First, a disclaimer: The title of the book was actually a misnomer - I never intended to publish a book called Snow White and Rose Red: A Modern Fairy Tale. But that's what I wrote on the draft manuscript I submitted to the publisher, as an explanation of what the book was, and that's what I was surprised to see on the book cover. I would have dropped "A Modern Fairy Tale" which, while it's an accurate description, sounds a little pretentious to me. But no matter.
The publisher decided to change the title for a few reasons. One was, to everyone's surprise, the book turned out to have an appeal to teenage boys, and some people suggested to the publisher that more of them would read it under a different title. So we'll see if they're right.
The second reason is more practical. For various reasons, most people associate fairy tales with preschool children and the Disney animated classics. People would buy my book for their five-year-old and be dismayed that there were no pictures in it. Even though "Snow White and Rose Red" is a rather obscure tale (happily Disney has overlooked it so far despite its two great heroines), buyers immediately associated "Snow White" with fairy tales and assumed the story was at least for children in early grade school. It's not - my audience is seventh grade on up: junior high school and above (I am not discounting, however, the many intelligent eight-year-olds who have enjoyed the book). Hopefully the new title will make the intended readership of the book a bit easier for potential buyers to categorize.
I was just wondering if Bear, Fish, Jean, Blanche and Rose were based on some friends of yours? - Monique, 6/25/05
Thanks for writing! To answer your question, yes, three of the characters were clearly based on friends of mine who all knew one another: Bear is based on my friend Bill who later married my friend Joan. Blanche looks like Joan in my mind, and she has a lot of Blanche's depth and spirituality. Rose looks very much like my best friend growing up, Raquel, and I based the relationship between Blanche and Joan on the friendship between Raquel and her two younger sisters, who were all very close and very loyal to each other growing up. My best friend is ironically more like Blanche in personality, though, and one of her younger sisters was bouncy and imaginative like Rose.
I also took some things from the relationship between two other high school friends of mine who were sisters, Kristin and Meghan. To outside observers, Blanche and Rose are the most like these two girls. Like Blanche, Kristin had white, WHITE skin and very black hair, and she was always making hysterically sarcastic comments under her breath, because she was very shy, but also very smart. Meghan was considered the prettier of the two, and she was more vivacious and popular in school, but she was also very intelligent and independent. She didn't look anything like Rose, but her personality was very much like Rose's. Both sisters bickered due to the differences in their personality, but they shared a love for poetry, music, and beauty - all very much like Rose and Blanche. When I wrote the first book, I created most of the plot by imagining what Meghan would do in Rose's position (she would have gone into the cellar to rescue Fish, no question), or how Kristin would have reacted if a guy showed up on her doorstep and invited her to the prom.
Fish was a latecomer to the story, and his personality did a complete transformation in the writing. He started out being very whimsical and G.K. Chesterton-like, but along the way, I met a young man briefly (he stopped by my workplace for a day, and I think I saw him only one other time - I have no idea what became of him since then) who completely inspired my portrayal of Fish. He was thin, not handsome, sarcastic, very quick and smart, and dressed typically in a trench coat and flat hat. Something about his enigmatic air reminded me of Sherlock Holmes. I gave Fish his temperament and uniform, and his real name, Ben.
There were also two brothers of a very wealthy family who were in a catechism class I taught, and I admit I based the younger "pre-enchantment" versions of Bear and Fish on them (a more glamorized version of their family apartment shows up in two of the books, btw). Bear particularly was inspired by the older brother, who was tall and broadshouldered for his age, had thick black hair, and was friendly but awkward.
What is odd and interesting is that after the first book was mostly written, I met the man whom I was to marry, who is very much like Bear. My husband had a great deal of input into the development of the first book, and so I have to say that Bear has become even more like him in the rewrite. The relationship between Bear and Fish owes a lot to the relationship between my husband and his younger brother (and Fish has morphed over time to become even more like my husband's brother in some ways, but in other ways, he's a lot like my husband).
So as you can see, I built the four characters on a broad mixture of people. I'm only giving you the short list - my own sister says she can see parts of both Blanche and Rose in herself and in me, and there's bits and pieces I took from all over. In the third book, we will see more into Fish's personality, and character traits emerge there that don't come from any of the people I mentioned above, so far as I know.
