Aniesha Brahma knew she wanted to be a writer since she was six years old. She was schooled in Dolna Day School and went on to pursue B.A., M.A., and M.Phil in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur Univeristy. She currently lives in Kolkata, with her family and five pet cats. She compiled and edited the 10 volumes series, 'Children's Classic Stories' with love and great efforts.

1. Snow White

Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom, there lived a King and his Queen. They were fair rulers of their land and all their subjects loved them. But the only thing that the King and the Queen wished for above all else, was a child. On a cold winter night, the Queen sent out a silent prayer.

“I wish to have a daughter who has hair as black as ebony, skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood.”

By the next winter, the King and the Queen were blessed with a baby girl whose skin was as white as snow, hair as black as ebony and lips as red as blood. Nothing could make the couple happier. They named their daughter Snow White.

When Snow White was still a small child, her mother passed away. After mourning the Queen’s death, the King married again. But he did not know that the new Queen was wicked and jealous, and owned a magic mirror. She would stand in front of this magic mirror in her chambers every morning and ask,

“Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?”

Every morning the mirror would dutifully reply, “It you, my Queen, who is the fairest of them all.”

Snow White’s father the King died a few years later and the Queen and Snow White became the sole residents of their castle.

As the years passed, Snow White grew up to be a beautiful, kind-hearted and generous maiden. She could sing with the birds and she well beloved across the entire kingdom. One morning, the Queen asked her mirror the same question she had always asked:

“Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?”

This time the mirror replied, “It is Snow White, who is the fairest of them all.”

The Queen flew into a jealous rage and ordered the huntsman to take Snow White deep within the woods and kill her. Snow White willingly walked with the huntsman deep into the woods, singing with the birds and talking about how beautiful everything was. The huntsman could not bear to carry out such a heinous task and therefore, told Snow White the truth.

“Your stepmother is an Evil Queen. She wants you dead,” he told her, “Runaway, Snow White. Far, far away from here if you want to live.”

Poor Snow White was shocked to learn that her stepmother could hate her enough to want to kill her. She cried bitterly as she ran aimlessly through the woods. After what felt like hours, she stumbled upon a little cottage in the heart of the woods. She knocked on the door, but no one answered. The door opened when she gave it a slight push.

Snow White went inside and explored the little cottage. There was a large table in the kitchen, around which were seven chairs. Upstairs, there was a row of seven beds. Feeling exhausted by the excitement of her day, Snow White crept into one of the beds and fell fast asleep.

Now this little cottage belonged to seven little dwarves who had gone off to work. When they came back home, they realized that someone had been in their cottage. They found Snow White sleeping peacefully and quietly went about their work, trying their best not to wake her. All of them felt sad for the fair maiden fast asleep.

When Snow White awoke, she was startled to find the seven dwarves in the kitchen, eating their supper.

“Why are you so far away from home, my dear?” one of the dwarves asked her.

“Because my stepmother is the Evil Queen and she wants to kill me!” Snow White said, and burst into tears.

The dwarves assured her that she was safe with them and she could stay with them as long as she wanted to. Snow White happily agreed. Every day the dwarves would go to work and Snow White would dust and clean their little cottage and make their supper for them.

In the Evil Queen’s castle, she once again looked into the mirror and said,

“Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?”

The mirror said, “It is Snow White, who lives in the heart of the woods with seven dwarves who is the fairest of them all.”

The Queen was furious and taking matters into her own hands disguised herself as a farmer’s wife and went to pay Snow White a little visit. She went there on the pretext of selling corsets. Snow White came out of the cottage to greet her and the farmer’s wife persuaded her to try on the corset. Snow White, feeling sorry for the woman, agreed to it. But the Queen tied the corset as tightly as she could, and Snow White, unable to breathe collapsed onto the ground.

When the dwarves came back home, they found Snow White, and immediately cut the strings of her corset. Snow White awoke with a start. She told the dwarves her tale and they advised her, “Do not let anyone else come into the house. And don’t you step out of the house.”

Again, the Queen asked her mirror, who was the fairest of them all. The mirror replied, “It is still Snow White.”

Furious, the Queen decided to disguise herself as a gypsy and took with her a poisoned comb. When she came upon the cottage and knocked on the door, Snow White appeared at the window.

