Brothers grimm goldilocks

Goldilocks And The Three Bears

Once upon a time in a large forest, close to a village, stood the cottage where the Teddy Bear family lived. They were not really proper Teddy Bears, for Father Bear was very big, Mother Bear was middling in size, and only Baby Bear could be described as a Teddy Bear.

Each bear had its own size of bed. Father Bear's was large and nice and comfy. Mother Bear's bed was middling in size, while Baby Bear had a fine little cherrywood bed that Father Bear had ordered from a couple of beaver friends.

Beside the fireplace, around which the family sat in the evenings, stood a large carved chair for the head of the house, a delightful blue velvet armchair for Mother Bear, and a very little chair for Baby Bear.

Neatly laid out on the kitchen table stood three china bowls. A large one for Father Bear, a smaller one for Mother Bear, and a little bowl for Baby Bear.

The neighbors were all very respectful to Father Bear and people raised their hats when he went by. Father Bear liked that and he always politely replied to their greetings. Mother Bear had lots of friends. She visited them in the afternoons to exchange good advice and recipes for jam and bottled fruit. Baby Bear, however, had hardly any friends. This was partly because he was rather a bully and liked to win games and arguments. He was a pest too and always getting into mischief. Not far away, lived a fair-haired little girl who had a similar nature to Baby Bear, only she was haughty and stuck-up as well, and though Baby Bear often asked her to come and play at his house, she always said no.

One day, Mother Bear made a nice pudding. It was a new recipe, with blueberries and other crushed berries. Her friends told her it was delicious. When it was ready, she said to the family:

"It has to be left to cool now, otherwise it won't taste nice. That will take at least an hour. Why don't we go and visit the Beavers' new baby? Mummy Beaver will be pleased to see us." Father Bear and Baby Bear would much rather have tucked into the pudding, warm or not, but they liked the thought of visiting the new baby.

'We must wear our best clothes, even for such a short visit. Everyone at the Beavers' will be very busy now, and we must not stay too long!" And so they set off along the pathway towards the river bank. A short time later, the stuck-up little girl, whose name was Goldilocks, passed by the Bears' house as she picked flowers.

"Oh, what an ugly house the Bears have!" said Goldilocks to herself as she went down the hill. "I'm going to peep inside! It won't be beautiful like my house, but I'm dying to see where Baby Bear lives.' Knock! Knock! The little girl tapped on the door. Knock! Knock! Not a sound...

"Surely someone will hear me knocking," Goldilocks said herself, impatiently. "Anyone at home?" she called, peering round the door. Then she went into the empty house and started to explore the kitchen.

"A pudding!" she cried, dipping her finger into the pudding Mother Bear had left to cool. "Quite nice!" she murmured, spooning it from Baby Bear's bowl. In a twinkling, the bowl lay empty on a messy table. With a full tummy, Goldilocks went on exploring.

"Now then, this must be Father Bear's chair, this will be Mother Bear's, and this one must belong to my friend, Baby Bear. I'll just sit on it a while!" With these words, Goldilocks sat herself down onto the little chair which, quite unused to such a sudden weight, promptly broke a leg. Goldilocks crashed to the floor, but not in the least dismayed by the damage she had done, she went upstairs.

There was no mistaking which was Baby Bear's bed.

"Mm! Quite comfy!" she said, I bouncing on it. "Not as nice as mine, but nearly! Then she yawned. I think I'll lie down, only for a minute just to try the bed. " And in next to no time, Goldilocks lay fast asleep in Baby Bear's bed. In the meantime, the Bears were on their way home.

"Wasn't the new Beaver baby ever so small?" said Baby Bear to his mother. Was I as tiny as that when I was born?"

"Not quite, but almost," came the reply, with a fond caress. From a distance, Father Bear noticed the door was ajar.

"Hurry!" he cried. "Someone is in our house ..." Was Father Bear hungry or did a thought strike him? Anyway, he dashed into the kitchen. "I knew it! Somebody has gobbled up the pudding."

"Someone has been jumping up and down on my armchair!" complained Mother Bear.

"and somebody's broken my chair!" wailed Baby Bear.

Where could the culprit be? They all ran upstairs and tiptoed in amazement over to Baby Bear's bed. In it lay Goldilocks, sound asleep. Baby Bear prodded her toe.

"Who's that? Where am I?" shrieked the little girl, waking with a start. Taking fright at the scowling faces bending over her, she clutched the bedclothes up to her chin. Then she jumped out of bed and fled down the stairs.

