The Queen meanwhile, supposing that she had eaten the heart and tongue of her stepdaughter, believed that she was now above all the most beautiful woman in the world.
One day she stepped before her mirror, and said:
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, Who is the fairest of us all?"
and it replied: "The Queen was fairest yesterday; Snow-White is fairest now, they say. The Dwarfs protect her from thy sway Amid the forest, far away."
This reply surprised her, but she knew that the mirror spoke the truth. She knew, therefore, that the Huntsman had deceived her, and that Snow-White was still alive.
So she dyed her face and clothed herself as a pedler woman, so that no one could recognize her, and in this disguise she went over the seven hills to the house of the seven Dwarfs. She knocked at the door of the hut, and called out, "Fine goods for sale! beautiful goods for sale!"
Snow-White peeped out of the window and said, "Good day, my good woman; what have you to sell?"
"Fine goods, beautiful goods!" she replied.
"Stays of all colors." And she held up a pair which were made of many-colored silks.
"I may let in this honest woman," thought Snow-White; and she unbolted the door and bargained for one pair of stays.