Free Mrs. Beast by Pamela Ditchoff Page B

Vanita and the iron shoes.   However, our wedding night, began curiously.   Otto escorted me to the royal bedchamber, and what did I see as he carried me over the threshold?   A glass coffin made for two.   He asked me to lie inside wearing my bridal gown.   I tried to speak, and each time he put a finger to my lips and said, Shhh, let me look at you ."   He was my husband; what else was I to do?"
         Beauty wishes she would stop asking rhetoric questions, but she asks, "What did you do?"
         "I fell asleep, and when I woke in the morning, Otto was still there.   I said, Good morning, dearest husband.   He said, You snore like a bear.   Then things got curiouser.   Although our early days as husband and wife were spent walking hand and hand through Otto's collections, two weeks passed and our marriage had not been consummated. He grew critical of my appearance. If I came to breakfast without sitting for the hairdresser, he'd ask, Did you do your own hair today?    When we entertained, he'd come to my rooms for inspection before the guests arrived.   He'd say, Those shoes don't match your gown. That string of pearls is too short. Powder your nose. Because you're exquisite, dear thing, you must adorn yourself beautifully.
         "I wanted so much to please Otto, and I did for a time.   He hosted one gala after another, and when we descended the staircase, he puffed out his chest like a partridge in mating season.   He'd look over the crowd and say, You're the most beautiful woman at the ball . "
         Snow White slaps her forehead and gasps, "Then Vanita showed up, whirling around the palace, starting fires, and pressing her grimy face to the windows.   I began to miss the dwarfs and our little cottage, the easiness, the laughter, even the work.   Otto hated my laugh; he said I brayed like an ass."
         Beauty twists a lock of hair between her fingers.   "Did you visit the dwarfs?"
         "I wouldn't go into the woods unescorted, so I asked Otto's permission to invite the dwarfs to the palace now and again.   He consented on the condition that I was to be examined by the Grimm psychologist.   We met on the appointed day in Otto's study. Herr Doktor paced, head bent, chewing on his mustache. He wore metal plates on his soles. When he posed a question, he'd stop in front of me, lean close with his peppermint breath and lightly touch my knee.   Every question was about my father, my stepmother, or the dwarfs."
         "He didn't mention Otto?"
         "Pah!" Snow White huffs. "Does a dog bite the hand that feeds him? Precisely one hour later, he clicked out of the room and returned with Otto in tow.   He spoke to him as if I wasn't even there!   He said: On the subject of Snow White and Queen Vanita, the problem is one of vanity.   Understand, each gift of Vanita's in her attempts to kill Snow White appealed to Snow White's vanity, and each in a more intimate way.   The laces bound her body as a lover's arms might; the poison comb, like a lover's hands in her hair, actually pierced the skin.   With the third attempt, the poison apple, Snow White took the forbidden fruit inside herself.   Snow White allowed herself to be tempted by Vanita, showing how close the queen's temptations were to Snow White's inner desire to be the most beautiful, but on the deepest level, shows her desire for sex, which we all know is the little death.   As for the dwarfs, Prince Otto, do not concern yourself.   Although they are symbolically phallic, penetrating dark tunnels with their picks and all, they are harmless as children."
         Beauty makes a mental note to avoid contact with the Grimm psychologist.   "I'm sorry," Beauty says.   Snow White doesn't hear; she's stuck fingers in her ears and is wiggling them vigorously.
         "I couldn't believe my ears!"   Snow White chirps, and dislodges her fingers.   "I tried to explain that I didn't know it was Vanita who visited the