Of Amber and Emerald: An Anthology of Short Stories

“Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” The Queen asked for the hundredth time that day. 

“Snow White, my Queen.” the mirror replied in a tired voice.

“See, Snow White?” The Queen turned with a sigh to the young girl standing behind her. “The answer has not changed since a quarter of an hour ago.”

“Hmph,” Snow White tossed her ebony curls and turned on her heel, flouncing away.

The Queen sat down on the floor in the middle of the stone chamber, her head in her hands. Her crown suddenly felt very heavy. “I must do something to help Snow White,” she said to herself. “Huntsman!”

He came immediately, and she had the suspicion that he’d been lurking in the hall. “Aye, my Queen?”

“Snow White is much too vain, Huntsman. She does not see the beauty of the earth, and is only concerned with her own. You must show her the true value of the world.”

“Aye, my Queen.” said the Huntsman, who was a simple man with a bit of a lack of brains. He’d been selling ridiculously underpriced animal pelts for a living when the Queen had recognized his potential and taken a liking to him. The Huntsman was not sure exactly what the Queen wanted him to do. To him, the true value of the world was a good catch for dinner. He decided to take Snow White hunting with him in the woods that afternoon.

“Huntsman, why must I come hunting?” Snow White complained as the little wagon bumped along the path to the woods. “It is hot and dirty in the woods. Besides, I am going to miss my mirror checks.”

“Aye,” said the Huntsman, not sure what else to say. “Hunting is true value,” he added, pleased with how wise he sounded.

Snow White’s perfect little nose wrinkled, like a ripple in milk. “Beauty is the true value.” she argued. “Where is the value in stinky dead old animals?”

“Food,” said the Huntsman, confused.

Snow White huffed. “Meat is bad for your complexion. I am a vegetarian.”

“Value,” the Huntsman insisted. “Value in hard work.”

Snow White, who had never done a minute of hard work in her life, quietly disagreed. She planned to pick wildflowers while the Huntsman did everything, anyways. Bluebells would look splendid in my hair. She thought, glowing.

“Here,” the Huntsman announced, slowing the horses. Snow White followed him into the woods. He loaded his crossbow and began scouting for animals.

The princess trailed behind, kneeling down every few minutes to pick wildflowers. The Huntsman had gotten so far ahead that she could not see him anymore. She shrugged, stooping to gather some bluebells and taking care to keep her dress clean.

The Huntsman had been aiming at a beautiful deer when it suddenly sparkled and transformed. An old woman stood before him. The woman had a long brown dress and flowers in her hair. She looked very old and wise and reminded the Huntsman of the Queen.

“Huntsman,” the woman called, and he froze in fear, his crossbow forgotten. “How do you plan to help Snow White?”

The Huntsman, who had forgotten about the lesson he was supposed to be teaching the princess, glanced over his shoulder. “Value in hard work,” he told the woman.

“Yes,” she agreed. “But Snow White is not working hard. She is not capable of it because she has an evil black heart. In order to make her see the true value of the world, you must cut this evil heart out of her chest.”

In truth, the old woman was a sorceress who wanted Snow White for herself. Once every one hundred years, the sorceress was allowed to choose a new human body to inhabit, but her curse did not allow her to acquire it herself. The Queen was an old enemy of hers, and the sorceress revelled in the thought of her pain at receiving her own daughter’s heart.

The Huntsman, who did not see the sorceress’s true intentions, nodded eagerly. “Cut out evil heart.”

“Yes, and then bring it to your queen. She must know you have succeeded or she will surely punish you.”

The Huntsman did not think that the Queen could be this cruel, but he nodded, thinking she would only be all the more pleased.

He pulled his hunting knife out of his satchel and went to find Snow White. He crept over to her as she picked another handful of flowers.

She suddenly sensed his presence and turned. The princess screamed and trembled, dropping her flowers as she clasped her hands before the Huntsman. “Oh, Huntsman, do not kill me!” she cried. “I know I have been terrible, but I can change!”

The Huntsman was confused. He did not want to kill Snow White, only rid her of her evil heart. She must have been exaggerating. The Huntsman plunged his knife into her chest and cut out her heart. Surprisingly, it was quite red, even though the strange lady had said it was black.

