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Snow-white and Rose-red kept their mother's little cottage so

neat that it was a pleasure to look inside it. In the summer

Rose-red took care of the house, and every morning laid a wreath

of flowers by her mother's bed before she awoke, in which was a

rose from each tree. In the winter Snow-white lit the fire and

hung the kettle on the hob. The kettle was of brass and shone

like gold, so brightly was it polished. In the evening, when the

snowflakes fell, the mother said: 'Go, Snow-white, and bolt the

door,' and then they sat round the hearth, and the mother took

her spectacles and read aloud out of a large book, and the two

girls listened as they sat and spun. And close by them lay a lamb

upon the floor, and behind them upon a perch sat a white dove

with its head hidden beneath its wings.