Stories Before a Wedding, or The Little Snow-White

A Royal Wedding the proclamation decreed. The Cursed Prince – now King – Artair had returned at last, and he was to be married. All across the land people rejoiced the upcoming union and rushed to the shops to buy ribbons to decorate their homes or clothing in celebration. As the Prince and his new Consort were to tour the Kingdom on their way to the capital, people lined the streets to meet him and those who travelled with him. At each town and village, the Prince – although he was no doubt tired and wished to see his aging Uncle, his noble and kind regent, as soon as possible – recounted the tale of his being cursed, the woman who had helped to free him, and his future Consort, the one known as Little Snow-White.

He started his tale as traditionally as possible:

Once upon a time, there lived a poor but happy man and his wife. The two loved each other deeply, and the only thing they lacked in their lives was a child. The wife was saddened that she had no children to feed and make clothes for and watch grow up as handsome as their father or as gentle as their mother. The Husband mourned that he was unable to give his wife the children she so desperately wanted, but he knew better than to ask a fairy or magical creature for help for he knew that magic had no rules but the ones told by Fairytales and determined by deals. And so, the man and woman lived happily, if quietly, and make a good home together.

One day, the man – for he was a woodcutter – left to go deep into the woods for some ebony wood requested by the Queen of the neighbouring kingdom for her cradle. The man bid his wife farewell and travelled deep into the woods, at least three days walk. Once at the copse of ebonywood , he began to test all the trees in the hopes of felling only the sickly ones providing he could get clean pieces from them. After making his choice, he asked the forest for it’s blessing and poured the oil and wine his wife gave him for this very purpose onto the ground around his chosen trees. His ritual complete, he began to cut down the trees he had chosen.

He was just about halfway through the first tree when a boy no older than eight or nine by his reckoning ran up to him and threw himself against the man’s legs. He was dirty and crying, and his arm and legs were bleeding from countless scrapes. Immediately, the man dropped his axe so as to not hurt the child further and knelt to embrace the scared child. He patted his golden hair and offered his own homespun handkerchief to dry his clear blue eyes before asking what drew such an obviously noble boy deep into the forest alone. The boy, seeing the kindness in the woodcutter’s eyes trusted him and begged the man to protect him, to save him from the evil wizard that was trying to kill him. The man immediately promised to do so, and, when the evil wizard himself appeared with his long, unkempt beard and fiery eyes, the kind man pushed the boy behind him and drew up his trusty axe.

The wizard was impressed by the woodcutter’s bravery to stand up for a child that he was a stranger to, especially against so strong an opponent, but, ultimately, as he refused to stand aside and let the boy take his fate, the wizard said he would then have to join it. The man quaked with fear but did not move aside. The wizard nodded and offered him a final boon as a show of respect for his bravery; thinking of his wife, alone at their home, he asked for the evil wizard to quicken her womb with a child as white as their roses they had planted by their front door so that she would know they were his gift to her. The wizard, again impressed by his kindness, agreed.

Then, man and boy were both then cursed.

Ten years later, little Snow-White was playing by the river. She was supposed to be picking late-Autumn apples for her mother’s pies, but, if truth is meant to be told, she were eating more than she was picking. Little Snow-White was a kind, quiet girl who often had her head in the clouds, and she seemed at times to almost be able to talk to the birds and squirls that flocked to her. Despite her dreamy nature, Snow-White was also practical and helpful to her mother and, at ten years of age, was skilled at sewing, embroidering, cookery, and healing, not to mention her angelic singing. She was, as her name suggests, pale of hair and face – so pale that her skin and hair shone like snow in the sunlight – a sight that made men stare both in awe and fear of the child – but, despite her seemingly whimsical affect, her sleepy, luminous leaf-green eyes hid an intelligence that she showed freely only around her mother.

The girl was startled when an old man she had never seen ran from the depths of the woods and straight towards her; before she could react, a bear burst out of the woods where the man had a few seconds before and swatted at the man. Snow-White was terrified, but she had nowhere that she could run. The man, seeing her, huffed a dark, uncomfortable laugh, and made towards her with a dark and sinister knife that he had drawn from somewhere.

