Queerky Tales: Snow White & the Poisoned Apple

Queerky Tales
Snow White & the Poisoned Apple
by Rhys Christopher Ethan

© 2012 by Rhys Christopher Ethan.

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All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
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permission of the author.

Illustrations by Christina Ismail

www.rcethan.wordpress.com
Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
The Story
Acknowledgements
About the Author

To the LGBTQ communities everywhere

The story

Once upon a time, the Queen of the Forest Castle sat alone in her chambers and sewed. She and the
King were happily married and ruled their land with justice and kindness. But they couldn’t have

children. As she stitched the blanket she was holding, it begun to snow. And it did for hours until the
mountains were covered with thick piles of snowflakes and the trees glittered whiteness. The Queen
was still sitting on her big rocking chair, when from the top of the window she saw a carriage down
the road being carried by an old man dressed in a heavy woollen coat and a straw hat. The fine
carriage was made of the darkest wood in nature. Ebony! On the carriage were several logs, they
were however covered in snow. And as the Queen looked at the snow and wood, she wished for a
child as white as snow and as black as ebony wood. And she cried for she knew her wish wouldn’t
come true. The King entered her room and knelt beside her trying to comfort her, but his pain was
as big as his wife’s. He lead her to her bed where she closed her eyes tiresomely and he retreated to
his own chambers.
Everyday the Queen would wish the same thing, over and over again. That she had a
child as white as snow and black as ebony. But the child never came and she grew very sad. The
King occupied himself with the business of the Castle and hid his sadness under his work. Soon the
winter came to an end and the celebration for the Spring Harvest was the biggest event of the
season. Everyone prepared for the royalties that were going to arrive from all the corners of the
Earth. The Queen saw about helping with the preparations. Although the snow had melted not long
ago, every night before she went to bed, she wished for a child.
When the day of the Spring Harvest celebration arrived the Queen’s maids all
assembled and helped prepare their mistress to present herself. They perfected the bun on the top of
their mistress’s hair and got her dressed in a beautiful red and blue gown. They put her ruby crown
on her head and she climbed down the stairs to welcome her visitors.
‘Oh, one minute ma’am,’ her maid, Selest, stopped her and stepped in front of her. She
took a serviette out of her dress pocket and wiped the Queen’s tears just before they opened the door
to the Entrance Hall of the palace.
The Forest Castle Orchestra was already playfully drumming their welcome for the
Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses.
The Queen smiled. ‘Thank you, Selest,’ she grabbed her maid’s hands in hers and kissed
them.
The young maid blushed. ‘Enjoy your evening, ma’am,’ she wished her mistress and
fled up the stairs.

The doors opened and the Queen descended gracefully through to meet the embrace of
her husband. They welcomed everyone and showed them to the Dining Room, where everything
was set, with golden plates and cutlery and crystal glasses glimmering under the light of the elegant
chandeliers. Violinists accompanied the royal meal and when that was finished the servants led the
way to the Ball Room where everyone danced around to the traditional music of the West. The
Queen, after a joyful supper and a lively dance with her King and others from other Kingdoms, sat
on her throne allowing her misery to overcome her. Thinking of the child she could never have, a
tall, dark figure approached her.
‘Your Majesty!’ the woman’s figure said and curtsied to the Queen.
The Queen stood up and bowed back.
‘Allow me to introduce myself. I am Narcissa, Queen of The North,’ she announced
herself.
‘I have heard of you, your Majesty! I have been told about the rough times in your
Kingdom. What with the unpredictable weather conditions and the revolution of the Elves,’ the
Queen replied.
Queen Narcissa laughed. ‘Oh, that is not a discussion for such celebration Queen
Alessa,’ she replied. ‘Tell me, however, why such a sad face on this pleasant evening?’
Queen Alessa sat back on her throne and Queen Narcissa approached her with interest.
‘I am trying very much to enjoy this evening, but I find it hard without an offspring,’
she admitted.
Queen Narcissa showed her understanding.
‘I have heard of your misfortune, my lady. You really do yearn for a child?’ Narcissa
asked her.
‘But of course!’ The Queen replied immediately. ‘It would bring me the greatest joy,’
she added.
Narcissa seemed to smile slyly before she continued. ‘How far are you willing to go to
earn a child?’
Queen Alessa had heard of the Queen of the North. Her reputation was not very good.
She knew she kept her people hungry if they didn’t obey her. She knew the business she dealt with
Kingdoms of the deep East. She also knew she was an enemy to many of the people present in the

