once upon a time , there was a beautiful , sweet - natured girl , named Snow White because her skin was as white as snow . Her mother was dead and her father , the king , had married again . The new queen was also very beautiful , but she was vain and each day she would ask her magic mirror , " Mirror , mirror on the wall , who ' s the fairest of them all ? " The mirror always replied , " You are the fairest one of all . " However , one day when the queen asked her usual question , the mirror gave a different answer , " The fairest you might have once been ; Snow White is fairer now , dear queen . " The queen was furious and told her huntsman to take Snow White into the forest and kill her , then bring back her heart to prove she was dead . The huntsman took Snow White to the forest , but she was such a sweet girl he let her go and took the heart of a wild boar back to the queen instead . Snow White knew whe would have to stay hidden in the forest , so she started to look for somewhere to sleep . Suddenly she spotted a little cottage in a clearing . She knocked at the door but there was no answer , so she pushed it open . The cottage belonged to seven dwarfts , who worked all day mining for gold in the mountains . Everything inside was tiny - there were seven little chairs around a table laid for supper with weven little plates . She crept upstairs , where she found sever little beds . There was no one in the house and Snow White was very tired by now , so she curled up on one of them and fell asleep . When the dwarfs arrived home and saw that their door was open , they searched the house and found Snow White , still fast asleep . She woke up with a start and thought she should explain quickly , before they threw her out into the forest . After they had heard her story , the dwarfs agreed that she could stay in th cottage , so long as she did the cleaning and cooked their meals . Now that the queen thought that Snow White was dead , she asked the mirror again , " Mirror , mirror on the wall , who ' s the fairest of them all ? " To her horror the mirror answered , " The fairest you might have once been ; Snow White is fairer now , dear queen . Over the hills and far away , she lives with seven dwars today ! " The queen decided she would have to get rid of Snow White herself , so she put some poison in an apple and , disguised as an old peasant woman , she knocked on the door of the dwarfs ' cottage . Snow White looked out of th window to see who was there . When she saw that it was just a harmless old woman with a basket of apples , she opened the door . " Would you like some aples , my dear ? " the old woman asked . " They would make a delicious apple pie , just taste how sweet they are . " Snow White thought that the dwarfs would enjoy a nice apple pie , so she took a bite of the apple . The poison took effect immediately and Snow White fell to the ground . When the dwarfs returned and found the girl ' s body they all wept . They couldn ' t bear to bury her in the ground , so they made a glass coffin for her , and laid it in a peaceful spot in the woods . one day , a prince was riding through the forest and came across the glass coffin . He was sruck by Snow White ' s beauty , which had not faded at all since the day she was poisoned . She simply looked as if she wree sleeping . The prince could not resist lifting the lid of the coffin and kissing Snow White ' s ruby red lips . As the handsome prince kissed her , Snow White ' s eyelids fluttered and she woke up , as if from a deep sleep . The prince helped her from the coffin and declared his lover for her . They were married shortly afterwards and lived happily ever after .