Writing is a mysterious process, and sometimes it's more like making a stew, other times like baking a cake. So sometimes you can identify pieces of the final product: "Oh, that character is definitely based on Kristin," and sometimes you can't. In the third book, it's a lot harder even for me to figure out where the inspiration came from in certain instances. All I can say is that the characters that started out based on people I knew kept growing until they took on a life of their own, and started developing quirks and problems that don't come from any recognizable single person. It's been great fun to participate in the creation of stories like these.
Just recently I have been reading a biography of J.R.R. Tolkien, and I have also been rereading The Shadow of the Bear. I found great similarity between Tolkien and his brother Hilary, and Bear and Fish, because both of them had a dying mother who converted to Catholicism and the priest who converted them became "like a father to them". (Though Father Francis who befriended the Tolkien's wasn't murdered). I was wondering if you put that similarity on purpose, or didn't even know about it. God Bless! -- Jacinta, 9/20/04.
Thanks for the question! You know, that is a very interesting parallel. I didn't know about Tolkien's life when I starting writing The Shadow of the Bear - in fact, at the time, I wasn't a Tolkien fanatic, because I hadn't read The Silmarillion, which was the book that really bowled me over (I never used to like The Lord of the Rings as a teen, because it had no girls in it - silly, hey?). But I did read Humphrey Carpenter's bio of Tolkien in '94 or '95, so perhaps I was subconsciously influenced in the rewrite of the manuscript. Perhaps that's where I got the idea that Bear and Fish and their mother were converts.
But the clearest source for Bear's relationship with Fr. Raymond is not Tolkien, but something closer to home: one of my brothers-in-law came from a broken home. His parents divorced when he was a young teenager, and it was his friendship with a priest-mentor that helped him weather the storm. He really considered this priest his "father," and it was the first time I had heard of someone who had a priest as a substitute father. That's the clearest link to where Fr. Raymond came from - but this priest wasn't murdered, and my brother-in-law wasn't orphaned. And none of the other particulars are the same - the real priest and Fr. Raymond are not much alike. In fact, I never met the priest until Shadow was finished. But I had heard about him from my brother-in-law, and was touched and inspired by the relationship.
And I've no doubt my brother-in-law would have gone undercover to find the priest's murderer, should that have ever been necessary. So there's not a purposeful parallel between Tolkien's Father Francis and my fictional Father Raymond. In any event, thank God for good priests.
Did you change anything at all in the book when you changed the title? Because my friend heard you were revising it, but it seems the same to me. - J.W., 8/30/04
There are a few changes between editions. They're not really major changes, as you noted - the story is basically the same. There are roughly three kinds of differences between the hardback and the paperback edition:
1) Changes in dialogue
Before we did the revisions for the paperback, I made the book into a radio drama. When we were recording the actors, I realized that some of the conversation in the book just sounded unnatural when it was spoken out loud. So I changed some of the phrases. In particular I remember changing some of Blanche's words to make her deprecating comments more funny (in a sarcastic way). Fish's lines were also changed on occasion.
2) Mistakes
The main idea in making revisions of the paperback was to correct any typos in the first edition. However, during the typesetting of the paperback, the editorial work changed hands, and lots more typos crept into the paperback, including some that weren't in the original edition (quite frustrating for both author and publisher). Some people have told me that several pages were missing from the paperback copy that they read, and there's other errors in spelling and grammar. There's two places where section breaks occur in the wrong places (those two mistakes bother me the most.) Hopefully another edition will correct those problems. (Can't be too soon for me.)
3) Tightening the Plot
The last category of changes were those that filled in holes or corrected mistakes that I inadvertently made in the first edition. I challenge readers of the book to see if you can spot any of them. There's a few of these, small but significant. Let me know if you catch them.
Funny how I had the chance to change so much of this book. Few authors get that kind of chance. If I made the book into a screenplay, I'd probably change the plot even more, believe it or not. And the story has been evolving because of the sequels, too.
Did you have to make a lot of changes to the book before it was published? Like what?
