Alright, you asked for it. So here it is.
Notes about the Brothers Grimm version:
* In the first recorded telling of the story (1812) the Queen is not Snow White's stepmother, but her own natural mother. This was amended in the later 1819 version so that Snow White's natural mother died during childbirth and the wicked Queen was the now familiar stepmother. In neither the Queen is a witch. All these comments are about the original 1812 version of the tale.
* Show White's birth is born based on a wish her mother makes:
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Once upon a time in mid winter, when the snowflakes were falling like feathers from heaven, a beautiful queen sat sewing at her window, which had a frame of black ebony wood. As she sewed, she looked up at the snow and pricked her finger with her needle. Three drops of blood fell into the snow. The red on the white looked so beautiful, that she wished, "If only I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as this frame." Soon afterward she had a little daughter that was as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony wood, and therefore they called her Little Snow-White.
* The Queen's magic mirror was given to her as a gift to celebrate the birth of her daughter.
* The Queen becomes obesssed with the magic mirror – asking it all sorts of questions and revels in it's claim that she is the most "fairest in all the land" – until Snow White turns 7 years old and then she is the "fairest in the land". This leads to intense jealousy and the Queens plot to murder her own daughter, even though she herself had wished for such a child.
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When the queen heard the mirror say this, she became pale with envy, and from that hour on, she hated Snow-White. Whenever she looked at her, she thought that Snow-White was to blame that she was no longer the most beautiful woman in the world. This turned her heart around. Her jealousy gave her no peace. Finally she summoned a huntsman and said to him, "Take Snow-White out into the woods to a remote spot, and stab her to death. As proof that she is dead bring her lungs and her liver back to me. I shall cook them with salt and eat them."
* The huntsman does not kill the young Snow White, killing a passing boar instead and taking its lungs and liver back to the Queen.
* Young Snow White finds the Dwarf's house empty (as in the Disney film, the Dwarfs are working down the mine) and after eating falls asleep.
* This segment echo's Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I have been unable to find which story came first – Snow White or Goldilocks.
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The first one said, "Who has been sitting in my chair?"
The second one, "Who has been eating from my plate?"
The third one, "Who has been eating my bread?"
The fourth one, "Who has been eating my vegetables?"
The fifth one, "Who has been sticking with my fork?"
The sixth one, "Who has been cutting with my knife?"
The seventh one, "Who has been drinking from my mug?"
Then the first one said, "Who stepped on my bed?"
The second one, "And someone has been lying in my bed."
* The Dwarfs take pity on Snow White, but it is clear from the outset that Snow White has to perform household chores around their house – cleaning, cooking, sewing etc – if she is to say there. A little more blunt than in the Disney version.
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The dwarfs pitied her and said, "If you will keep house for us, and cook, sew, make beds, wash, and knit, and keep everything clean and orderly, then you can stay here, and you'll have everything that you want. We come home in the evening, and supper must be ready by then, but we spend the days digging for gold in the mine. You will be alone then. Watch out for the queen, and do not let anyone in."
* The mirror still states Snow White is the "fairest of all" so knowing that the Dwarfs can be the only ones offering shelter in the wood, disguises herself as an old peddler to trick the child. She attempts to kill Snow White by tying her bodice too tight.
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Snow-White peered out the window, "What do you have?"
"Bodice laces, dear child," said the old woman, and held one up. It was braided from yellow, red, and blue silk. "Would you like this one?"
"Oh, yes," said Snow-White, thinking, "I can let the old woman come in. She means well." She unbolted the door and bargained for the bodice laces.
"You are not laced up properly," said the old woman. "Come here, I'll do it better." Snow-White stood before her, and she took hold of the laces and pulled them so tight that Snow-White could not breathe, and she fell down as if she were dead. Then the old woman was satisfied, and she went away.
Nightfall soon came, and the seven dwarfs returned home. They were horrified to find their dear Snow-White lying on the ground as if she were dead. They lifted her up and saw that she was laced up too tightly. They cut the bodice laces in two, and then she could breathe, and she came back to life. "It must have been the queen who tried to kill you," they said. "Take care and do not let anyone in again."
* Again the mirror confirms Snow White is alive. So the Queen has another plan – this time with a poisoned comb. So disguising herself in a different disguise the Queen once again tricks Snow White.
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Then she pulled out the comb, and when Snow-White saw how it glistened, and noted that the woman was a complete stranger, she opened the door, and bought the comb from her. "Come, let me comb your hair," said the peddler woman. She had barely stuck the comb into Snow-White's hair, before the girl fell down and was dead. "That will keep you lying there," said the queen. And she went home with a light heart.
The dwarfs came home just in time. They saw what had happened and pulled the poisoned comb from her hair. Snow-White opened her eyes and came back to life. She promised the dwarfs not to let anyone in again.
* Again the mirror confirms Snow White's survival. Now we get to the poisoned (but not enchanted) apple.
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When the queen heard this, she shook and trembled with anger, "Snow-White will die, if it costs me my life!" Then she went into her most secret room -- no one else was allowed inside -- and she made a poisoned, poisoned apple. From the outside it was red and beautiful, and anyone who saw it would want it. Then she disguised herself as a peasant woman, went to the dwarfs' house and knocked on the door.