The bear was faster. He rushed past the man and threw his body before little Snow-White so that the bulk of his side was between her and the man. Unfortunately, this left his side open and unprotected to the man’s knife, which struck into his ribs. Seeing this, Snow-White cried out for the bear and threw the fruit basket at him. The unexpected flying object – even though it missed him by a good bit – startled the man just enough to allow the bear to pivot and strike the man with his claws. Upon the strike hitting the man’s shoulder, he promptly and surprisingly vanished like Fairy’s Mist in the heat of the sun.

Shocked, Snow-White could only stare at where the old man had stood and shake her head in astonishment until she saw that that the bear was swaying and near to collapsing. She moved quickly closer to his side and helped the bear lower himself to the ground – a difficult task for an injured bear and ten year old girl. Snow-White immediately asked the birds to collect the herbs she would need to heal her unexpected saviour which, out of love for the kind, gentle girl, did as she asked immediately. Then ignoring any fear she felt, she took her skirt and the fallen knife that the man left when he evaporated and cut her skirt to make rags that she then wet in the river to clean and later bind his wounds.

After Snow-White did her work, the bear looked stronger and prepared to return to the deep woods for Winter was coming fast. Snow-White stopped him with a hand on his snout and begged him to return to her house so her mother could properly thank her savour. The bear looked at Snow-White with doubts clear in his blue eyes, but she smiled so sweetly and earnestly, that he went with her willingly and was greeted with exclamations that turned quickly to joy once their mother learned of his actions. Seeing that his wounds were only just starting to heal and grateful for the service he did in protecting her daughter, she begged the bear to remain the winter with them for his own protection and theirs as she was old enough to both understand and fear a man who could send an aspect of himself to attack both bear and girl.

Agreeing to spend Winter nights at the cottage, he said – for he was, in fact, cursed and could still speak, albeit not on any matters of the curse or the evil man – he would arrive at sun-set each night and remain until mid-day. And these nights were passed in joy and fun; Snow-White opened the door each night to the bear and beat the snow from his coat. They ate as a family and sat and talked for hours until the night was half-finished, and then, little Snow-White slept the rest curled against the bear’s warm, soft fur. In the Summer, the bear left them but spent many days guarding the child as Snow-White explored the woods, and her mother feared for nothing as she knew little Snow-White was safe in the wood with the bear by her side.

Only one Summer day did the bear abandon them completely: the Solstice. As it was, early that morning, Snow-White’s mother woke her early and walked with her across the two hills and to the home of seven magical dwarfs. These dwarfs were miners in the mountains near their home and were also renowned for their knowledge of magical men. Their leader, having listened to their story and eaten his share of the gooseberry pie that Snow-White’s mother brought as payment for their council, stated that the bear was surely cursed and that the old man was the villain who had cursed him and that the bear must still be bound to the old man in some way. He urged little Snow-White to find the Aspect to which he had tied his magic for, without it, he was unmade. Snow-White – for love of her dear friend the bear – swore to be vigilant.

And thus passed another nine years.

In the intervening years, twice more had little Snow-White met the old man, and twice she had herself “rescued” him from dangerous situations by cutting parts of his beard off. The first time, she had done so innocently enough, and she really had felt sorry for the man being entangled in his fishing-line and pulled along the river by an enormous fish. In her gentle ways, she felt compassion with even so evil a man and cut off a third of his beard. It was only after that she thought on his horrific over-reaction to the trim that she quietly brought it up to her mother and realised that the old man’s beard was his Aspect. Cheerfully, little Snow-White had all her animal friends save the accursed bear looking for a way to further cut down his beard; she only omitted her dearest friend and companion because she did not want to either worry him or get his hopes up should she be wrong or fail to fully cut off his beard.

But little Snow-White was patient, and twice she had cut his beard before. She was hopeful she would be able to do so again soon. As it stood, it was Midsummer, and she went on the same journey she had taken every year to the good dwarfs in the mountains, but this would be her first year making the trip alone as her mother had taken ill two weeks earlier. She made good time, and, before Noon, was standing at their door. Just as in the previous five years, a girl that looked her age answered the door, her cheeks as red as Snow-White’s mother’s roses, her hair dark as ebonywood, and her skin nearly as pale as little Snow-White’s own. Lumi – for that was the youth’s name – bid her come in, and the two of them sat and talked as they waited for the dwarfs.

