A cute lunchtime eatery for us girls is “Dulcet and Delish Café” on Main Street in Mooresville, North Carolina. The sandwiches are delicious, but the wall of mirrors is one of the best memory points. When looking at the display of all different shapes and sizes of mirrors, you can’t help but recite the famous quote from Snow White, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”
In the Snow White story, every day the attractive Queen would look into the mirror and ask it, ”Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” and each day the mirror would say “Thou, oh Queen, art the fairest in the land.” Then one day the mirror said to the Queen, “Snow White, oh Queen, is the fairest of them all,” so Snow White became the object of the Queen’s hatred. The story unravels to reveal that, on the outside, the Queen appeared beautiful, but on the inside, she was vain and suffered from feelings of inferiority.
I learned from some of the original Grimms’ writings that the king was known for his kindness and fairness to those in his kingdom. When Snow White was born, she was given the same attributes of kindness and fairness as her father had been. I wondered why the word “fair” was used instead of the word “beautiful.” I think she was beautiful inside and out, unlike her stepmother. the Queen.
The moral of Snow White’s story is, “Vanity will not take you far, but kindness will.” In this short story, the Queen was completely indulged in vanity, which messed with her mind. But kind-hearted Snow White found friends and met a prince who loved her and stood by her.
What lesson can we take from the story? Maybe “looks can be deceiving” or “true beauty is found first on the inside” or “don’t rely on a talking mirror to build up your self-esteem.”
I think the best answer is in (1 Samuel 16:7)…”But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’”