SNOW WHITE ALTERNATIVE TEXTS

Confirmations and Alternatives to the phrase "She painted her face and dressed herself like an old pedlar-woman, so that no one could recognize her. . ."

Compiled by: Kay E. Vandergrift

This page provides alternative or confirming translations and interpretations of the above phrase in thirty-six text versions. The various editions used are listed chronologically. For the convenience of the English reader, German editions have not been included although they have been consulted. Since most picture books do not include pagination, I have counted the pages from the beginning picture and/or text to facilitate finding the appropriate passage. The various spellings of particular words that appear in the texts have been retained; these are not misspellings but reflect textual accuracy.

TEXTUAL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS

  1. What is the significance of "age" used as a factor of disguise?
  2. Watts uses the words "gipsy woman" as part of the description. How does this alter interpretation?
  3. Why does the Cappe version have the queen flying a broom to the forest?
  4. What is the importance of the phrase "painted her face"?
  5. Why are ribbons and laces used as a means to kill Snow White?
  6. Is the disobedience of Snow White to the injunctions set her by the dwarfs dealt with in the story?

Household Stories from the Collection of the Bros. Grimm.
Translated by Lucy Crane. Illus. by Walter Crane. London: Macmillan, 1882, pp. 212--221.

"At last she thought of a plan; she painted her face and dressed herself like an old pedlar woman, so that no one would have known her. In this disguise she went across the seven mountains, until she came to the house of the seven little dwarfs,. . . " p. 217.

"Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree," in Celtic Fairy Tales. Written and Edited by Joseph Jacobs. Illus. by John D. Batten. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, n.d. [c. 1892] pp. 97-101.

Not included in this text version.

Favorite Fairy Tales: The Childhood Choice of Representative Men and Women. Illus. by Peter Newell. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1907, pp. 173-192.

"When she had planned what to do she painted her face, dressed herself like an old pedler-woman,[sic] and altered her appearance so much that no one could

The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Translated by Mrs. Edgar Lucas. Illus. by Arthur Rackham. London: Constable & Co., 1909, pp.161-170.

"At last she thought of a plan. She dyed her face and dressed up like an old Pedlar, so that she was quite unrecognisable. In this guise she crossed over the seven mountains to the home of the seven Dwarfs. . ." p. 166.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Illus. by Dinah. London: Raphael Tuck & Sons, [c. 1936] pp. 1-14.

Not included in this text version.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Freely Translated and Illustrated by Wanda Gag. New York: Coward-McCann, 1938, pp. 9-43.

"At last she thought out a plan: she dyed her face and dressed herself to look like a peddler woman. She did it so well that no one would have known her, and then, with a basketful of strings and laces, she made her way over the seven hills to the home of the seven dwarfs." pp. 23-24.

Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Story adapted by Jane Werner. Illus. by the Walt Disney Studio adapted by Campbell Grant. Racine, WI: Golden Press, 1952, pp. 1-20.

Not included in this text version.

Snow White And Other Stories From Grimm. Retold by Jeanne Cappe. Translated by Marie Ponsot. Illus. by J.L. Huens. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1957, pp. 3-18.

"She disguised herself as a peddler, and her dark plots made her so ugly that she really looked like a witch. At midnight she took off toward the forest on a magic broom. The next morning, when the dwarfs were away, she came to the door of the little house where Snow White was polishing furniture." p. 9.

"Nourie Hadig," in 100 Armenian Tales and Their Folkloristic Relevance. Collected and Edited by Susie Hoogasian-Villa. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1966, pp. 84-91.

Not included in this text version.

"Myrsina, or Myrtle," in Folktales of Greece. Ed. by Georgios A. Megas. Translated by Helen Colaclides. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1970, pp. 106-113.

"When her sisters learnt that Myrsina was alive and well, they were eaten up with envy and made plans to poison her. And straightway they baked a pie with poison in it, and went to find Myrsina. It was just as the Months had gone." p. 110.

The Fairy Tale Treasury. Selected by Virginia Haviland. Illus. by Raymond Briggs. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1972, pp. 128-137.

