Snow White & Rose Red
June, 2009
Among the collection of 'wonder tales' the famous Grimm brothers gathered was Snow White & Rose Red. Not the Snow White made popular by the works of Walt Disney, this tale has Snow White paired against her perfect opposite, Rose Red. The immediate fairy tale comparisons spring to mind with the universal North European pairing of the duo of red and white. These young twins love each other and prance about like merry little girls of fairy tales hand in hand. They live together with their old widowed mother, and we immediately see a trinity emerge with the twin forces unified by the Widow.
The three are content at the beginning of the story, but their destiny, or wyrd, will be meted out over the course of a solar year. During the harsh winter, a bear comes to their door. Initially the girls are afraid, but the bear pleads with them that it is starving and will not survive the cold of winter without some warmth. They permit the noble beast to warm itself by the fire. They no doubt feed and water and bear, which returns several nights over the course of the winter.
This behaviour might be strange in itself due to the hibernating nature of bears. The changing of the season to summer sees the bear depart the girl's company. When questioned why he must go, Snow White and Rose Red are told that he must return to the wood, or cave, to protect his treasure from a dark dwarf. "What once falls into their hands cannot easily be brought back to the light."1
As opposed to the bear, the dark dwarf roams during the summer months seking treasures. During the course of the summer, the bear is not seen again. However, there are various incidents where the girls meet the rude dwarf that is caught in some precarious and life threatening situations. He is described as having red eyes, a yard long white beard and a wizened face.
The twins find the dwarf in two situations whereby his beard is tangled and must be sacrificed by cutting to free him. In the first, he is caught by a tree and, when released, pulls a hidden bag of gold from its roots and vanishes. On the second occasion, he is tangled by his beard upon a fishing line directed by the wind. This time, when his beard is cut, he fetches a hidden bag of pearls and disappears. On the final occasion, it is not his beard but his coat that is tattered by an eagle that is attempting to carry him away. He recovered a bag of precious stones and was away for the third time.
In these three accounts, we see significant reminders of the principle elementary forces at work, fire, air and water. In the case of the tree, the dwarf is attempting to wrest some fire wood from the tree. The second situation sees the dwarf about to plunge into the water, while the last sees him soon to be carried into the air by an eagle. These might be seen as representative scenarios of alchemical principles and in each case the twin girls assist the dwarf, despite his red raging face and his ingratitude. He always receives a boon from the encounter and the girls go along their merry way. The animals that feature in the story are worth further meditation as well.
Finally, as summer draws to a close, Snow White and Rose Red are returning home when they spot the dwarf upon the heath counting his treasures. The girls approach him, but he bursts into one of his accustomed fits. This time, his outburst is cut short by the growl of a bear behind him. The girls are frightened, while the dwarf offers the bear the twins as an offering to leave him be. Heedless of the dwarf's pleas, the bear strikes him dead with a single blow.2
The fear of Snow White and Rose Red is abated and the bear calls after them, offering to return home with them. At that moment, he transforms into a golden man, a prince, the son of a king. Snow White and the prince marry, we are told, while Red Rose marries his brother (who is never named or mentioned). The story ends with the division of the dwarf's wealth, but the final image returns to the Widow. In the last scene of the story, we see the Widow enjoying long life always accompanied by twin roses that bloom every year, one white and one red.
Now, the story having been told, it is easy to gleen a simple moral from the tale as the twin girls are kind and help both the bear and the dwarf, despite the lack of reward and sometimes chastisement. Alternatively, we can see the Wyrd sisters, the Norns, weaving the destiny of both male characters. The dwarf receives a boon from each encounter with the tree, the fish/pool and the eagle but, when his time comes and his boon is spread out, he must yield to the other. In one respect, each encounter is dramatically affected by the sisters who facilitate each outcome.
Frequent comparison has been made in the past concerning bears and mythology, particularly with reference to Arthur in Britain and the celestial Plough, or Great Bear in the heavens. The dwarf that is trapped underground by the hard frost of winter, but released when the sun melts the ice, appears to represent a solar male aspect and it is tempting to draw comparison with Teutonic trickster God Loki in the red faced, wizened, quarrelsome dwarf; Odin could be a contender for the bear role and the berserk transformation.3
Another easy assumption to make is that the bear and dwarf are in fact brothers, contending each other's rank throughout the course of a year, while the sisters are the Norns, presiding over the destiny of each of them. Indeed, as the bear and dwarf, we are each married to our destiny in the end.
Always in the background, though, we are reminded of the Widow tending the twin rose trees and nurturing those tiny red and white blossoms each year...
Notes
1. http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rosered/index.html2. Compare, for example, the annual trading of blows in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.3. Probably translating as 'bear shirt'.
