A Sexy Merchant: The Story Behind the Concept

The original Grimms' Snow White story is quite a peculiar one.

So, without further ado, as briefly as I can:

Snow White hides deep in the woods with seven dwarfs. Her queen stepmother finds her and arrives disguised as an elderly merchant.

First, she offers Snow White... a corset(!). In the deepest part of the forest. Brought by the only stranger who has somehow found the secret house where the Queen’s missing stepdaughter lives.

Clearly, nothing sinister. Snow White puts it on and dies.

The dwarfs save her and explain the wisdom of not opening the door to suspicious old women.

Then, Snow White opens the door to a suspicious old woman... offering a hair comb.

She puts it on and dies again.

The dwarfs save her again and explain once more that enchanted beauty products delivered into deep woods may contain minor curses, major curses, or Death.

Then comes the apple. The fruit has two halves: one harmless 🍏, one poisoned 🍎

The Queen eats from the harmless half. Snow White decides this is good enough to ignore the previous two murders, accepts the poisoned half, and dies for the third time.

Then she is saved, marries a prince, and lives happily ever after.

That's the story :)

Either Snow White was terrible at pattern recognition, or the merchant was way too seductive to reject the offering. I choose to believe Snow White knew that the apple was poisoned, but the promise of an indirect kiss was too tempting. Also, she might have loved the feel of being resurrected by the dwarfs, who know what methods they used.

We know.

We know, and we'll show you :)

So that became the heart of the concept: a wooden back with branches echoing the deep forest, and a sexy stepmother disguised as a merchant, wearing a corset, hiding a comb, and holding the iconic two-colored apple.