As soon as he completed her description, there she stood, beside the road, white skin, red mouth, black hair and stark naked; she was the child of his desire and the Countess hated her. The Count lifted her up and sat her in front of him on his saddle but the Countess had only one thought:how shall I be rid of her?The best fairytales are usually the most brutal. The ones that worm their way into the common, darker thoughts and roll with them. There's a lot at play in this very short story by the indomitable Angela Carter. Envy, greed, lust, but mostly you're left with a strange and aching back and forth between characters usually rendered villains in these stories. The girl could be Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, but she's neither, and she's not as important as this tug between the Count and Countess, but she's the victim of their sins anyway.
You can read 'The Snow Angel' by Angela Carter over at Biblioklept.
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