Snow White and the Seven Voices

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a princess named Snow White. With hair black as ebony, lips as red as blood and skin white as snow, she was, by far, the most fair maiden in the land. She was kind and gentle, even through years of servitude under her jealous stepmother, the queen.1

Every day, the fatally beautiful queen went to her magic mirror and asked it who was the fairest in the land. When, one day, it confessed that Snow White truly was the fairest in the land, the queen, who was an expert at making potions decided to get a little… creative. Would it be boils, or welts, or baldness? It didn’t take her long to decide what she would do.2

“Oh Snow White!” the queen called one Spring morning, and Snow White came running immediately from her chores, being the naïve and loyal girl that she was. “I made a special apple tea just for you.”3

“Apple tea? Why, goodness! Thank you!” Snow White happily accepted the tiny porcelain teacup.4

“You’re very welcome, child. Now drink it up, every last drop.”5

“Gladly!” Snow White put the teacup to her crimson lips and drank every last drop, just as the queen had asked her to. The queen smiled, ecstatic, taking the teacup after Snow White had finished and throwing it to a passing maid.6

“Now we’ll see who is the fairest in the land,” she said, and her evil cackle echoed against the stone walls of the castle.7

As it turned out, the queen had put a poison in the tea, and Snow White, being as naïve as she was, had no idea. But the voices started soon enough.8

“Snow White! So glad to finally meet you!”9

“Oh shut up, you nincompoop.”10

“Now now, gentlemen, settle.”11

“I’ll settle you!”12

Snow White, very confused as to why she was hearing three masculine voices, began to search for where they were coming from. “Hello?” she called as she walked throughout the castle, her calls echoing much as the queen’s laughter had.13

“Snow White! Come into the highest tower!”14

Snow White did as the fourth, new voice said, and climbed the spiral staircase that led to the tallest tower in the castle. As she climbed, she heard a hiccup, and looked around to see where it had come from. “Hello?” she called again, but received no answer.15

When she reached the highest tower, there was nothing there but a pile of sticks and a bit of string.16

“Fasten them together, Snow White, in the shape of a person!” said a fifth voice, and Snow White did as she was told.17

“Oh! What a lovely little stick man!”18

“Now put it in the window!” said a sixth voice, and there was another hiccup.19

Snow White put the stick statue in the window and climbed back down the stairs.20

“Snow White!” said another of the voices. At this time, Snow White was beginning to get very confused, and continued to look for where the voices were coming from.21

“Snow White, you must go down into the dungeon now.”22

“Why would I go into the dungeon?”23

“Just do it already!”24

“You’re not very nice, are you?”25

“Go!” all the voices chorused, and there was another hiccup. So Snow White went to the dungeon, where there were skeletons of hundreds of previous intruders.26

“Oh my,” Snow White said, feeling very uneasy.27

“Gather up twenty bones!”28

“Why?”29

“Gather the bones, Snow White! They will protect you from evil if you put them in your window!”30

Snow White did as she was told, and placed them along the windowsill of her small room.31

Now, the voices never stopped talking, and Snow White could never figure out where they were coming from. Many of the other servants in the castle asked her who she was talking to.32

After a week, Snow White had had it.33

“Stop talking to me! Stop it! Get out of my head!”34

“Ah, so you figured out who we are!”35

“Very good!”36

“Took you long enough!”37

“Please,” Snow White pleaded, pulling on her ebony hair, “just leave me alone! I beg of you!”38

“We can’t leave you alone.”39

“We die when you die.”40

They began to chorus this. “We die when you die, We die when you die.”41

And then they began a song. “Hi ho, Hi ho, Snow White’s a witch, we know!” and this continued on and on until Snow White ripped some of her perfect hair from her head as she screamed as loud as she could.42

Many in the castle came rushing, and the queen observed from behind all of them.43

“Snow White,” said one of the coachmen, “why are there bones in your windowsill?”44

“They won’t stop,” she chanted, as the singing in her head continued.45

One of the maids spoke up then. “I found a man made of sticks hanging in the high tower.”46

“Please, you have to help me!” Snow White pleaded. “The voices in my head, they won’t stop singing!”47

“Channeling the voices of the dead!”48

“She’s a witch!”49

“Hi ho, hi ho, Snow White’s a witch, we know, they’re going to burn her at the stake hi ho, hi ho hi ho hi ho, hi ho, Snow White’s a witch, we know-”50

“Stop singing!” she wailed. “Be quiet! Leave me alone!”51

“She’s a witch!”52

“To the stake!”53

And, as Snow White struggled against the grasp of the men and the voices in her head, the singing continued, and the queen watched, smiling the whole time as she watched Snow White’s perfect skin and perfect hair and perfect lips turn to nothing but a pile of ash.54

“Now who’s the fairest in the land?”55