The publishers helped me to make the storyline much tighter and more plausible. The villain is introduced earlier in the book. In the earliest drafts of the story, Blanche was far more depressed than she is now. I added the scene towards the end where she is kidnapped in one of the final drafts. We changed the names of some of the minor characters, such as Lisa (formerly Lisel, which I admit isn't as good a name). Also we eliminated Bear's point of view in all but several paragraphs so that the story is told from the viewpoint of the two girls. These are good structural changes. Basically, every single paragraph in the entire manuscript was re-written before it was published - except for one paragraph that I created after the book was typeset to fill in space at the beginning of a chapter (the morning after the prom). Editing a book is even more work than writing it, sometimes.
Which version of the song "Paper Moon" did you have in mind for the book?
When I wrote the book, I didn't have a specific recorded version of the song "Paper Moon" in mind. I suppose ideally it would be a version with a fast big-band beat sung by a great male vocalist, but so far I haven't found a version like that.
Some trivia about the song:
"Paper Moon" was written in 1933 by a trio of Jewish composers working in the American entertainment industry during the "Golden Age" -- Billy Rose, E.Y.Harburg, and Harold Arlen.
The song was written for the play The Great Magoo and was originally titled "If You Believed in Me." The title was changed to "It's Only a Paper Moon" when it was sung by June Knight and Charles Rodgers in the 1933 film Take a Chance. (source) Warner Brothers currently owns the copyright.
Billy Rose was a lyricist and theatrical producer with an extensive output of songs that includes "Me and My Shadow." Co-writers Harold Arlen and Edgar "Yip" Harburg also scored the movie "The Wizard of Oz," including the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Yip Harburg also co-wrote the emblematic Depression-era song "Brother can you spare a dime?" Harburg, who experienced personal tragedies ranging from losing everything in the 1921 stock market crash to being blacklisted as a communist (a charge he stridently denied), nevertheless once said, "I am one of the last of a small tribe of troubadours who still believe that life is a beautiful and exciting journey with a purpose and grace which are well worth singing about." He died in 1981.
Throughout its history, the song has been sung and recorded by numerous artists, as various as Ella Fitzgerald and James Taylor. Nat King Cole recorded at least one version of it, and younger audiences (like myself) became familiar with the song through his daughter Natalie Cole's recording of some of her father's greatest hits, collected on the album Unforgettable, with Love.
Natalie Cole in her version adds (or includes) a prelude which I did not use in the book:
I never feel a thing is real
When I'm away from you
Out of your embrace
The world's a temporary parking place
Mmm, mm, mm, mm
A bubble for a minute
Mmm, mm -- You smile,
The bubble has a rainbow in it
Hearing the Song:
You can hear a very brief section of the prelude (and buy the album) at Amazon here.
If you want to hear an instrumental version played on a rather tinny synthesizer, you can hear it for free at The Whole Moon Page, which has a page devoted to "moon tunes."
The singer Abbi Rose has a version on her website.
What parts of the book do you like the least -- and the most?
That's a difficult question. Generally I didn't like the way I did the villain of the book, compared to other villains I've written. Because of the structure of the story, I didn't really get a chance to do very much with his character. I also confess that I really don't like the first chapter of the book very much. :)
I continue to be very fond of the parts of the book that contain Fish and Rose, particularly Fish's showdown with the villain and exchanges with Rose. Some of the small moments in the book I love are the parts between Bear and Blanche, particularly on prom night. I like showing the small growth in Blanche's character, step by step - as she first choses to go to the prom so that she doesn't hurt Bear's feelings, and then, because she realizes that she can't spend her life worrying about what other people will think about her. These early choices prepare her for further, more dangerous choices that she has to make later on. And I love when Rose has reached the place where she is able to recognize the danger she is facing and chooses to face it, regardless. I think those moments when she has to decide is what sets her apart from other Nancy-Drew type heroines who frequently face the same situations. Courage is, I think, always a choice.
Have you thought about making the book into a movie?
I personally think the book would make a great movie, or at least an after-school television special (which might be able to be longer - I'm not sure how the book would fare, condensed into a two-hour format). I have put together a treatment of the book, which I have on hand to show any quality production companies who might be interested (if you are connected with such a production company, feel free to email me!). However, it's something I really couldn't do myself. For more reasons why, check out this post about it on my blog.
Updated 11/5/08: However, I recently gave permission to a fan to make an independent film based on the book. Here's the official movie blog site: http://theshadowofthebear.blogspot.com
Rose and Blanche sleep really late the day after prom. However, that was a Sunday, and come afternoon they are still in bed. Did they forget to go to Mass? - Em, 8/9/04
You know, that's a good question. I'm sure that they wouldn't have. I strongly suspect that they went to a Saturday evening Mass the night before. This probably wasn't so unusual for them - Mrs. Brier as a nurse probably worked quite a few Sundays and during those times, the family probably went to a Saturday evening Mass together.