“Sorry. I cannot offer you food and shelter,” she said.

“That is okay. Would you like to buy this beautiful comb, my dear?” the Queen disguised as the gypsy asked.

“But I have no money,” Snow White said.

“No matter. Think of it as a gift,” the Queen offered.

But no sooner had Snow White put the comb in her head that she fell down in a faint. The Queen, laughing maliciously at her task, returned to her castle.

The dwarves found Snow White and immediately sensing something was wrong, pulled the comb out of her head. Snow White woke up and once again, realized she had been tricked by the Evil Queen.

When the Queen found out that Snow White had survived her third attempt of being killed, she was livid. This time she took the rarest magic she possessed: a poisoned apple. She took that and this time, disguising herself as a poor old, woman paid Snow White’s cottage a visit.

“I cannot let you in. And neither can I offer you anything,” Snow White told the old woman through the window, “I am sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, my dear,” the old woman said in a raspy voice, “Why don’t you have an apple?” She held out a red, juicy apple to Snow White.

“But I have nothing to give you,” Snow White said.

“You look like you could use a nice, juicy apple,” the Queen said.

Snow White smiled and took the apple from her. As soon as she had taken the first bite, she fell upon the floor in a dead faint. The apple rolled out of Snow White’s handed and landed in the corner of the cottage, where even the dwarves would not be able to find it.

The Queen went back to her castle and asked her magic mirror,

“Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?”

The mirror replied, “It is you, my Queen.”

The Queen was satisfied. However, when the dwarves returned home to find Snow White had been poisoned, they wept over her. They made her a beautiful glass coffin where Snow White lay, and the dwarves stood around her, mourning her.

Many years passed before a handsome young Prince came riding through the woods. He stopped when he saw the beautiful girl lying in the glass coffin. With the dwarves permission, he kissed Snow White. At once, Snow White woke up from her deep slumber and fell in love with the handsome Prince. When he asked her to be his bride, she joyfully agreed.

The next morning the Queen asked her mirror:

“Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?”

The mirror answered, “The fairest is the new-made Queen.”

Out of both curiosity and jealousy, the Queen set off to find who the new-made Queen was. When she arrived at the palace and realized it was none other than Snow White, she choked with rage, fell down severely ill and died.

But the Prince and Snow White ruled their kingdom justly and fairly for a long, long time and they lived happily ever after.

2. Beauty and the Beast

Once upon a time there lived a rather wealthy merchant with his three beautiful daughters in a grand mansion. The youngest daughter was called Belle. She was good and kind, and she loved reading books. The elder daughters were vain and loved their possessions. However, ill fortunate soon came to the family for the merchant lost all three of his ships to the sea. He sold off all his valuable goods, his mansion and began a new life in a humble cottage with his three daughters.

The elder two daughters were most displeased by the turn of events and did nothing but complain about their lives all day long. Belle, however, decided to be useful. She learned how to cook and clean, kept their little house in spick and span order. She loved her father and sister dearly and she was grateful that despite all their misfortune they still had one another.

One day the merchant heard that one of his ships had survived the shipwreck. Delighted, he shared the good news with his daughters.

“When I come back we shall be rich once again,” he said, “now tell, my girls, what would you like me to bring for you as presents?”

“I want you to bring me back new clothes and fine jewelry,” the eldest daughter said at once.

“Yes. For me too,” the second one agreed, “I am tired of wearing these rags.”

“And what should I bring for you, my Belle?” asked the merchant turning to his youngest daughter.

She smiled and said, “Please bring me back a single red rose if you find it, Father.”

When the merchant had set off on his journey, the elder sisters laughed at Belle and said, “You could have asked for anything, and yet you chose to ask for a rose?”

But Belle went on her merry way and did not answer her sisters’ teasing. Meanwhile, the merchant had reached the docks and found to his dismay that the ship did not belong to him. He remained as poor as he had always been. Heartbroken by the news, he wandered back home and eventually lost his way.

As his horse trotted on, the merchant realized he had strayed from his path. But he saw lights coming from a castle not far from where he was and he urged his horse to go towards it. He put his horse in the stables where he found blankets and food. He entered the castle and called out, “Is anyone here?”

