Starting with snow white

does not 
include three scenes of temptation. Instead, she blends the 
Grimms’ first two scenes (with the staylaces and comb) into this single scene, to expand 
on the discussion of market or engagement with buying and selling goods. She could 
have easily developed the dialogue in both scenes with Snow White simply protesting or 
wavering in her decision to take one of the queen’s offerings. Instead of abiding by this 
more traditional fairy tale quality of repetition, Merington develops the language 
surrounding the exchange, which I argue gives greater credence to this facet of American 
society, positioning the tale as part of her culture.
Even as the details of this interaction serve to make the tale more engaging for an 
American audience, though, they likewise move the tale further from the European 
folklore from which it descended. Not only have the three temptations become two, but 
the development of a motif—the exchange—draws the reader/viewer’s attention away 

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from the jealousy which motivates each of these scenes. Moreover, one misses the 
repetition of “Pretty wares” from the exchange scenes of Grimms’ version, which so 
nicely aligns with the emphases on beauty and appearance that are persistent and central 
to the tale (255, 256). The maintenance of beauty is key to the tale. Therefore, a 
discussion of market which detracts from that motif as well as the jealousy tied to it 
places this version in jeopardy of being forgotten. This is the challenge of adapting a tale 
to a new culture and context. New elements, or the expansion of scenes or points of 
action might generate audience engagement, but if these are embedded in such a way that 
detracts from the central thematic significance of the tale, the new version of the tale, 
owing only to the culture of its time, loses its relevance for subsequent generations.
The same is true of the humorous reflection of royalty counterpointed by 
democratic impulses. While this political juxtaposition may have been important for an 
early American inversion of the tale (or fairy tale tradition which was attempting to 
distinguish itself from its European precursors), as the nation grew its own folklore, it 
would become less significant to display departures from British or European precursors.
Furthermore, while these new qualities served the needs of the staged production and 
reflected American values and ideals, the number of departures from the (Grimms’) 
“classic” produced a tale less likely to be recalled with the same sort of authenticity.
Similar to the novelette 
Richilde, 
one finds that the detail required to elucidate these new 
features is not so easily recalled and retold. Although where the novelette form was 
problematic for 
Richilde
’s storytelling viability, the stage was not a problematic generic 
context. Instead, the decisions of where detail should be placed, and the fact that these 

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amplified areas did not always involve the central themes or productive storytelling 
redundancies of the earlier tale made them more difficult to persistently recall. 
An additional setback for Merington was her audience. Merington’s play was 
written for a child audience, promoted by the “Hebrew Educational Alliance.” As such, 
nursery-rhyme-like songs that children would recognize were inserted. Where this works 
toward the goal of repetition in Merington’s use of “The Song About Snow White,” 
which recounts Snow White’s origin at the start of the play and is recalled again later in 
the play, other songs do not so readily speak to the action of the play, but serve a 
moralizing purpose, such as “The Dwarfs Evening Hymn.” 
Father in Heaven, through the day, 
O may Thy love enlighten me,
And when the sun goes down, I pray, 
Let not the darkness frighten me. 
When from the path I wandr far 
Where shadows seem to swallow me, 
May Thy protection, like a star,
Encompass, guide, and follow me. 
Waking, sleeping 
In Thy keeping 
Hol[d] me fast, dear Lord, I pray. (Merington supplement, after 2, 17) 
While such songs speak toward the goal of instilling religious value into a child viewer, 
other songs seem oddly placed, or inserted purely to amuse children and keep them 
engaged.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. 
All good children go to Heaven! 
Go to Heaven some fine day.
But a while on earth they play!

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O - u - t spells OUT! (Merington 3.1, 11; 4.2, 14) 
This song appears after the dwarfs and Snow White play (once they have rescued her 
from the poison comb) and again at the end of play. Both of these scenes—the first, an 
apparent death, and the second, marriage—might trouble a child audience or fail to have 
an impact upon that age group. However, the child-like rhyme (above) and playful 
moment between the dwarfs and Snow White serve to calm and restore the child-viewer.
Similarly, at the play’s end, for those whom marriage might not yet be understood as a 
celebratory occasion, this play-song grants the child-viewer some sense of the joy, 
excitement, and happiness of that very adult moment.
Problematically though, in this engagement of a child viewer, the frame of 
Merington’s fairy tale is narrowed toward that audience and moved away from the cross-
over (child-to-adult) possibilities that the genres of fairy tale and folklore had once held 
and could continue to hold. Thus, even though positioning