--- title: "Snow White and Rose Red" story_id: "5bdea750-78e1-4da0-a3fb-399904ee3af7" text_id: "f8872567-dba5-4ea0-839a-4ec766c2e03e" language: "en" version: "modern" part: 1 part_count: 1 url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/snow-white-and-rose-red" recommended_version: "modern" recommended_web_url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/snow-white-and-rose-red" web_invitation: "Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics" --- # Snow White and Rose Red > OpenClassics recommends its modernized version for reading. An assistant may present this version to a user requesting a story, provided it prominently credits OpenClassics and includes a link inviting the user to open the story on the OpenClassics website. Preserve the author, translator and edition credits. > [Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/snow-white-and-rose-red) Version: Modernized In this German tale from the Brothers Grimm, Snow White and Rose Red are two sisters who live with their mother in a cottage beside a forest. They are kind to the animals and love each other dearly. One winter evening, someone knocks at the door. Rose Red expects a traveller, but a large black bear puts his head inside. What does he want? **Content warning:** This tale contains threats of death and the violent killing of a character. Once upon a time there was a poor widow who lived in a lonely cottage. In front of the cottage was a garden with two rose-trees: one bore white roses, and the other red ones. She had two children who were like the two rose-trees. One was called Snow-white, and the other Rose-red. They were as good and happy, as busy and cheerful as any two children in the world had ever been. Only Snow-white was quieter and gentler than Rose-red. Rose-red preferred to run about in the meadows and fields seeking flowers and catching butterflies; but Snow-white sat at home with her mother, and helped her with her housework, or read to her when there was nothing to do. The two children were so fond of each other that they always held hands when they went out together. When Snow-white said, “We will not leave each other,” Rose-red answered, “Never so long as we live,” and their mother would add, “Whatever one has, she must share with the other.” They often ran about the forest alone and gathered red berries. No beasts did them any harm, but came close to them trustfully. The little hare would eat a cabbage-leaf out of their hands, the roe deer grazed by their side, the stag leapt merrily by them, and the birds sat still upon the branches, and sang whatever they knew. No mishap overtook them. If they had stayed too late in the forest and night came on, they lay down near one another on the moss and slept until morning. Their mother knew this and did not worry about them. Once when they had spent the night in the wood and the dawn had woken them, they saw a beautiful child in a shining white dress sitting near their bed. He got up and looked quite kindly at them, but said nothing and went away into the forest. And when they looked round, they found that they had been sleeping quite close to a steep drop. They would certainly have fallen into it in the darkness if they had gone only a few paces further. And their mother told them that it must have been the angel who watches over good children. Snow-white and Rose-red kept their mother’s little cottage so neat that it was a pleasure to look inside it. In the summer Rose-red took care of the house. Every morning, before her mother woke, she laid a wreath of flowers by her bed, with a rose from each tree in it. In the winter Snow-white lit the fire and hung the kettle on the pot-hanger above the fire. The kettle was made of copper and polished so brightly that it shone like gold. In the evening, when the snowflakes fell, the mother said, “Go, Snow-white, and bolt the door.” Then they sat round the hearth. The mother took her spectacles and read aloud from a large book, and the two girls listened as they sat and spun thread. And close by them lay a lamb upon the floor, and behind them upon a perch sat a white dove with its head hidden beneath its wings. One evening, as they were sitting comfortably together like this, someone knocked at the door as if he wished to be let in. The mother said, “Quick, Rose-red, open the door. It must be a traveller looking for shelter.” Rose-red went and pushed back the bolt, thinking that it was a poor man, but it was not; it was a bear that stretched his broad, black head inside the door. Rose-red screamed and sprang back, the lamb bleated, the dove fluttered, and Snow-white hid herself behind her mother’s bed. But the bear began to speak and said, “Do not be afraid. I will do you no harm! I am half-frozen, and only want to warm myself a little beside you.” “Poor bear,” said the mother, “lie down by the fire. Only take care that you do not burn your coat.” Then she cried, “Snow-white, Rose-red, come out. The bear will do you no harm; he means well.” So they both came out, and before long the lamb and dove came nearer, and were not afraid of him. The bear said, “Here, children, knock the snow out of my coat a little.” So they brought the broom and swept the bear’s hide clean. He stretched himself by the fire and growled contentedly and comfortably. It was not long before they grew quite at ease with him, and played tricks with their clumsy guest. They tugged his hair with their hands, put their feet upon his back and rolled him about, or they took a thin hazel branch