"Snow, Glass, Apples" is a short story written by Neil Gaiman. It was released as a benefit book for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The story retells the famous fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves from the point of view of Snow White's stepmother, who is traditionally the villain of the piece but is here depicted as struggling desperately - and ultimately, unsuccessfully, as the "happy ending" takes place on schedule - to save the kingdom from her unnatural and monstrous stepdaughter.
It was adapted by the author into an audio drama, which was produced by Seeing Ear Theatre in 2001, starring Bebe Neuwirth. (This was the second of two collaborations between Gaiman and Seeing Ear Theatre, following Murder Mysteries, and the two adaptations have been released together on CD under the title Two Plays For Voices.)
External links
an online version of the story (http://www.holycow.com/dreaming/stories/snow.html)
Snow, Glass, Apples at the Seeing Ear Theatre site (http://www.scifi.com/set/playhouse/snowglassapples/)
It was winter, when fresh food is a dream of warmth and sunlight; but I had strings of whole apples, cored and dried, hanging from the beams of my chamber, and I pulled an apple down for her.
Winter is the time of hunger, of snow, and of death; and it is the time of the midwinter feast, when we rub the goose-fat into the skin of a whole pig, stuffed with that autumn's apples; then we roast it or spit it, and we prepare to feast upon the crackling.
The snow was falling as they carried me—two men at each hand, two men at each leg—utterly exposed, and spread-eagled and cold, through the midwinter crowds, and brought me to this kiln.
Snow White, too, is a mirror -- a reversed mirror of the queen, reflecting all she is not.
Snow White (who was drawn as a blonde at one point) is wide-eyed, giddy, and childish, wearing rags (Cinderella-style) at the start of the film, down-todden but plucky.
Snow White's pedigree beauty and class origins assure her salvation, not her housekeeping skills.) Although the film was a commercial triumph, and has been beloved by generations of children, critics through the years have protested the sweeping changes Disney Studios made, and continues to make, when retelling such tales.
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