"At last she thought of a plan. She painted her face and dressed herself like an old pedlar woman, so that no one would have known her. In this disguise she went across the seven mountains, until she came to the house of the seven little dwarfs." p. 132.

Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs: A Tale from the Brothers Grimm. Translated by Randall Jarrell. Illus. by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1972, pp. 1-26.

"And when at last she thought of something, she painted her face and dressed herself like an old peddler-woman, and nobody could have recognized her. In this disguise she went over the seven mountains to the seven dwarfs' house,. . . " p. 12.

The Juniper Tree and Other Tales from Grimm: Selected by Lore Segal and Maurice Sendak. Translated by Lore Segal with four tales translated by Randall Jarrell. Illus. by Maurice Sendak. 2 Volumes. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973, pp. 256-274.
[The translation of "Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs," is that of Randall Jarrell first published in The Golden Bird and Other Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm New York: Macmillan, 1962.]

"And when at last she thought of something, she painted her face and dressed herself like an old peddler woman, and nobody could have recognized her. In this disguise she went over the seven mountains to the seven dwarfs' house, . . . " p. 263.

The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights. Alexander Pushkin. Translated by Peter Tempest. Illus. by V. Konashevich. Moscow, USSR: Progress Publishers, 1973.

Not included in this text version.

Snow White By the Brothers Grimm. Freely Translated from the German by Paul Heins. Illus. by Trina Schart Hyman. Boston, MA: Little Brown, 1974, pp. 1-43.

"And when she finally thought of a scheme, she dyed her face and dressed herself like an old pedlar, and was quite unrecognizable. In this disguise she went over the seven mountains to the house of the seven dwarfs, . . . " P.19, 22.

The Classic Fairy Tales. Iona Opie and Peter Opie. London: Oxford University Press, 1974, pp. 175-182.

". . .so she disguised herself as an old pedlar. And went her way over the hills to the place where the dwarfs dwelt." p. 179.

Grimms' Tales for Young and Old: The Complete Stories. Translated by Ralph Manheim. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977, pp. 184-191. [Translated from the Winkler-Verlag (Munich) edition of the Complete Kinder- und Hausmaerchen (Tales for Young and Old) by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, as first published in 1819.]

"She stained her face and dressed like an old peddler woman, so that no one could have recognized her." p. 187.

"Bella Venezia" [Abruzzo] in Italian Folktales. Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino. Translated by George Martin. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980, pp. 395-398.

Not included in this text version.

"Giricoccola," [Bologna] in Italian Folktales. Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino. Translated by George Martin. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980, pp. 154-156.

"How can we bring about her death?" asked the sisters.
"Leave it all to me," replied the astrologer, who dressed as a gypsy and went to peddle her wares under the moon's windows.
"Giricoccola looked out, and the astrologer said, "Would you like these handsome pins? I'll let you have them for a song!" p. 155

Best-Loved Folktales of the World. Selected by Joanna Cole. Illus. by Jill Karla Schwarz. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1982, pp. 53-61.

"At last she thought of a plan; she painted her face and dressed herself like an old peddler woman, so that no one would have known her. In this disguise she went across the seven mountains, until she came to the house of the seven little dwarfs, . . . " pp. 56-57.

Favorite Tales from Grimm. Text retold by Nancy Garden. Illus. by Mercer Mayer. New York: Four Winds Press, 1982, pp. 5-19.

"The queen went to her dressing table and with her powders and paints she transformed her face into that of an old woman, and then she went to the rag bag, and found in it clothes even the servants had thrown away, and she dressed herself like a peddler-woman. Taking a basket from the kitchen, she set out for the forest." pp. 10-11.

Snow White. Adapted from the Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm. Illus. by Bernadette Watts. Winchester, MA: Nord-Sud/Faber & Faber, 1983. Pp. 1-25.

"When at last she had worked out a plan, the Queen painted her face and dressed herself as an old gipsy woman. She travelled over the mountains to the home of the seven dwarfs, . . . " p. 13.

My Pop-Up Book of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Illus. by Anne Grahame Johnstone. London: Deans International, 1983, pp. 1-10.

