SNOW-DROP.*

Ir was the middle of winter, when the broad flakes of snow were falling around, that the queen of a country many thousand miles off sat working at her window.

*Snee-wittchen" of Grimm; told with several minor variations in Hesse also at Vienna, with more important alterations. In one version, Spiegel (the glass) is the name of a dog, who performs the part of the queen's monitor. The wish of the queen, which opens this story, has been illustrated in the Altdeutsche Wälder, vol. p. 1, in a

The frame of the window was made of fine black ebony, and as she was looking out upon the snow, she pricked her finger, and three drops of blood fell upon it. Then she gazed thoughtfully upon the red drops that sprinkled the white snow, and said, "Would that my little daughter may be as white as that snow, as red as that blood, and as black as this ebony window-frame!" And so the little girl really did grow up; her skin was as white as snow, her cheeks as rosy as the blood, and her hair as black as ebony; and she was called Snow-drop.

dissertation on a curious passage in Wolfram von Eschenbach's romance of Parcifal, where the hero bursts forth into a pathetic allusion to his lady's charms, on seeing drops of blood fallen on snow,—

"Trois gotes de fres sanc,

Qui enluminoient le blanc,"

as Chretien de Troyes expresses it in the French romance on the same subject,

"... panse tant, qu'il s'oblie ;

Ausins estoit en son avis

Li vermauz sor le blanc asis,
Come les gotes de sanc furent,
Qui desor le blanc aparurent;
Au l'esgarder, que il faisoit,
Li est avis, tant li pleisoit,
Qu'il veist la color novelle
De la face s'amie belle."

Several parallel wishes are selected from the ancient traditionary stories of different countries, from the Irish legend of Deirda and Navis, the son of Visneach, in Keating's History of Ireland, to the Neapolitan stories in Pentamerone, iv. 9, and v. 8.

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"O cielo !" says the hero in the latter, "e non porria havere un mogliere acossi janco, e rossa, comme e chella preta, e che havesse li capello e le ciglia acossi negro, comme fo le penne di chisto cuervo,' &c. The unfading corpse placed in the glass coffin is to be found also in the Pentamerone, ii. 8 (la Schiavottella): and in Haralds Saga. Snäfridr, his beauteous wife, dies, but her countenance changes not,

But this queen died; and the king soon married another wife, who became queen, and was very beautiful, but so vain that she could not bear to think that any one could be handsomer than she was. She had a fairy looking-glass, to which she used to go, and then the would gaze upon herself in it, and say,

"Tell me, glass, tell me true!

Of all the ladies in the land,

Who is fairest? tell me, who?"

And the glass had always answered,

"Thou, queen, art the fairest in all the land."

its bloom continuing; and the king sits by the body, watching it three years.

The dwarfs who appear in this story are of genuine Northern descent. They are Metallarii, live in mountains, and are of the benevolent class; for it must be particularly observed that this, and the mischievous race, are clearly distinguishable. The Heldenbuch says, "God produced the dwarfs, because the mountains lay waste and useless, and valuable stores of silver and gold, with gems and pearls, were concealed in them. Therefore he made them right wise and crafty, that they could distinguish good and bad, and to what use all things should be applied. They knew the use of gems; that some of them gave strength to the wearer; others made him invisible, which were called fog-caps: therefore God gave art and wisdom to them, so that they built them hollow hills," &c. (Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 41.) The most beautiful example of the ancient Teutonic romance is that which contains the adventures, and the description of the abode in the mountains, of Laurin the King of the Dwarfs. Those who wish to obtain full and accurate information on the various species, habitss, and manners of these sons of the mountains, may consult Olaus Magnus, or, at far greater length, the Anthropodemus Plutonicus of Prætorius.

We ought to observe that this story has been somewhat shortened by us, the style of telling it in the original being rather diffuse; and we have not entered into the particulars of the queen's death, which in the German is occasioned by the truly Northern punishment of being obliged to dance in red-hot slippers or shoes.

But Snow-drop grew more and more beautiful; and when she was seven years old she was as bright as the day, and fairer than the queen herself. Then the glass one day answered the queen, when she went to look in it as usual,

"Thou, queen, art fair, and beauteous to see,
But Snow-drop is lovelier far than thee!"

When she heard this, she turned pale with rage and envy; and called to one of her servants and said, "Take Snow-drop away into the wide wood, that I may never see her any more." Then the servant led her away; but his heart melted when Snow-drop begged him to spare her life, and he said, "I will not hurt thee, thou pretty child." So he left her by herself; and though he thought it most likely that the wild beasts would tear her in pieces, he felt as if a great weight were taken off his heart when he had made up his mind not to kill her but to leave her to her fate, with the chance of some one finding and saving her.

Then poor Snow-drop wandered along through the wood in great fear; and the wild beasts roared about her, but none did her any harm. In the evening she came to a cottage among the hills; and went in to rest, for her little feet would carry her no further. Every thing was spruce and neat in the cottage: on the table was spread a white cloth, and there were seven little plates, with seven little loaves, and seven little glasses with wine in them; and seven knives and forks laid in order; and by the wall stood seven little beds. As she

was very hungry, she picked a little piece off each loaf and drank a very little wine out of each glass; and after that she thought she would lie down and rest. So she tried all the little beds; but one was too long, and another was too short, till at last the seventh suited her: and there she laid herself down and went to sleep.

By and by in came the masters of the cottage Now they were seven little dwarfs, that lived among the mountains, and dug and searched about for gold. They lighted up their seven lamps, and saw at once that all was not right. The first said, "Who has been sitting on my stool?" The second, "Who has been eating off my plate?" The third, "Who has been picking my bread?" The fourth, "Who has been meddling with my spoon?" The fifth, "Who has been handling my fork?" The sixth, "Who has been cutting with my knife?" The seventh, "Who has been drinking my wine?" Then the first looked round and said, "Whc has been lying on my bed?" And the rest came running to him, and every one cried out that somebody had been upon his bed. But the seventh saw Snow-drop, and called all his brethren to come and see her; and they cried out with wonder and astonishment and brought their lamps to look at her, and said, "Good Heavens! what a lovely child she is!" And they were very glad to see her, and took care not to wake her; and the seventh dwarf slept an hour with each of the other dwarfs in turn, till the night was gone.

In the morning Snow-drop told them all her story; and they pitied her, and said if she would keep all