Братья Якоб и Вильгельм Гримм – одни из самых известных сказочников в мировой литературе. Первый сборник их сказок вышел более 200 лет назад, и в него вошло всего 83 сказки. На протяжении всей своей жизни братья собирали сказочные истории, опрашивая своих друзей, знакомых, а также обращаясь к простому народу. В настоящее время известно около 200 сказок братьев, они были переведены на множество языков и одинаково любимы как детьми, так и взрослыми.

Самыми известными сказками братьев Гримм являются «Белоснежка», «Хензель и Гретель», «Бременские музыканты», «Рапунцель», «Госпожа Метелица» и «Король Дроздобород».

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

1

It was a cold winter’s day. Snow lay all over the place. The Queen sat by the window, humming to herself as she sewed a little dress. Suddenly she saw a black raven, and as she looked, she pricked her finger with the needle. a drop of blood fell on her gown. It was so red!

“I wish I had a daughter with skin as white as snow, hair as black as a raven, and lips as red as this drop of blood on my gown,” thought the Queen.

The Queen’s wish came true. After a few months, a baby girl was born. The baby’s skin was really as white as snow, her curly hair as black as the raven and her lips were red as blood.

She was a lovely baby.

“I shall name this beautiful child of mine Snow White,” said the Queen to her husband.

So the Princess was named Snow White. Each day she grew more and more beautiful. She was very kind to everyone in the palace, and everybody loved her.

Sadly for Snow White, in a few years her mother died and after some time her father married again. The new Queen was a very beautiful lady and she was very proud of her beauty. She wished to be the most beautiful woman in the world.

She had a magic mirror in her chambers. She would look into it every morning and ask:

“Mirror, Mirror, on the wall,
Who is the fairest one of all?”

And the mirror would reply:

“Queen, you are the fairest one of all.”

The Queen would smile widely because she knew that her magic mirror never lied. It also made her vainer. Nobody in the palace loved her; on the contrary, they were afraid of her.

Many years have passed as the Queen watched Snow White grow into a beautiful girl. She was not happy about it. As Snow White grew older, she became more and more beautiful. The Queen was very jealous, because she feared that the Princess would become prettier than her.

One day, when she asked her mirror:

“Mirror, Mirror, on the wall,
Who is the fairest one of all?”

The mirror answered:

“O Queen, you are fair,
But Snow White is the fairest one of all.”

The Queen was mad with jealousy. She had to do something to remain the most beautiful woman of all. And there was only one solution. Snow White had to die. She could not allow Snow White to become more beautiful than herself!

She decided to get rid of her. She would have Snow White killed!

2

The Queen summoned a hunter and said to him, “I want you to take Snow White deep into the forest and kill her. Bring back her heart to prove that you really killed her. You are to tell no one about this.”

The hunter was shocked and sad to hear such cruel orders. He, like everyone in the royal household, loved the little princess. He did not want her to die, and he did not want to be the one to kill her. He would have to figure out how to save her. However, he bowed before the Queen and promised to complete the task.

There was a very large forest not far from the palace. Usually Snow White was allowed visit a certain parts of it, where there were many birds, rabbits and deer.

One morning, the Queen called Snow White and said “Snow White, go to the forest with the hunter. I know that you love it there, and you usually play with the birds and animals. Today is such a wonderful day! Go and enjoy yourself.”

“Oh, thank you, Mother!” said Snow White happily, because she really loved the forest. She loved the birds singing the rabbits with their fluffy tails hopping in and out of holes and the gentle deer with their beautiful eyes frolicking about. They loved her too, and always came to play with her whenever she visited them.

So Snow White went with the hunter, singing and skipping as she went along. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and white clouds were drifting about. It was a wonderful day. The forest creatures welcomed her and ran along with her. She played with them for many hours. They were having a wonderful time.

Suddenly Snow White realised that they had gone very deep into the forest.

They walked for a long time. And still the hunter walked on, taking her deeper and deeper into the forest.

“Why are we going so deep into the forest?” Snow White turned and asked the hunter anxiously. “It’s time to go back. We are already late. The Queen will be furious.”

The guard was very sad. He did not want to kill Snow White. She was such a good and kind girl, and also very beautiful, too. Everybody loved her. He decided to explain why the Queen had sent them to the forest. He had been ordered, he said, to kill her and carry back her heart as proof that he had really killed her.