Five years ago, upon their return home and seeing that Lumi had allowed little Snow-White – who was a stranger to child at the time, their leader reprimanded Lumi for answering the door, but admitted that it had done no harm and maybe even some good as it must be lonely for Lumi here, alone all day, and surrounded by them each night and no friends of their own age. Lumi smiled sadly and acknowledged that it was nice to get to talk with a kind, human face – despite being grateful to the dwarfs for their protection that past year. Little Snow-White was touched by Lumi’s sadness and promised to write letters throughout the year sent by bird’s wing which not even the over-protective dwarfs could object to.

Lumi and Snow-White swore a bond of eternal friendship, and they marked that bond with letters sent nearly every third day. Snow-White told Lumi all about the bear and other, more practical things that Lumi did not know, like how to make herbal soap to wash especially dirty clothing or how to cook a hearty stew. The bear could not write any letters, but Snow-White read all the letters aloud to him and, when it came time to reply to them, even had some additions to suggest for her next letter. For her correspondent’s part, Lumi wrote about literature and grand stories and history that little Snow-White knew nothing about but that she turned into songs that the birds would then sing to her friends. Eventually, and through her letters, Lumi and the bear also discussed things like literature and philosophy and even statesmancraft, practical history, and trade.

Now, Snow-White and Lumi were the best of friends, save, of course for Snow-White’s friendship with her beloved bear. They wrote nearly constantly to each other, and it was only little Snow-White and Lumi’s kindness to the birds that made them consent to the frequent flights between the two cottages. Their only sorrow between the three of them was that Snow-White and Lumi met only one day a year and the bear never met them due to his fear of leading the old man to the dwarfs.

This year, Snow-White told the dwarf leader about the old man’s beard, which caused Lumi to pale, and he praised her innovation and cleverness. The dwarf leader warned her that the old man was indeed powerful, his power was waning due to her actions, and, before the Summer ended, she should be able to destroy his Aspect completely. To that end, they would ask their friends, the proud eagles, if they would help, for freeing the world of any evil wizard would, undoubtedly, weaken them all. At this, Lumi’s eyes widened, and little Snow-White, recognizing the look of apprehension that was in the bear’s eyes each Spring, she took Lumi’s hand and squeezed it lovingly.

In this way, the three of them, Snow-White’s mother, and the seven dwarfs passed the Autumn and Winter.

In Springtime again and nearing the tenth year and Snow-White’s twentieth year in total, the bear once again left her and her mother’s home. As the Summer approached, little Snow-White was aroused from her nap in the soft moss by the river by a bird that sang of an eagle chasing an old man nearby. Snow-White leapt up and followed the bird to see a truly comical sight: the old man – his beard considerably shorter than at their first meeting – trapped by his beard in a log in which he must have sought cover and hounded by the eagle at his back who often darted in to scratch and claw at the man’s flesh.

Hearing little Snow-White’s laughter, he turned and cursed her calling her a miserable child, a foolish wretch, and demanding she free him for it was due to him that she lived now. She smiled kindly and begged him to just be patient for a little bit longer and then, smiling at the eagle in thanks, came in close and cut off the rest of his scraggly beard. The old man howled and would have reached out to grab her if not for the roar that came from the woods that surrounded the clearing. Now, without his beard to protect him, the old man was powerless.

He tried to run, but the eagle remained at his back, and, finally, he was frozen as the bear came rushing from the trees and, with one mighty swing of his paw, struck the old man down dead.

Little Snow-White, despite knowing the evil man must die, was tender-hearted, and looked away. Therefore, she missed the moment where the bear’s fur and form fell away to reveal a young man perhaps six or seven years or so her senior. His hair was golden, and his eyes were blue and clear. He still had the nobility that he had shown when in the form of the bear, and, when little Snow-White turned at hearing his footsteps, he smiled at her, and she recognised him by his manner and eyes. He approached her and took her hand and kissed it, naming her his most beloved sister.

