Now the queen, having eaten Snow-White's heart, as she supposed, felt quite sure that now she was the first and fairest. So she came to her mirror, and said,
»Looking-glass, looking-glass on the wall,
Who is fairest of us all?«And the glass answered,
»O Queen, thou art fairest of all I see,
But over the hills, where the seven dwarfs dwell,
Snow-White is still alive and well,
And none is so fair as she.«Then she got a shock, for the glass always spoke the truth and she knew that the huntsman must have deceived her and that Snow-White must still be living. »Snow-White shall die,« she cried, »though it should cost me my own life!« And then she went to a secret chamber and there she made a poisonous apple. It was beautiful to look upon, being white with a red cheek, so that any one who should see it must long for it, but whoever ate even a little bit of it must die.
When the apple was ready she painted her face and clothed herself like a peasant woman and went across the seven mountains to where the seven dwarfs lived. And when she knocked at the door Snow-White put her head out of the window and said, »I dare not let anybody in; the seven dwarfs told me not.«—»All right,« answered the woman; »I can easily get rid of my apples elsewhere. There, I will give you one.« Snow-White longed for the beautiful apple and she could no longer refrain. But no sooner had she taken a morsel of it into her mouth than the poison worked and she fell to the earth as dead.
And when the queen went home and asked the looking-glass,
»Looking-glass, looking-glass on the wall,
Who is fairest of us all?«at last it answered,
»Queen, you are the fairest now of all.«
Then her envious heart had peace.