Rose Red, Snow White and the Bear
Traditional fairy tale, this version copyright
© 2003 by Dan Norder
A poor widow once lived in a little cottage
with a garden in front of it, in which grew two rose trees, one
bearing red roses and the other white roses. She had two children,
who were just like the two rose trees; one was called Rose Red
and the other Snow White. They were the sweetest and best children
in the world, always diligent and always cheerful, but they had
very different personalities. Rose Red loved to run about the
fields and meadows, and to pick flowers and catch butterflies.
Snow White sat at home with her mother and helped her in the
household, or read aloud to her when there was no work to do.
 The two children loved each other so dearly
that they always walked about hand in hand whenever they went
out together. When Snow White said, "We will never abandon
each other." Rose Red answered: "No, not as long as
we both live." The mother added: "Whatever one gets,
she shall share with the other."
Rose Red and Snow White kept their mother's
cottage so beautifully clean and neat that it was a pleasure
to go into it. In summer Rose Red looked after the house, and
every morning before her mother awoke she placed a bunch of flowers
before the bed, from each tree a rose. In winter Snow White lit
the fire and put on the kettle, which was made of brass, but
so beautifully polished that it shone like gold. In the evening
when the snowflakes fell their mother said: "Snow White,
go and close the shutters," and they drew round the fire,
while the mother put on her spectacles and read aloud from a
big book.
One evening as they sat cozily together, someone
knocked at the door as though he wanted to be let in. The mother
said: "Rose Red, open the door quickly; for it must be some
traveler seeking shelter." Rose Red hastened to unbar the
door, and thought she saw a poor man standing in the darkness
outside; but it was no such thing, only a bear, who poked his
thick black head through the door. Rose Red screamed aloud and
sprang back in terror and Snow White ran and hid behind her mother's
bed.
But the bear began to speak, and said: "Don't
be afraid: I won't hurt you. I am half frozen, and only wish
to warm myself a little."
"My poor bear," said the mother.
"Sit down by the fire, only take care you don't burn your
fur." Then she called out: "Rose Red and Snow White,
come out. The bear will do you no harm. He is a good, honest
creature."
So they both came out of their hiding places
and forgot their fear. The bear asked the children to beat the
snow a little out of his fur, and they fetched a brush and scrubbed
him till he was dry. Then the beast stretched himself in front
of the fire and growled quite happily and comfortably. The children
soon grew quite at ease with him. They tugged his fur with their
hands, put their small feet on his back, and rolled him around
the cottage. Sometimes they took a hazel wand and hit him with
it; and if he growled they only laughed. The bear submitted to
everything with the best possible good nature, but when they
went too far he cried:
"Snow White and Rose Red,
Do not beat your lover dead."
When it was time to retire for the night,
and the others went to bed, the mother said to the bear: "You
can sleep there on the hearth, in heaven's name. It will be shelter
for you from the cold and wet." As soon as day dawned the
children led him out, and he trotted over the snow into the woods.
From this time on the bear came every evening
at the same hour, and lay down by the hearth and let the children
play what pranks they liked with him; and they got so accustomed
to him that the door was never shut until their black-furred
friend had made his appearance.
When spring came, and all outside was green,
the bear said one morning to Snow White: "Now I must go
away, and not return again the whole summer." "Where
are you going to, dear bear?" asked Snow White. "I
must go to the woods and protect my treasure from the wicked
dwarfs. In winter, when the earth is frozen hard, they are obliged
to remain underground, for they can't work their way through;
but now, when the sun has thawed and warmed the ground, they
break through and come up above to steal what they can. That
which falls into their hands and into their caves is not easily
brought back to light."
Snow White was quite sad over their friend's
departure, and when she unbarred the door for him, the bear,
stepping out, caught a piece of his fur in the door knocker.
Snow White thought she caught sight of glittering gold beneath
it, but she couldn't be certain of it. Then the bear ran hastily
away, and soon disappeared behind the trees.
A short time after this the mother sent the
children to collect wood for the fireplace. They went to a big
tree which had fallen to the ground, and on the trunk among the
long grass they noticed something jumping up and down, but what
it was they couldn't quite see. When they approached nearer they
saw a dwarf with a wrinkled face and a beard a yard long. The
end of the beard was jammed into a cleft of the tree, and the
little man jumped around like a dog on a chain, and didn't seem
to know what to do. He glared at the girls with his fiery red
eyes, and screamed out: "What are you standing there for?
Can't you come and help me?"
"What were you doing, little man?"
asked Rose Red.
