"How have you come to our house?" said the dwarfs. Then she told them that the Queen had wished to have her killed, but that the huntsman had spared her life; she had run for the whole day, until at last she had found their house. The dwarfs said:
"If you will take care of our house, cook, make the beds, wash, sew, and knit; and if you will keep everything neat and clean, you can stay with us, and you shall want for nothing."
"Yes," said Snow-white, "with all my heart," and she stayed with them. She kept the house in order for them; in the mornings they went to the hills and looked for gold; in the evenings they came back, and then their supper had to be ready. The girl was alone the whole day, so the good dwarfs warned her and said:
"Beware of the Queen; she will soon know that you are here; be sure to let no one come in."
But the Queen, thinking she had eaten Snow-white's heart, began to suppose she was again the first and most beautiful person in the world; and she went to her Looking-glass and said:
"Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall, Who in this land is the fairest of all?"
"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 no one else is so fair as she."
And so she thought and thought again how she might kill Snow-white, for so long as she was not the fairest in the whole land, envy let her have no rest. And when she had at last thought of something to do, she painted her face and dressed herself like an old peddler-woman, and no one could have known her. Then she went over the seven hills to the seven dwarfs, and knocked at the door and cried:
"Pretty things to sell, very cheap, very cheap." Little Snow-white looked out of the window and called out:
"Good-day, my good woman, what have you to sell?"
"Good things, pretty things," she answered; "stay-laces of all colors," and she pulled out one which was woven of bright silk.
"I may let the good old woman in," thought Snow-white, and she unbolted the door and bought the pretty laces.
"Child," said the old woman, "what a fright you look! Come, I will lace you properly for once."
Snow-white stood before her, and let herself be laced with the new laces. But the old woman laced so quickly and laced so tightly that Snow-white lost her breath and fell down as if dead. "Now I am the most beautiful," said the Queen to herself, and ran away.