Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Woman Forced to Flee Into the Wilderness, Part 2

The Iroquois Indians of the American north east were considered a particularly violent tribe of Indian. The surrounding Indian tribes were scared to death of them. It wasn’t just their fierceness in battle that instilled this terror, it was how they handled their enemies whom they captured. If their enemy was despised, they were put to the fire. However, if they respected their enemy, they cut open the chest, pulled out the heart and at it.

You and I shudder at the thought, but there was a purpose to this ritual. Remember, they only did this to an enemy they respected for some admirable quality, such as bravery, perseverance, battle skill, strong will, etc. It was believed that the heart was the seat of these worthy attributes, and that by eating the heart, one could gain these attributes for himself.

So we come to our vain queen who is not content to just have Snow White killed. Her heart must be brought back to her, not just as proof of her death, the queen has an ulterior motive. She wants to eat the heart and take on all of Snow Whites attributes. She wants to BE Snow White. She wants to BE the fairest in the land.

What she gets instead is the heart of a pig. She eats ham. Not exactly kosher.

If our fairy tales take their origins from theBook of Revelation, they have a basis in the culture and law of the Jews. Thought pork later became acceptable in the dietary law of ancient Christianity, this meat still has a lot of negative connotations attached to it.

You pig!

“Pig” still refers to that which is base, low and filthy. The tighter the queen hangs on to her vanity and pride, the lower she sinks.

In the meantime, Snow White wanders the woods, going over the seven hills until she finds the house of the seven little men. There’s that number of perfection again.

The seven little men, who have no names until the Disney movie, agree to let Snow White stay with them, but she must serve them. She must wash and clean and cook for them. To this, she readily agrees. After hearing her story, they also give her a warning to avoid the queen and not to let any strangers into the house.

Seven hills and seven little men. That also sounded familiar. In the first chapter of the Book of Revelation we read from verse 12; “And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;” In the midst of these candlesticks stood the Savior, and in his hand he held seven stars. Verse 20 explains, “The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which though sawest are the seven churches.” Angels has and interesting JST footnote. It says, ‘servant...”

So what do the servants of God do? They teach us to serve! They exhort us to love one another, to be compassionate, be giving and generous with our time and talents. Servants of God also raise a warning voice to the members of the Church to avoid that which could harm us physically and spiritually. They encourage us to keep the commandments.

The Church of God is commissioned with two tasks; to build up the Kingdom of God on the earth and to establish Zion. Zion, as I understand it, is all about being obedient to God’s commands and serving one another in unity. And doing it gladly.

Snow White is a lovely example of this. She is happy to serve the seven little men. Cinderella serves, and so does the Goose Girl and many other Fairy Tale Characters - and they serve in the most menial of ways - cooking, cleaning, herding geese. They are lowly and humble. In our modern times, having been influenced by the Women’s Movement of the 1970s, we now look upon such acts as cooking and cleaning for a bunch of men as demeaning and miss the point.

Serving with a glad heart is an attribute of Zion. Snow White serving the seven little men is just another proof of what she represents in her sacred role; the Church of God in the wilderness.

Meanwhile, back at the castle, the vain queen, thinking she is now victorious, gazes into the magic mirror and asks confidently, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, Who is the fairest of them all?” She is shocked to the core to find that Snow White still lives and is still the Fairest in the land. Her jealousy knows no bounds. The heart of the pig kicks in and she makes her outsides as ugly as her insides. She changes herself into an ugly hag, enchants first a bunch of laces and later, a comb for the hair.

I find these two items interesting. It’s as if the queen thinks everyone out there is as vain as she is. The laces and the comb are items of adornment. They represent, to my mind, materialism, or idolatry or vanity. Materialism has always been a problem for members of the Church, anciently and in modern times. Thankfully, with the help of the servants of God, we can put such things in perspective. Laces and combs can be removed. Even now, I’m looking to remove from my home items of materialism that are only taking up space. I’m doing it because last spring I was contemplating Zion and what it meant to be a Zion person, living in a Zion home, and I heard the still small voice speak to me, ‘sell all thou hast and give to the poor.’ I looked at those items and realized I didn’t need them anymore. The Lord showed me what to do with them. It taught me how the Lord takes a weakness and turns it to a strength.

What really knocks Snow White out is the poisoned apple. It’s a very cleverly poisoned apple. It’s an apple that is white on one side and red on the other. Note the colors. Only the red side is poisoned. The queen eats the white side to prove there is nothing wrong with the apple. Trusting the old hag, Snow White eats the red side and drops to the ground.

The queen rushes home and asks the mirror her famous question. She is totally gratified to learn that once again, she is the fairest in the land. Snow White is dead.

So what is that apple that ‘kills’ Snow White? We do not really know what the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil really was. We do know, traditionally, that it is the apple, perhaps because most apples are those sacred colors, red and white. So, is this what knocks Snow White down? taking into her soul the knowledge of good and evil? Interesting thought. I only know that when we are faced with gaining that knowledge through our own experience, it can knock us down, drop us to our knees and fill us with doubt about whether or not God loves us.

Thankfully, the servants of God do not abandon us. According to Joseph Fielding Smith in his “Answers to Gospel Questions,” volume 2, page 45, he tells us that the priesthood has never been taken completely from the earth. Nevertheless, Snow White sleeps, the queen rules, and the servants mourn.

But despair not. Someone is coming to waken Snow White.