Moonlight Dwelling

A year later the King remarried another woman. She was a beautiful woman but she was proud and arrogant. She couldn't stand to be around anyone that was more beautiful that she was. She had a magic mirror that she would often stand in front of admiring herself and would ask the mirror, "Mirror, mirror on the wall who in this realm is the fairest of all?"

The mirror would always answer her, "You my Queen, are the fairest of all."

Hearing this would content her for she knew the mirror always spoke the truth. In the meantime, Snow White grew more and more beautiful. When she was seven she was as beautiful as the day is clear and more beautiful than the Queen.

One day the Queen asked her mirror, "Mirror mirror, on the wall, who in this realm of the fairest of all?"

The mirror answered her, "You my Queen may have beauty quite rare but Snow White is a thousand times more fair."

The Queen grew enraged and green with envy. From that point on her hatred for the girl was so great that her heart jumped and turned in her chest every time she saw Snow White. The envy and arrogance grew so much that she had no peace day or night. One day she summoned a Huntsman and told him to take the girl into the forest.

"I never want to see her again. You must kill her and as proof of her death bring me back her liver and lungs."

 The Huntsman took the girl into the woods but he wasn't able to do it especially when she pleaded for her life so he let her go. He was relieved he didn't have to kill the girl although he knew she'd probably get killed by some wild animal since she was all alone in the forest. A boar ran by him so he killed it and took its liver and lungs to take to the Queen.

The Queen was elated when she saw the liver and lungs. She fried them up and enjoyed every bite as she imagined the horrors the girl was feeling when she was killed. She had a smile on her face for the rest of the day. In the forest Snow White had no idea what to do so she started running and came upon a cottage just as it was starting to get dark. She went inside and found that everything was so tiny. It was a neat place with a table with dinner laid out for seven and there were seven beds placed against the wall.

 Snow White was so hungry that she nibbled and drank from each of the place settings and afterwards fell into one of the beds and fell asleep. When it completely dark the dwarfs that lived there returned home to have their dinner when they noticed that someone had been in their home. They found Snow White still fast asleep looking so beautiful that they didn't dare disturb her. They quietly ate their dinner and went to bed one of them having to share his bed.

 In the morning when Snow White woke up she found herself surrounded by the seven dwarfs and was frightened. They were friendly though so she soon got over her fear and told them her name. Each of the dwarfs then introduced themselves with strange names thought Snow White to herself but she just smiled at them.

 "Why are you in our house?"

 She told them the story about her Stepmother ordering the Huntsman to kill her but how he took pity on her and allowed her to go.

"Ok you can stay but you have to earn your keep by cleaning the  house and cooking our meals since we are away and we'll take care of you."

 "Yes thank you all so much."

 She turned to each dwarf and hugged him and kissed him on the forehead and each of them blushed to be kissed by such a beautiful girl. When they went off in the morning they warned her to be careful and to not let anyone in.

The Queen who had thought she had eaten her competition's liver and lungs went to her mirror positive that she was now the fairest in all the land. The answer she got was totally unexpected.

The mirror answered her, "You my Queen have a beauty so rare but over the mountains where the seven dwarfs dwell Snow White it thriving and this I must tell within this realm she's still a thousand times more fair."

 The Queen was shocked to hear this and knew that it wasn't a lie which meant she had been deceived. She ordered her guards to track down the Huntsman and to have her brought to her. They found the man heading up into the mountains and dragged him back and dragged him kicking and screaming before the Queen. They pushed him to the ground and she rose from her throne sneering down at him.

 "So you killed the girl named Snow White?"

"Yes, yes my Queen I did" the Huntsman stammered.

 "You lie. How dare you defy me!"

She grabbed a knife that was lying on a table and slit his throat from end to end so that it looked like a smile. The blood gushed out and the Queen smiled as the man lay on the ground dying. She ordered the floor to be cleaned before it was stained and if it wasn't clean she would have all of their heads cut off.

She went back up to her secret chamber to figure out what to do next. She knew that she couldn't trust anyone else to do the job so she decided to do it herself and pay the girl a visit. So the Queen disguised herself as an old peddler with scarves and belts and went to the cottage where Snow White lived with the dwarfs.

She knocked on the door and soon Snow White looked outside the window and said, "I can't allow anyone inside. Who are you?"

"Why I'm just an old peddler selling some beautiful scarves and belts. Couldn't you let an old lady in that's awfully tired from traveling all this way?"

Snow White looked at the old woman and figured it wouldn't hurt since it was just a kindly old woman selling some lovely things from what Snow White could see. She let the old woman in and bought a scarf. The woman offered to help her put it on telling her about the many ways that she could wear the scarf. She placed the scarf around Snow White's neck and it began to tighten around her neck and she knotted it to make sure the spell would keep squeezing until it killed the brat.

Snow White was turning blue and trying to take the scarf off but she couldn't and finally she passed out. The Queen thinking that she had finally gotten rid of Snow White left. Shortly after the Queen had left the dwarfs came home and found Snow White lying on the ground. They saw the scarf tightly knotted around her throat so one of them drew a knife from its scabbard and cut it off. Snow White started gasping for breath and the dwarfs and helped her get up. They steered her over to a chair and had her sit down. After Snow White told them what had happened the dwarfs told her that the woman was actually the Wicked Queen in disguise.

"Please don't allow anyone in when we're not here!"