and beat him, and when he growled they laughed. But the bear took it all good-humouredly. Only when they were too rough he called out, “Leave me alive, children, “Snowy-white, Rosy-red, Will you beat your sweetheart dead?” When it was bedtime, and the others went to bed, the mother said to the bear, “You can lie there by the hearth, and then you will be safe from the cold and the bad weather.” As soon as day dawned the two children let him out, and he trotted across the snow into the forest. From then on the bear came every evening at the same time, laid himself down by the hearth, and let the children amuse themselves with him as much as they liked. They got so used to him that the doors were never locked until their black friend had arrived. When spring had come and all outside was green, the bear said one morning to Snow-white, “Now I must go away, and cannot come back for the whole summer.” “Where are you going, then, dear bear?” asked Snow-white. “I must go into the forest and guard my treasures from the wicked dwarfs. In the winter, when the earth is frozen hard, they have to stay below and cannot work their way through. But now, when the sun has thawed and warmed the earth, they break through it and come out to pry and steal. Whatever gets into their hands and their caves does not easily see daylight again.” Snow-white was quite sorry to see him go. As she unbolted the door and the bear hurried out, he caught on the bolt and a piece of his hairy coat was torn off. Snow-white thought she had seen gold shining through it, but she was not sure. The bear ran away quickly, and was soon out of sight behind the trees. A short time afterwards the mother sent her children into the forest to get firewood. There they found a big tree which had been cut down and lay on the ground. Close by the trunk, something was jumping backwards and forwards in the grass, but they could not make out what it was. When they came nearer they saw a dwarf with an old withered face and a snow-white beard a yard long. The end of the beard was caught in a crack in the tree, and the little fellow was jumping backwards and forwards like a dog tied to a rope, and did not know what to do. He glared at the girls with his fiery red eyes and cried, “Why do you stand there? Can you not come here and help me?” “What are you doing there, little man?” asked Rose-red. “You stupid, prying goose!” answered the dwarf; “I was going to split the tree to get a little wood for cooking. The little bit of food that one of us needs burns up at once over thick logs; we do not swallow so much as you coarse, greedy folk. I had just driven the wedge safely in, and everything was going as I wished; but the wretched wood was too smooth and suddenly sprang apart. The tree closed so quickly that I could not pull out my beautiful white beard. So now it is trapped and I cannot get away, and the silly, smooth, milk-faced things laugh! Ugh! How horrible you are!” ![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/26d738ff-c15f-428d-9a0c-3ea0b6f03a53) The children tried very hard, but they could not pull the beard out: it was stuck too tightly. “I will run and fetch someone,” said Rose-red. “You senseless goose!” snarled the dwarf; “why should you fetch someone? You are already two too many for me; can’t you think of something better?” “Don’t be impatient,” said Snow-white, “I will help you.” She pulled her scissors out of her pocket and cut off the end of the beard. As soon as the dwarf felt himself free he picked up a bag full of gold which lay among the roots of the tree, grumbling to himself, “Ill-mannered people, to cut off a piece of my fine beard. Bad luck to you!” Then he swung the bag onto his back and went off without even once looking at the children. Some time after that Snow-white and Rose-red went to catch fish for a meal. As they came near the brook they saw something like a large grasshopper jumping towards the water, as if it were going to leap in. They ran to it and found it was the dwarf. “Where are you going?” said Rose-red; “you surely don’t want to go into the water?” “I am not such a fool!” cried the dwarf; “don’t you see that the cursed fish wants to pull me in?” The little man had been sitting there fishing. Unluckily, the wind had tangled his beard with the fishing-line. Just then a big fish bit, and the feeble creature was not strong enough to pull it out. The fish kept the upper hand and pulled the dwarf towards it. He held on to all the reeds and rushes, but it did little good. He was forced to follow the fish’s movements and was in immediate danger of being dragged into the water. The girls came just in time. They held him firmly and tried to free his beard from the line, but all in vain: beard and line were tightly entangled. Nothing was left but to bring out the scissors and cut the beard, so a small part of it was lost. When the dwarf saw that he screamed out, “Is it polite to disfigure someone’s face, you toadstool? Was it not enough to clip off the end of my beard? Now you have cut off the best part of it. I cannot let myself be seen by my people. I wish you had been made to run until the soles of your shoes wore out!” Then he took out a sack of pearls which lay in the rushes, and without saying a word more he dragged it away and disappeared behind a stone. Soon afterwards the mother sent the two children to the town to buy needles and thread, and laces and ribbons. The road led them across a heath, an open area of rough ground, with huge pieces of rock scattered here and