At the beginning of the story, a beautiful young queen sits sewing at an open window during a winter snowfall when she pricks her finger with her needle, causing three drops of red blood to drip onto the freshly fallen white snow on the black windowsill. Admiring the beauty of the resulting color combination, she says to herself, "How I wish that I had a daughter that had skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony." Soon after that, the Good Queen gives birth to a baby daughter, a girl with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony. She is named 'Snow White.' Sadly, the Good Queen, Snow White's mother, dies during childbirth.[1][5]