 The Queen went to her mirror as soon as she arrived back to the castle and went into her secret chamber and asked who the fairest was in all the land certain that this time she would get the answer she sought. The mirror answered her the same as before. Upon hearing this she was so enraged that once again Snow White had escaped the jaws of death.

 "I won't fail again!"

In her secret chamber she cast a spell and made the most perfect apple that no one could resist. It was perfect so red and white inside that she was certain that Snow White wouldn't be able to resist taking a bite. Just one bite from this apple and the girl would drop dead. Once again she disguised herself as a peasant certain that this naive girl would allow herself to be fooled once again no matter what the dwarfs may have told her.

 She knocked on the door and once again Snow White came to the window and said, "I'm sorry but I'm not allowed to have visitors."

 "Not a problem my dear I'm sure I'll find a buyer for my apples but please take one as my apology for having disturbed you. See how ripe and red they are."

 "No thank you."

"My dear are you afraid that it's poisoned? I'll cut the apple in two and eat half of it myself if that will ease your mind. You can have the red part and I'll have the white part."

She took a bite of the white part since the Queen knew that it was only the red part of the apple that was poisoned. Snow White saw the old woman eating the apple so she took a bite because it was the most beautiful apple she had ever seen and she just couldn't resist tasting so a beautiful piece of fruit. She fell to the ground and the Queen danced around her cackling with glee that finally she had gotten rid of this brat and now she would be the fairest in all the realm. She left laughing all the way back to the castle knowing that finally her plan had succeeded.

 "Skin like snow, blood red lips, and hair like ebony! You won't be able to come back to life this time."

As always she went to her mirror and asked it, "Mirror, mirror on the wall who in this realm is the fairest of all?"

The mirror answered, "You my Queen are the fairest of all."

This answer pleased her for it meant that beyond a doubt Snow White was finally dead. The dwarfs came home and found Snow White lying on the floor and she wasn't breathing. They were unable to revive her. They did all they could but nothing worked finally they washed her and combed her hair and made a coffin. They couldn't bear to bury her in the ground so they made a beautiful glass coffin and placed her inside and pulled her up the mountain. There she lay for years with one of the dwarfs by her side at all times. She looked so beautiful and never decayed always staying the exact say way she did when she died. It was almost as if she were just sleeping.

Tales of the beauty in the coffin reached a Prince who found out the whole story and made his way to the Queen's castle. He knocked on the door and made his way to the one that was responsible for such a heinous act. She was much older but she was still quite beauty in a cold sort of way.

 He was so furious at the thought of what she had done that he grabbed her by the throat and sank his fangs into her throat and drained her dry. He wiped his mouth and started looking around the room. He wanted to see if there was some way to revive the girl. He found the secret chamber which held the magic mirror so he went up to it and asked it to show him the beauty in the coffin. She appeared in the coffin and she was so truly beautiful that it was love at first sight for the Prince.

 "She's a true beauty."

 "Yes she is and only you can save her."

 "What did the Queen do to this girl?"

 "The Queen has always been jealous of those more beautiful than she and Snow White far surpassed her inside and out for she was as kind as beautiful. The Queen gave her a poisoned apple but I was able to make it appear as though she were dead because a servant in the castle added a few ingredients so she would only be put to sleep. She must be kissed by a Prince to revive her and the dwarfs did their part by placing her in that coffin for she wouldn't have been saved if they had buried her."

"Thank you magic mirror. I must know how to get there and fast for I must wake this vision of loveliness."

 "Just step through the mirror and you'll be there. That Wicked Queen just thought I was a mirror to ask about beauty but I have secrets even she had no idea about."

The Prince stepped through and found himself on the mountaintop. The dwarf was startled by the man appearing out of thin air and raised his axe ready to defend if need be. The Prince raised his hands and told him that he meant no harm. He told him what the mirror had told him and the dwarf helped him take the lid off the coffin. The Prince just looked at her for a while before reaching down and grabbing her so he could bite her in the neck and feast on her blood. As he was drinking she opened her eyes.

Her eyes were the bluest blue he had ever seen. He sliced his wrist open and held it over her mouth. After a few drops had gone into her mouth she reached up and grabbed onto his arm drinking. Finally he pulled her off his arm and sealed his wound by running a nail across his wrist. He lifted Snow White out of the coffin and the dwarf led them to the cottage. The dwarfs were thrilled to see that their beautiful Snow White was alive and well. The next evening Snow White and the Prince left to go back to his land where she would be his bride.

 Although the dwarfs were saddened to see her go they knew that she was going to be happy so they wished her well. Snow White with tears in her eyes waved goodbye to the dwarfs after she had hugged and kissed each of them since they were like family to her.

 "Since we're to be married I think it would be helpful if I were to know your name."

"Yes it would my dear. My name is Eric."

"I also would like to know if that was a dream I had about becoming a vampire."

 "Yes you are as I am. Would you like me to change your little friends?"

 "No I want them to remain where they are. They belong there."

Arm in arm they walked over the mountains to the castle where the Queen had lived.

"Don't worry dear the nightmare with the Queen is over for she is finally dead. Why don't we make this our kingdom that way you can be near your little friends who were so upset at seeing you leave."

"It's a whole new world just waiting to be tasted." Later on a hooded figure went into the chamber where the mirror was and asked, "Mirror, mirror on the wall who in this realm is the fairest of all?"

By Barbara Desmond