“He bawled like a baby and laughed for fun!
He had just heard a story and another one!
The once upon a time now gave him laughter!
’cause he knew ’twas real life and no happy ever after!”
All of you would have heard the amazing story of Margarete von Waldeck!
Yes, the name may not be familiar but as you read the story you will get glimpses of the tale you have been told and the truth which was kept on hold!
Read on!
So Margarete von Waldeck, was a 16th century Bavarian noblewoman.
Margarete’s stepmother, despising her, sent the beauty, Her strict stepmother and father sent her first to her uncle’s house, and then to the court of Mary of Hungary, where she was pursued by Prince Philip. Alas, their relationship was doomed, as Philip was a Catholic and Margaretha a Lutheran!
His father, the king of Spain, opposing the romance, dispatched Spanish agents to murder Margarete. They surreptitiously poisoned her.
Margaretha’s letters to her father before her death speak of failing health and the Waldeck chronicles suggested that she had been poisoned, dying at the age of 21.
So, does the story ring a bell? Look in the mirror perhaps!
Yes! This is the original story of the snow white and the seven dwarfs!
Now where are the dwarfs you may ask!
Well Margarete grew up in Bad Wildungen, where her brother used small children to work his copper mine. Severely deformed because of the physical labor mining required, they were despairingly referred to as dwarfs!
The poison apple is also rooted in fact; an old man would offer tainted fruits to the workers, and other children he believed stole from him!
Another interpretation does not involve the apple, in this the Wicked Queen tries both to suffocate Snow White by giving her a lacy bodice and then tightening the laces and to stab her in the head with a poisoned comb. The Queen gets her comeuppance at her step-daughter’s wedding, when the prince orders the her to wear a pair of red-hot iron slippers and to dance in them until she drops dead!
Other versions in other countries have Snow White taking refuge with robbers rather than dwarfs, or staying in a haunted castle or a house on the seashore, rather than in a forest! Other variants include an enchanted dress, poisoned stockings or deadly flowers, rather than poisoned apple, or Snow White being called Ermellina and running away from home by riding an eagle who takes her away to a palace inhabited by fairies!
Other versions have evil older sisters, rather than a stepmother, and Ziricochel (as our heroine is called in this Italian version) taking refuge with the Moon, who also plays the role of the magic mirror! The sisters send an astrologer to kill Ziricochel, who, after several failed attempts, turns her into a statue using an enchanted shirt. All comes good in the end, however, when the prince’s sisters remove the shirt and revive Ziricochel!
So convinced are the residents of the mine’s location – the village of Bergfreiheit – that they now call the village Schneewittchendorf (Snow White village)! Like they say it takes a village to make things happen! Maybe this is the reason why they are called fairy tales since only in them you have the ‘Happily ever after!’. Real life of course no fairy tale like the life of birthday celebrity Sunil Dutt who had struggles with his son but still came out shining because of resilience and determination which is what required and not any Prince charming’s kiss!
Now read some fairy tale to your kids and sleep!
Shubh Ratri!
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