"Are you afraid of poison?" said the old woman. "Look, I will cut the apple in two pieces; you eat the red cheek, and I will eat the white." The apple was so cunningly made that only the red cheek was poisoned. Snow-white longed for the fine apple, and when she saw that the woman ate part of it [page 311] she could stand it no longer, and stretched out her hand and took the other half. But hardly had she a bit of it in her mouth when she fell down dead. Then the Queen looked at her with a dreadful look, and laughed aloud and said:
"White as snow, red as blood, black as ebony-wood! This time the dwarfs cannot wake you up again."
And when she asked of the Looking-glass at home:
"Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall,
Who in this land is fairest of all?"
it answered at last:
"O Queen, in this land thou art fairest of all."
Then her envious heart had rest, so far as an envious heart can have rest.
When the dwarfs came home in the evening, they found Snow-white lying upon the ground; she breathed no longer, and was dead. They lifted her up, unlaced her, combed her hair, washed her with water and wine, but it was all of no use; the poor child was dead, and stayed dead. They laid her upon a bier, and all seven of them sat round it and wept for her, and wept three whole days.
Then they were going to bury her, but she still looked as if she were living, and still had her pretty red cheeks. They said: