The Story of

the Three Bears

 

Ingrid Vooglaid, Kirke Lindlo

 

 

Tartu University

2019

Title: The Story of the Three Bears

Author: Robert Southey, a poet, historian,

biographer.

Year: 1837, in his collection "The Doctor".

Orally at least

from 1813.

Where: England

Genre: fairy tale

 

Pildid: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Goldilocks_and_the_Three_Bears?fbclid=IwAR0s4H44H2FNxDl_4K14qfzZMn1YxzttHO22leqRrOJAhZ2I-YrYEQeooFs​

Illustration: Arthur Rackham, 1918

Three versions

The original plot by Southey

An old lady wonders into the woods

and sneaks into the home of three

bachelor bears while they are away.

After she has broken the smallest

bear`s chair and eaten his porridge

she falls asleep in his bed. When

the bears return home she jumps

out of the window and is never seen

again. 

 

 

Illustration: http://anitasnotebook.com/2014/12/the-crazy-old-woman-a-strange-version-of-goldilocks-and-the-three-bears.html

The second version: Silver-hair added by Joseph Cundall in Treasury of Pleasure Books for Young Children (1849). -> Goldilocks (1904). Her fate varies but is better than for the old lady.

The third version: Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Baby Bear (1852/1878). 

 

Many alterations in wording turned an

originally frightening tale into

a cozy family story.

Illustratsioon: Leonard Leslie Brooke.

Pilt: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldilocks_and_the_Three_Bears?fbclid=IwAR0s4H44H2FNxDl_4K14qfzZMn1YxzttHO22leqRrOJAhZ2I-YrYEQeooFs

Characters

 

The old lady: ugly, dirty, foul-mouthed,

with poor manners, was a disgrace to

her family and thus sent away.

 

The three bears: harmless,

good-natured, tidy and hospitable.

The Wee bear is the one whose

chair was broken, porridge eaten

and bed slept in.

 

Silver-Hair/Goldilocks: a pretty young girl.

 

 

 

Illustration: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-the-story-of-the-three-bears-english-fairy-tale-the-bears-find-goldilocks-97635391.html​

The Rule of Three

 

Three bears;

three chairs;

three bowls of porridge;

three beds.

Goldilocks tries all three of all three;

The three bears discover all three of all three.

 

Christopher Booker: the way forward lies in the exact middle path between opposites -> the Goldilocks principle.

 

The Goldilocks` Zone - in astronomy, when a planet orbits at just the right distance from its sun to have liquid water. 

 

Pilt: https://phys.org/news/2019-03-chances-life-stars-binaries.html​

Setting

 

In a cozy, tidy, well-furnished cabin in the woods.

Being an intruder in someone else`s home.

 

 

Illustration: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/little-old-lady.html​

Moral of the story

 

A cautionary tale.

Originally about intruders, using and

breaking other people`s things.

Respect other`s property.

Later about the danger of children

wandering away from home.

Illustration: http://anitasnotebook.com/2014/12/the-crazy-old-woman-a-strange-version-of-goldilocks-and-the-three-bears.html​

Sources

 

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldilocks_and_the_Three_Bears?fbclid=IwAR0s4H44H2FNxDl_4K14qfzZMn1YxzttHO22leqRrOJAhZ2I-YrYEQeooFs

Robert Southey. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Southey

Wirawan, A. The Crazy Old Woman: A Strange Version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears

http://anitasnotebook.com/2014/12/the-crazy-old-woman-a-strange-version-of-goldilocks-and-the-three-bears.html