Story: Celtic Snow White and a Young Witch

Young Witch. Link

Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful witch named Silver-Tree. Her kind heart was as beautiful as her appearance. So, when she came to the age to marry, a young King of the territory asked for her hand. She agreed to marry this young King who promised to love her and to make her happy for the rest of her life. After they happily married for two years, they welcomed their precious princess, Golden-Tree. The young princess had such a dazzling beauty as young age, but to the King and Queen, she was their bundle of joy.

Time flied. The Golden-Tree grew up to be more beautiful, and her beauty overshadowed everybody around her even her beautiful mother, Silver-Tree. As Golden-Tree’s beauty surpassed her, Silver-Tree grew anxious and felt sick. The King knew about this, but both his wife and his daughter were his life. Before he could think of a way to resolve this problem, Silver-Tree requested him to get the heart and liver of their own daughter’s because she believed that she would be cured after eating them.

At moment, the King knew that his current Queen was not his real wife because his wife was a very kind and merciful woman. She would not hurt another being for her own benefit. Thinking this fake Queen might have locked his wife up and intended to kill his beloved daughter, Golden-Tree. He quickly married his daughter to neighboring Prince and told his knight to fetch a heart and liver from a young deer. He told his fake Queen that these fleshes came from Golden-Tree. After eating them, the fake Queen cheered up again.

The King had his spies watch the fake Queen closely every day, hoping to find where she locked up his wife. The King believed that his wife still alive because of the small mirror that she gave him at their wedding day. His wife told him that the mirror represented her life source, and as long as the mirror was not broken, she was still safe. Due to this mirror, he searched for his Silver-Tree since the fake Queen’s request of Golden-Tree’s life.

Finally, one day, his spy saw the fake Queen walked into the old garden near the palace. She looked into the well and started talking. She asked the well if she was still the fairest. A soft voice from the well answered.

“Of course not, the fairest one is Golden-Tree. You lived in someone else’s skin even your beauty does not belong to you.”

“Lies, I ate your daughter’s heart and liver. Now, I am the fairest.”

The argument went on. The spy quickly informed the King. The King arrived to the well after the fake Queen left. In the well, he found a silver trout. He knew this trout was his wife. He asked her.

“Dear one, are you my ill-fated wife, Silver-Tree?”

“My dear husband, I’m so glad that you have found me, but quickly inform our daughter, Golden-Tree, that the fake Queen is planning to kill her again.”

“Tell me, what had happened to you? Who is the fake Queen? What can I do to save you?”

“My husband, the fake Queen is an evil and powerful witch. She poisoned me and trapped me in this form, but she could not kill me because she still needs my blood to disguise as me. She wanted to be the fairest and the most powerful woman in the land. Both you and Golden-Tree are in danger. Please send your people to the east mountain, where my student resided. She was a very talented witch, and she might be able to help us in this state of danger.”

The King followed his wife’s sayings and sent people to look for his wife’s student, Ella, and informed his naïve daughter of the fake Queen’s identity. Before Ella could come, the King heard the new that his daughter was killed by the fake Queen’s poisonous dart. He visited his wife and mourned with her for the death of their only child.

As they were weeping, a young woman approached them. The King alarmed of the stranger. The woman introduced herself as Ella, and Silver-Tree recognized her student. Ella came to inform that Golden-Tree was not dead. She was put to sleep instead by the help of Ella, who heard about Silver-Tree’s situation and rescued Golden-Tree just in time.

Ella told them that she would stay with Golden-Tree until she finds the cure for the poisonous dart. During this time, she teamed up with the Golden-Tree’s husband that she would pretend to be his second wife to ensure the fake Queen that Golden-Tree was dead.

After three years, Ella finally woke Golden-Tree for her deadly sleep. At the same, the fake Queen heard about the new, and she set out to kill Golden-Tree for the third time. When the fake Queen arrived to the land where Golden-Tree and her husband lived, during the welcoming ceremony, she asked Golden-Tree to drink the wine that she gave her. Ella stood out as the Prince’s second wife and interceded. She offered the fake Queen her goblet of win in return of her generosity in offering wine to Golden-Tree. As Golden-Tree accepted the fake Queen’s wine and drank it. The fake Queen also took a sip of the wine offered by Ella. The fake Queen quickly dropped dead. She did not know that Ella had switched the wine between her cup and the cup she offered to Golden-Tree, and so the fake Queen was killed her own poison.

After the fake Queen died, Silver-Tree was freed from her trout form and returned to her beloved husband and daughter. The whole family was very grateful of Ella’s help, and they offered adopted Ella, making her a princess of the land. As an orphan, Ella happily accepted the offer to have a family, but she spent most of her time traveling from land to land to improve her magic.

Bibliography. Joseph Jacobs.  Celtic Fairy Tales. Link

Author’s Note

I based this story from “Golden-Tree and Silver-Tree” in the Celtic Fairy Tales. I found this version of Snow White very dark and not logical since Silver-Tree, the birth mother of Golden-Tree, wanted to kill her own daughter just because of her beauty. In addition, the King, Golden-Tree’s father and Silver-Tree’s husband, did not do much to resolve this problem and to protect his daughter. So, I made some twists like the evil Queen was not Golden-Tree’s mother but an identity theft and the talking trout, who worked as the magic mirror in this story, was the true Queen. I want to make this story less horror and emphasize the role of the King. Of course, I made a change on the Prince’s second wife who was rescued Golden-Tree from the poisonous dart and wine. In the story, the second wife offered to leave, letting the Prince and Golden-Tree lived happy together, but the Prince and Golden-Tree asked her to stay. Although the story ended where they lived happily together, I want to give the second wife a better background and better life.