Hi! I was wondering if you thought of paperdolls for Shadow of the Bear? I think it would be cool if yu had dolls for them. - Madeline, 8/29/04
That's an interesting idea. I hadn't thought of paper dolls for The Shadow of the Bear.
We are working on getting t-shirts with quotes from the books right now, which will hopefully be available in October.
Anyone out there want to try drawing some paper dolls? Let me know if you do. Thanks for the note, Madeline!
UPDATE! 9/28/2009: Paper Dolls of The Shadow of the Bear are now available!
Hi! I just finished reading The Shadow of the Bear, and I thought it was awesome! I do have a question though. At the prom, did Bear request the Paper Moon song? Because the book says that he looked angry when everybody started talking loud. Thanks for your time, A.S. in Cincinnati, 12/20/04
I'm glad you enjoyed the book! To answer your question, no, Bear didn't request the "Paper Moon" song - I think one of the teachers did. Bear just knew how to dance to it, and he was irritated that none of the other kids seemed to like it. He has such good taste.
Was there a particular reason that Blanche’s parents chose a French name for her, or did they just like the name? - Mary L, 6/2/05
I think they just liked the name. I think it struck them as a generic American name - it's been Anglicized enough (ie: most people pronounce it "Blanche" as in 'bland" not "Blanche" as in "blonde" - which is the proper French way to say it.) Thanks for the question!
I've never asked an author a question about a book before, but I was curious about something after reading this one. Just where did Blanche wake up after Prom night in Manhatten? One of my sisters thought it was at the boys' friend Steve's house, but I didn't think the description matched. Yet it seems improbable that the boys would have been able to access their dad's house that easily if they had been kicked out. Did I miss something somewhere? -- Sarah, 9/11/2005
You know, you are the first person who's asked me about this, and that's surprising because it's one of the glaring loose ends in the book. When I wrote the book, I forgot to answer that question (and that was fortunate, because I changed my mind several times about whose place it was). I can't answer your question here, except to say that your suspicions are correct, and if you read the second book, Black as Night, you'll find out what that mysterious place was (and if you find the secret door hidden on theBlack as Night website, you'll find out why I changed my mind several times about where that place was).
Who wrote or said the quote "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well" which Bear says to Blanch in "The Shadow of the Bear"? I really liked that quote and I would love to know who it is by! - Esther, 10/5/05.
The quote is from Julian of Norwich, a female mystic during the Middle Ages, and I heard the quote first in a theology class at Steubenville years ago. It stuck with me. According to this article, it comes from the book that she wrote on her visions, Revelations of Divine Love. Thanks for the good question!
Did Rose ever press charges against Rob Tirsch?
No, but she probably should have.
Are the Fosters Catholic? I would expect them to be, (with Steven going to St. Catherine's and all,) but I've never caught them saying anything that would make them "officially" Catholic. - Elizabeth, 1/9/2006
No, they are NOT Catholic. (I've been waiting for years for someone to ask that!) Mrs. Foster sent Steven to a Catholic school because she liked the good education and the better environment at the school. When I was in Catholic school, there were many black Protestant students there whose parents felt the same way.
When Bear and Blanche were going to the prom, Bear said she looked "elven in that grey hood." Did he mean Middle-Earth elven? - Elizabeth, 1/9/2006
Yes. I think it's the only direct Tolkien reference in the book. (Of course Bear has read Tolkien!)
Maybe I missed something big, but why was Rose depressed at school? (from Chapter 7) - Elizabeth, 1/9/2006
Because Bear had just told them (at the end of Chapter 6) that he would stop coming to see them so often. She always had looked forward to his nightly visits, and when he didn't come on Monday, she was depressed on Tuesday. Does that make sense?
My big sisters Catherine and Rebecca are Shadow of the Bear fans. Rebecca told me part of the story and I think it sounds really cool. I was wondering if you could make a Shadow of the Bear video or computer game. I know its kind of a crazy idea but if you could do it someday I think that would be really neat. Thank you! - Peter, age 8, 2/17/06
That's an interesting idea. I've actually sketched out plots for other video games, but I hadn't yet thought of doing this one. I'll have to think about it! Thanks!
