The Awakening

The Queen gazed gracefully at the angel-white snow falling peacefully in front of her stone window. Nothing, she thought, in every realm of this world can surpass snow in beauty. And, indeed, a while later when her first daughter was born, she affirmed this view of hers by naming the baby, with the light, almost transparent, pale skin, Snow-White.

Defeated by illness, as she frequently had been throughout her life, the Queen passed away, leaving the King to succumb to his old favourite weaknesses, gambling and alcohol. In a feeble, yet somewhat successful effort to recover both himself and his falling kingdom, he decided to marry a Queen of a distant land, who was notorious for being strict and firm on every subject her people dared to bring to her feet.

It was not long after, that the King confirmed one of the sayings of his people by delving deeper into his old habits, from which he could not escape. Snow-White, who had grown into a child by that time and was beginning to sense her father’s case, would often hide fearfully in the basement after being protectively told to do so by her step-mother, whose brave face could be found in her husband’s palm every dark night.

Blinded by his addictions, the King turned hopelessly to an item he had not used since the days he was young and he would be sent by his father to conquer nearby defenseless kingdoms. When he opened the door of the castle’s old cellar his deadly mirror has hanging triumphantly, at least to his own eyes, on the dusty grey brick wall.

“Looking-glass upon the wall, tell me who should die and fall”, he said.

And the glass answered, “The laziest of your men shall see no light again”.

Years and years went by, until Snow-White became a young woman, full of dreams and aspirations, always thinking of her fearless step-mother as an excellent example to follow.

One cold January night, as the wolfs were howling hungrily and owls hooting hauntingly in every corner of the nearby forest,

“Looking-glass upon the wall, tell me who should die and fall”, the drunken King asked his golden mirror.

“Snow-White with her pale skin, shall no longer be your kin”, the glass uttered back, offering him shivers down his spine, but, above all, early satisfaction, for each fulfilled commandment of the mirror elongated his already long reign.

The Queen, who had been following every one of his step, in order to protect Snow-White and herself, run with all her strength to warn the girl, upon hearing the words of the glass.

Snow-White, who had barely managed to escape the huntsman that her father had furiously sent after her, found herself in a peculiar part of the forest, knocking on the door of an equally peculiar and rather small house, while burdened by the weight of some provisions that her step-mother had carefully prepared for her.

“Hello there”, said a dwarf, who had just appeared on the door.

“Hello little dwarf”, answered Snow-White hoping she wouldn’t be seen as an intruder.

After talking with the dwarf and discovering there were six more dwarfs in the house, its owners let her stay on the condition that she would clean and cook for them as long as she was part of the household.

As spring was showering with life every creature of the forest, Snow-White grew more and more disgusted with her situation. Was this why her step-mother risked her life to save her? She was destined to dwell forever in the house of seven dwarfs, cleaning and cooking for them, while they peeped more and more frequently through the keyhole of her room to watch her undress every night before bursting violently in to force her on one of their tiny beds? She felt every drop of blood in her drained body boil at the reality of her situation. Suddenly, her mind entered the dream she had a few nights before, about her step-mother yelling at her to awake and take hold of her life before vanishing in the thickest kind of fog. And armed with her anger, as well as an axe she managed to find in a cupboard, Snow-White begun to slice every inch of the three dwarfs, who had just entered the house demanding warm roast chicken, their usual meal for a sunny Thursday.

Having carved “I had to. You forced me to.” on the back of the front door with the help of a knife, she turned her attention to the scorching oven and opened it. After eating her delicious roast dwarfs, Snow-White packed what was left of her belongings, grabbed firmly the doorknob, and with her feet not trembling but steady, not hesitant, but determined, she walked out of her hell into the heaven of spring-stricken Mother Nature.

Following a path, one of the innumerable in the vast forest, she realized, with satisfaction, that she had already crossed half of the woods. However, despite the carefulness she placed in each of her steps, she tripped over something that looked like a rope waiting to trick the unsuspecting creatures of the forest. Immediately forcing herself up, she beheld the figure of a mysterious man, who was approaching quickly with his horse.

“Right I was to plant my rope here, then”, the man exclaimed, rather victoriously. “I am the son of a glorious King, and you are the fairest thing I’ve ever seen. May I offer you my help? In your state you look like you need it.”, he added shortly, before Snow-White could utter a word.

Everything she had accomplished thus far was due to her own strength and ability. And for no reason would she be willing to accept the assistance of someone else, however kindly handed, unless that someone was herself.

“Excuse me”, Snow-White said courageously, “but I need to proceed with my journey. And as the man, rather offended, opened his mouth to reply, “I have a kingdom to claim and a life to save”, she hurried to add robustly, while fixing her eyes to the path ahead of her, endlessly hoping that she wouldn’t be too late.

By Anastasia M.

One of the three officially selected fairytales during our Workshop in Critical Writing: Fiction (group b).