* This time young Snow White has wised up a bit, but is still tricked (remember she is only seven years old in this version)
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"If you are afraid, then I will cut the apple in two and eat half of it. Here, you eat the half with the beautiful red cheek!" Now the apple had been so artfully made that only the red half was poisoned. When Snow-White saw that the peasant woman was eating part of the apple, her desire for it grew stronger, so she finally let the woman hand her the other half through the window. She bit into it, but she barely had the bite in her mouth when she fell to the ground dead.
* The Mirror confirms Snow White is 'dead' by stating the Queen is the 'fariest in the land'
* Pretty faithful to the Disney version
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That evening the dwarfs returned home from the mines. Snow-White was lying on the floor, and she was dead. They loosened her laces and looked in her hair for something poisonous, but nothing helped. They could not bring her back to life. They laid her on a bier, and all seven sat next to her and cried and cried for three days. They were going to bury her, but they saw that she remained fresh. She did not look at all like a dead person, and she still had beautiful red cheeks. They had a glass coffin made for her, and laid her inside, so that she could be seen easily. They wrote her name and her ancestry on it in gold letters, and one of them always stayed at home and kept watch over her.
Snow-White lay there in the coffin a long, long time, and she did not decay. She was still as white as snow and as red as blood, and if she had been able to open her eyes, they still would have been as black as ebony wood. She lay there as if she were asleep.
The Prince 'meets' Snow White for the first time when she is 'dead'
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One day a young prince came to the dwarfs' house and wanted shelter for the night. When he came into their parlor and saw Snow-White lying there in a glass coffin, illuminated so beautifully by seven little candles, he could not get enough of her beauty. He read the golden inscription and saw that she was the daughter of a king. He asked the dwarfs to sell him the coffin with the dead Snow-White, but they would not do this for any amount of gold. Then he asked them to give her to him, for he could not live without being able to see her, and he would keep her, and honor her as his most cherished thing on earth. Then the dwarfs took pity on him and gave him the coffin.
* The Prince becomes obsessed with the dead girl. It is not a kiss that awakens her, but a spiteful servants actions. (Note: in the 1819 version the apple segment is dislodged by the travelling to the Prince's castle)
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The prince had it carried to his castle, and had it placed in a room where he sat by it the whole day, never taking his eyes from it. Whenever he had to go out and was unable to see Snow-White, he became sad. And he could not eat a bite, unless the coffin was standing next to him. Now the servants who always had to carry the coffin to and fro became angry about this. One time one of them opened the coffin, lifted Snow-White upright, and said, "We are plagued the whole day long, just because of such a dead girl," and he hit her in the back with his hand. Then the terrible piece of apple that she had bitten off came out of her throat, and Snow-White came back to life.
She walked up to the prince, who was beside himself with joy to see his beloved Snow-White alive. They sat down together at the table and ate with joy.
* The Prince and Snow White marry (yes – he married a seven year old. This story, even in 1812, is set in an unspecified past time) and the Queen gets her comeuppance.
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Their wedding was set for the next day, and Snow-White's godless mother was invited as well. That morning she stepped before the mirror and said:
Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who in this land is fairest of all?
The mirror answered:
You, my queen, are fair; it is true.
But the young queen
Is a thousand times fairer than you.
She was horrified to hear this, and so overtaken with fear that she could not say anything. Still, her jealousy drove her to go to the wedding and see the young queen. When she arrived she saw that it was Snow-White. Then they put a pair of iron shoes into the fire until they glowed, and she had to put them on and dance in them. Her feet were terribly burned, and she could not stop until she had danced herself to death.
Additional Notes
The Brothers Grimm did not create their tales, rather they were the first to fully transcribe traditional folktales for the benefit of the printing press. Often they would create a 'definitive' version of a tale from numerous variations they had been told. Sometimes they would totally rewrite the opening, or the ending of a tale if they felt it would read better. They often created names for characters. They even continued to amend these stories after publication (as can be seen in the differences between the 1812 and 1819 versions of Snow White).
Many consider some of the conventions of these European fairy-tales to be 'romantic' they are from sources dating back hundreds and hundreds of years, carried down from generation to generation. The many tales involving royalty can be traced back to either origins in the distant past when European Kingdoms were smaller and much more numerous (for example, England itself had 3 kingdoms round about the 10th Century; Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex), or more likely the original tales were of lesser nobles (such as Lords and Ladies, Counts and Countesses) who were 'promoted' to royalty to make the published story 'sound better'. Although the original story didn't feature a stepmother, it later did and many other fairytales feature stepmothers. This is because death in childbirth was a common occurrence in those days and families with stepmothers were common.
My Comments
There's no doubt that the Disney version is a better story. Some of the changes were done to make the story more acceptable to the audience of the day (such as making Snow White 16? 18? - older anyway) and the modified ending (the audience would not stand for such a show of cruelty from the film's heroes).
But the film also adds a strong narrative - the repeated assasination attempts by the Queen in the original are repetative, the Prince meets and falls in love with Snow White at the start of the film and Show White herself is already the subject of the Queen's jealously before the story begins by being treated as a slave.
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