I am wondering why did you leave the eagle, who attacked the dwarf in the fairy tale, out of your book? Could he fit into a fourth book, or its sequel? ~ Melody, 3/18/06
I left the eagle out for the simple (if unfair) reason that the version of the fairy tale that I knew in childhood didn't include him. Madge Miller ommitted the eagle from her version, so I did the same in mine. Since there are only two captive princes, it's a mystery as to where the eagle came from. To be fair, the Brothers Grimm only have one prince being enchanted - the second prince appears in the last line of the fairy tale to marry Rose Red, and there's no indication that he was captured by the dwarf or changed into any kind of animal. Madge Miller makes this mysterious second prince into the enchanted fish (who in her play takes a liking to Rose and always swims beside her when she comes to the pond to fetch water - very nice setup) who menaces the dwarf. So I don't know what to make of the eagle, and sadly, I have no plans for a sequel about him.
Whatever happened to Suzanne? I've always thought that she wasn't one of the especially "bad" types; you know, like an Eileen kind of character. Of course, there is the exception that she also had the too-short prom dress... but perhaps she could have reformed her life? And could she ever be in a future book? - Jacinta, 4/9/2006
Right now I have no plans to bring Suzanne back in another book. I doubt the girls saw her once they moved away from New York. But I'll keep her in mind, just in case Rose ever moves back to the city....
In the dedication inside The Shadow of the Bear, one of the people whom you thank is a Ben, who "helped in a small but significant way." Is he the guy you first modeled Fish after? - Jacinta, 4/9/2006
Right!
When Blanche is getting ready for the prom, I recall her putting on her Sunday watch and a locket necklace she had received from her father. However, in the rest of the book, (and in Black as Night,) it is described more as a necklace with a key on it. Which is it? Hey, I can't help wanting to know! :) And lastly, a question which I have been pondering for the longest time. - Jacinta, 4/9/2006
It was always supposed to be a key necklace, but at one point the publishers wanted me to make it a locket necklace. In the paperback version, I changed everything back from a locket to a key, but apparently I missed one reference! Sorry about that - but thanks for catching it!
Was there a special reason you chose the movie Casablanca for Rose to watch at Rob's house? I have seen the movie, and I wondered if there was a connection with the story. - Natalie, 5/27/06
There's some slight connections. In Casablanca, the lead character, Rick, is a morally ambiguous character. You can't tell whether he's going to end up good or bad (and for those of you who know the history of the script, even the writers didn't know for sure!). At the point my book where Rob suggests to Rose that they watch the movie, he hasn't yet been revealed for the cad that he actually is. Rob picked that movie on purpose: he had sized Rose up and decided that she was a girl who liked culture and had class. He picked Casablanca as a likely movie to tempt her (he was smart enough to tell that she wasn't going to go for something like GunzNLuv or some trashy teen flick). It fits in with Rob's alter persona as an "evil prince" -- he's got a certain amount of savvy and brains as a villain.
I noticed that the dreams of Bear and Rose both actually happen. Blanche was going to get her head stuck in a box of styrofoam balls in Rose's dream, but how did that fit in with what really happened to her? - Natalie, 5/27/06
There's not much of a connection. The dream about the styrofoam balls was one that my best friend had in sixth grade. I used it because of the reference to kidnapping, but otherwise it's just a crazy dream (and one that we both thought was hysterically funny.)
When did Bear start falling in love with Blanche? Was it at a particular part in the book or was it gradual? -- Jessie, 7/10/06
If you look carefully, you can tell that he was interested in Blanche as soon as he saw her (he remembered seeing her in the schoolyard). I think it came on gradually, and he probably realized what was going on sometime during the prom night.
My brother is reading The Cosmic Trilogy by C.S. Lewis, and in the last book,That Hideous Stength, he has discovered a character called Arthur Denniston! It could be a complete coincidence, and my brother doesn't yet know what this Arthur is like, but we just thought we'd ask if you'd ever read the Cosmic Trilogy. Thanks! Elena, 17/06/06
That Hideous Strength is one of my favorite books in the whole world, and yes, I named Bear after a minor character in that book. I think you two are the first ones to pick that up! (And Emily, who wrote me to ask this same question during the same month.)
