the world." At last, however, they had pity on him, and gave him the coffin; but the moment he lifted it up to carry it home with him, the piece of apple fell from between her lips, and Snow-drop awoke, and said, "Where am I?" And the prince said, "Thou art quite safe with me."
Then he told her all that had happened, and said, "I love you far better than all the world; so come with me to my father's palace, and you shall be my wife. And Snow-drop consented, and went home with the prince; and everything was got ready with great pomp and splendour for their wedding.
To the feast was asked, among the rest, Snow-drop's old enemy the queen; and as she was dressing herself in fine rich clothes, she looked in the glass and said—
"Tell me, glass, tell me true!
Of all the ladies in the land,
Who is the fairest? tell me, who?"
And the glass answered—
"Thou, lady, art loveliest here, I meen;
But lovelier far is the new-made queen."
When she heard this she started with rage; but her envy and curiosity were so great, that she could not help setting out to see the bride. And when she got there, and saw that it was no other than Snow-drop, who, as she thought, had been dead a long while, she choked with rage, and fell down and died: but Snow-drop and the prince lived and reigned happily over that land many, many years; and sometimes they went up into the mountains, and paid a visit to the little dwarfs, who had been so kind to Snow-drop in her time of need.
