Blood Red

Spin on the tale of Snow White from the perspective of a dwarf.

We work.  Some days it feels as though we never rest.  We mine the caves near our home for a living.  It’s difficult labor for seven men, all my brothers, but we work hard and diligently.  Every night I look forward to coming home to dinner and my bed where I sleep soundly until the next long day of mining.  As I said, it was hard but worth it as we enjoyed ourselves and were left alone by the humans living outside of the forest.

It was on one of those days that feel as though they will never end when, finally, the sun began to set and we traveled home after locking up that day’s yield.  My brothers and I were all exhausted and no one was planning on cooking tonight before we fell asleep.  As we wandered closer to our home, our eyes drooping and our vision cloudy in the dark, I spotted a column of smoke rising from the chimney and smelled the aroma of soup.  This was a curious thing as none of my brothers were home to be cooking.  We had been together all day.  I gave a quick, sharp whistle and we halted.  My youngest brother, Seven, turned around, giving me a questioning glance.  I motioned to the smoke column and they nodded.  We spread out around the house, each of us peering into a window.  Hearing a sharp alarm whistle, I turned towards where the sound came from.  It was my brother Three, jumping up and down with a look of fear on his face.

I silently moved over to where he was standing as my other brothers followed suit.  I stood, looking through the window, and was astonished at what I saw.  There was a beautiful young woman with black hair and fair skin, clothed in a dress that matched her beauty.  She had fallen asleep on the ground in front of the fire.  We were all surprised to see this human on the floor of our home.  I gave them the signal to follow me and we went to the front door, armed with branches, rocks, anything we could find.  I slowly opened the door and we tiptoed inside, walking to where the girl laid on the ground.  But one of my brothers, probably Five who was the dimmest of us all, stubbed his toe on a floorboard that was jutting out and let out a loud yelp, waking the young woman who backed into the corner and covered her head in fright.

I slowly approached her, putting down my makeshift weapon as I calmed her saying, “I’m sorry.  We won’t hurt you, we promise.  We’re just not used to strangers in our home.”

“I hope you will forgive me for intruding.  I- I can leave if- if you do not wish me to stay,” replied the scared girl.  I saw she was scratched on her hands and arms and the fine slippers on her feet were torn and dirty, as well as the ribbons on her beautiful dress.

“No, we would be glad to have you stay in our home.  We just aren’t used to- having guests.  If you don’t mind us asking, how did you find your way here?”

“Well, my stepmother was the queen of the land I came from, and I was its princess.  But, alas, she is a vain woman and wished to be the fairest in all the land.  It was early this morning when I went out in the fields near the edge of this forest for a walk when I turned to see the shadow of a man of the queen’s household leaning over me.  When I screamed, the man dropped the knife he had been carrying and explained to me why he wished to kill me.  He said that my stepmother had a mirror that did not lie and told her who was the fairest in the land.  For a long time, it told her she was the fairest and that I was no rival to her beauty.  But within the past few years as both she and I have grown older, I have flourished while she has become more wrinkled and gray; the mirror had told her the truth, that my beauty was surpassing hers.  But it also told her that the only way for her to retain her beauty was to take mine away.  I had to be killed and the man was the only one she could pay to do it.  He was supposed to take my heart and bring it to her so she could eat it and again become beautiful.  But the man could not bring himself to do it so he told me to flee into the woods where her magic would have no effect.  So I ran, through the swamps and bogs, through the trees and bush, until I collapsed from fatigue.  I awoke hours later to find that I had stopped near a little cottage, your home, and I was so tired and hungry that I had to come inside and see what was in here.  So when I saw you had food I cooked some vegetable soup and must’ve fallen asleep here.  Until you stumbled upon me that is,” she explained.  “I hope you will forgive me.”

“There is no need for you to ask for our forgiveness.  And we will allow you to stay but we must ask for something in return.”

“Yes, yes anything at all.”

“We work in the caves around here and our days our long and laborious.  If you would be willing to clean and cook for us then we would be willing to let you stay.  Do we have a deal?” I asked her.

“Oh.  Yes of course!  I’d be more than willing to do that.  And if you have no room for me, I can just sleep here.  I am more than grateful to even have a shelter to stay in.”

“Nonsense.  We have enough room for you.  But we have been rude in our introductions.  As you can see, we are little men, what you humans refer to as dwarves.  My name is One and these are my brothers, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and Seven.  What might your name be?” I asked her.

“Wonderful to meet you.  I- once had a name but I would rather forget my old life.”

“I understand.  We will call you Snow White.  Against your black hair dark as night, your skin appears as pale white as snow.  And now you must forgive us for we have been working all day and are very hungry.  We mustn’t let your meal go to waste.  Why don’t we now eat?”

My brothers and I lined up in front of the pot as Snow White served us.  All of us, that is, except my brother Two.  He was standing at a distance from us with his arms crossed and a scornful look on his face.

“What are you doing Two?  Will you not eat with us?” asked Snow White, seeming slightly offended.

