Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Once upon a time three bears lived together in a house of their own, deep in a wood. One was a Great Big Bear, one was a Middle-sized Bear, and one was a Little Wee Bear. Each of them had a bowl for porridge: a great big bowl, a middle-sized bowl, and a little wee bowl. Each of them had a chair to sit in: a great big chair, a middle-sized chair, and a little wee chair. And each of them had a bed to sleep in: a great big bed, a middle-sized bed, and a little wee bed.

One morning they made their porridge and poured it into the three bowls, and because it was far too hot to eat, they went out for a walk in the wood while it cooled. They were polite bears, and they had no wish to burn their mouths by starting too soon.

While they were away, a little girl called Goldilocks came along the path. She lived on the other side of the wood, and her mother had sent her out on an errand, but she had been chasing butterflies instead. When she saw the house she looked in at the window, and then she stooped down and peeped in at the keyhole, which was not a thing she should have done at all.

Nobody seemed to be at home, so she lifted the latch. The door was not locked, because the bears never did anyone any harm and never imagined that anyone would harm them. In went Goldilocks, and there on the table stood three bowls of porridge, steaming gently. A better-mannered girl would have waited until the bears came home, and very likely they would have asked her to sit down and share their breakfast, for they were good-natured bears, a little rough in their ways, but kind. Goldilocks did not wait. She helped herself.

First she tasted the porridge of the Great Big Bear, and it was too hot.

Then she tasted the porridge of the Middle-sized Bear, and it was too cold.

Then she tasted the porridge of the Little Wee Bear, and it was not too hot and not too cold, but just right. She liked it so much that she ate it all up, every last spoonful.

After that she wanted to sit down, for she was tired from all that chasing after butterflies. She sat in the chair of the Great Big Bear, and it was too hard.

Then she sat in the chair of the Middle-sized Bear, and it was too soft.

Then she sat in the chair of the Little Wee Bear, and it was not too hard and not too soft, but just right. So she made herself comfortable, and she sat and she sat until the bottom of the little chair gave way, and down she came, bump, on the floor. That put her in a very bad temper indeed.

Still determined to rest, she went up the stairs to the room where the three bears slept. She lay down on the bed of the Great Big Bear, and it was too high at the head.

Then she lay down on the bed of the Middle-sized Bear, and it was too high at the foot.

Then she lay down on the bed of the Little Wee Bear, and it was not too high at the head and not too high at the foot, but just right. She pulled the covers up snugly, and in a moment she was fast asleep.

By now the three bears thought their porridge would be cool enough to eat, and home they came to breakfast. Goldilocks had left the great big spoon standing in the great big bowl.

“Somebody has been at my porridge!” said the Great Big Bear in his great, rough, gruff voice.

The Middle-sized Bear looked at his bowl, and his spoon was standing in it too.

“Somebody has been at my porridge!” said the Middle-sized Bear in his middle-sized voice.

Then the Little Wee Bear looked at his bowl. The spoon was there, but the porridge was all gone.

“Somebody has been at my porridge, and has eaten it all up!” said the Little Wee Bear in his little wee voice.

Now the bears knew that somebody had come into their house, and they began to look about them. Goldilocks had left the hard cushion of the great big chair all crooked.

“Somebody has been sitting in my chair!” said the Great Big Bear in his great, rough, gruff voice.

And she had squashed the soft cushion of the middle-sized chair flat.

“Somebody has been sitting in my chair!” said the Middle-sized Bear in his middle-sized voice.

And the little wee chair had no bottom left in it at all.

“Somebody has been sitting in my chair, and has sat the bottom right through it!” said the Little Wee Bear in his little wee voice.

Then the bears thought they had better search the rest of the house, so up the stairs they went to their bedroom. Goldilocks had pulled the great big pillow out of its place.

“Somebody has been lying in my bed!” said the Great Big Bear in his great, rough, gruff voice.

And she had pulled the middle-sized bolster out of its place.

“Somebody has been lying in my bed!” said the Middle-sized Bear in his middle-sized voice.

But when the Little Wee Bear came to look at his bed, the bolster lay exactly where it should, and the pillow lay exactly where it should, right on top of the bolster.

And on the pillow?

On the pillow lay a head of golden hair that had no business being there at all.

“Somebody has been lying in my bed, and here she is still!” said the Little Wee Bear in his little wee voice.

Goldilocks had heard the great, rough, gruff voice of the Great Big Bear in her sleep, but it was no more to her than wind in the treetops. She had heard the middle-sized voice of the Middle-sized Bear, and it was only like somebody talking far away in a dream. But the little wee voice of the Little Wee Bear was so sharp and so shrill that it woke her in an instant.

Up she started. There stood the three bears on one side of the bed, so Goldilocks tumbled out at the other and ran straight to the window. The window stood wide open, because tidy bears always open their bedroom window in the morning. Out she went, and down, and away between the trees.

Whether she lost herself among the trees, or found the path and ran all the way home, nobody can say. But the three bears never saw anything of her again.