"You stupid goose!" replied the
dwarf; "I wanted to split the tree, in order to get little
chips of wood for our kitchen fire. Those thick logs that serve
to make fires for big, greedy people like yourselves quite burn
up all the little food we need. I had driven in the wedge, and
all was going well, but the cursed wood was so slippery that
it suddenly sprang out, and the tree closed up so rapidly that
I had no time to take my beautiful white beard out, so here I
am stuck fast, and I can't get away; and you silly girls just
stand and laugh! Ugh! What wretches you are!"
The children did all in their power, but they
couldn't get the beard out. It was wedged in far too firmly.
"I will run and fetch somebody,"
said Rose Red.
"Crazy dunderheads!" snapped the
dwarf; "What's the good of calling anyone else? You're already
two too many for me. Does nothing better occur to you than that?"
"Don't be so impatient," said Snow
White, "I'll see you get help," and taking her scissors
out of her pocket she cut off the end of his beard.
As soon as the dwarf felt himself free he
seized a bag full of gold which was hidden among the roots of
the tree, lifted it up, and muttered aloud: "Curse these
rude wretches, cutting off a piece of my splendid beard!"
With these words he swung the bag over his back and disappeared
without as much as looking at the children again.
Shortly after this, Snow White and Rose Red
went out to get a dish of fish. As they approached the stream
they saw something which looked like an enormous grasshopper
springing toward the water as if it were going to jump in. They
ran forward and recognized their old friend the dwarf.
"Where are you going to?" asked
Rose Red; "You're surely not going to jump into the water?"
"I'm not such a fool," screamed
the dwarf. "Don't you see that cursed fish is trying to
drag me in?"
The little man had been sitting on the bank
fishing, when a big fish went for his beard instead of the bait
on his line. The feeble little creature had no strength to pull
himself free. The fish had the upper fin, and dragged the dwarf
toward him. He clung on with all his might to every blade of
grass, but it didn't help him much. The girls came up just at
the right moment, held him firm, and did all they could to prevent
him from being pulled in. Even with their added strength they
could not pull the dwarf's beard free from the fish's mouth.
Nothing remained but to produce the scissors and cut the beard,
by which a small part of it was sacrificed.
The dwarf yelled to them: "Do you call
that manners, you toad-stools, to disfigure a fellow's face?"
Then he fetched a sack of pearls that lay among the blades of
grass, and without saying another word he dragged it away and
disappeared behind a stone.
It happened that soon after this the mother
sent the two girls to the town to buy needles, thread, laces,
and ribbons. On their way they heard a sharp, piercing cry. They
ran forward, and saw with horror that an eagle had pounced on
their old friend the dwarf and was about to carry him off. The
tender-hearted children seized hold of the little man, and struggled
so long with the bird that at last he let go his prey.
When the dwarf had recovered from the shock
he screamed in his screeching voice: "Couldn't you have
treated me more carefully? You have torn my thin little coat
all to shreds, useless, awkward hussies that you are!" Then
he took a bag of precious stones and vanished under the rocks
into his cave. The girls were accustomed to poor manners and
continued on their way to town.
On their way home, they surprised the dwarf
counting his precious stones, for he had thought no one would
pass by at so late an hour. The evening sun shone on the glittering
stones, and they glanced and gleamed so beautifully that the
children stood still and gazed on them. "What are you standing
there gaping for?" screamed the dwarf, and his ashen-gray
face became scarlet with rage.
Suddenly a growl was heard, and a black bear
trotted out of the woods. The dwarf jumped up in great fright,
but he hadn't time to run away, for the bear was already very
close. Then he cried in terror: "Dear Mr. Bear, spare me!
What pleasure would you get eating a poor feeble little fellow
like me? You won't feel me between your teeth. There, take these
two wicked girls. They will be tender morsels for you. Eat them
up, for heaven's sake." But the bear, paying no attention
to these words, gave the evil little creature one blow with his
paw, and he never moved again.
The girls were trying to escape into the woods,
but the bear called after them:
"Rose Red and Snow White,
Do not run away in fright."
Then they recognized his voice and stood still,
and when the bear was quite close to them his skin suddenly fell
off, and a handsome man stood beside them, all dressed in gold.
"I am a king's son," he said, "and have been doomed
by that unholy little dwarf, who had stolen my treasure, to roam
about the woods as a wild bear until his death would set me free.
Now he has gotten what he deserved."
Snow White married him, and Rose Red his brother,
and they divided the great treasure the dwarf had collected in
his cave between them. The old mother lived for many years peacefully
with her children; and she brought the two rose trees with her
to the palace, where they were planted in front of her window
to bring forth the finest red and white roses every year.
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