Once upon a time, there were two sisters who were kind, helpful, and well-mannered. When the girls were born, two rose bushes grew outside their front door. One of rose bushes was full of roses as pale as the first baby’s skin, and their mother named her Snow White. The other rose bush was full of roses as red as the second baby’s skin, and their mother named her Rose Red.
One day, the girls (now young women) were out in the woods picking berries for their mother when they heard a terrible howl. They followed the sound, and came upon a bear caught in a hunter’s trap.
[[The girls help the bear.]]
[[The girls walk on.]]The young women knew they had to free the poor bear from the hunter’s trap, so they slowly approached the bear.
It howled and swung at them, and they were startled. But they finally reached the bear, and together they were able to loosen the trap and free the bear
The bear stretched to its full height. “Thank you. I thought for sure I would be that hunter’s trophy.”
The girls invited the bear to come back to their cottage, where they could tend to the bear’s injured paw. The bear gratefully accepted, and the young women made their way home.
Within a week, the bear’s paw was feeling much better, but he enjoyed the young women’s companionship so much that he stayed through the fall, helping the family by making sure their firewood was stacked and by gathering food and provisions for the winter.
[[But the morning of the first snowfall, he vanished.]]The snarls and grunts ricocheted through the trees creating a cacophonous symphony so loud the girls had to put their hands over their ears as they ran through the clearing.
The howling faded after they’d run a good bit, but both girls were shaken.
Rose Red shook the basket and frowned, “We’ve dropped all of Mother’s berries.”
Snow White gave her a reassuring smile, “We’ll just gather more on our way back home.”
So, the girls started back toward their cottage, giving the clearing a wide berth. They gathered berries as they went, but in the distance they could still hear the bear’s mournful wail.
“Maybe we should go back and help him,” Snow White suggested after a while.
“You can if you want,” Rose Red shrugged. “I don’t want to be mauled to death.”
“Please!” Snow White begged.
[[Both sisters return to help the bear.]]
[[One sister returns to help the bear.]]The young women kept an eye out for their new friend, but after a few days it became clear the bear had returned to his life in the woods. They missed him terribly, but hoped he’d found somewhere safe to hibernate.
Sometimes, late at night, they would hear howls of varying animals and fear for their friend. Sometimes, the howls would be too close to the cottage, and they would fear for themselves.
Eventually, they forgot about the bear and went on about their daily lives.
And then one day, just after the snow melted, there was a knock at the door.
[[Hello!]]
[[Um...hello?]]Rose Red opened the door, and there was a handsome prince. She gasped as she stepped away from the door.
The prince asked if he could come inside, and the mother invited him in. “I wanted to come and thank you.”
The young women watched him, confused.
He explained that a witch had turned him into a bear, a curse that would only be lifted when people were kind to him as a bear. The young women’s kindness the previous summer had done the trick, and he was now back to himself.
He had fallen in love with Rose Red and wanted her to marry him and join him in his castle.
[[Snow White may join us, of course!]]
[[Snow White was left behind.]]The knock was heavy and ragged. Rose Red opened the door with great trepidation.
The bear, looking rather haggard, stood there snarling.
Rose Red joyfully greeted her old friend. The bear swiped at her, knocking her down, before it started to maul her.
Terrified, the mother sent Snow White out of the room and swung a copper pot at the bear, trying to chase it away from Rose Red’s body. Finally, she beat the pot against the stone walls of the cottage, creating enough noise that the bear limped away, whimpering.
Once the bear was gone, the mother and Snow White buried Rose Red under the red rosebush. Within weeks, they moved into town and vowed to never set foot in the woods again.Rose Red refused to leave without her mother and sister. Her mother wanted to remain in her cottage, to look after things in case another lost soul needed a place to heal.
But Snow White was grateful to be allowed to stay with her sister. They all three traveled to the castle, where the prince’s brother met them.