The lights of the passage led him to the kitchen where food had been laid out. He ate hungrily and soon found a bed in the castle and slept off.

In the morning, he tried to look for the Prince who had shown him such hospitality. But he found no one. The merchant knew he would have to go back to his daughters soon, so he made his way towards the stables. On his way there, he noticed a single red rose growing in a shrub in front of the castle.

“Is this just what Belle wanted,” he said to himself, as he plucked it from the shrub.

“HOW DARE YOU!” a voice roared angrily behind him.

The merchant turned and found himself face to face with a huge, ugly beast! He trembled with fear as the beast roared again, “I gave you food and shelter, and this how you repay me? By robbing me off my most prized possession?”

“Please, please,” the merchant pleaded, “I meant no harm. My daughter, Belle, she asked me to bring her a red rose. And I thought she might like this one.”

“Hmm,” said the beast, eyeing the frightened man, “You may leave with the rose. However, in three months time you must come back and bring me your daughter. She will stay with me in my castle from then on. But if you do not return, I will come and kill you.”

The merchant was so frightened that he agreed to it at once. He ran off on his horse, trying to forget about the beast but he could not. When he reached home, his daughters greeted him. He told them that the ship was not his but did not tell about the beast yet. After he apologized to the elder ones for not bringing their gifts, he turned to Belle and handed her the rose.

“This is the only gift I could get, I’m afraid.”

“Oh, father, it’s beautiful,” Belle exclaimed taking it, “Where did you get it?”

Finally, the merchant told them about the beast and the bargain he had made with him. Belle nodded and said, “Then it is settled. After three months, you shall take me to the beast. You cannot die, father. We need you.”

After three months had passed, the merchant took Belle to the beast’s castle. The beast greeted them. Belle was frightened by his appearance and shrank away from him. He said that Belle should think of herself as the mistress of the castle and that the merchant was welcome to stay the night but must leave in the morning. So Belle and her father spent the entire night talking to each other.

The next day, Belle wandered all over the castle. She found a great many interesting things lying around, among them a library that was filled with books. She was very interested in those. Finally, when it was time for supper, she found it laid down in the banqueting hall.

“May I join you?” the Beast asked.

“Yes,” Belle answered.

So the Beast sat with her as she ate her supper, and asked her, “Do you find me ugly?”

“Yes,” Bell said, truthfully, “but I don’t find you as frightening as I thought I would.”

Soon Belle and the Beast became fast friends, talking and laughing. As the days passed they became more fond of each other. One day, the Beast asked Belle, “Will you marry me?”

Belle was quite stunned and replied, “No.”

Even though the Beast was disappointed, he gifted her a magic mirror which allowed Belle to see her family. Watching her family from it, she realized one day that her father fallen terribly sick. She asked the Beast to go see her father and nurse him back to health.

“Of course,” the Beast agreed, “but take care to come back in eight days or else I shall die.”

He gave her a magic green ring which allowed her to take herself back home. The merchant was overjoyed to see Belle. She nursed him back to health and on the eight day, prepared to return to the castle. The elder sisters were jealous of the fine dress and new jewelry that Belle had now. They plotted to keep their sister from returning to the castle.

“The beast will be so angry with her that he will destroy her,” they chuckled to themselves.

They pretended to be upset when Belle was about to leave and asked her to stay a little longer. Belle finally agreed, thinking a few days wouldn’t hurt the Beast.

However, a few days later she dreamed that the Beast was dying. She at once took out her magic ring and wished to return to the castle. She rushed inside the castle and found the beast, lying down, as though head.

“No, no,” she sobbed, “Please don’t die, Beast. I didn’t know it before but now I do. I love you just as you are.” No sooner had these words left her mouth, that the Beast disappeared and in his place lay a handsome young Prince.

 “You have broken the curse!” the Prince cried happily, taking Belle’s hands and standing up, “A wicked witch cast the curse on me and told me only the girl who fell in love with me as a Beast would be able to break this curse.”

Belle could hardly believe her eyes. She was overjoyed and the Prince now sent word to her father’s cottage for they were soon to be married. Belle and her Prince lived in the beautiful castle where roses grew in plenty and they lived happily ever after.