Anton is related by blood to the Countess upon whom
the story of Snow White is based.
Scholars have uncovered
parallels between the legendary Snow White and Margarete Von Waldeck
(1533-1554). Countess Margarete was the daughter of Philip IV, Count
von Waldeck-Wildungen.
Margarete grew up in the town of Bad Wildungen where small children
worked in copper mines owned by her brother. The children became known
as dwarfs. They were bent and crippled from malnourishment and the
terrible working conditions of the mines. Most died before reaching
the age of 20. Another parallel is that of the man in Bad Wildungen
who was caught poisoning apples in order to get even with children who
were stealing from his property. This poison apple story made it into
the fairy tale.
At the age of 16, Margarete was sent to live at court in Brussels.
There she attracted the attention of a young prince, Phillip II of
Spain. It is said that Margarete had intense beauty and that she had
blond hair. The tale of Snow White, of course, expounds on her black
hair, but the earlier version of Grimms book (in 1808) states that Snow
White’s hair was “yellow.” The young Spanish nobleman and Margarete
fell in love, much to the anger and fears of her stepmother who hated
her and the King of Spain, Phillip’s father.
A plot was made to end
the relationship. It is believed the Spanish secret police were
ordered to poison Margarete, making it look as if she had fallen ill,
in order to put an end to the political inconvenience the marriage
would have created.
Margarete died at the age of 21. The handwriting of her will,
written shortly before her death, show evidence of tremor, no doubt
caused by the poisoning. The perpetrator was never exposed, but it
could not have been her “evil” stepmother, who was already dead at the
time.