“I will not eat anything a human cooked for me.  For all I know you could be sent to kill us and take all that we’ve mined.  The food’s probably poisoned!  Or you’ll kill us in our sleep and we’ll never know what hit us.  So I’m not falling for your sad little story like my brothers are!” said Two forcefully.

“Two!  You will not treat our guest that way.  She is innocent of your accusations!  But if you refuse to eat then you can starve,” I said as my face turned red with anger.  I saw Snow White’s face turning red as well, though hers was probably from embarrassment.  “I hope you will forgive Two.  He has always been- unsure of what to think of humans.  And because he has been so rude, you may sleep in his bed and he will sleep on the floor.”

“I won’t stand to be pushed around by a human in my own house!  This is unbelievable,” shouted Two as he stomped out the door, slamming it behind him.

We stood in silence for a moment as Snow White let out a sob.  I turned to comfort her and my brothers did the same.

“It’s not your fault; Two has always been this way.”

“Yeah, we’ve always had difficulty reasoning with him.”

“And don’t feel bad about taking his bed.  One of us would’ve given you ours anyway.”

“Oh, I’m just sorry my visit has caused such disunion among you.  Maybe I should go and talk to Two,” she said as she walked out the door and began searching for him.

 I could hear her yelling his name.  But if Two didn’t want to be found then he wouldn’t yell back.  I went to the window to see if she found him when the yelling stopped.  I didn’t see Snow White or Two so I looked through all the windows around the house.  But no matter where I looked, I did not see either of them.

“Do any of you see them?” I asked my brothers who had been looking out the windows as well.

“Nope, neither of them,” they all replied.

“I think we should go out and look for them now.  Maybe something happened to Snow White.  Bring your weapons in case,” I commanded as we readied ourselves.  I slowly opened the door and poked my head out around the corner.  I didn’t see or hear anything that would be Snow White or Two. 

We walked to where I had last seen her; I think she went into the woods so we walked through the bushes into the little clearing that was behind them.  I stopped abruptly when I saw a large wolf, much larger than any of us, with teeth bared, advancing on Snow White and Two.  I backed off and my brothers and I whispered out of hearing of the beast.

“Five, Six, and Seven, you circle around to the other side.  Three and Four, you’ll stay with me on this side.  We’ll give you three plenty of time to get there and when I run out yelling, come in from the other side and attack the beast.  Got it?”

“Yes sir.  Give us ten seconds and we’ll be ready,” said Seven as they ran off.

“Four, I’m trusting you to help Two get Snow White back home.  Hopefully we’ll all meet you back there unharmed.  It’s been about ten seconds.  Here goes nothing,” I said as I bellowed and screamed jumping out of the bushes towards the beast and began to beat its sides with the hammer I had grabbed.  My brothers followed me and I saw Five, Six, and Seven come from the other side.  Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Snow White, Two, and Four leave together.  Now it was just us and the wolf and we were battering its head, its ribs, its paws, as it yelped and growled trying to swing at us.  Being short and small was the advantage in this case because we were able to duck its swinging claws and gnashing teeth.  We were trying to aim it back towards the woods so it would run away and it eventually did.  I think Three was honestly trying to kill it but I convinced him afterwards it was just trying to do what all animals must to survive. 

We, luckily, had very few injuries.  Five had slipped a few times and gotten a claw to his cheek but that was the worst of it.  Maybe a splinter from the handle of what we were carrying or a scratch from the branches when we ran out.  But Five definitely had it the worst.  I carried his piece-of-firewood-weapon for him as he walked slowly behind us all.  I opened the door to see Four and Snow White leaning over Two who was lying on the table. 

“What happened?” I asked confused as I ran over.  I saw Snow White was crying as she held a bloody cloth to Two’s leg.

“He- he was in the clearing and I went to go apologize for everything.  I- I hadn’t been very attentive and I had yelled out his name.  I didn’t know he was standing there so silently because there was that wolf a few feet in front of him!  It heard me and turned around to pounce at me but Two stepped in and it bit his leg.  I helped him to the edge of the clearing and that’s when you came.  I- I should’ve known something like this would happen.  I don’t belong here; I’m only bringing you more misery.  I’ll help you tend to your wounds and then I’ll leave, I promise.”

“No, no you will stay here.  There is nowhere else for you to go except back to your stepmother and she will kill you.  We will welcome you and protect you as well as we can.  But first we must deal with Two.  Five, get some more cloths.  Six, fill a bucket with water.  Seven, get some thread and a needle, and Three, you’ll be helping me.”

I grabbed another cloth and lifted the other bloody ones.  The large gash was on his calf and it was deep.  He had passed out, probably from the effort it took to get from the clearing to here.  I pushed my clean cloth against his leg in a vain attempt to stop the blood flow.  Five, Six, and Seven, came around with what I had ordered them to get.  Three took one of the cloths and dipped it in the bucket, placing it on Two’s forehead.  I dipped another one and tried to clean off the blood that was already drying around the cut.  Three handed me a clean dry cloth and we continued this process until the blood had been mostly stopped.  Then I took the needle and thread and stitched up the wound.  While all of this had been happening, Snow White had been changing the cloth on Two’s forehead and squeezing his hand, probably for her own assurance rather than his.

