“Listen! I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.” ~ 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
“The charming maid ascended from the habitation off the dead, with joyous heart-beating, as the blessed will arise out of the dark mansion of the grave at the last trump.”[1]
At this point, you might be wondering how on earth poor Blanca escaped death twice…and what happened the third time.
Well, Sambul (Richilda’s court physician) had indeed tricked Richilda. Sambul is a pious Jew, and instead of poison, he had put opium in the pomegranate apple. The opium created a death-like state for Blanca, fooling everyone – even her beloved servants. True to Snow White tradition, the dwarves constructed a coffin with a window so they might peer in and see her lovely face.[2] It was a good thing they did, for instead of getting paler with decay, she very soon awoke.
Sambul had increased the dose of opium for the soap so Blanca stayed asleep a bit longer the second time; but the watchful dwarves again found her revived and well. The third time, Sambul made the opium into a salt which “immediately dissolved” into the air, so only Blanca inhaled it when she opened the letter.[3] She stayed asleep far longer than either time previously, and so her beloved servants truly believed her to be dead…
Blanca Awakes
During the castle’s mourning period, a young pilgrim returning from the Holy Land happens to stop at Blanca’s castle. This young man’s name is Godfrey, a noble from a neighboring territory. He asks why they are mourning, and they tell him everything “that had happened to the beautiful Blanca, through the wicked snares of her stepmother.”
But this man “happens” to have a cure. For he has a splinter of Elisha’s staff, which “destroys sorcery”.[4]
When he arrives at the coffin, he makes everyone leave except Blanca’s faithful dwarves. He then places the relic on Blanca’s heart, and “in a few moments the breath of life return[s]” to Blanca.[5] After hearing Blanca’s story, he tells her to wait in the crypt while he finishes his pilgrimage home; after that, he promises to return for her and take her to his mother, where she’ll be safe. Then, he promises to get revenge on her “murderess.”[6]
Blanca agrees, and Godfrey tells everyone that the splinter did not work. The dwarves keep Blanca’s secret, and bring her food inside the crypt until Godfrey’s return.
Blanca’s Resurrection
True to his word, Godfrey comes back for the beautiful Blanca. He gives the signal after midnight mass, Blanca comes out to meet him, and he whisks her away to safety.
I love how Johann Musaeus actually puts the imagery of the resurrection into the story! Blanca “ascended from the habitation off the dead, with joyous heart-beating, as the blessed will arise out of the dark mansion of the grave at the last trump.” He sees the parallels so clearly. This story does not need much narration from me; Museus makes it plain enough: just as Blanca rose from the grave when her champion came, so too, we will arise when our Champion comes.
This tale tells an imperfect resurrection story; but one day, we will have the perfect Resurrection. And in a twinkling of an eye, we will be changed…
Sources
[1] Heiner, “Richilda,” Sleeping Beauties, 86.
[2] This may sound strange, but people were deathly afraid of being buried alive (no pun intended!). As early as 1791 (around the time this work was written), an obscure eccentric had a removable glass pane in his coffin (which was not buried) so that people could check to see if he was breathing (http://ow.ly/Eo0d30cB131, 187). Furthermore, in the mid-1800s, Almond Dunbar Fisk created a seal-tight coffin with a glass window that would preserve the body and protect it from grave-robbers. Clearly, no one could survive after being inside that sort of contraption, so clearly Snow White’s coffin wasn’t air-tight. However, man’s mind has always been creative; even if they couldn’t make a coffin with a glass window in the 13th century (when Johann sets his story), they could certainly dream one up.
If you’re interested in more information, here are the sources I found on it (don’t worry, they’re not too morbid!): http://hiddentruths.northwestern.edu/undertakers/iron_coffins.html, http://agraveinterest.blogspot.com/2015/06/death-under-glass.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisk_metallic_burial_case, http://www.fox29.com/news/253575504-story, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_coffin.
[3] Heiner, 84.
[4] Ibid., 85.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