That night at Snow-White and her mother’s house, he told them his story: his name was Artair, and he was Prince of this realm – King, actually, as of this past month. He was cursed by an evil wizard – the old man – for greed. The wizard wished his father – a widower of many years – to marry his newly-widowed daughter. The widow herself was pregnant already, but she knew she wished to unite the kingdom under her regency with Artair’s father’s; what the King didn’t know was that the old man and his equally evil daughter planned to murder this king as they had her husband once he had performed his duty and gotten her pregnant with a new heir to their kingdom. Indeed, it was the wood for her child’s very cradle that Snow-White’s father had entered the woods to chop when he had found the kidnapped Prince and been cursed alongside him.

At this, Snow-White’s mother cried out, for she had sensed her husband somehow through the bear. Yes, he said, for the woodcutter had raised him as his own, but had sought the help of the dwarfs and the King through the birds that, like his daughter, he could speak to. It had taken them years, but they had found a way for the Prince to continue his studies with books indicated by birds’ beaks brought to and left at certain places in the woods, books that the bear read each Summer night. Right before he had made himself known to little Snow-White, her father, and the bear’s adopted father, died defending his uncle who had come to see Artair. The event made the old man angry, and he had tried to retaliate by attacking Snow-White; her love and protection of the bear had weakened him, and the further cutting of his beard allowed Artair even more freedom which he spent with his sister and stepmother.

Said woman then embraced Artair and acknowledged the familial claim, as did little Snow-White, and the family spent the rest of the night in joyful tears, sharing food and stories, and just by being together.

Now, to the other Snow-White in this story: Lumi joyfully received a letter that little Snow-White would come to the dwarf’s home early this year and that she would bring with her a man that she called her brother. Lumi immediately shared the news with the seven dwarfs who also shared and revelled in the news that the formerly-cursed Prince was now free. The news brought joy that two people Lumi cared so much for were now safe and happy, and it also brought hope that Lumi’s own situation would be soon resolved and hopefully just as happily, for, as kind as the dwarfs were, Lumi tired of the fear and deception that were his constant companions with his guardians, even if his female disguise was originally designed to protect him from his mother.

Indeed, Lumi’s mother – the old man’s daughter and the evil Queen of this kingdom which neighboured Artair’s – had redoubled her efforts to kill her rival, son, and the natural heir to the throne upon learning of her father’s weakening and later death at the hands of little Snow-White and the bear, for both Lumi’s beauty and birth were no coincidence.

The evil Queen had despaired her husband giving her a child before she tired of him, even though he treated her like a goddess come to earth and offered her anything she even hinted at wanting, so she sought her father’s help as he was both a wizard and also evil. He arranged via magical wish for her to bear a child as red as the blood she had to spill for the spell, as white as the death shroud that would cover her husband once his part was done and the spell took his life, and as black as the ebonywood frame on her magic mirror. Four months later, she was a widow and the Queen Mother to be.

She hated her child for the aforementioned magic mirror had told her that all of her evil magic that demanded the spilling of blood would be her undoing; her child would be born, and – through that child – her throne would be secured, but her child would outshine her, and all that saw his beauty would love him. And, the mirror further warned, if the Queen’s child should meet with his to-be wish-created sister and the Prince of the next kingdom over, both the Queen and her father would fall. As to the steps taken by the Queen and her father to avoid this fate on Prince Artair’s side, you already know, but on Lumi’s, the Queen demanded her own child’s death.

This could not be done immediately, however, or the crown would pass to the late King’s cousin – Artair’s father’s brother and Artair’s own regent – so it would have to wait until the Queen had her full strength back and supporters. Instead, she locked Lumi away and claimed the young ruler was too studious and frail to attend council sessions. This was backed up with lies that councillors deep in the Queen’s control had seen and spoken with the Prince, meetings that had never happened, for even servants were forbidden access to his rooms high in the castle towers. The only comfort Lumi was allowed was his books and the occasional company of the magic mirror when his mother had no need of her precious pet.

Just after Lumi’s fifteenth birthday, the Queen struck and ordered her huntsman to take the boy into the hills and kill him so she could just be done with it all. The man would have done it too, but he was swayed by the child’s – for Lumi was still more child than not at this point due to his isolation from all people of the world – fear and trust and general awe at finally being allowed outside. He bid the child run free and returned with a doe’s heart and lungs. The Queen never knew the difference.

