“Unearthing the Secrets: What the Ashes Reveal About Our Past and Future”
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In The Crystal Casket, an old Italian version of Snow White, as soon as the king sees the girl in the casket, her beauty transfixes him. He orders the casket brought back to his castle.
The king’s mother looks on in horror as the casket is unloaded and carried past her to the king’s bedchamber.
“Mother, I found a wife,” he exclaims.
“But what is it?” she wonders aloud. “A doll? A dead woman?”
“Don’t trouble yourself,” says the king. “I told you, it’s my wife.”
“But she’s dead!”
Nothing his mother says makes a difference. The king cannot be dissuaded. So his mother withdraws to her rooms, leaving her son with the unconscious woman. But what role should the queen mother have played? Was there really nothing she could do?
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