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216 GRIMM S FAIRY TALES.
came running up, crying out in their astonishment, and holding
up their seven little candles to throw a light upon Snow-white.
“O goodness! O gracious!” cried they, " what beautiful
child is this?” and were so full of joy to see her that they
did not wake her, but let her sleep on. And the seventh
dwarf slept with his comrades, an hour at a time with each,
until the night had passed.
When it was morning, and Snow-white awoke and saw the
seven dwarfs, she was very frightened ; but they seemed quite
friendly, and asked her what her name was, and she told them ;
and then they asked how she came to be in their house.
And she related to them how her step-mother had wished her
to be put to death, and how the huntsman had spared her life,
and how she had run the whole day long, until at last she had
found their little house. ‘Then the dwarfs said,
If you will keep our house for us, and cook, and wash,
and make the beds, and sew and knit, and keep everything tidy
and clean, you may stay with us, and you shall lack nothing.”
“With all my heart,” said Snow-white ; and so she stayed,
and kept the house in good order. In the morning the dwarfs
went to the mountain to dig for gold; in the evening they
came home, and their supper had to be ready for them. All
the day long the maiden was left alone, and the good little
dwarfs warned her, saying,
“Beware of your step-mother, she will soon know you are
here. Let no one into the house.”
Now the queen, having eaten Snow-white’s heart, as she
supposed, felt quite sure that now she was the first and fairest,
and so she came to her mirror, and said,
‘* Looking-glass upon the wall,
Who is fairest of us all?”
And the glass answered,
"c Queen, thou art of beauty rare,
But Snow-white living in the glen
With the seven little men
Is a thousand times more fair.”
Then she was very angry, for the glass always spoke the
truth, and she knew that the huntsman must have deceived