The Huntsman realized that he had made a huge mistake. Snow White lay bleeding, the life fading from her coal-black eyes. He began to panic. Leaving the princess in the woods, he put her heart in his satchel and spurred his horses in the direction of the little village.

He rode through the streets for some time until he spotted a little girl that looked quite like Snow White. Her hair was too light, her skin too dark, and her eyes not quite bright enough, but she would have to do.

The Huntsman invited the little girl onto his wagon for a ride. She squealed with delight, her yearning for a fun trip through the woods far greater than her fear of strangers. “Your name is Snow White now,” he told her.

“No,” she laughed, though she was a little confused. They were not heading towards the woods, but in the direction of the stone castle on the hill. “My name is Anna Rose.”

“Not anymore,” the Huntsman shook his head.

Anna Rose was quite scared now. She leapt off of the slowly driving wagon and landed nimbly on the path.

“Come back!” the Huntsman shouted, but Anna Rose ignored him and ran straight into the woods.

The sun was setting now, and the woods appeared quite frightening at this time. Poor Anna Rose wandered lost, until dark. The branches of trees reached out to her like claws, trying to snatch her in their evil clutches. She ran blindly, stumbling through the underbrush and tearing her dress.

Anna Rose saw a clearing and ran faster, more desperately. A lovely stone cottage came into view. It had a thatched roof and a little vegetable garden surrounded by a white picket fence. Whoever lives here must be nice, to have such a quaint house. Anna Rose reasoned.

The fence gate swung open when she pushed it, as did the front door.

She went into the little kitchen and discovered a table set for seven, with delicious meals in each place. Anna Rose was very hungry, so she ate a little bit of food and drank a little bit of drink from every dish, making sure to take the same amount from each.

She suddenly felt very sleepy, so she went upstairs to the bedroom and discovered seven little beds. I will thank the owners when I wake up, she thought, and settled down into one of the beds. She fell asleep immediately.

Meanwhile, the Huntsman had returned to the castle. When he went to the chamber, he found the Queen standing by the talking mirror.

“Ah, Huntsman, you are back. I was beginning to get quite- what is that?”

The Huntsman leant at her feet, presenting Snow White’s glistening heart. “I cut out the evil heart, my Queen. But the girl ran away to the woods.”

The Queen clutched at her chest. “You cut out my daughter’s heart? Where is she, Huntsman? Is she in the woods?”

The Huntsman nodded. “Aye, in the woods. But-”

“I must find her,” said the Queen at once, stricken. She did not understand how Snow White could still be alive, but she set off at once to search for her.

Back in the woods, the sorceress happened to be passing by the little cottage when she saw Anna Rose asleep upstairs through the window. Thinking this to be Snow White, the sorceress cursed the incompetent Huntsman. He had not killed the girl properly. She set off to come up with a new plan to acquire the body she planned to take as her own.

Soon after the sorceress left, the owners of the cottage arrived home for the night. They were seven dwarves, and they had been working in the mines all day and were tired and hungry. They went to their table and noticed something was amiss immediately.

“Someone has eaten from my plate!” one dwarf cried.

“And someone has drunk from my goblet!” a second dwarf added.

“Now, now,” said the eldest. “Whoever has done this must be quite lost and scared. They are likely still here.”

The dwarves warily climbed the stairs to their bedroom and their eyes fell upon the still sleeping Anna Rose. Their gasps of surprise awoke her, and the frightened girl sat up in bed, clutching the sheets.

“Are you the owners of this cottage?” she asked them fearfully. “I am sorry for intruding. I was lost in the woods when I discovered your lovely cottage.”

The dwarves all looked at each other and knew that they could not throw this innocent girl back out to the forest. She was obviously young and scared, and the dwarves were quite kind creatures, so they decided to help her.

“There, there,” said the eldest dwarf. “We are not angry. What is your name?”

Anna Rose hesitated before saying, “Snow White.” The lie came easily to her lips. She felt that she should not use her real name out here in the woods where anyone could use it against her, and she did not particularly want to be Anna Rose anymore. It was like she was shedding her old identity, becoming someone better in a place where there was always food on the table.

“Welcome, Snow White,” replied the eldest dwarf kindly. “We are in need of a cook and housekeeper. As long as you cook and clean, you may live here.”

