Snow White and Rose Red

Book excerpt: The dwarf glared at the girls with his red fiery eyes and shouted, “What are you standing there for? Can you not come over here and help me?” As different as winter and summer, Snow White and Rose Red are as devoted to each other as sisters can be. One night, an unexpected visitor knocks at the door of their cottage, where they live cosily with their mother, and a half-frozen large black bear asks for a warm place to rest. Initially afraid of him, the girls soon befriend him and he becomes their playfellow throughout the winter nights. When spring arrives, the bear heads off into the forest to guard his treasures from wicked dwarfs, who live underground and emerge from their caves when the earth has thawed and who have one ambition in mind—to steal. A short while after the bear’s departure, the girls encounter a dwarf in distress and stop to help him, but there is more to him than meets the eye… Alongside this tale by the Brothers Grimm is The Ungrateful Dwarf, the 1818 folktale by Karoline Stahl, upon which Wilhelm Grimm drew inspiration for Snow White and Rose Red. Both tales are presented in this book, newly translated into English. [Folklore Type: ATU-426 (The Two Girls, the Bear, and the Dwarf)]