Grimm Fairy Tales Collection 3" (1976, Shogakukan)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

『グリム童話集』（第53番）の話。子のない女王が冬に縫い物をしていて、指に針を刺し、血が3滴雪に落ちる。女王はそれを見て、雪のように白く、血のように赤く、黒檀(こくたん)の窓枠のように黒い（髪の）子がほしいと思う。やがてそのとおりの娘を生んで、女王は死ぬ。二度目の母は魔法の鏡を持ち、継子(ままこ)のほうが1000倍も美しいと聞き、狩人(かりゅうど)に命じて娘を森で殺させようとするが、狩人は娘を逃がす。娘は山の中の7人のこびとの小屋にかくまわれる。鏡によって娘の生存を知った継母が、行商人になりすまして、飾り紐(ひも)、毒の櫛(くし)、毒のリンゴで娘を殺す。ガラスの棺に入れられた娘の美しさに感動した王子が、もらい受けて運ぶうち、振動で娘ののどのリンゴがとれて、生き返り、2人は結婚する。部分的にはグリム兄弟がいくつかの話からつけ加えているが、この型の継子話はほとんど全ヨーロッパに分布している。

［小澤俊夫］

『高橋健二訳『グリム童話全集3』（1976・小学館）』

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