Questions about the fairy tale
Where can I find the original tale, "Snow White and Rose Red?"
The tale can be found in most collections of the stories collected by the Brothers Grimm, as well as in Andrew Lang's The Blue Fairy Tale Book. I am fond of the illustrated version by Barbara Cooney, still available in many libraries.I've collected some links to on-line sources, which you can access by clicking here. I'd be happy to learn of any other links readers might find. I use quotations from the "original" story in my book at the beginning of each chapter, to tie my story in more closely with the fairy tale.
You mentioned in the book that you were familiar with a child of a version of the fairy tale that's different from the standard Grimm's tale. What was it?
When I published the book, I couldn't find my childhood version, but incredibly, my younger sister unearthed it while cleaning out my parents' library this past winter. When I was a child, I acquired in some mysterious way the Level 11/12 reader for the Scott Foresman Reading Systems, a textbook which has no title. I am looking at it now, on my lap, and there is no title. (No Library of Congress catalog number, nothing.) Imagine how hard it would be to locate this book if my heroic little sister hadn't recovered it. The textbook was published in 1971 and is quite enjoyable for a reader. It contains a variety of stories, among them selections from Beezus and Ramona, Zamani Goes to Market, the poem "The Gighham Dog and the Calico Cat," and articles about racing bathtubs in Vancouver. One article is about a children's theater company and as an example of the plays performed by this company, the Children's Theatre of Chicago, they feature "Snow White and Rose Red," a German folk tale adapted by Madge Miller and photographed by James L. Ballard. The reader contains a 21-page illustrated prose version of the playscript by Ms. Miller. I hope to receive permission from the publisher to post it on this website at some point in the near future.
Since writing the above paragraph, a faithful bibliophilic friend has actually tracked down the playscript. It appears in an out-of-print book, entitled Vol. 1 of Miniature Plays by Madge Miller, published by the Children's Theatre Press in Anchorage, Kentucky (now Anchorage Press Plays) in 1954. I think that Ms. Miller did a marvelous adaptation of the fairy tale. To make it a bit more exciting, she changed certain elements in the plot without altering the images or repetition present in the original.
The prose version of her play was my introduction to the fairy tale "Snow White and Rose Red," and I took it to be the authentic Grimm's version for years. I read this version over and over, and completely absorbed it. When I was perhaps twelve, I finally read the Grimm's version and was dismayed by the "changes."
You probably want to know: what are some of the differences?
In Grimm's version, the tale is strictly divided into two halves - the first part deals with the friendship of the two girls with the talking bear. There are veiled hints that the bear is a human under an enchantment. The bear visits them every evening and becomes their close friend. At the end of this section, the bear tells him he must return to the forest to guard his treasures as spring is coming. In the second section, the girls begin to meet and interact with the evil dwarf, who gives evidence that he is the thief the bear is guarding his treasures from. The girls meet the dwarf three times - once when his beard is caught in a log, next when his beard is caught in a fishing line, and third when he is being attacked by a large eagle. Each time Snow White rescues the dwarf by cutting off part of his beard. Instead of gratitude, he gives them curses and threats for marring his appearance, and each time he seizes a hidden bag and leaves. The tale is resolved when the girls happen upon the dwarf when he is seated in a forest clearing surrounded by the contents of the three bags: stolen gold and jewels. As they see him, a large bear rushes out of the forest. Although the dwarf pleads with the bear to "eat these tender young girls instead," the bear devours him and then changes into a handsome prince. He recounts his enchantment by the dwarf. The ending states that Snow White marries the prince, and that Rose Red marries his brother, who has never been mentioned as either a second guard of the royal treasures or as a partner in the bear-prince's enchantment. (I believe several other Grimm's stories featuring dual heroines arbitrarily introduce a brother as a marriage partner for the second heroine at the end of the tale) The bear is pictured as the sole hero in the tale, and the girls are merely passive observers at the climax. Also it's never made clear why the bear hadn't found and devoured the dwarf at any earlier time, if it was possible to overcome the enchantment so practically and easily.
