The Story Of The Three Bears

: Favorite Fairy Tales

Once upon a time there were Three Bears, who lived together in a house

of their own in a wood. One of them was a Little, Small, Wee Bear; and

one was a Middle-sized Bear, and the other was a Great, Huge Bear.

They had each a pot for their porridge, a little pot for the Little,

Small, Wee Bear; and a middle-sized pot for the Middle Bear; and a

great pot for the Great, Huge Bear. And they had each a chair to sit

in; a li tle chair for the Little, Small, Wee Bear; and a middle-sized

chair for the Middle Bear; and a great chair for the Great, Huge Bear.

And they had each a bed to sleep in; a little bed for the Little,

Small, Wee Bear; and a middle-sized bed for the Middle Bear; and a

great bed for the Great, Huge Bear.



One day, after they had made the porridge for their breakfast, and

poured it into their porridge-pots, they walked out into the wood

while the porridge was cooling, that they might not burn their mouths

by beginning too soon to eat it. And while they were walking a little

old woman came to the house. She could not have been a good, honest

old woman; for, first, she looked in at the window, and then she

peeped in at the key-hole; and, seeing nobody in the house, she lifted

the latch. The door was not fastened, because the bears were good

bears, who did nobody any harm, and never suspected that anybody would

harm them. So the little old woman opened the door and went in, and

well pleased she was when she saw the porridge on the table. If she

had been a good little old woman she would have waited till the bears

came home, and then, perhaps, they would have asked her to breakfast;

for they were good bears--a little rough or so, as the manner of bears

is, but for all that very good-natured and hospitable. But she was an

impudent, bad old woman, and set about helping herself.



So first she tasted the porridge of the Great, Huge Bear, and that was

too hot for her; and she said a bad word about that. And then she

tasted the porridge of the Middle Bear, and that was too cold for her;

and she said a bad word about that, too. And then she went to the

porridge of the Little, Small, Wee Bear, and tasted that, and that was

neither too hot nor too cold, but just right, and she liked it so well

that she ate it all up; but the naughty old woman said a bad word

about the little porridge-pot, because it did not hold enough for her.



Then the little old woman sate down in the chair of the Great, Huge

Bear, and that was too hard for her. And then she sate down in the

chair of the Middle Bear, and that was too soft for her. And then she

sate down in the chair of the Little, Small, Wee Bear, and that was

neither too hard nor too soft, but just right. So she seated herself

in it, and there she sate till the bottom of the chair came out, and

down came she, plump upon the ground. And the naughty old woman said a

wicked word about that, too.



Then the little old woman went up-stairs into the bedchamber in which

the three bears slept. And first she lay down upon the bed of the

Great, Huge Bear; but that was too high at the head for her. And next

she lay down upon the bed of the Middle Bear; and that was too high at

the foot for her. And then she lay down upon the bed of the Little,

Small, Wee Bear; and that was neither too high at the head nor at the

foot, but just right. So she covered herself up comfortably, and lay

there till she fell fast asleep.



By this time the three bears thought their porridge would be cool

enough, so they came home to breakfast. Now the little old woman had

left the spoon of the Great, Huge Bear standing in his porridge.



"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN AT MY PORRIDGE!"



said the Great, Huge Bear, in his great, rough, gruff voice. And when

the Middle Bear looked at his, he saw that the spoon was standing in

it, too. They were wooden spoons; if they had been silver ones the

naughty old woman would have put them in her pocket.



"Somebody Has Been At My Porridge!"



said the Middle Bear, in his middle voice.



Then the Little, Small, Wee Bear looked at his, and there was the

spoon in the porridge-pot, but the porridge was all gone.



"Somebody has been at my porridge, and has eaten it all

up!"



said the Little, Small, Wee Bear, in his little, small, wee voice.



Upon this the three bears, seeing that some one had entered their

house, and eaten up the Little, Small, Wee Bear's breakfast, began to

look about them. Now the little old woman had not put the hard cushion

straight when she rose from the chair of the Great, Huge Bear.



"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY CHAIR!"



said the Great, Huge Bear, in his great, rough, gruff voice.



And the little old woman had squatted down the soft cushion of the

Middle Bear.



"Somebody Has Been Sitting In My Chair!"



said the Middle Bear, in his middle voice.



And you know what the little old woman had done to the third chair.



"Somebody has been sitting in my chair, and has sate

the bottom of it out!"



said the Little, Small, Wee Bear, in his little, small, wee voice.



Then the three bears thought it necessary that they should make

further search, so they went up-stairs into their bedchamber. Now the

little old woman had pulled the pillow of the Great, Huge Bear out of

its place.



"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN LYING IN MY BED!"



said the Great, Huge Bear, in his great, rough, gruff voice.



And the little old woman had pulled the bolster of the Middle Bear

out of its place.



"Somebody Has Been Lying in My Bed!"



said the Middle Bear, in his middle voice.



And when the Little, Small, Wee Bear came to look at his bed, there

was the bolster in its place, and the pillow in its place upon the

bolster, and upon the pillow was the little old woman's ugly, dirty

head--which was not in its place, for she had no business there.



"Somebody has been lying in my bed--and here she is!"



said the Little, Small, Wee Bear, in his little, small, wee voice.




her at once]



The little old woman had heard in her sleep the great, rough, gruff

voice of the Great, Huge Bear; but she was so fast asleep that it was

no more to her than the roaring of wind or the rumbling of thunder.

And she had heard the middle voice of the Middle Bear, but it was

only as if she had heard some one speaking in a dream. But when she

heard the little, small, wee voice of the Little, Small, Wee Bear, it

was so sharp and so shrill that it awakened her at once. Up she

started; and when she saw the Three Bears on one side of the bed she

tumbled herself out at the other and ran to the window. Now the window

was open, because the bears, like good, tidy bears as they were,

always opened their bedchamber window when they got up in the morning.

Out the little old woman jumped; and whether she broke her neck in the

fall, or ran into the wood and was lost there, or found her way out of

the wood and was taken up by the constable and sent to the House of

Correction for a vagrant as she was, I cannot tell. But the Three

Bears never saw anything more of her.



From "The Green Fairy Book," edited by Andrew Lang, by

the courtesy of Longmans, Green & Co.