"Get away! Away from that house!" she told herself as she ran, forgetful of all the trouble she had so unkindly caused. But Baby Bear called from the door, waving his arm:

"Don't run away! Come back! I forgive you, come and play with me!"

And this is how it all ended. From that day onwards, haughty rude Goldilocks became a pleasant little girl. She made friends with Baby Bear and often went to his house. She invited him to her house too, and they remained good friends, always.

The End

She Doesn’t Always Get Away: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

It’s such a kind, cuddly story—three cute bears with a rather alarming obsession with porridge and taking long healthy walks in the woods (really, bears, is this any example to set to small children), one small golden haired girl who is just hungry and tired and doesn’t want porridge that burns her mouth—a perfectly understandable feeling, really.

Or at least, it’s a kind cuddly story now.

In the earliest written version, the bears set Goldilocks on fire.

That version was written down in 1831 by Eleanor Mure, someone we know little of besides the name. The granddaughter of a baron and daughter of a barrister, she was apparently born around 1799, never married, was at some point taught how to use watercolors, and died in 1886. And that’s about it. We can, however, guess that she was fond of fairy tales and bears—and very fond of a young nephew, Horace Broke. Fond enough to write a poem about the Three Bears and inscribe it in his very own handcrafted book for his fourth birthday in 1831.

It must have taken her at least a few weeks if not more to put the book together, both to compose the poem and paint the watercolor illustrations of the three bears and St. Paul’s Cathedral, stunningly free of any surrounding buildings. In her version, all animals can talk. Three bears (in Mure’s watercolors, all about the same size, although the text claims that the third bear is “little”) take advantage of this speaking ability to buy a nice house in the neighborhood, already furnished.

Almost immediately, they run into social trouble when they decide not to receive one of their neighbors, an old lady. Her immediate response is straight from Jane Austen and other books of manners and social interactions: she calls the bears “impertinent” and to ask exactly how they can justify giving themselves airs. Her next response, however, is not exactly something that Jane Austen would applaud: after getting told to go away, she decides to walk into the house and explore it—an exploration that includes drinking out of their three cups of milk, trying their three chairs (and breaking one) and trying out their three beds (breaking one of those as well). The infuriated bears, after finding the milk, the chairs and the beds, decide to take their revenge—first throwing her into a fire and then into water, before finally throwing her on top of the steeple of St. Paul’s Cathedral and leaving her there.

The poetry is more than a bit rough, as is the language—I have a bit of difficulty thinking that anyone even in 1831 would casually drop “Adzooks!” into a sentence, although I suppose if you’re going to use “Adzooks” at all (and Microsoft Word’s spell checker, for one, would prefer that you didn’t) it might as well be in a poem about bears. Her nephew, at least, treasured the book enough to keep it until his death in 1909, when it was purchased, along with the rest of his library, by librarian Edgar Osborne, who in turn donated the collection to the Toronto Public Library in 1949, which publicized the find in 1951, and in 2010, very kindly published a pdf facsimile online which allows all of us to see Mure’s little watercolors with the three bears.

Mure’s poem, however, apparently failed to circulate outside of her immediate family, or perhaps even her nephew, possibly because of the “Adzooks!” It was left to poet Robert Southey to popularize the story in print form, in his 1837 collection of writings, The Doctor.

Southey is probably best known these days as a friend of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (the two men married two sisters). In his own time, Southey was initially considered a radical—though he was also the same radical who kindly advised Charlotte Bronte that “Literature is not the business of a woman’s life. ” To be somewhat fair, Southey may have been thinking of his own career: he, too, lacked the funds to focus completely on poetry, needing to support himself through nonfiction work after nonfiction work. Eventually, he accepted a government pension, accepting that he did not have a large enough estate or writing income to live on. He also moved away from his earlier radicalism—and some of this friends—though he continued to protest living conditions in various slums and the growing use of child labor in the earlier part of the 19th century.

His prose version of “The Three Bears” was published after he had accepted that government pension and joined the Tory Party. In his version, the bears live not in a lovely, furnished country mansion, but in a house in the woods—more or less where bears might be expected to be found. After finding that their porridge is too hot, they head out for a nice walk in the woods. At this point, an old woman finds their house, heads in, and starts helping herself to the porridge, chairs and the beds.

It’s a longer, more elaborate version than either Mure’s poem or the many picture books that followed him, thanks to the many details Southey included about the chair cushions and the old lady—bits left out of most current versions. What did endure was something that doesn’t appear in Mure’s version: the ongoing repetition of “SOMEBODY’S BEEN EATING MY PORRIDGE,” and “SOMEBODY’S BEEN SITTING IN MY CHAIR.” Whether Southey’s original invention, or something taken from the earlier oral version that inspired both Mure and Southey, those repetitive sentences—perfect for reciting in different silly voices—endured.

