World classic, retold in simple Mandarin
Snow White
白雪公主
Snow White (白雪公主, Báixuě gōngzhǔ) is a fairy tale by Brothers Grimm, retold in simple Mandarin as a 5-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 1 (Beginner).
Retold from the Brothers Grimm: a queen asks her magic mirror who is the most beautiful, and its answer sends Snow White running into the forest, to seven little men and a shining red apple.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — Tells the Grimms' old tale plainly and warmly, like a grandfather by the fire.
- Snow White · 白雪公主 — A kind young princess with skin as white as snow, who trusts people a little too easily.
- The Queen · 王后 — Snow White's stepmother, beautiful and proud, who cannot bear anyone to be more beautiful than she is.
- The Hunter · 猎人 — The queen's huntsman, a rough man with a soft heart.
- Little Man · 小矮人 — One of the seven little men who dig in the mountains all day, and who speaks for all seven.
- The Prince · 王子 — A kind young prince who rides into the forest and cannot stop looking at the girl in the glass coffin.
- The Magic Mirror · 魔镜 — The queen's magic mirror, which knows everything and can only tell the truth.
5 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: The Magic Mirror
魔镜
Every day the queen's magic mirror tells her she is the most beautiful in the land. Then one day, it names someone else.
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Chapter 2: Into the Forest
走进森林
Deep in the dark forest, the hunter stops walking and draws his knife. Snow White has only her words to save her.
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Chapter 3: Seven Little Men
七个小矮人
Seven little bowls, seven little cups, seven little beds. Snow White falls asleep in a stranger's house, and its owners are on their way home.
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Chapter 4: The Red Apple
红苹果
The mirror has news for the queen: Snow White is alive. So the queen puts on old clothes and carries a shining red apple into the forest.
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Chapter 5: Waking Up
醒来
The little men keep watch over Snow White in a coffin of glass. Then a prince comes through the forest and asks for the one thing they will not sell.
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Key words in Snow White
Behind the story
Snow White comes from the Brothers Grimm, who printed Little Snow-White in their Children's and Household Tales in 1812 and kept revising it until their final edition of 1857. This retelling follows the Grimms: the seven little men have no names, and Snow White wakes without a kiss.
In Chinese the tale is called 白雪公主, “Snow White Princess,” and the Grimms' collection is known as 格林童话. Together with Hans Christian Andersen's tales (安徒生童话), it is one of the best-loved sets of foreign fairy tales on Chinese children's bookshelves.
Did you know?
- Her name comes from her mother's wish. Sewing by a window on a snowy day, the first queen pricked her finger and wished for a child as white as snow, as red as blood and as black as the ebony window frame.
- In the Grimms' first edition, the jealous queen is Snow White's own mother. Later editions made her a stepmother, 后妈 (hòumā) in everyday Chinese.
- In the Grimms' tale the queen tries three times: with a tight bodice lace, a poisoned comb and, last of all, the apple, which is poisoned only in its red half. This book keeps just the apple.