The Gims Brother Story of the Seven Dwarfs was probably inspirated by a woman named Maria.
Like Maria, Sophia and the dwarves in Maria's story were
actually linked to a small mining town called Ribbon in the middle of Seven
mountains.
Now the mines and tunnels in these mountains were very small,
and only the small men who lived in this village who were very short and they
wore brightly colored caps and hoods so that if they ever got stock they could
easily be found and retrieved by their fellow miners.
The dwarfs wouldn't actually get their names until it Off
Broadway play in 1912.