German family discovered the tombstone of the "real" Snow White
In the German city of Bamberg, a tombstone of an aristocrat who lived in the XVIII century was found. Few people know her real name, but every child knows about her. After all, it's Snow White!
The tombstone of Maria Sophia von Erthal was lost after the church where she was buried collapsed in 1804. A family from the city of Bamberg discovered the relic in the house, and donated it to the local history museum.
Von Erthal is considered to be the prototype of Snow White from the classic fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm, published in 1812. According to the director of the museum, Holger Kempkens, "it is impossible to say for sure, but many correspondences indicate that it was von Erthal who inspired the brothers Grimm to the tale of Snow White."
The stepmother, of course, turned out to be a domineering woman, her relationship with her stepdaughter did not work out. After her father and his new wife had their own children, Maria Sofia was forced to leave home. She moved into the house of an English spinster 100 kilometers from her native place.
She settled in Bamberg, which was famous as a city of miners (there were rumors that Maria Sofia was too close to some of them). At that time, children, teenagers and short people often worked in the mines, who later turned into gnomes in the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale. But unlike the fairy-tale character, Maria Sofia never got married. She lived alone in Bamberg until a very old age, went blind and died at the age of 71.
The brothers Grimm wrote a fairy tale about Snow White 16 years after von Erthal's death. What do the "real" Snow White and the fairy tale character have in common? Local historian Dr. Karl Heinz Bartels drew several parallels between them. For example, Father von Erthal, as in the book, marries another after the death of his wife. Von Erthal's stepmother, moreover, had a reputation for being a very domineering woman. In addition, the von Erthal family owned a glass factory, which is probably why they owned the same mirror.
The "talking" mirror - the main proof of the reality of the story-legend - is now kept in the local museum. And indeed - the mirror spoke to the hostess! The ingenious sound mechanism was made by the masters of the mirror manufactory, which was then in Lore.
The owner of the castle bought a rare thing as a gift to his beautiful wife. In the upper corner of the product there is a French inscription: "Amour Propre". Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to hear the voice of an old mirror – over time, the mechanism has completely deteriorated.
The "dense forest", according to Bartels, is the Spessart forest; the mountain path along which Maria Sofia moved is an old summit path through the Spessart Mountains. Now it is called the Wieser Strasse.
Well, the dwarves who sheltered the unfortunate orphan in the fairy tale were most likely simple miners. Working in low tunnels disfigured people, made them hunched, stunted. According to some reports, even children were forced to mine ore in the Shpessart tunnels.
Keywords: Tombstone | Character | Prototype | Relic | Fairy tale