SNOW WHITE

Snow White  is the title  character of a fairy talk known in many countries across Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Grimm brothers.
The German version features elements such as the magic mirror and the seven dwarfs, who were first given individual names in Disneys Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). In the many non-German versions, the dwarfs are generally robbers, while the magic mirror is a dialog with the sun or moon. In a version from Albania,  the main character lives with 40 dragons. Her sleep is caused by a ring. The beginning of the story has a twist, in that a teacher urges the heroine to kill her evil stepmother so that she would take her place. The origin of this tale is debated; it is likely no older than the Middle Ages. In fact there are possibly two Albanian versions of Snow White: one where her stepmother tries to kill her, and another where her two jealous sisters try to kill her. The famous Russian writer Alexander Pushkin used the story of Snow White in his poem "The Dead Princess and the Seven Knights". In 1916, there was a silent version. But there are also horror films, video games, musicals, cartoons, rock operas. Who is Snow White? A princess whose beauty, grace and good conduct turned her stepmother into a jealous person. The queen possesses a magical mirror that answers any question, which she often asks: "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who in the land is fairest of all?", to which the mirror always replies, "You, my queen, are fairest of all." But when Snow White reaches the age of seven, she becomes as beautiful as the day, and when the queen asks her mirror, it responds: "Queen, you are full fair, tis true, but Snow White is fairer than you." Though in another version, the mirror simply replies: "Snow White is the fairest of them all." The queen becomes jealous, and orders a huntsman to take Snow White into the woods to be killed. She demands that the huntsman return with Snow Whites heart as proof of her killing. The huntsman takes Snow White into the forest, but after raising his knife to stab her, he finds himself unable to kill her. Instead, he lets her go, telling her to flee and hide, and brings the queen the heart of a young deer, which is then prepared by the cook and eaten by the queen. In the forest, Snow White discovers a tiny cottage belonging to seven dwarfs, where she rests. There, the dwarfs take pity on her. They warn her to take care of herself. Three times the Queen disguises herself as a peddler, an old woman selling colorful laces and then a poisoned apple, and visits the dwarfs cottage while they are away during the day, trying to kill Snow White. She eats the apple eagerly and immediately falls into a deep stupor. When the dwarfs find her, they cannot revive her, and they place her in a glass coffin, assuming that she is dead. Time passes, and a prince traveling through the land sees Snow White. He strides to her coffin. The prince is enchanted by her beauty and instantly falls in love with her. He begs the dwarfs to let him have the coffin. The princes servants carry the coffin away. While doing so, they stumble on some bushes and the movement causes the piece of poisoned apple to dislodge from Snow Whites throat, awakening her. The prince then declares his love for her and soon a wedding is planned. The puppet show  preserves the classical story, but the creativity of the director, the set designers inventiveness, the use of black light and of different types of puppets create a special atmosphere, full of rhythm, in which good beats evil.  The Grimm brothers, Jakob (January 4, 1785-September 20, 1863) and Wilhelm (February 24, 1786-December 16, 1859) were German academics best known for publishing collections of folk tales and fairy tales and for their work in linguistics, relating to how the sounds in words shift over time (Grimms Law). They are the most famed story tellers of novellas in Europe, thanks to whom such tales as Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Hansel and Gretel have become widely known.