Once upon a time, in a kingdom very far away, there lived a king and a queen.
The king was handsome and kind. Everybody loved him. But the real ruler of the kingdom was his wife — the queen.
Before she became queen, she worked in the castle kitchen. She was very poor. But she was also very beautiful, and funny, and very good at Scrabble.
So the king fell in love with her, and married her.
The king loved the queen very much. But the queen was always afraid that the king would meet someone more beautiful.
Luckily, the queen had a magic mirror. The mirror saw everything and knew everything.
Every day the queen looked at herself in the mirror, and asked: “Magic mirror on the wall, who is the most beautiful of all?”
And the mirror replied:
“You are, my Queen! You are the most beautiful woman in the whole world.”
The queen was happy. She knew there was nobody in the world as beautiful as her.
But one day everything changed. The queen stood in front of the mirror and asked her usual question.
“Magic mirror on the wall, who is the most beautiful of all?”
And the mirror replied:
“You are very beautiful, my Queen. But the most beautiful woman in the world is… Snow White.”
The queen was shocked.
“Who is this Snow White?” she asked the mirror.
“Snow White works in the castle kitchen. She has hair as black as night, lips as red as roses, and skin as white as snow. As of… 8am this morning, she is a wee-bitty-bit more beautiful than you.”
“ARRRGGHH!!” yelled the queen. She stomped her feet. She pulled her hair. Then she sat down and sobbed.
“I will lose everything!”
The queen was afraid, and that fear turned her heart cold and hard.
She called a trusted hunter to her room.
“Find the girl, Snow White,” she ordered. “Take her far, far away. Take her deep into the woods.” And then the queen looked deep into the hunter’s eyes. “She must never come back.”