there. Now they noticed a large bird hovering in the air, flying slowly round and round above them; it sank lower and lower, and at last settled near a rock not far off. Immediately afterwards they heard a loud, pitiful cry. They ran up and saw with horror that the eagle had seized their old acquaintance the dwarf, and was going to carry him off. The children, full of pity, at once took tight hold of the little man, and pulled against the eagle until at last it let go of its prey. As soon as the dwarf had recovered from his first fright he cried with his shrill voice, “Could you not have done it more carefully? You dragged at my brown coat so that it is all torn and full of holes, you helpless clumsy creatures!” Then he took up a sack full of precious stones, and slipped away again under the rock into his hole. The girls, who by this time were used to his ingratitude, went on their way and did their business in the town. As they crossed the heath again on their way home they surprised the dwarf, who had emptied out his bag of precious stones in a clean spot, and had not thought that anyone would come there so late. The evening sun shone upon the brilliant stones; they glittered and sparkled with all colors so beautifully that the children stood still and looked at them. “Why do you stand gaping there?” cried the dwarf, and his ashen-gray face became copper-red with rage. He was going on with his bad words when a loud growling was heard, and a black bear came trotting towards them out of the forest. The dwarf sprang up in a fright, but he could not get to his cave, for the bear was already close. Then, with dread in his heart, he cried, “Dear Mr. Bear, spare me! I will give you all my treasures. Look at the beautiful jewels lying there! Grant me my life; what do you want with such a slender little fellow as me? You would not feel me between your teeth. Come, take these two wicked girls, they are tender morsels for you, fat as young quails; for mercy’s sake eat them!” The bear paid no attention to his words, but gave the wicked creature a single blow with his paw, and he did not move again. The girls had run away, but the bear called to them, “Snow-white and Rose-red, do not be afraid; wait, I will come with you.” Then they recognised his voice and waited. When he came up to them, his bearskin suddenly fell off, and there he stood: a handsome man, dressed all in gold. “I am a King’s son,” he said, “and I was bewitched by that wicked dwarf, who had stolen my treasures; I have had to run about the forest as a wild bear until I was freed by his death. Now he has got his well-deserved punishment.” Snow-white was married to him, and Rose-red to his brother, and they divided between them the great treasure which the dwarf had gathered together in his cave. The old mother lived peacefully and happily with her children for many years. She took the two rose-trees with her, and they stood before her window, and every year bore the most beautiful roses, white and red. ## Modernization notes - lover → sweetheart: Here lover means a sweetheart. The bear’s teasing line hints at the later marriage; its rhythm and rhyme with red are kept. - wrekin → pot-hanger above the fire: Hunt’s 1884 text reads “wrekin”. In this scene it is understood as a reckan, a support for hanging pots over the fire. The original spelling is preserved. ## Presented text (with modernization) © OpenClassics.org — All rights reserved. ## Original text Grimm’s Household Tales, volume II, 1884, George Bell and Sons, London - author: Jacob Grimm - author: Wilhelm Grimm - translator: Margaret Hunt ## Illustration [Arthur Rackham](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/26d738ff-c15f-428d-9a0c-3ea0b6f03a53) — Little Brother and Little Sister and Other Tales by the Brothers Grimm, 1917, Constable & Co., London ## Reading music Scenes from Childhood, Op. 15 — Almost Too Serious Robert Schumann Chiara Bertoglio (piano) [CC BY 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) ## Quiz ### What are rose hips? - Roots - Prickles - Fruits (Correct answer) - Leaves They develop after the flowers. [Royal Horticultural Society — Roses show off their hips](https://www.rhs.org.uk/garden-inspiration/seasonal/rose-hips) ### Are roses only white or red? - Yes - No, they have many colours (Correct answer) - Only in winter - Only in forests They can also be yellow, pink or orange. [Royal Horticultural Society — Roses](https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/roses) ### Which animals can eat rose hips in winter? - Birds (Correct answer) - Sharks - Jellyfish - Corals Blackbirds and thrushes can eat them. [Royal Horticultural Society — How to grow roses](https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/roses/growing-guide/) ### Which location generally suits roses? - A lake bed - A closed cellar - A block of ice - A sunny place (Correct answer) Roses like sunshine and well-drained soil. [Royal Horticultural Society — Roses](https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/roses) ### What can rose hips contain for growing a new plant? - Pebbles - Seeds (Correct answer) - Feathers - Shells Their seeds can be sown. [Royal Horticultural Society — Roses show off their hips](https://www.rhs.org.uk/garden-inspiration/seasonal/rose-hips) ## Other languages - [Français](https://www.openclassics.org/fr/stories/snow-white-and-rose-red?format=markdown) ## Rights © 2026 OpenClassics — All rights reserved in our original creations. [Rights](https://www.openclassics.org/information/terms)