y? If you can, then you shall stay here with us, and
nobody shall hurt you."

"Oh yes, I will try," said Snow-white. So they let her stay, and she was
a clever little thing. She managed very well, and kept the house quite
clean and in order. And while they were gone to the mountains to find
gold, she got their supper ready, and they were very happy together.

But every morning when they left her, the kind little dwarfs warned
Snow-white to be careful. While the maiden was alone they knew she was
in danger, and told her not to show herself, for her stepmother would
soon find out where she was, and said, "Whatever you do, let nobody into
the house while we are gone."

After the wicked queen had proved, as she thought, that Snow-white was
dead, she felt quite satisfied there was no one in the world now likely
to become so beautiful as herself, so she stepped up to her mirror and
asked:

"Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is most beautiful of all?"

To her vexation the mirror replied:

"Fair queen, at home there is none like thee,
But over the mountains is Snow-white free,
With seven little dwarfs, who are strange to see;
A thousand times fairer than thou is she."

The queen was furious when she heard this, for she knew the mirror was
truthful, and that the hunter must have deceived her, and that
Snow-white still lived. So she sat and pondered over these facts,
thinking what would be best to do, for as long as she was not the most
beautiful woman in the land, her jealousy gave her no peace. After a
time, she decided what to do. First, she painted her face, and whitened
her hair; then she dressed herself in old woman's clothes, and was so
disguised that no one could have recognised her.

Watching an opportunity, she left the castle, and took her way to the
wood near the mountains, where the seven little dwarfs lived. When she
reached the door, she knocked, and cried, "Beautiful goods to sell;
beautiful goods to sell."

Snow-white, when she heard it, peeped through the window, and said,
"Good-day, old lady. What have you in your basket for me to buy?"

"Everything that is pretty," she replied; "laces, and pearls, and
earrings, and bracelets of every colour;" and she held up her basket,
which was lined with glittering silk.

"I can let in this respectable old woman," thought Snow-white; "she will
not harm me." So she unbolted the door, and told her to come in. Oh, how
delighted Snow-white was w