"So the Queen disguised herself as an old pedlar woman who sold combs and ribbons, and set off to search the forest for Snow White. After many hours she found the dwarfs' cottage." p. 5.

The Brothers Grimm Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Translated and adapted by Anthea Bell. Illus. by Chihiro Iwasaki. New York: Picture Book Studio, USA., 1984, pp 1-38.

Not included in this text version.

Snow White in New York. Fiona French. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1986, pp. 1-30.

Not included in this text version.

Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Based on Walt Disney's full-length animated classic. Adapted by Suzanne Weyn. New York: Scholastic, 1987. [original copyright 1937] paperback, pp. 1-73.

Not included in this text version.

The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: Volume I Tales I-100. Translated by Jack Zipes. Illus. by John B. Gruelle. New York: Bantam, 1987, pp.213-222. [The present translation is based in part on the first of the Kinder und Hausmaerchen published in two volumes in 1812 and 1815. The first 211 tales in this translation are based on the seventh and final edition published in 1857. Illustrations by John B. Gruelle first appeared in Grimm's Fairy Tales, translated by Margaret Hunt in 1914.]

"Finally, she thought up a plan. She painted her face and dressed as an old peddler woman so that nobody could recognize her. Then she crossed the seven mountains in this disguise and arrived at the cottage of the seven dwarfs, . . . " p. 217.

The Child's Fairy Tale Book. Illus. by Kay Chorao. New York: Dutton, 1990, pp. 6-19.

"So she disguised herself as an old peddler woman who called at people's houses selling things from a basket. Dressed so that no one could recognize her, she set off to find Snow White." p. 12.

Snow White. Retold by Josephine Poole. Illus. by Angela Barrett. New York: Knopf, 1991, pp. 1-30.

"She disguised herself as an ugly old woman, and set off secretly to the house of the seven dwarfs. The queen could not find her way through the forest; . . . So, instead, she had to walk a long and weary way, over seven mountains, until at last she came to the cottage." pp.16, 18.

Snow White by the Brothers Grimm. Retold by Jennifer Greenway. Illus. by Erin Augenstine. Kansas City, MS: Ariel Books, 1991.

Not included in this text version.

Favorite Fairy Tales. Compiled by Cooper Edens and Harold Darling. San Francisco, CA: Blue Lantern Studio/Chronicle Books, 1991, pp. 30-37.

"Finally, she came up with a plan. She dressed herself like an old peddler and went over the seven hills to where the seven dwarfs dwelt, . . ." p. 33.

Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Adapted from the Film by Jim Razzi. Illus. by Fernando Guell and Fred Martin. New York: Disney Press, 1993.

Not included in this text version.

The Rainbow Fairy Book: Classic Fairy Tales. Ed. by Andrew Lang. Illus. by Michael Hague. New York: Books of Wonder/Morrow, 1993, pp. 207-221.

"At last she hit upon a plan. She stained her face and dressed herself up as an old peddler wife, so that she was quite unrecognizable. In this guise she went over the seven hills till she came to the house of the seven Dwarfs." p. 214.

Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life & Times. James Finn Garner. New York: Macmillan, 1994, pp. 43-56.

Not included in this text version.

Rimonah of the Flashing Sword: A North African Tale. Adapted by Eric A. Kimmel. Illus. by Omar Rayyan. New York: Holiday House, 1995.

"Donning a magic cloak, the queen took the form of a bedouin prince and rode out into the desert.
"It was the Moon of New Lambs, the month when the tribes gathered to feast. It was the time of courtship, too, when young men brought gifts to the tents of those they hoped to marry. The queen mingled with the suitors outside Rimonah's tent. She placed her deadly necklace among the other gifts, then departed." p. 8.

Snow White: A Tale from the Brothers Grimm. Illus. by Charles Santore. New York: Park Lane Press, 1996, pp. 1-44.

"At last she hit upon a plan. She stained her face and dressed herself as an old peddler woman, so that she was quite unrecognizable. In this disguise she crossed seven mountains until she came to the house of the seven dwarfs." p. 25.

 

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Created January 6, 1997 and is continuously revised