For the younger prince and Snow White, it was love at first sight, and that following summer there was a double wedding (that their mother attended, of course).
And they all lived happily ever after.Snow White helped Rose Red pack and bade her a cheerful farewell.
She helped their mother tend to the cottage, and wrote back and forth with her sister, happy to hear castle life was agreeing with Rose Red.
A couple of years later, there was another knock at the door. A merchant, bedraggled and worn, stood there. He had been set upon by highwaymen, and lost everything. He only wanted to know where the next town was.
Touched by the man’s perseverance, Snow White offered to help him reach the closest town. He gladly accepted, and they traveled together.
By the time they’d reached town, they had both become quite enamored of each other and Snow White agreed to travel back to his home with him.
That winter, they were married. Rose Red, the prince, and their mother attended.
And they lived happily ever after.“No! I’m going home, and if you’re smart, you’ll come with me.” Rose Red picked up the basket and headed for home. Snow White looked back toward the bear, and then followed her sister.
Back at the cottage, the young women told their mother about the bear.
“Oh, my dears! You must go back and help him. How would you like to be trapped, knowing you’d never see each other again?”
Snow White grabbed her cloak, Rose Red shuffling behind. They raced back to the clearing where they had left the bear a few hours earlier.
[[It's a human!]]
[[He's still alive!]]“No.” Rose Red picked up her basket. “You can go if you want to. I’m going home.”
“But it needs our help.”
“It’s going to maul you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Rose Red spun on her heel and headed back toward the cottage.
Snow White watched her sister leave, and then back toward the bear, whose cries were getting weaker. Finally, she made up her mind and returned to the clearing.
[[Is Rose Red wrong?]]
[[Is Snow White wrong?]]The young women returned to the clearing, but found no sign of a bear.
In fact, there was a young man caught in the trap.
“This isn’t right!” Rose Red exclaimed. “This is the right clearing. There was a bear here!”
Snow White agreed, but was just as lost as her sister. She looked at the ground, trying to figure out how a man came to be trapped in the same place a bear had been trapped only hours before.
“This doesn’t make sense,” Snow White murmured. “The only tracks here are bear tracks. How did this man get here?”
Rose Red had inspected the young man. “It doesn’t matter. It looks like the elements got him.”
Snow White paled, “You don’t mean he’s...?”
Rose Red nodded.
“Then...,” Snow White twisted the hem of her cloak,“we should give him a proper burial.”
So the young women went home and grabbed a shovel and some blankets, and came back and buried the young man.
On the walk home, Snow White said, “I wonder if maybe the bear was cursed.”
Rose Red gave her a funny look.
“I mean...I wonder if that man was the bear, but under a curse.”
Rose Red shrugged. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Now, he’s nothing.”The bear hadn’t moved, but his cries were weaker, quieter than they had been. It didn’t even have the energy to swipe at them as they approached.
The young women fought with the trap, trying to pry it off without causing the bear any more pain, and finally freed it.
The bear flexed his paw a bit. “Thank you. Any later, and I might have passed out.”
The young women invited him home to good food and a warm hearth, and the bear gratefully accepted.
Their mother, happy to see the bear alive, made a large vegetable and rabbit stew, which the bear ate most of the pot. And then the young women sat down with the bear in front of the fire and tended his injured paw.
The next morning, the bear was feeling better and started helping out around the house. By the end of the week, the bear felt well enough to walk around outside. So, he gathered and stacked firewood for the upcoming winter.
That night, before the family went to bed, the bear thanked them for their hospitality.
The next morning, he was gone. The young women searched and searched for him, but they never found him again.
They missed their bear friend, and in time moved on. But every autumn when they gathered firewood, they always thought of the bear who had stayed with them that one summer.The bear barely raised its head when it saw her.
“It’s all right,” she whispered. “I’m here to help you.”