Southey’s bears are just a little bit less civilized than Mure’s bears—in Southey’s words, “a little rough or so,” since they are bears. As his old woman: described as an impudent, bad old woman, she uses rough language (Southey, knowing the story would be read to or by children, does not elaborate) and doesn’t even try to get an invitation first. But both stories can be read as reactions to changing social conditions in England and France. Mure presents her story as a clash between established residents and new renters who—understandably—demand to be treated with the same respect as the older, established residents, in a mirror of the many cases of new merchant money investing in or renting older, established homes. Southey shows his growing fears of unemployed, desperate strangers breaking into quiet homes, searching for food and a place to rest. His story ends with the suggestion that the old woman either died alone in the woods, or ended up getting arrested for vagrancy.

Southey’s story was later turned into verse by a certain G.N. (credited as George Nicol in some sources) on the basis that, as he said:

But fearing in your book it might

Escape some little people’s sight

I did not that one should lose

What will them all so much amuse,

As you might be gathering from this little excerpt, the verse was not particularly profound, or good; the book, based on the version digitized by Google, also contained numerous printing errors. (The digitized Google version does preserve the changes in font size used for the bears’ dialogue.) The illustrations, however, including an early one showing the bears happily smoking and wearing delightful little reading glasses, were wonderful—despite the suggestion that the Three Bears were not exactly great at housekeeping. (Well, to be fair, they were bears.)

To be fair, some of the poetic issues stem from Victorian reticence:

Somebody in my chair has been!”

The middle Bear exclaim’d;

Seeing the cushion dented in

By what may not be named.

(Later Victorians, I should note, thought even this—and the verse that follows, which, I should warn you, suggests the human bottom – was far too much, ordering writers to delete Southey’s similar reference and anything that so much as implied a reference to that part of the human or bear anatomy. Even these days, the exact method that Goldilocks uses to dent the chair and later break the little bear’s chair are left discreetly unmentioned. )

Others stem from a seeming lack of vocabulary:

She burn’d her mouth, at which half mad

she said a naughty word;

a naughty word it was and bad

As ever could be heard.

Joseph Cundall, for one, was unimpressed, deciding to return to Southey’s prose version of the tale for his 1849 collection, Treasury of Pleasure Books for Young Children. Cundall did, however, make one critical and lasting change to the tale: he changed Southey’s intruder from an elderly lady to a young girl called Silver-Hair. Cundall felt that fairy tales had enough old women, and not enough young girls; his introduction also suggests that he may have heard another oral version of the tale where the protagonist was named Silver Hair. Shortly after publishing this version, Cundall went bankrupt, and abandoned both children’s literature and printing for the more lucrative (for him) profession of photography.

The bankruptcy did not prevent other Victorian children’s writers from seizing his idea and using it in their own versions of the Three Bears, making other alterations along the way. Slowly, the bears turned into a Bear Family, with a Papa, Mama and Baby Bear (in the Mure, Southey, G.N. and Cundall versions, the bears are all male). The intruder changed names from Silver Hair to Golden Hair to Silver Locks to, eventually, Goldilocks. But in all of these versions, she remained a girl, often a very young one indeed, and in some cases, even turned into the tired, hungry protagonist of the tale—a girl in danger of getting eaten by bears.

I suspect, however, that like me, many small children felt more sympathy for the small bear. I mean, the girl ate his ENTIRE BREAKFAST AND BROKE HIS CHAIR. As a small child with a younger brother who was known for occasionally CHEWING MY TOYS, I completely understood Baby Bear’s howls of outrage here. I’m just saying.

The story was popular enough to spawn multiple picture books throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which in turn led to some authors taking a rather hard look at Goldilocks. (Like me, many of these authors were inclined to be on the side of Baby Bear. ) Many of the versions took elaborate liberties with the story—as in my personal recent favorite, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs, by Mo Willems, recommended to me by an excited four year old. Not only does it change the traditional porridge to chocolate pudding, which frankly makes far more sense for breakfast, it also, as the title might have warned, has dinosaurs, though I should warn my adult readers that alas, no, the dinosaurs do not eat Goldilocks, which may be a disappointment to many.

