Excerpt: Snow White and Other Fables

Once upon a time there was a woodcutter. He made lovely statues and a modest living for himself and his wife. They were liked by their neighbors and wanted for nothing. One day, however, they realized that they would never be able to have children. This caused the woodcutter and his wife a great deal of sadness because they wanted nothing more than to share their blessings with a future generation.

They then met a beautiful woman. “I will grant your fondest wish, however, after the wish I will have to take your dearest treasure.”

For children, the woodcutter and his wife agreed. It was half in jest, to be honest. I’m told that they felt poorly for the woman and fed her. They allowed her to sleep in their bed and saw her to town in the morning.

After that, they forgot about her and their hopes for children faded till winter.

The woodcutter’s wife became pregnant and in the quietest night of winter when the snow was brilliant in the moonlight she gave birth to a little boy. He had deep brown eyes like a fawn and was as quiet as the snowfall. Because of this they named him John S. White.

Snow, as he was called by his parents was an intelligent, quiet boy who would study things as they were done and then mimic them. His parents thought that nothing could complete their lives more, until the following spring when the woodcutter’s wife found herself pregnant again.

This time the boy was red faced and loud as a siren. Snow scuttled back against his father as the midwife delivered with his hands cupped firmly over his ears. This boy was named Justin R. Red.

Snow called him Rose to tease him.

It was years later when the woodcutter noticed a change in his wife. She began to sleep very little, staying up and watching the fire or sewing. Her sweaters felt colder than they had been before and her eyes lost their luster. The children would notice and spent much time together or watching their father work.

With the loss of his wife’s care the woodcutter’s work lost a great deal of its magic. There was a strain until one day she came to him with a small bag packed and declared that she didn’t love him anymore.

The woodcutter moved on with his sons because he had to. Without the boys he had no idea if he would have survived. Then the door rattled and in walked the beautiful woman. The years had been more than kind to her. “Do you want your wife’s love back?”

Rose and Snow, nearing the age of young men hung back in the doorway.

The woodcutter said that indeed, he wanted his wife’s love back and would pay any price. She produced a paper then. “I want you to make me the guardian of your children the day you pass from this world.”

Without a second thought, the woodcutter signed his children over to the beautiful woman. His wife returned to his arms the very next day.

On Rose’s fifteenth birthday, however, there was a horrible fire in their home. Snow pulled his brother to the doorway and the two huddled in their father’s cart, unable to save their sleeping parents.

Together they fell asleep under an old tarp.

“Wake up, children.” The beautiful women stood before them then. “You belong to me now.”

The Story of Snow White and Rose Red.