Twice more the evil Queen tried to kill Lumi after her mirror was forced to reveal the huntsman’s failure, and twice more the dwarfs were able to bring their ward back from a cursed sleep. Finally, upon her realisation that her father was defeated and Prince – now King – Artair was free of his curse, she tried for a final time to kill her own hated child. Having learned from her mirror that Lumi expected a visit from Snow-White – the child her father had granted to a man and his wife via a wish and her own son’s sister in a sense – she took one last chance to disguise herself and go to the dwarfs’ home with a basket of apples.

She traded on Lumi’s desire to impress his friends with a baked pie – a skill learned from Snow-White as the Queen had not bothered to teach Lumi anything of value – and also a lie that these were special apples that would bless all those who were destined to be blessed with a True Love. Lumi, being poisoned by stories of True Love’s Kiss and other Fairytales, quickly accepted the apples and, after the Queen even cut one in two and ate half herself, was even persuaded to try one of the apples then and there.

It was a sad day that little Snow-White and Artair arrived at the dwarfs’ home to see the seven in mourning.

In shock, Snow-White and Artair demanded to know why Lumi was resting near death. With heavy hearts, the dwarfs explained who Lumi truly was: the rightful ruler and the one known as Little Snow-White in the neighbouring kingdom. Rosalia, or little Snow-White as her mother and adopted brother called her, knew now why she had felt such a strong kinship with Lumi, and begged to be allowed to break her wish-magic brother’s curse. Artair also begged to be permitted to try, as he had fallen in love with Lumi’s letters that Snow-White had read to him over the years.

The dwarfs agreed to both of them, but they also reminded them of the evil Queen’s power. For safety, would it not be better to take Lumi to the evil Queen’s castle safely asleep, make all the people of that kingdom mourn and weep for their Little Snow-White, killed by an evil curse? Then, in safety, would it not be better to make a grand show of waking Lumi up after destroying the Queen’s Aspect: her mirror? The Queen could not refuse them entrance to the castle, for – if Lumi were dead – technically, Artair’s kin was now King, and the councils would have to be convened as to which rule was legitimate.

Artair and Snow-White agreed. A dwarf was dispatched to the Regent who would prepare their own country for Artair’s glorious return with his sister and – hopefully – consort by his side, and the other dwarfs worked through the night to create a coffin made of glass and gemstones for the sleeping Lumi. Throughout the journey, Snow-White refused to leave her brother’s side, and her beauty and similarity to Lumi’s looks make it easy for the people to support and love the dedicated and loyal Princess Rosalia. Artair too won the hearts of the people with his loyalty to a lover that he had not even met as well as his noble bearing and diligence.

Indeed, the Queen knew by the time they reached the castle gates that she had lost, and, abandoning her Aspect, she fled the kingdom, never to be seen again. At the mirror’s own request, it was shattered into a thousand pieces, and little Snow-White herself picked up the cloth laid down to catch them, tied it with one of her own hair ties, and buried it in a place none but she and Artair know of in a copse of ebony trees. Artair and Snow-White both kissed Lumi – one on either cheek – and awakened their friend and correspondent. The three of them could finally speak openly about their identities, and all the missing pieces of their lives slid into place as they spoke.

Two curses and two wishes created and intermingled three lives to where it would be nearly impossible to untangle their fates, not that any of the three of them cared to try.

Artair, through blushes, confirmed he had no care that Lumi was a King as he was, particularly as he fell in love with Lumi’s words rather than his face or body, and heirs could always be worried about later. Lumi too agreed to marry Artair and unite their kingdoms as too many had died in his family’s efforts to halt the merger, and he too had fallen in love with the idea of the brave and noble bear that was kind and well-read and knowledgeable. Little Snow-White, or as she was now known in Lumi’s kingdom as Princess Rosalia, would accompany Artair and the male Snow-White to his palace and would then help them lead the way in developing a new capital on the former border of their lands, and she and her mother – and her mother’s rose bushes – would live happily ever after with her beloved family: the brother who took care of her and who her father loved and raised, and the brother who was her best friend.

And their story – this story – would forever be remembered at the tale of “Little Snow-White.”