In "another land, far away,"[6] "many, many years ago," about the time of fairy tales of castles, knights, fair maidens, romance, magic and witches,"[7] a mysterious and icily beautiful woman with magical powers (a 1938 promotional brochure suggests she is able to work her witchcraft having sold "herself body and soul to the bad spirits" of the Harz mountains[8]) has gained her royal position by marrying the widowed King, giving her rule over his kingdom before he died. "From that time on the cruel Queen ruled all alone, her every word was law, and all trembled in mortal fear of her anger."[9] The vain Queen owned a magical mirror with which she could look upon whatever she wished. The Magic Mirror shows a haunted, smoky face of her familiar demon[8] which replies to the Queen's requests. She regularly asks the mirror who is the fairest in the realm ("Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" which is often misquoted as "Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all"[10][11]), and the mirror would always reply that she is.One day, however, the mirror tells her that there is a new fairest woman in the land, her 14-year-old[12] stepdaughter, Princess Snow White.