The maiden being left alone all day long, the good dwarfs warned her, saying, “Beware of thy wicked stepmother, who will soon find out that thou art here; take care that thou lettest nobody in.”
“Oh, Heaven,” they cried, “what a lovely child!”
The queen, however, after having, as she thought, eaten Snowdrop’s lungs and liver, had no doubt that she was again the first and fairest woman in the world; so she walked up to her mirror, and said:
“Little glass upon the wall,
Who is fairest among us all?”
The mirror replied:
“Lady queen, so grand and tall,
Here you are fairest of them all;
But over the hills, with the seven dwarfs old,
Lives Snowdrop, fairer a hundredfold.”
She trembled, knowing that the mirror never told a falsehood; she felt sure that the huntsman had deceived her, and that Snowdrop was still alive. She pondered once more, late and early, early and late, how best to kill Snowdrop; for envy gave her no rest, day or night, while she herself was not the fairest lady in the land. When she had planned what to do she painted her face, dressed herself like an old pedler-woman, and altered her appearance so much that no one could have known her. In this disguise she went over the seven hills to where the seven dwarfs dwelt, knocked at the door, and cried, “Good wares, cheap!—very cheap!”
Snowdrop looked out of the window and cried, “Good-morning, good woman. What have you to sell?”