room. Her craving for a child, though, was blinding her judgement when she agreed to her bargain.
‘I will grant you a child as white as snow and as black as ebony, if only you give me
half your fortune!’ she had told her.
And the Queen, without advising her husband first, agreed to it and ordered her servants
to load the carriage of the Queen of the North with all the gold they could find. When that was
done, they met at an empty room and Queen Narcissa held a small knife on her right hand and a
glass chalice on her left.
Her features seemed darker and her smile evil. But Queen Alessa was determined to
have an heiress to the throne.
‘All I need to give you the child of your dreams is a single drop of your blood,’ Queen
Narcissa told her grabbing her left hand.
The Queen nodded her approval. ‘Do it!’
Queen Narcissa pinched her finger and let the drop of blood pour in the glass chalice.
She let her hand go and walked towards the door.
‘In three days time you will be bearing a child as white as snow, as black as ebony…’
she paused. ‘…and as red as blood!’ Queen Narcissa yelled at her and laughed an evil laugh that
made Queen Alessa’s skin shiver with terror.
The next day the King realised he had lost much gold and silver and valuable gems. He
ordered his knights to search high and low for the thieves that dared steal from his Kingdom. They
never found an inch of the lost treasure.
Queen Alessa sat alone in her room and waited for three days, only breaking her
stillness to eat and drink. And true to Narcissa’s word, three days later, she found out she was
pregnant and her deal with the Queen of the North had blessed her with a child. Once she found out,
she ran to the King and throwing herself in his embrace she told him the merry news. The King
immediately forgot about his lost fortune and celebrated with his wife, dancing endlessly.
As the months went by and the Queen’s belly started to grow, she made all the
preparations for her daughter’s room. Everything had to be ready for when she came. Luckily, she
never heard of Queen Narcissa ever again and was glad that she had kept her end of the bargain and
didn’t have to deal with her ever again. The whole palace was in preparations for their princess and
they never complained about working twice as much to provide for themselves now that the

Kingdom was poorer.
And soon enough, the autumn came and the trees abandoned their decaying, dried
leaves on the earth and the Queen was in bliss for the baby moving inside her belly. And sure
thereafter, the winter arrived dressing everything in white, as her daughter was promised to be. A
new year begun for the palace and on the 7th of January the Queen gave birth. And the whole palace
was on its feet for the big feast in honour of the Princess.
Only when the midwife came out of the Queen’s room, she had different news to
deliver.
‘My lord!’ she curtsied.
The King, red with agony, turned and paced towards the midwife. ‘Is everything
alright? Is everyone OK?’ he asked her.
‘Everything is absolutely fine. Congratulations, my Lord! You now have a beautiful
Prince! Skin as white as snow, hair and eyes as black as ebony and lips as red as blood,’ she smiled
and opened the doors for him to see.
He run to his wife and rested next to her. He kissed her forehead and saw anxiety
dripping off her face.
‘What’s happening, Gregory? Is something wrong with my girl?’ she asked on the verge
of tears.
The midwife approached them both, carrying a bundle in her hands.
The King laughed heartedly. ‘You haven’t told her yet?’
The midwife shook her head.
‘Myrtle, what’s wrong?’ The Queen cried with worry.
‘My sweet Alessa, nothing is wrong,’ the midwife answered as she knelt closer to her
Queen. ‘It’s just that she’s not a Princess, but a Prince! A boy!’ she told her giving her the bundle.
The Queen took it in her hands and drew the white blanket off her baby’s face and saw
him for the first time. His skin was whiter than the silk he was covered in, pale as death. His hair
was black as the night and rich in texture. His eyes dark and shiny as the rarest of diamonds and his
tiny lips, red as the finest wine of the castle and finally cheeks as rosy as the red sunset.
She fell in love with him instantly, not minding the slightest that he wasn’t a girl, or for
the fact that she had to redo his room which she had worked months on, or for having to knit new

clothes for him in the shade of blue. She simply loved him beyond reason.
So the second day when she got up from her bed, she rushed to her baby’s room and
ordered her servants to bring new paint. When they brought it, she send them away and started to
paint the room blue, then the maids brought her son to her and she left the room half pink, half blue
to go play with him in the evening before his bed time.
She went to bed soon after and was planning an early start to finish painting the room
so that her son would finally sleep in the shelter she had created for him.
Her plans, however, were left unfinished. The next day, three days after she had given
birth, she never opened her eyes from slumber. She didn’t answer when her maid woke her up by
drawing the curtains for the winter sun to come in, nor did she flinch when her husband shook her
with panic, and nor did she respond to her baby boy’s cry when he was brought in, in hope of
waking her from her last sleep.
Deep sorrow fell over the castle and the whole palace was in utter grief. All the
preparations for the young Prince’s birth celebration were postponed. Instead there was a wake for
the lost Queen. Everyone attended the church that night to mourn their mistress who laid beautiful
and cold on her deathbed covered in black lace.
The King’s only solace was his son, and he knew his wife would have wanted everyone
to move on, so he ordered the festivities for the birth of his son to begin on the seventh day and
everyone bid their final goodbye to the gracious Queen by celebrating her Prince’s birth.
The Prince, whom the King named Snow White grew up in his half pink, half blue
room. When he was three, the King decided to re-marry and who else would it be then the Queen of
the North, Narcissa. The King, of course, was unaware of the secret deal between the two Queens,
and he saw his new wife as a new beginning and as a source of new-found wealth for his Castle.
The new Queen embraced the little boy as her own and showed him true affection.
Snow White however didn’t like her and always cried in her presence. Queen Narcissa didn’t know
how to win the Prince’s heart.
But in time he learnt to tolerate her and even like her at times as he grew up. The King
and Queen often invited the Royal family of the South to their castle and their son was best friends
with Snow White.
‘Oliver, stop being such a savage!’ Snow White called his best friend who was

pretending to be a pirate holding a fake, wooden sword to fight.
‘Oh, come on Snow White. So what are we going to play if not pirates?’ Oliver