The Three Bears |  |
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, 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. They had each a chair to sit in, a little chair for the little, small, wee bear, a middle-sized chair for the middle bear and a great chair for the great, huge bear. They had each a bed to sleep in, a little bed for the little, small, wee bear, 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. The porridge must cool so they would not burn their mouths. 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, then she peeped in at the keyhole. Seeing nobody in the house, she lifted the latch. The door was not fastened because the bears were good bears. They did nobody any harm and never suspected 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. Then, perhaps, they would have asked her to breakfast, for they were good bears. A little rough, as the manner of bears is, but for all that very goodnatured and hospitable. But she was an impudent old woman and set about helping herself.
So first she tasted the porridge of the great, huge bear; it was too hot for her, and she said a bad word about that. Then she tasted the porridge of the middle bear; it was too cold for her, and she said a bad word about that too. Then she went to the porridge of the little, small; wee bear, and tasted it and that was neither too hot nor too cold, but just right. She liked it so well 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 sat down in the chair of the great, huge bear and it was too hard for her. Then she sat down in the chair of the middle bear and it was too soft for her. Then she sat down in the chair of the little, small, wee bear and it was neither too hard nor too soft, but just right. So she seated herself in it, and there she sat 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 upstairs into the bedchamber in which the three bears slept. First she lay down upon the bed of the great, huge bear but it was too high at the head for her. Next she lay down upon the bed of the middle bear and it was too high at the foot for her. Then she lay down upon the bed of the little, small, wee bear; it 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, gruff voice. And when the middle bear looked at hers, she saw 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 her middle-sized 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, 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 her middle-sized voice.
You know what the little old woman had done to the third chair.
`Somebody has been sitting in my chair, and has sat the bottom of it out!' said the little, small, wee bear, in his little, small, wee voice.
Then the three bears went upstairs 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 her middle-sized 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 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.
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 it was no more to her than the roaring of wind or the rumbling thunder. She heard the middle-sized voice of the middle bear, but it was only as if she had heard someone 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, 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 the good, tidy bears they were, always opened their bedchamber window when they awoke in the morning. Out the little, old woman jumped. 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 for a vagrant as she was, no one can tell. But the three bears never saw anything more of her.
