One day in the middle of winter, when the ice on the roads is so slick you can't see it, a king sat outside his window drumming. His drumset was of black ebony, and as he played, the seat of his drumset fell out from under him, and he tumbled onto the ice. He thought that the situation was so funny that the king said to himself:

"Oh, if I only had a little child, I should like it to be as unnoticable as black ice, and with hair and eyes as black as such."

Very soon after this the king's wife had a little son who was constantly ignored by cameras, and had hair as black as black ice, and they gave him the name of Black-Ice. But at the birth of the little child, the king was killed by a rival king who felt that the king "couldn't play his own drums," and besides that, he liked the first king's queen.

When Black-Ice was a year old, the queen was so wooed by the evil king (whom she didn't know had killed her first husband) that they were married. He was very handsome (his nose was very cute), but so proud and vain that he could not endure that any one should pass him in brilliance. (Never mind that his wife had already done so.) He possessed a wonderful mirror, and when he stood before it to look at himself he would say,

Then the mirror would reply:

Then he would go away quite contented, for he knew that the magic mirror could only speak the truth.

Years went by, and as Black-Ice grew up he became day after day more bright, till he reached the age of sixteen years, and still no one wanted to talk about him. The king, however, was afraid that Black-Ice would be even more brilliant than the king himself. So the proud man went to his magic looking-glass, and asked:

But the mirror answered:

Then the king was terrifed, and turned green and yellow with jealousy. If he had caught sight of Black-Ice at that moment, he would have been ready to tear his heart out of his body, he hated the teenager so fiercely.

And this jealousy and envy grew every day in his heart stronger and stronger, like a disease, till he had no rest day or night.

At last he sent for a hunter who lived near a forest, and said to him: "Hunter, I want to get rid of that child. Take him out into the wood, and if you bring me some proofs that he is dead I will reward you handsomely. Never let him appear before my eyes again!"

The hunter said, "Sure, but my name is Donovan."

So the hunter enticed the child into the wood with the promise of joining his band; but when he took out his hunting-knife to thrust it into Black-Ice's ignored heart, he fell on his knees and wept and said: "Ah, dear hunter, leave me my life; I will run away into the wild-wood, an' nevah come 'ome any more."

He looked so innocent (he was taking lessons from Keith) and smart as he knelt that the hunter's heart was moved with compassion. "Run away, then, thou brilliant child!" he cried, "There was no band, anyway."

Black-Ice thanked him so sweetly, and was out of sight in a few moments.

"He'll form a band on his own, eventually," he said to himself. But the thought that he had not killed him was as if a stone-weight had been lifted from his heart.

To satisfy the king he took part in a wild boar, which the wicked man thought was ignored little Black-Ice, and was overjoyed to think that he was dead.

When the good queen found that her child was dead, and the hunter was the one who brought the news, she wept. She banished the hunter from the kingdom, and asked her husband if it was true. "Possibly," he remarked innocently. "Y'know, all I did was send 'im to band camp!"

Meanwhile, Black-Ice wandered through the woods, looking for a place to stay. He ran on as long as he could till his little feet became quite sore; and toward evening he saw to his great joy a pretty little house. He went up to it and found the door open and no one at home.

It was a tiny little house but everything in it was so clean and neat and elegant that it is beyond description. In the middle of the room stood a small table covered with a snow-white table-cloth ready for supper. On it were arranged seven little plates, seven little spoons, seven little knives and forks, and seven mugs. By the wall stood seven little beds near each other, covered with white quilts.

Poor Black-Ice, who was hungry and thirsty, ate a few vegetables and a little bread from each plate and drank a little drop of wine from each cup, for he did not like to take all from one alone. After this, feeling very tired, he thought he would lie down and rest on one of the beds, but he found it difficult to choose one to suit him. One was too long, another too short; so he tried them all till he came to the seventh, and that was so comfortable that he laid himself down, and was soon fast asleep.

When it was quite dark the masters of the house came home. They were seven little dwarfs, who dug and searched in the mountains for minerals. First they lighted seven little lamps, and as soon as the room was full of light the saw that some one had been there, for everything did not stand in the order in which they had left it.

