Snow White by the Grimm brothers

Snow White is one of the most famous fairy-tale characters, who doesn´t know her? The Disney cartoon from 1937 played an important role in the rising popularity of the black-haired beauty. Disney kept the story line of the Grimm brothers. Their fairy tales were a lot less violent than they were in the centuries before.

If you watch the Walt Disney movie about Snow White now, you are actually being exposed to a pretty horrible story. Snow White is a darling little girl who is dumped in a dark forest full of scary, moving trees for no reason. And when her evil stepmother finds out that Snow White is still alive, she turns herself into a terrifying witch.

In this day and age, there is a discussion about whether this movie is actually suitable for all ages. Small children could easily get nightmares from it, even if the story line from 1937 is a pretty soft one. Walt Disney stuck to the story as told by German linguists Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. They had been collecting folktales at the beginning of the 19th century and published them in 1812 under the title Kinder- und Hausmarchen. The first Dutch translation, Sprookjes-Boek voor kinderen, was published in 1820…

With the rise of states and their accompanying nationalist sentiments, the brothers had started to look for stories that confirmed their cultural identity. They thought they could find it in the countryside where life had been the same for centuries, contrary to the rapidly developing and industrialised cities. A country woman from Kassel supposedly told the Grimm brothers the fairy tales, but this is a myth. It is likely they created this myth themselves, in order to increase the authenticity of their stories. It is true that the brothers adapted older fairy tales to the spirit of their time: the stories had to be suitable for delicate children´s souls and educationally more responsible.

Fairy tales for grown-ups
The fact that the older fairy tales didn´t take the children´s soul into account much wasn´t only due to a changing view on upbringing: in the 19th century children were viewed less and less as tiny adults and a separate literature for the little ones emerged. Fairy tales from earlier centuries were not specifically meant for children at all. They were folktales for adults, full of magic and universal standards and values that evolved over time. For centuries, the tales were passed down verbally on long evenings by the fire and consequently there is no known first author. The Vikings already had a version of the Snow White story, Snäfridr in Old Norwegian.

The Dutch word for fairy tale, ´sprookje´, stems from the medieval word ´spoke´, which in turn derives from ´het gesprokene´, or ´the spoken´. The most famous author to write and register the still well-known fairy tales before the age of the Grimm brothers was Charles Perrault. His book of fairy tales Histoire ou Contes de Temps passé, avec des moralités: contes de ma mere Lóye (not including the tale of Snow White) is from 1697.

The first Dutch translation was published in 1754 under the title Sprookjes van moeder gans, or Fairy tales of mother goose in English. In the 17th century, fairy tales were not just folktales but they were also the object of discussion in literary gatherings and at the court. For this exclusive audience, Perrault had written down the vulgar fairy tales with often horrible endings.

His version of the tales remained popular until well into the 19th century, but they were too macabre to make it all the way to the 20th century, the time where didactically responsible fairy tales full of morals could only be found in the nursery. Nowadays, fairy tales lack most of their past moralities and they are mostly there for entertainment. Snow White´s malicious stepmother no longer needs to dance around in iron slippers heated on a fire until she drops dead by way of punishment…

Grimm version at the museum
Despite the changed function of the fairy tale throughout the centuries, we can still find some of the ancient elements in the current version of Snow White. The colours black, white and red (hair as black as ebony, skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood) represent the earth, the sky and mankind and the forest symbolises life. The mirror of the evil stepmother is a reference to fortune tellers, who for centuries played an important role in cultures full of uncertainties. The apple is not only a reference to Eve´s apple in the Bible, it also made many appearances as the go-to instrument of witches during the witch hunts that took place in the 16th century. The number seven is also both a magical number and an important biblical reference.

The Chessmen Museum owns a lot of chess games with a fairy-tale theme. Not only Disney chess games but also the fables of La Fontaine as well as Chinese fairy tales are represented in our showcases. As far as Snow White is concerned, the museum has a chess game from Eastern Europe in its possession. This means that the chess pieces do not look like the characters from the Disney classic, but are designed according to the illustrations from the early fairy tale books of the Grimm brothers.

By Marjolein Overmeer