The bear lay still as Snow White worked the trap off his paw. She looked at the paw, carefully cleaning mud and leaves off so she could get a better look at where the trap had dug into it. “I’m going to go get some water. You stay here.”
On her way to the nearby creek, she realized she had only her canteen to take back water. She hoped it was enough.
When she returned, the bear hadn’t moved, but it was now batting at a fallen tree branch, clearly bored. She took his paw, poured some water onto the corner of her cloak and began to dab at it. The bear winced and then relaxed as she spoke quietly. Finally convinced the wounds were clean enough, she tore a strip off her cloak and wound it around the paw.
“You’re going to have to stay off that paw for a bit.” She looked around. “Maybe I should go refill the canteen so you will have some water. Assuming you can even work a canteen.”
“Actually, I’m quite skilled at using canteens.” Snow White jumped as a deep human voice emanated from the bear. “But I think I can get to the creek. Will you walk with me?”
Snow White was stunned, but nodded. The young woman and the bear walked together to the stream. On the way, they chatted about this and that, and Snow White found the bear’s company rather pleasant.
At the stream, the bear jumped in and washed his face, blowing bubbles and making Snow White laugh. Then, the water around him began to steam. “This is new,” he remarked.
Snow White stood, ready to charge in and drag him out, when she suddenly saw a patch of fur fall off the bear. She took off her cloak, twisting it into a rope-like shape. “Here! Catch this.”
“Wait!” Another patch of fur fell off, and he sank back into the water. “I think this a good thing.”
“How can steaming water be a good thing?” Snow White demanded. But the bear didn’t answer.
After several minutes, the steaming finally stopped. The bear had vanished. Snow White sank to the ground, burying her face against her knees and crying.
“Snow White, what’s wrong?” A deep voice asked.
She looked up expecting to see the bear, but instead saw a handsome young man wrapped in her cloak. “Who are you?” She jumped to her feet.
“The bear.” When she looked skeptical, he laughed. “I was cursed. A witch came to my father’s castle one day, and I’m afraid I wasn’t very nice to her. So she turned me into a bear, and I couldn’t change back until someone was nice to me, despite my appearance.”
“Castle? You’re a prince?”
“Now that I’m back to myself, yes.” He adjusted the cloak around himself. “I’m sure everyone at the castle must think I’m dead and gone.” He turned back to Snow White, “Would you come with me?”
“What?” Snow White took a step back from him.
“You are the one who broke the curse. Please say you’ll come with me. You’ll be treated like a princess.”
Snow White looked back toward her mother’s cottage and thought about all she’d be giving up before finally taking the young man’s extended hand. “All right.”
[[And she just rode off ito the sunset?]]About six months later, a letter arrived at the cottage - a royal wedding announcement. The prince and Snow White had married.
There was a handwritten note tucked inside:
*My dearest Rose Red, It turns out you were wrong. The bear was a cursed prince. We are now living happily in his castle. Please visit as soon as you can. Love, Snow White*The bear snarled and swung at her with his healthy paw. Snow White jumped back, “Is that any way to treat someone who’s trying to help you?” The bear settled.
Snow White wrestled with the trap for a bit before finally finding the release mechanism and removing it. She looked over the paw before cleaning it off as much as she could with the corner of her cloak. She then tore off a strip of her cloak and bandaged the bear’s paw.
The bear looked like it had drifted off to sleep. “Perhaps the pain was too much. Poor thing.” She brushed its chin.
In an instant, the bear chomped down on her arm and dragged her off toward the nearby creek.
[[That poor girl!]]A few hours later, Rose Red returned to the clearing, feeling guilty for walking off on her sister. But she found no trace of Snow White or the bear...until she noticed a strip of fabric. It was a piece of Snow White’s cloak.
She then noticed a wide trail cleared on the ground, and she followed it until she found her sister’s dead, mangled body near the creek.
Grief strangled her for several moments, and then she cried and screamed at the heavens before throwing herself into the creek in despair for the sister she failed to protect.