Welcome!
Today I would like to explore a familiar story -
Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
It’s a very old story, with many variations.
Owlcation.com has a very informative article on the history of Goldilocks & the 3 Bears.
Until 1951 it was believed that the fairytale was an original story by Robert Southey,
published in 1837.
Copyright 1893
The plot twist?
The name was The Three Bears
No Goldilocks. Probably not a Golden Hair.
Later there were a few stories that included a
Silver Hair (& the 3 bears)
But she was an old woman.
Maybe even a bad witch.
“A witch, you say?”
Yep.
And the bears were a nice family.
Until a spoiled rotten young woman disrupted things.
Or a mean old woman...
“Wh-wha-what happened to the witch?”
Well, I don’t know exactly.
Stories used to be passed down from one generation to another through storytelling.
That is, verbally out loud telling the story to someone.
So perhaps Bruce is a storyteller. He has told the same fairytale many, many times as he travels from village to town to city, telling his stories and receiving in return food to eat, a place to sleep, and a few coins.
Only
this one afternoon no one was paying attention to him,
much less offering up a coin or two.
Bruce decided to tell the fairytale with a little twist,
like adding in an old,
silver-haired woman that was mean to little bear.
That made the story more interesting!
That is how stories have changed over time-
a little embellishment here, an added character there...
suddenly (it seems, but actually a long time)
we have a grumpy old bear threesome
with no silver hair, no old woman, no witch
and a spoiled bratty golden-haired girl.
Next thing we know, we have a bored, charming little girl named Goldilocks
(apparently unsupervised & disobedient)
who wanders off in the forest and finds a few bears -
Who live in a sweet little cottage in the woods.
Early renditions have the Bear Family as being very
slovenly, dirty and messy.
(Think teenager’s room!)Sweet little Golden-hair comes inside and washes dishes, puts chairs upright and makes the beds.
This gives us the moral of the story: Being neat and clean is always better than
being dirty and messy.
After all, who wants to be compared to grumpy, dirty bears?
Published 1912
After all that cleaning she is a bit tired. So she looks for a chair to sit down on.
Cut and glue your own 3 chairs!
The Education Center
Oh no!
This chair is way too big!
She sits in the next one, but it is soooo soft
it almost swallows her up!
Oh no!
She sits in a third chair, and it is Just Right!
Whoops!
The little chair breaks under Goldilocks’ weight.
Oh no!
Dean’s Book of Fairytales
Goldi-locks realizes after all that cleaning, and chair-sitting, she’s hungry! She looks around, and sees 3 bowls of porridge on a table.
She runs over and tries out the Big bowl of porridge.
Oh no!
The Big bowl is wayyyyy too hot!
She tries a second bowl of porridge.
Yuck!
This bowl of porridge is wayyyyy too cool!
She tastes the third bowl of porridge and…
Yum!
…she eats up the whole bowl of porridge.
With a full stomach and tired from cleaning up after the messy bears, Goldilocks wants to put her head down.
Yawn!
Time for a nap.
“I love naps!”
Yawn!
Goldilocks plops down on the Big bed.
Ouch!
This bed is too hard!
Adventure Mountain Timber
She goes over to the second bed.
Whoosh!
This bed is too soft!
She goes over to the third bed and…
Ahh!
This bed is just right!
She lays down and falls fast asleep.
“So, do people fall slow asleep?”
Not now, silly pig!
Meanwhile the Bear family comes home from their stroll.
‘I’m so hungry I could eat a whale!’
Shouts Papa Bear.
Going over to the table he sees his chair on its’ side, and his bowl of porridge upside down!
‘Roar’ exclaims Papa Bear!
Photo credit: John Pitcher
‘Now dear, I’m sure there was a strong wind that blew in and…and…someone has been eating My porridge! AND someone has broken My chair!’
Sighed Mama Bear!
Photo credit: davidjschloss
Little Bear ran over to the table and cried
‘Someone has been sitting in my chair, and now it’s broken!
AND someone has been eating my porridge and…
IT’S ALL GONE!’
Goldilocks is awakened by all the commotion and sits up in bed and yawns loudly.
‘What’s that?’ Shouts Papa Bear, checking his bed for noises.
‘Oh dear!’ cries Mama Bear, straightening her covers.
Baby Bear goes to his bed and says
‘Someone’s been sleeping in my bed,
AND SHE’S STILL THERE!’
Elizabeth Tyler Wolcott 1892-1952 American illustrator. Lithograph c.1910
The story goes a few different directions here.
Depends on the storyteller and his mood, I suspect.
Some say Goldilocks gets up and runs all the way home and never disobeys her parents by wandering off ever again.
From Father Tuck’s 3 Bears
Some say Goldilocks ran all the way home, never to return to the Bear’s home again.
The Bears decided they liked a clean house, and were never slovenly or dirty again.
Some say the Bears frightened Goldilocks she burst into tears. Papa Bear got her a handkerchief.
Mama Bear got her a nice glass of warm milk.
And Baby Bear?
He shared his favorite toy with her, and they became fast friends, and everything worked out fine.
Photo credit: Olga Barantseva and Bear Stepanakert
But then, some say Goldilocks had been so naughty that, well, let’s just say she was never seen again.
‘Burp!’ Growled Papa Bear!
‘Ahem!’ Murmured Mama Bear.
And Little Bear?
He winked.
And that’s the story of
Goldilocks and the 3 Bears,
Sort of.
Here are some beds for your paper dolls, and some more toys to print, cut and play with. Enjoy!
‘Til next time,
inkspired
Some websites I checked out while researching this blog:
Wikipedia
Pinterest
Amazon.com
