The Death of the Seven Dwarfs
Translated by D. L. Ashliman.
Copyright 1998.
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The Death of the Seven Dwarfs
Ernst Ludwig Rochholz
On a high plain between Brugg and Waldshut, near the Black Forest, seven
dwarfs lived together in a small house. Late one evening an attractive
young peasant girl, who was lost and hungry, approached them and
requested shelter for the night. The dwarfs had only seven beds, and
they fell to arguing with one another, for each one wanted to give up his
bed for the girl. Finally the oldest one took the girl into his bed.
Before they could fall asleep a peasant woman appeared before their
house, knocked on the door, and asked to be let inside. The girl got up
immediately and told the woman that the dwarfs had only seven beds, and
that there was no room there for anyone else. With this the woman became
very angry and accused the girl of being a slut, thinking that she was
cohabiting with all seven men. Threatening to make a quick end to such
evil business, she went away in a rage.
That same night she returned with two men, whom she had brought up from
the bank of the Rhine. Together they broke into the house and killed the
seven dwarfs. They buried the bodies outside in the garden and burned
the house to the ground. No one knows what became of the girl.
- Source: Ernst Ludwig Rochholz, Schweizersagen aus dem Aargau,
vol. 1 (Aarau: Druck und Verlag von H. R. Sauerländer, 1856),
no. 222, p. 312.
- Aargau is a canton in northeast Switzerland.
- Additional keywords: Snow White, dwarves, fairy tale, folktale,
folklore, legend, storytelling.
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Revised January 29, 1998.