Then said the first: "Who has been sitting in my little chair?"

The second exclaimed: "Who has been eating from my little plate?"

The third cried: "Some one has taken part of my bread."

"Who has been eating my vegetables?" said the fourth.

Then said the fifth: "Some one has used my fork."

The sixth cried: "And who has been cutting with my knife?"

"And some one has been drinking out of my little cup," said the seventh.

Then the eldest, called Doc, looked at his bed, and seeing that it looked tumbled, cried out that some one had been upon it. The others came running forward, and found all their beds in the same condition. But when the seventh, called Dopey, approached his bed and saw Black-Ice lying there fast asleep, he called to the others: "There's a bloke in me bed, I fink!"

"Quiet!" said the one called Grumpy, "lest we should awake him, like."

"Oh me, oh my," remarked Doc. "This is a quandry."

"He's prob'ly a nice bloke," Happy grinned.

Bashful nodded bashfully.

"Ah-ah-ah-CHOOOO!" Sneezy sneezed, and was quickly shushed by the rest, but it did not awaken Black-Ice.

The one named Sleepy said, "Well, lads, we ought to get some sleep now. Dopey, me own bed's the largest, you'll share it wit' me t'night. In the mornin' we'll find out about this bloke."

In the morning, when Black-Ice awoke and saw all the dwarfs, he was terribly bored. But they spoke kindly to him, till he gained interest, and they asked him his name.

"I am called Black-Ice," he replied.

"But how came you to our house?" asked Grumpy.

Then he related to them all that had happened; how his stepfather had sent him into the wood with the hunter, who had spared his life, and that, after wandering about for a whole day, he had found their house. Then he asked them a few questions. "Do you not talk, Bashful?"

Bashful shook his head and blushed.

"Sleepy, why are you so tall? You seem not a dwarf!"

"I'm just a mutation," Sleepy hummed. "And I'm so tired... tired of waiting... tired of waiting for bedtime!"

"He just means he's a freak," Grumpy muttered.

"Why are you so grumpy, Grumpy?"

"It's in the name... why are you inquisitive?"

Black-Ice shrugged.

The dwarfs talked a little while together, and then Doc said: "Do you think you could be our little housekeeper, to make the beds, cook the dinner, and wash and sew and knit for us, and keep everything neat and clean and orderly? If you can, then you shall stay here with us, and nobody shall hurt you."

"Well, as I've got nowhere else to go, I'll try," said Black-Ice. So they let him stay, and he was a clever little thing. He managed very well, and kept the house quite clean and in order. And while they were gone to the mountains to find gold, he got their supper ready. He made himself a bass guitar and played it, much to the delight of the dwarfs. The were very happy together.

But every morning when they left him, the kind little dwarfs warned Black-Ice to be careful. While the boy was alone they knew he was in danger and told him not to show himself, for his stepfather would soon find out where he was, and said: "Whatever you do, let nobody into the house while we are gone."

After the wicked king had proved, as he thought, that Black-Ice was dead, he felt quite satisfied there was no one in the world likely to become so brilliant as himself, so he stepped up to the mirror and asked:

To his vexation the mirror replied:

The king was furious when he heard this for he knew the mirror was truthful, and that the hunter must have deceived him, and that Black-Ice still lived. So he sat and pondered over these facts, thinking what would be best to do, for as long as he was not the most brilliant man in the land, his jealousy gave him no peace. After a time he decided what to do. First, he painted his face and whitened his hair; then he dressed himself in old man's clothes, and was so disguised that no one could have recognized him.

Watching an opportunity, he left the castle and took way to the wood near the mountains, where the seven little dwarfs lived. When he reached the door, he knocked and cried, "Wonderful apples for sale!"

Black-Ice stretched his head out of the window, and said: "I dare not let you in; the seven dwarfs have forbidden me."

"But I am alright," said the old man. "Stay, I will show you my apples. Are they not beautiful? Let me make you a present of one."

"No, thank you," cried Black-Ice; "I dare not take it!"

"What!" cried the man, "are you afraid it is poisoned? Look here, now, I will cut the apple in halves; you shall have the rosy-cheek side, and I will eat the other."

