79B SATIRES AND SPIN -OFFS

"You are wrong, Mother," said Thi-Phi-Yen. 'TheEnchanter gave me everything except freedom andlove: now I have both. No riches can compare withfreedom, and no power is greater than love. Am I notyour daughter? I can work as hard as you and live assimply. Please tell me that Imay stay."

"With all my heart," said her mother, "for life cangive me no greater gift."

So it was that the Enchanter's daughter came homeagain. And from that day she lived happily with hermother and brother at the foot of the high white moun-tains that lie at the top of the world.

Fiona French (b. 1944)

English picture book artist Fiona French has retold a number of traditional stories in originalways since the late 1960s. Most of her illustrations in the late twentieth century combined sil-houettes with bold colorful designs to suit different cultural settings. In Snow White in NewYork (1986), French deftly retains the basic contours and spare verbal style of the traditionalfolktale while adapting it to the Jazz Age world of 1920s New York. It takes only a few old-fashioned cliches and slang phrases early in the text, such as "poor little rich girl" and "classi-est dame in New York," to refashion the Snow White story as au urban American melodrama.Like other modem fairy tale satires, this one alludes to traditional images in clever and amus-ing ways-for example, replacing the evil stepmother's magic mirror, symbol of her ruthlessvanity, with the newspaper in which she loves to read of her own fame and Snow White's de-mise. This is a gentle satire that does not shock us into rethinking the traditional ending, asRoald Dahl does with "Little Red Riding Hood" and both Vivian Vande Velde and Sara Hen-derson Hay do with "Hansel and Gretel" (all in this section). Instead, it modernizes the tale bygiving Snow White less stereotypical work to do when she meets seven jazz musicians, ratherthan seven woodland dwarfs who want her to keep house. The traditional "happily ever after"ending is twisted only slightly so that the rich heroine can marry a handsome working manwho helps promote her talent.

Once upon a time in New York there was a poor littlerich girl called Snow White. Her mother was dead andfor a while she lived happily with her father. But oneday he married again ....

All the papers said that Snow White's stepmotherwas the classiest dame in New York. But no one knewthat she was the Queen of the Underworld. She likedto see herself in the New York Mirror.

But one day she read something that made her veryjealous. "Snow White the Belle of New York City."And she plotted to get rid of her stepdaughter.

"Take her down and shoot her," she said to one ofher bodyguards. The man took Snow White deep intothe dark streets, but he could not do it. He left herthere, lost and alone.

Snow White wandered the streets all night, tired

Jon C. Stott 799

JWi,Fiona French transformed Snow White into a celebrity mourned on the streets of Jazz Age New York in her picture book SnowWhite in New York (1986).

and hungry. In the early morning she heard musiccoming from an open door. She went inside.

The seven jazz-men were sorry for her. "Stay here ifyou like," they said, "but you'll have to work," ''Whatcan I do?" she asked. "Can you sing?" said one of them.

The very first night Snow White sang there was anewspaper reporter in the club. He knew at once thatshe would be a star.

Next day Snow White was on the front page of theNew York Mirror. The stepmother was mad with rage.''This time I shall get rid of her myself," she said. Andso she decided to hold a grand party in honour of SnowWhite's success ... but ... secretly she dropped a poi-soned cherry in a cocktail and handed it to SnowWhite with a smile.

All New York was shocked by the death ofbeauti-ful Snow White.

Crowds of people stood in the rain and watchedSnow White's coffin pass by.

The seven jazz-men, their hearts broken, carried thecoffin unsteadily up the church steps. Suddenly one ofthem stumbled, and, to everyone's amazement, SnowWhite opened her eyes. The first person she saw wasthe reporter. He smiled at her and she smiled back. Thepoisoned cherry that had been stuck in her throat wasgone. She was alive.

Snow White and the reporter fell in love. They hada big society wedding, and the next day cruised off ona glorious honeymoon together.

Jon C. Stott, a Canadian educator, scholar, and editor, explains modem parodies of dragon sto-ries within the historical and theoretical context of understanding how we learn conventions oflanguage and literature. His 1990 essay shows how parodies, such as E. Nesbit's ''The Last of