Snow White And Red Rose
Once upon a time a mother and her two girls lived in a pretty cottage near the forest.
In the garden was a red rose bush and a white rose bush. That was funny because one girl had red hair and the other was fair! And, guess what, the girls were called Snow White and Red Rose!
Snow White was gentle and quiet. Red Rose loved to run outside chasing butterflies.
They often went into the forest to play with all the little animals that trusted them and knew they were kind.
One cold winter evening the family were sitting around a lovely warm fire. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
The mother said, “Quick, someone must need shelter from the cold, let them in.”
Red Rose opened the door. But she got a big surprise. It wasn’t a person standing there but a great big bear!
Red Rose screamed but the bear smiled and said, “I mean no h-harm. I’m very cold, please can I have a place to rest my h-head?”
Their mother made him some herbal tea to warm him up. Snow White and Red Rose wiped the snow off his fur. The bear laughed, “Oooh, that tickles!”
Soon they were all laughing.
They wrapped the bear up in a blanket and they all sat in front of the fire and were cosy and warm.
The bear stayed for the rest of the winter. He helped with housework, and gave the sisters piggyback rides around the snow-filled woods.
When springtime came the bear said, “Now I must say goodbye, and thank you for being so kind.”
“Oh, where are you going, dear bear?” asked Snow White.
“I must go into the forest and guard my treasure from the wicked Woodland Elves. In the winter they stay underground but now the weather is warmer out they will come to steal it away from me.”
They were all sorry to see him go and waved goodbye.
A few days later the girls were walking by the river. They heard some yelps so they hurried over to see what it was.
An Elf was on the riverbank with his beard dipped in the water.
Then they looked and they could see that a crab was clinging onto the end of it.
Red Rose and Snow White couldn’t stop laughing.
“Don’t just stand there, help me!” said the Elf.
Both girls pulled on his beard but they couldn’t pull it free.
Red Rose got out a pair of scissors and snipped the end of the Elf’s beard.
The crab scuttled off with a piece of the Elf’s beard clutched in its claw.
“You cut my precious beard!” the Elf shouted, “I’ll get you for this.”
He picked up his sack and hurried off into the forest.
“Such a rude and angry little man,” Snow White laughed.
“We should have just left him there,” Red Rose grinned.
On their way home they found a handsome young man who seemed to be asleep. He had a great big bruise on his forehead.
The girls tried to gently wake him up.
He opened his eyes and looked at Red Rose.
“I must be dreaming; you look like an angel!” he cried.
Red Rose blushed. “How did you get that nasty bruise on your head?”
“That rude old Elf put a spell on me and stole my gems!”
Just then their old friend the bear appeared. The girls ran up and gave him a great big hug.
“Hello there,” he smiled at them and said, “Andrew, these are the kind sisters I told you about. They helped me and saved me from freezing last winter.”
“Thank you for helping my brother,” Andrew smiled at them.
“Brother?” asked Red Rose.
Suddenly, the Elf appeared with his sack over his shoulder.
“Hand me back my gems at once!” Andrew jumped to his feet and pulled out a sword.
“Think you can beat me, hahaha” the Elf laughed. “And you,” he pointed to the bear, “you like being a bear?”
“What’s going on?” Red Rose asked. She was very confused.
“He stole our gems and turned my brother into a bear,” Andrew said.
“Right, give back their gems at once,” Red Rose said sternly to the Elf.
“NEVER!” the Elf shouted, “beard power!”
He started growing higher and higher until he was eight feet tall and towered over them.
“No one can beat me,” the Elf laughed. “I’m the tallest and the strongest!”
Red Rose grabbed Andrew’s sword, ran towards the Elf, jumped up and sliced off most of his beard.
The Elf suddenly started to shrink smaller and smaller and smaller until he was tiny.
“How dare you,” he squeaked out. “I’ll get you for this, just you wait.” And he ran off into the woods.
The bear suddenly turned into a young man with a big smile on his face.
“I am Gareth, a king’s son,” he said, “the Elf put a spell on me to steal my treasures. I had to live as a bear until you broke the spell by cutting off his beard. Thank you!”
Well, they all became the very best of friends and lived happily ever after.
The End