I wiped the sweat off my forehead and dried my hands as I said, “There, finished.  He’s tough, he’ll be alright.  Thank you everyone for your help.  Especially you Snow White.  Now will you help me carry him upstairs to his bed?”

My brothers and Snow White all grabbed a part of him, Snow White and me carrying his injured leg, and gently set him on his bed.  I grabbed a pillow off of my bed and set it under his leg.  I told Snow White she could have my bed and I would sleep downstairs but she insisted that after what happened she wasn’t tired but was, in fact, very hungry.  So we all went downstairs and ate the meal she had earlier prepared for us.  We sat mostly in silence for a while until the cuckoo clock counted out twelve chimes.  My brothers had already gone to sleep upstairs when I told her that she would have my bed.

“No, after all that happened I just couldn’t,” she stated.

“Then where is it that you would like to sleep?” I asked her kindly.

“I-” she stammered. “In the clearing.  Where we were attacked.  That’s where I wish to sleep.”

“But- there?  Why in the world would you want to sleep outside, and in the clearing especially?” I asked her, a bit put off.

“You asked me where I would like to sleep and I have chosen.  If it’s not too much to ask, I would like some blankets please,” she replied as I stood there with my jaw dropped.

“Your wish is my command,” I answered as I ran to get some blankets and pillows.

So Snow White made her accommodations in the clearing.  In all the time she lived with us, we never heard of the wolf again.  When I one day asked her why she had chosen to sleep out there, she replied that it reminded her of what had happened.  So that she wouldn’t forget the pain she had caused.

Time passed and Two healed and he was eventually able to work again.  While he had been injured, Snow White stayed with him all day and cared for his every whim (for some sentimental reason she had even kept one of his bloody rags and pinned it to a tree in her clearing).  They became close friends, quite a change from the first day they met.  Each was disappointed when Two had to go back to work: Snow White because she was now alone during the day and Two because he and she weren’t able to converse as much as they had before.  During the day Snow White would clean, cook, bake, wash, and any other chore she felt indebted to us to do.  But she found her true joy in her clearing. 

There was a fine apple tree in the clearing where she slept and each day she would water and prune it.  But for some reason, it refused to grow apples.  She was never discouraged by this and would try hard day after day until one day, about a year after she had come to live with us, an apple began to take shape.  When we had come home from work that day, she met us excitedly and showed us her accomplishment.  Each day she would tell us about how much bigger it was than the day before.  Her excitement grew as the single apple grew.  One day, she decided, it was finally ripe for picking and we all stayed home from work to enjoy her special moment with her. 

I watched as she carefully plucked the perfectly rounded apple from the branch.  She offered it to all of us but we each said no, that it was her hard labor that had earned it.  So, with a crunch, she bit into the apple.  But we watched, stunned, as she gasped and fell to the ground.  In that moment we heard a terrible, shrieking laugh with a voice crying out, “The man may have warned you to flee where my magic wouldn’t reach but it is this advice that is now killing you!  He was the one that killed the wolf, giving me its heart instead of yours.  But I was able to become the wolf after I ate it.  That day you had fled from me I came here disguised as the wolf to find you and kill you.  So I put a curse on this apple tree, that any fruit growing from it would be poisonous and cause death.  Bah!  But your friend came too soon and I was not able to finish the spell so you now will eternally sleep, stuck between this world and the next.  Foolish child thinking you could outwit me!  And foolish dwarves thinking you could protect her!”

We cowered until the thundering voice had left.  Two was the first to break from the trance and he ran to Snow White, crying as he hugged her body.

“No!  This can’t be happening!  It cannot!” he sobbed.

We all slowly walked over to her body and fell to our knees, crying.  It was here that how much we had loved her sunk in.  We mourned the rest of that day, but Two was especially heartbroken.  He made her a special coffin out of glass so we wouldn’t forget her.  In it, we each put a token.  Two’s was his bloody cloth that he took down from the tree.  As for the apple, we buried it, deep down one of the old mine shafts we didn’t use.  Two was the one who threw it down, with much satisfaction. 

Another year passed and we had a human visit.  He said he was the man who had told Snow White to flee into the woods and he had come to say his goodbyes.  We brought him to where the casket sat, in her clearing, and we opened the lid for him.  He pulled a canteen of some liquid from his pack and poured it into her mouth.  Two stood next to him and motioned for us to come stand near as well.  Snow White was slowly reawakening.

“What did you give her?” asked Two.

“The blood of the queen who cast this curse on her.  I killed her and came here immediately to give this to the girl.  She will now awaken and live again.”

“Two!” she shouted as she jumped up and hugged him tightly.  “What- happened?”

He explained to her all that had occurred in the past year and introduced her to the man who had brought her back to life.  “I’m sure you remember him though.”

She hugged the man, thanking him profusely, and then hugged each of us in turn, giving Two an extra tight squeeze. 

And so, the man left as the debt had been repaid and Snow White lived happily with us.  She and Two were married and they had seven daughters: all with hair as black as night, skin as pale as snow, and cheeks as red as apples.             

Author's Note

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