The apple was so cleverly made that the red side alone was poisonous. Black-Ice longed so much for the beautiful fruit as he saw the old man eat one half that he could not any longer resist, but stretched out his hand from the window and took the poisoned half. But no sooner had he taken one mouthful that he fell on the ground dead.

The wicked king glanced in at the window with a horrible look in his eye and laughed aloud as he exclaimed: "Unnoticable as black ice, with hair and eyes as such; the dwarfs will not be able to awake thee!"

As soon as he arrived home, and asked his mirror who was the most brilliant in the land, it replied:

Then had his envious heart rest, at least as much rest as a heart full of envy and malice ever can have.

The little dwarfs, when they came home in the evening, found poor Black-Ice on the ground; but though they lifted him up, there were no signs of breath from his mouth, and they found he was really dead. Yet they tried in every way to restore him; they tried to extract the poison from his lips, the combed his hair, and washed it with wine and water, but all to no purpose: the dear child gave no signs of life, and at last they knew he was dead. Then they laid him on a bier, and the seven dwarfs seated themselves around him, and wept and mourned for three days. They would have buried him, but there was no change in his appearance; his face was as fresh, and his cheeks and lips had their usual pale color. Then said Happy: "We cannot lay this dear friend in the dark, cold earth!"

So they agreed to have a coffin made entirely of glass, transparent all over, that they might watch for any signs of decay, and they wrote in letters of gold his name on the lid, and that he was the son of a great queen. The coffin was placed on the side of the mountain, and each of them watched it by turns, so that it was never left alone.

It happened one day that the son of a king, while riding in the forest, came by chance upon the dwarfs' house and asked for a night's lodging. As he left the next morning he saw the coffin on the mountain side, with brilliant Black-Ice lying in it, and read what was written upon the lid in letters of gold.

Then Prince Keith said to the dwarfs: "Let me have this coffin, and I will give you for it whatever you want."

But Doc answered: "We would not give it thee for all the gold in the world."

But Keith answered: "Let me have it as a gift then. I know not why, but my mind is drawn toward this bloke as a good friend, an' I feel I cannot live without 'im. If you let me 'ave 'im, 'e will be treated with the greatest honor and respect as one dearly beloved."

As he thus spoke the good little dwarfs were full of sympathy for him, and gave him the coffin. Then the prince called his servant, and the coffin was placed on their shoulders, and they carried it away, followed by Keith, who watched it carefully. Now, it happened that one of them made a false step and stumbled. This shook the coffin, and caused the poisoned piece of apple which Black-Ice had bitten to roll out of his mouth. A little while after he suddenly opened his eyes, lifted up the coffin lid, raised himself, and was again alive.

"Oh! where am I?" he cried.

Full of joy, Keith approached him and said, "Dear Black-Ice, you are safe; you are with me."

Then he related to him all that had happened, and what the little dwarfs had told him about him, and said at last: "You are me best friend in the world besides, and you must come with me to my father's castle; my sistah 'Eathah 'as been lookin' for some one like you!"

Then was Black-Ice taken out of the coffin and placed in a carriage to travel with the prince, and his sister was so pleased with Black-Ice that their marriage was soon after celebrated with great pomp and magnificence.

Now, it happened that the mother and stepfather of Black-Ice were invited, among other guests, to the wedding-feast. Before the couple left their house, the evil king stood before the magic mirror, still thinking of his old evil scheme, admiring his brilliance, he could not help saying:

Then to his surprise, the mirror replied:

Then the wicked man uttered a curse, and was so dreadfully alarmed that he knew not what to do. At first he declared he would not go to this wedding at all, but his wife yearned to see the bride and groom, so they left. But what was their astonishment when they recognized Black-Ice himself, now a charming young man, and the center of attention! The queen and Black-Ice hugged, Black-Ice murmuring, "Mummy!"

The king's rage and terror were so great that he stood still and could not move for some minutes. At last he went into the ball-room, but the shoes he wore were to him as iron bands full of coals of fire, in which he was obliged to dance. And so, in the red, glowing shoes he continued to dance till he fell dead on the floor, a sad example of envy and jealousy.

Prince Keith merely remarked, "He boogied to death."