For the most part, the illustrations in the picture books range from adequate to marvelous—a far step above the amateur watercolors so carefully created by Mure in 1837. But the story survived, I think, not because of the illustrations, but because when properly told by a teller who is willing to do different voices for all three bears, it’s not just exciting but HILARIOUS, especially when you are three. It was the start, for me, of a small obsession with bears.

But I must admit, as comforting as it is on some level to know that in most versions, Goldilocks does get safely away (after all, in the privacy of this post, I must admit that my brother was not the only child who broke things in our house, and it’s kinda nice to know that breaking a chair won’t immediately lead to getting eaten by bears) it’s equally comforting to know that in at least one earlier version, she didn’t.

Mari Ness lives in central Florida.

citation

Goldilocks Fairy Tale read online

Czech Tales

In one country - I forgot its name - there was a king, an evil and grumpy old man. Once a merchant came to his palace, brought fresh fish in a basket and said:
- Buy this fish from me, king. You won't regret. The king glanced at the fish:
- I have never seen such a fish in my kingdom. Poisonous, right?
- What are you! - the merchant was frightened. - Order this fish to be fried, eat it - and you will immediately begin to understand the conversation of all animals, fish and birds. Even the smallest bug will squeak something, and you will already know what he wants. You will become the smartest king on earth.
The King liked it. He bought fish from a merchant and, although he was stingy and greedy, he did not even bargain and paid what she asked for. “Now,” the king thought and rubbed his bony hands, “I will be the smartest in the world and conquer the whole world. It's like drinking! Now my enemies will cry."
The king called his servant, young Irzhik, and ordered him to fry the fish for dinner.
- But only without cheating! - said the king to Irzhik. - If you eat at least one piece of this fish, I will cut off your head.
Irzhik brought the fish to the kitchen, looked at it and was even more surprised: he had never seen such a fish. Each fish scale glowed with multi-colored fire, like a rainbow. It was a pity to clean and fry such a fish. But you will not go against the royal order.
Irzhik fries fish and can't figure out if it's ready or not. The fish does not blush, does not become covered with a crust, but becomes transparent.
"Who knows if it's fried or not," thought Irzhik. "We must try."
Took a piece, chewed and swallowed - as if ready. Chews and hears thin, squeaky voices:
- And we have a piece! And we have a piece! W-w-fried fish! Irzhik looked around. Nobody here. Only flies fly over the
fish dish.
— Aha! — said Irzhik. — Now I'm beginning to understand something about this fish.
He took a dish with fish and put it on the window, in a through wind, so that the fish would cool down. And outside the window, geese go through the yard and quietly cackle. Irzhik listened and heard one goose asking:
- Where are we going? Where shall we go? And the other answers:
- To the miller in the barley field! To the miller in the barley field!
- Yup! - Irzhik said again and grinned: - Now I understand what kind of fish it is. Perhaps one piece is not enough for me.
Irzhik ate the second piece of fish, then beautifully arranged the fish on a silver platter, sprinkled with parsley and dill, and carried the dish to the king.
Since then, Irzhik began to understand everything that the animals were talking about with each other. He learned that the life of animals is not as easy as people think - animals have both grief and worries. Since that time, Irzhik began to feel sorry for the animals and tried to help every smallest animal if it got into trouble.
After dinner, the king ordered two saddle horses to be brought in and went for a walk with Irzhik.
The king rode ahead, and Irzhik followed him. The hot horse Irzhik kept rushing forward. Irzhik restrained him with difficulty. The horse neighed, and Irzhik immediately understood his words.
- Yoke! - the horse neighed. - Come on, brother, let's ride and be transported in one fell swoop over this mountain.
- It would be nice, - the king's horse answered him, - but this old fool sits on me. He'll fall off and break his neck. It will turn out badly - after all, but still the king.
- Well, let him break his neck, - said Irzhik's horse. - Then you will carry the young king, and not this ruin.
Irzhik laughed softly. But the king also understood the conversation of the horses, looked back at Irzhik, poked his horse in the side with his boot and asked Irzhik:0005 - What are you laughing at, impudent?
- I remembered, your royal grace, how today in the kitchen two cooks dragged each other by whirlwinds.
- Look at me! the king said threateningly.
He, of course, did not believe Irzhik, angrily turned his horse around and galloped off to his palace. In the palace, he ordered Irzhik to pour himself a glass of wine.
- But look, if you don't fill it up or overfill it, I'll order you to cut off your head!