Ms. Miller artfully weaves these elements into a tighter garment in her playscript. The story of the bear's enchantment is told in part one by having the bear tell the girls a story, a "story within a story" of two princes who were captured and enchanted by a wicked dwarf who was after their treasures. The dwarf had stolen almost all the treasures in the princes' kingdom, and the princes had escaped into the forest with the three remaining treasures - gold, silver, and a golden box of jewels, which they hid. The dwarf captured the first prince, and when he wouldn't confess where the treasures were hidden, the dwarf turned him into a fish. Then the dwarf captured the second prince, who was as obstinate as his brother, and was turned into a bear for his pains. Both princes were threatened with "a fate worse than enchantment" if they told anyone their names. The bear breaks off the story, saying he doesn't know how it ends, giving the girls a strong hint as to his identity.
As spring comes on, the girls meet the dwarf in the forest, rescue him when his beard is pinched in a log, and see him recover part of the treasure. They report this event to the bear on his nightly visit, and he responds with concern and says he will not come back again. Some time later, the girls meet the dwarf as he struggles with a large fish who is pulling him into the water by his beard. Snow White responds by cutting off more of his beard, which the dwarf calls his magic beard. He curses them, and then finds a bag hidden by the fish pond. The girls overhear him exclaiming that he only has one third of the treasure left to find. The girls, who quickly put two and two together, ask him if the last treasure is a golden box of jewels. He threatens them with death unless they tell him where the treasure can be found. Snow White pretends to agree to deliver the bear and the treasure into his hands, and the dwarf goes home with them. He hides under the table in their house while Snow White goes off to find the bear. It's not explained how she finds him so quickly, but she does. The bear, prompted by Snow White, reveals that he has the box of jewels around his neck, and the dwarf leaps out and demands them. He has Snow White take the box from the bear and carry it to him. She then opens the box and snaps it shut on his magic beard, trapping him, and swiftly cuts off his magic beard. Shorn of his power, he falls down dead, and the spell is broken. The two princes, freed from their animal forms, appear to the girls and propose marriage, which of course is accepted.
Readers of my book will probably pick up from this synopsis how this version of the story shaped my amplified fairy tale significantly, almost more so than Grimm's.
Part of this is because Ms. Miller's version beautifully simplifies the structure of the original tale, and while it omits the third meeting of the girls and the dwarf (the incidence of Three in fairy tales is a significant motif in most tales), it also eliminates the eagle as an unexplainable third hostile party to the dwarf, leaving the large fish and the bear as the dwarf's two enemies - hence, the two princes. This is satisfying. She also provides a clearer location of the dwarf's power - his beard, as well as illustrating that the dwarf's magic cannot be overcome by mere brute strength. It is also nicer that the girls in Ms. Miller's version have a more active role in the climax, continuing with their active role throughout the story.
The one problem I find with Ms. Miller's version is that Snow White, in rescuing the dwarf from the fish, is made an effective accomplice in the prince's captivity - in other words, if she hadn't rescued him, perhaps the fish would have drowned the dwarf and broken the enchantment. (I found out later this question is overlooked in the prose summary, but Ms. Miller does address this issue in the play.) While I found this an interesting question to ponder, I ultimately never raised that issue in my story.
Incidentally, the two girls in Ms. Miller's play are named Rosalie and Blanchette, with the nicknames of "Rose Red" and "Snow White." I would encourage readers to find Ms. Miller's play (used booksellers on the Web may have a copy) and enjoy the intricacies of the fairy tale for themselves - there is much in the playscript that I haven't summarized, which makes the tale more plausible and strong.
I have always found it interesting that even though Rose Red is portrayed as the more "active" of the two sisters (Snow White is characterized by critics as "homebound" and "sedate"), it is Snow White and not her adventurous sister who each time takes the lead in rescuing the dwarf and, in Miller's version, constructing the subterfuge by which the dwarf is defeated. Both versions reinforce this by having Snow White marry the primary hero - the bear. It is an interesting comment, perhaps, on what the creators of the story conceived of as the ideal character of a heroine.
I had some trouble researching fairy tales in general, from a Christian perspective, and there is so much out there on the subject. Do you have any resources or suggestions? - Terril, 4/11/00
I would recommend looking at G.K. Chesterton's comments on fairytales. Also, J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, further expanded on Chesterton's thoughts in his landmark essay "On Fairy Stories" which can be found in several collections. Most Western fairy tales were products of Christianity and hence are inherently moral, though not always in accord with our modern sensibilities about violence and revenge.
