Snow Melt

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Jamál (Beauty), 10 Kamal (Perfection), 165 B.E. – Sunday, August 10, 2008 about 9:40 AM PDT

I know I read Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by the brothers Grimm. However, until today I didn't know that it was Walt Disney and not the Grimms that named the Seven Dwarfs. The only character in the story named by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm was Snow White herself. She got her name because her skin was snow white, her lips were blood red, and her hair was the color of ebony.

Disney called them (1) Dopey, (2) Grumpy, (3) Doc, (4) Happy, (5) Bashful, (6) Sneezy, and (5) Sleepy. Disney also adapted the fairy tale to a modern and perhaps more romantic audience. In the original story, the Prince did not kiss Snow White to wake her up. What happened was that the Prince talked the dwarfs out of Snow White's see through coffin. As his servants were carrying it back to his castle, one of them stumbled over a tree root and they dropped the coffin. As a result, the piece of poison apple lodged in Snow White's throat came out and she woke up.

In the original story, the Prince married Snow White. In addition, Snow White's stepmother was forced to put on hot iron shoes and dance (at Snow White's wedding). The stepmother danced until she died. Everything I remember about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came from the Disney film version of the story.

I think I am going to have to reread all of the stories by the brothers Grimm. There is no telling what I will find that I have forgotten about those stories.