Irzhik took the jug of wine and began to carefully pour the wine into a heavy glass. At that moment, two sparrows flew in through the open window. They fly around the room and fight on the fly. One sparrow holds three golden hairs in its beak, and the other tries to take them away.
- Give it back! Give it back! They are mine! Thief!
- I won't give it! I picked them up when the beauty was combing her golden braids. No one else in the world has hair like this. I'm not giving it! Whom she marries will be the happiest.
- Give it back! Beat the thief!
Sparrows ruffled and, grabbing, flew out the window. But one golden hair fell out of its beak, fell on the stone floor and rang like a bell. Irzhik looked around and… spilled the wine.
- Yup! the king shouted. “Now say goodbye to life, Irzhik!”
The king was glad that Irzhik had spilled the wine and it would be possible to get rid of him. The king alone wanted to be the smartest in the world. Who knows, maybe this young and cheerful servant managed to taste fried fish. Then he will be a dangerous opponent for the king. But then the king came up with a good idea. He picked up a golden hair from the floor, handed it to Irzhik and said:0005 - So be it. Perhaps I will have mercy on you if you find the girl who lost this golden hair and bring her to me as a wife. Take this hair and go. Search!
What was Irzhik to do? He took the hair, equipped himself for the journey, and rode out of the city. And where to go, he does not know. He let go of the reins, and the horse trudged along the most deserted road. It's all overgrown with grass. It looks like it hasn't been driven in a long time. The road reached a high dark forest. Irzhik sees: a fire is burning at the edge, a dry bush is burning. The shepherds threw the fire, did not fill it, did not trample, and the bush caught fire from the fire. And under the bush is an anthill. Ants run, fuss, drag their good from the anthill - ant eggs, dry bugs, caterpillars and various tasty grains. Irzhik hears how the ants shout to him:
- Help, Irzhik! Save! We are burning!
Irzhik jumped off his horse, cut down a bush and put out the flame. The ants surrounded him in a ring, moving their antennae, bowing and thanking him:
- Thank you, Irzhik. We will never forget your kindness! And if you need help, rely on us - We will repay the good.
Irzhik drove into the dark forest. He hears: someone squeaks plaintively. He looked around and saw: under a tall spruce two crows are lying - they fell out of the nest - and they squeak:
- Help, Irzhik! Feed us! We are dying of hunger! Mother and father flew away, but we still don’t know how to fly.
The king deliberately gave Irzhik an old, sick horse - a real horse. The horse is standing, the horse's legs are shaking, and it is clear that this trip for him is one torment.
Irzhik jumped off his horse, thought, stabbed him to death and left the horse carcass for the crows - let them feed.
- Kar-r, Ir-rzhik! Ka-r-r! the crows shouted merrily. “We will help you for this!”
Irzhik went further on foot. For a long time I walked through a dense forest, then the forest began to make more and more noise, more and more loudly, the wind already bent the tops of the trees. And then the splash of waves was added to the noise of the peaks, and Irzhik went out to the sea. Two fishermen were arguing on the sandy shore. One caught a golden fish in the net, and the other demanded this fish for himself.
“My net,” one fisherman shouted, “my and the fish!”
- Whose boat is it? answered another fisherman. “Without my boat you would not have cast your net!”
The fishermen shouted louder and louder, then rolled up their sleeves, and the matter would have ended in a fight if Irzhik had not intervened.
- Stop making noise! he said to the fishermen. "Sell me this fish, and divide the money among yourselves." And deal with the end.
Irzhik gave the fishermen all the money that he received from the king for the road, took the golden fish and threw it into the sea. The fish wagged its tail, stuck its head out of the water and said:
- Quid for a favor. When you need my help, call me. I will sail.
Irzhik sat down on the shore to rest. The fishermen ask him:
— Where are you going, good man?
- I'm looking for a bride for my old king. He ordered to get him a beautiful woman with golden hair as his wife. Where can you find her?
The fishermen looked at each other, sat down on the sand next to Irzhik.
- Well, - they say - you reconciled us, but we remember well. Let's help you. There is only one beauty with golden hair in the whole world. This is our king's daughter. You see an island in the sea, and on the island - a crystal palace? That's where she lives, in this palace. Every day at dawn she combs her hair. Then such a golden dawn breaks over the sea that we wake up from it in our hut and know that it's time for us to go fishing. We will take you to the island. Only to recognize the beauty is almost impossible.
- Why is that? Irik asks.
- But because the king has twelve daughters, and the golden-haired one. And all twelve princesses are dressed the same. And they all have the same veils on their heads. Hair under them is not visible. So your business, Irzhik, is difficult.
