A whole world was stirring to life and the little girl was glad to see how silly her fears had been. However, the thick trees were like a wall round her, and as she tried to find out where she was, she came upon a path. She walked along it, hopefully. On she walked till she came to a clearing. There stood a strange cottage, with a tiny door, tiny windows and a tiny chimney pot. Everything about the cottage was much tinier than it ought to be.
Snow White pushed the door open. "l wonder who lives here?" she said to herself, peeping round the kitchen. "What tiny plates! And spoons! There must be seven of them; the table's laid for seven people." Upstairs was a bedroom with seven neat little beds.
|
Upstairs was Snow White, fast asleep on one of the beds. The chief dwarf prodded her gently. "Who are you?" he asked. Snow White told them her sad story, and tears sprang to the dwarfs' eyes.
Then one of them said, as he noisily blew his nose: "Stay here with us!" "Hooray! Hooray!" they cheered, dancing joyfully around the little girl. The dwarfs said to Snow White: "You can live here and tend to the house while we're down the mine. Don't worry about your stepmother leaving you in the forest. We love you and we'll take care of you!"
Snow White gratefully accepted their hospitality, and next morning the dwarfs set off for work. But they warned Snow White not to open the door to strangers.
