Snow White Stories Around the World: 4 Beloved Tales

In this collection nestle four stories of a beautiful girl whose jealous parent threatens her happiness. The best-known to American audiences is, of course, that of Snow White, the first in the collection. The second story, from Albania, finds the young girl betrayed by her teacher who becomes her stepmother. When she flees, she finds herself cleaning for dragons, rather than dwarfs, and it is the king, her father, who tricks her into taking poisoned gifts. The third tale is set in Africa, and it is the girl’s natural mother who resents her beauty and seeks her destruction. The weapon of choice here is a set of poisoned slippers, but a chief’s son is taken with her beauty and rescues her. The last tale is Turkish, and this protagonist has the most trouble in finding and keeping her love, as she is struck with two poisoned needles, turned into a bird, and even beheaded; but finally she is able to marry her love and live happily ever after. It is fun and interesting to compare and contrast these stories. The various illustrators did a nice job evoking the cultures from which the stories came.