r heart out of her body, she hated the maiden so
fiercely.

And this jealousy and envy grew every day stronger and stronger in her
heart, like a disease, till she had no rest day or night.

At last she sent for a hunter, who lived near a forest, and said to him,
"Hunter, I want to get rid of that child. Take her out into the wood,
and if you bring me some proofs that she is dead, I will reward you
handsomely. Never let her appear before my eyes again."

So the hunter enticed the child into the wood; but when he took out his
hunting-knife to thrust into Snow-white's innocent heart, she fell on
her knees and wept, and said, "Ah, dear hunter, leave me my life; I will
run away into the wild wood, and never, never come home any more."

She looked so innocent and beautiful as she knelt, that the hunter's
heart was moved with compassion: "Run away, then, thou poor child," he
cried; "I cannot harm thee."

Snow-white thanked him so sweetly, and was out of sight in a few
moments.

"She will be devoured by wild beasts," he said to himself. But the
thought that he had not killed her was as if a stone-weight had been
lifted from his heart.

To satisfy the queen, he took part of the inside of a young fawn, which
the wicked woman thought was poor little Snow-white, and was overjoyed
to think she was dead.

But the poor little motherless child, when she found herself alone in
the wood, and saw nothing but trees and leaves, was dreadfully
frightened, and knew not what to do. At last she began to run over the
sharp stones and through the thorns, and though the wild beasts sprang
out before her, they did her no harm. She ran on as long as she could
till her little feet became quite sore; and towards evening she saw, to
her great joy, a pretty little house. So she went up to it, and found
the door open and no one at home.

It was a tiny little house, but everything in it was so clean and neat
and elegant that it is beyond description. In the middle of the room
stood a small table, covered with a snow-white table-cloth, ready for
supper. On it were arranged seven little plates, seven little spoons,
seven little knives and forks, and seven mugs. By the wall stood seven
little beds, near each other, covered with white quilts.

Poor Snow-white, who was hungry and thirsty, ate a few vegetables and a
little bread from each plate, and drank a little drop of wine from each
cup, for she did not like to take all she wanted from one alone