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A woman wishes for a child as red as blood and as white as snow. She knows she is about to die, so she requests that she be buried under a juniper tree that her family has outside, as that is where she wished for the child. After a few months she gives birth to a son and dies a few days later. She is buried underneath the Juniper tree. Her husband grieves for a long time, and gets married again. His second wife gives birth to a daughter, Marlinchen, but hates the son because he would be the one to inherit all the family's money, and she wishes it to be her daughter. One day, she offers Marlinchen an apple and she graciously accepts it. Then she has an evil thought and cruelly offers the boy one. As he reaches in a box to get it, she slams the box's heavy lid on him, beheading him. She then takes a bandage and ties his head back to his body, and tells Marlinchen to ask him for the apple, and if he doesn't give it, to give him a good box on the ear. Marlinchen kindly asks for the apple, and then boxes him on the ear, resulting in the boy's head falling off. Marlinchen goes to her mother and tells her in sobs that she killed her brother. Her mother reassures Marlinchen and they both agree not to tell the father. Marlinchen cannot stop weeping. When the father returns the boy has 'gone to stay with his uncle'. The father is upset that the boy did not say goodbye and tells Marlinchen that he will be home soon. The stepmother then turns the boy's body into a stew, and in some other versions, black sausages, without anyone knowing apart from her and Marlinchen.

The father eats the stew, suspecting nothing, and declares it delicious. Marlinchen, however, keeps the bones left over from the meal and buries them beneath the Juniper tree. A beautiful bird flies out of the tree. It goes and sings a song to a goldsmith about its cruel death at the hands of its mother and how caring his sister is. The goldsmith gives the bird a golden chain because the song is so beautiful. The bird also sings the same song to a shoemaker, who gives it a pair of red shoes, and to millers, who give it a millstone. It then flies back home and sings its song. The father goes out to see what is singing such a beautiful song and the golden chain falls about his neck. The father tells everyone that a beautiful bird gave him a chain. It sings again and Marlinchen goes out to see if this is true, and the red shoes fall to her. She comes in giggling happily and tells everyone how happy she is with what the bird has given her. All this time the stepmother is complaining of heat, claiming she has a horrid fire burning in her veins. It sings a third time, the stepmother goes out, hoping for relief, and the bird drops the millstone on her, crushing and killing her. The father and Marlinchen go out to see what caused the loud crash, but find nothing but a swirl of smoke and a stone. The brother is standing there, looking happy, and they all go inside for dinner.

I began reading your tl;dr only to realize that I'd rather just read the story. That book is one of my favorites. heart
The descriptions always bothered me a bit though. Red as blood and white as snow? Dafuq?

also, BOX him on the head? That's a heavy handed punch! OW!