Snow White and Rose Red: the full story
Part One · The Two Sisters
A poor widow lived in a small cottage at the edge of a quiet wood, with her two daughters. The girls looked so alike that everyone called them Snow White and Rose Red. Snow White was quiet and gentle, while Rose Red loved to run and laugh. Beside their door grew two rose bushes, one with white flowers and one with red, and the girls tended them every single day.
The sisters did everything together. They spun wool by the fire in the evenings while their mother read aloud from a big old book. When the spring sun came up, they ran into the meadow to pick flowers, and when summer rain fell, they sat in the window and watched it patter down on the roses. Nothing made them happier than being side by side.
One winter evening, snow was falling thickly, and the wind rattled the windows. Someone knocked on the door, three slow knocks. "Quick, open up," said their mother. Rose Red lifted the latch, and in walked a huge brown bear. His fur was thick with snow, and he shook it all over the kitchen floor. Snow White screamed and hid behind her mother's chair, and Rose Red stood very still.
"Do not be afraid," said the bear in a deep, kind voice. "I am cold and tired, and I only want to sit by your fire for a little while." The mother said he was welcome. So the girls brushed the snow from his coat and fetched him a bowl of milk. The bear lay down before the hearth and fell fast asleep. He snored softly while the snow piled up outside.
After that, the bear came back every evening, always at the same time. He always knocked three times. He was careful never to knock over the furniture. When spring came and the snow melted, he said he must return to the forest. He thanked them for their kindness. "Come back whenever you like," said Rose Red. The bear nodded his big head and walked away into the trees.
Part Two · The Little Man
Summer and autumn passed, and then another cold winter came. One frosty morning, the girls went into the woods to gather firewood. There, they found a little man in a red coat, shouting and kicking in the snow. His long white beard was caught tight in a split in an old tree trunk, and he could not pull it free.
"Do not just stand there gaping!" he snapped. "Help me out, you clumsy things!" The girls pulled and pushed at the wood with all their might. At last the crack opened wide enough, and the little man yanked his beard free. He did not say thank you. He scowled at them, grumbled that they had been far too slow, and stomped off without another word.
Several days later, the little man was fishing in the stream when his beard got tangled in his line. He tugged and jerked, but the more he struggled, the more the line wrapped around his face. He flung down his rod and began to shout for help. Nobody was near enough to hear him, except the bear, who was coming down the path through the trees.
The bear was not gentle this time. He saw the little man dancing and tugging at the water's edge, and he growled so loudly that snow slid from the branches. "You spiteful creature!" roared the bear. "Let go of that line, or I will chase you out of these woods for good!" The little man went white with fear, and he could not think of a single clever answer.
He dropped his fishing rod and ran. The bear went after him, roaring, all the way to the edge of the forest. The little man tumbled into a thorny hedge, scrambled out again, and ran on until he was gone. He never came near the cottage or the woods again. The bear walked back down the path, panting, and then he went straight to the cottage door.
Part Three · The Prince
The bear came into the cottage and sat down by the fire. Then something strange began to happen. His thick brown fur loosened and fell away, like old leaves from a tree. He grew taller and straighter, until he stood there as a young prince with a golden crown. "Thank you," he said. "A spiteful little man put a spell on me. It could only break once he had fled. You two were kind to me when everyone else would have shut the door."
Soon a golden carriage rolled up the lane, drawn by six white horses. The prince's father had searched for his son for years. The prince bowed low to the widow and thanked her again. Then he turned to Rose Red and asked her to be his wife, and she said yes at once, laughing and blushing as red as her namesake flower.
Snow White married the prince's younger brother, a kind and handsome man who had come looking for his lost family. The mother came to live in the palace, and the two sisters were never apart for long. Every spring, the rose bushes by the cottage door bloomed in white and red. The prince and his bride came back to visit. They always remembered the night a bear came in from the snow.