Anna Rose, who had decided already that she did not want to return home to her life of poverty in the village, agreed at once.

So their new life began. Over the next few months, Anna Rose almost forgot about the Huntsman and her life before. She began to think of herself as Snow White, and so, when an old woman came to their door one day, she introduced herself as the name of the deceased princess.

“Ah, Snow White,” the old woman grinned. “What a lovely name. Can I interest you in anything I am selling?”

Anna Rose examined the old lady’s cart, which contained mostly buttons and ribbons. She took in the woman’s haggard appearance and pitied her. Surely it would not hurt to buy one ribbon.

“I will buy one of your pink ribbons,” Anna Rose told her, turning back to the cottage door to find some coins, but the old woman stopped her.

“For hair as lovely as yours, dear, you may have the pink ribbon for free. I insist.” The sorceress then frowned, realizing that Snow White looked a little different than the last time she had seen the girl. Her face was thinner, her hair slightly lighter, and her skin was more like the colour of sand than snow. Perhaps she had gotten too much sun.

Touched by the old lady’s kindness, Anna Rose allowed her to tie the ribbon in her long locks. “Thank you,” the girl remembered her manners, and the sorceress smiled an evil smile.

Anna Rose felt pain pierce her scalp.

The ribbon was covered in poison, and was sizzling and burning in the poor girl’s hair.

The sorceress cackled and waited for Anna Rose to die. But at that moment, the seven dwarves returned home after work, whistling. She fled behind a bush right before they would have seen her.

The dwarves found Anna Rose screaming in pain on the floor. As soon as they removed the ribbon from her hair, she broke down and wept onto the eldest dwarf’s shoulder. A section of her hair and scalp were burned quite badly, and the acrid smell of burning flesh rose into the air. The sorceress swallowed her bitter disappointment and left, silently promising to return the next day with a better plan.

While Anna Rose had become a loyal housekeeper to the dwarves, and the evil sorceress had been plotting to kill her, the Queen was searching the entire wood for Snow White. Finally, one morning, she stumbled upon the clearing that led to the dwarves’ cottage. Thinking her daughter might be inside, she knocked on the door.

Anna Rose answered with caution; the dwarves had advised her to be extra careful of strangers while they were away in the mines. “Hello?” she called, opening the door a crack. The Queen was disguised in a traveller’s cloak, much like the sorceress had been, and Anna Rose was immediately wary of her.

“Hello,” said the Queen warmly. “Is my daughter here? Her name is Snow White.”

Anna Rose opened the door wider and examined the Queen. “My name is Snow White.”

The Queen looked at Anna Rose, confused. This girl was not her daughter. “I must be at the wrong house,” she told the girl. “Sorry to have disturbed you.” She left, her heart breaking all over again as she felt the loss of her daughter even stronger than before.

The sorceress, who had been watching this whole exchange, cackled to herself. “The foolish queen did not even recognize her own daughter!”

The sorceress revealed herself to Anna Rose, who was still standing in the doorway. She was wearing a new disguise, and the girl did not recognize her as the woman who had given her the poisoned ribbon.

“Hello, dearie!” called the sorceress, brandishing a crisp red apple at Anna Rose. “I picked these lovely apples earlier today, and I have no one to share them with. Care to try one with me?”

Anna Rose looked curiously at the apple. It was the biggest, juiciest, reddest piece of fruit she had ever seen, and she suddenly felt as if she would die if she could not have just one bite. “Yes, thank you,” she smiled, and took the offered fruit.

As soon as she took a bite of the apple, the poison in it spread through her little body. Anna Rose fell down dead, the apple rolling from her hand.

But then, as they had the previous day, the seven dwarves were whistling on the path as they came home. Upon seeing the door open, they ran into the cottage and discovered the sorceress kneeling over the body of their beloved Snow White.

They cried out and attacked the woman immediately, and for all her evilness and cunning, the sorceress was hacked to death by seven pickaxes on the cottage floor.

The dwarves built a coffin made of crystal and gold for Anna Rose, and placed it in the garden, where she would rest forever in peace. Inscribed on the side of the coffin was ‘Snow White’. The name Anna Rose was soon forgotten by everyone who had known her.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the woods, the Queen had stumbled upon her dear Snow White’s remains. The poor Queen fell to her knees and died right there of a broken heart.