Irzhik fishermen transported to the island. Irzhik went straight to the crystal palace to the king, bowed to him and told him why he had come to the island.
- Okay! said the king. “I am not a stubborn man. I will give my daughter in marriage to your king. But in return, you must complete my tasks for three days. Is it coming?
- Coming! Irik agreed.
- Go get some sleep off the road. Have a rest. My tasks are intricate. You can't solve them right off the bat.
Irzhik slept well! The sea wind blew through the windows all night, the surf roared, and occasionally small splashes even flew onto the bed.
Irzhik got up in the morning and came to the king. The king thought for a moment and said:
- Here's your first task. My golden-haired daughter wore a pearl necklace around her neck. The thread broke, and all the pearls scattered in the thick grass. Collect them all to one.
Irzhik went to the lawn, where the princess scattered pearls. The grass is waist-deep, and so thick that you can't see the ground beneath it.
— Eh, — Irzhik sighed, — if my ant friends were here, they would help me!
He suddenly hears a squeak in the grass, as if hundreds of some tiny people are fussing around his feet:
— We're here! We are here! How can I help you, Irzhik? Collect pearls? Wait, we're in a moment!
Ants ran in, waved their antennae and began to drag pearl after pearl to Irzhik's feet. Irzhik barely had time to string them on a harsh thread.
Collected all the necklace and carried it to the king. The king counted the pearls for a long time, lost his way, counted again.
- That's right! Okay, I'll give you a harder task tomorrow. Irzhik comes to the king the next day. The king slyly
looked at him and said:
- That's the trouble! My golden-haired daughter was bathing and dropped a golden ring into the sea. I'm giving you a day to get it.
Irzhik went to the sea, sat on the shore and almost cried. The sea in front of him lies warm, clear and so deep that it’s even scary to think.
- Eh, - says Irzhik, - if there was a golden fish here, it would help me out!
Suddenly, in the sea, something flashed on the dark water, and a golden fish emerged from the depths.
- Don't be sad! - she said to Irzhik. - I just saw a pike with a golden ring on its fin. - Be calm, I will get it.
Irzhik waited for a long time, until finally a golden fish with a golden ring on its fin emerged.
Irzhik carefully removed the ring from the fin so that the fish would not be hurt, thanked her and went to the palace.
- Well, - said the king, - you are a clever person, apparently. Come tomorrow for the last task.
And the last task was the most difficult: to bring living and dead water to the king. Where can I get it? Irzhik went aimlessly, reached the great forest, stopped and thought:
“If my crows were here, they would…”
Before he had time to think, he hears: above his head the whistle of wings, croaking and sees: familiar crows are flying towards him.
Irzhik told them his grief.
The crows flew away, they were not there for a long time, and then again rustled their wings and dragged two eggplants with living and dead water to Irzhik in their beaks.
- Carr, carr, berry and be happy! Carr!
Irzhik took the eggplants and went to the crystal palace. He went out to the edge and stopped: a black spider wove a web between two trees, caught a fly in it, killed it and sits sucking the fly's blood. Irzhik splashed dead water on the spider. The spider immediately died - folded its legs and fell to the ground. Then Irzhik sprinkled the fly with living water. She came to life, beat her wings, buzzed, broke the web and flew away. And flying away, she said to Irzhik:
- For your happiness, you revived me. I will help you recognize Goldilocks.
Irzhik came to the king with living and dead water. The king even gasped, did not believe for a long time, but he tried the dead water on an old mouse that ran through the palace room, and the living water on a dried flower in the garden and was delighted. I believed. He took Irzhik by the hand and led him into a white hall with a golden ceiling. In the middle of the hall stood a round crystal table, and behind it on crystal chairs sat twelve beauties, so similar to each other that Irzhik only waved his hand and lowered his eyes - how can you tell which one of them is Goldilocks! They all have the same long dresses, and the same white veils on their heads. Not a hair is visible from under them.
- Well, choose, - says the king. - Guess - your happiness! But no - you will leave here alone, as you came.
Irzhik raised his eyes and suddenly hears something buzzing near his ear.
- J-i-i-i, go around the table. I'll give you a hint. Irzhik looked: a small fly was flying over him. Irzhik
walked slowly around the table, while the princesses sat downcast. And everyone's cheeks flushed the same way. And the fly buzzes and buzzes:
- Not that one! Not the one! Not the one! But this one - she, golden-haired! Irzhik stopped, pretended to be still in doubt, then said:0005 - Here is the golden-haired princess!
- Your happiness! the king shouted.
The princess quickly left the table, threw off her white veil, and her golden hair spilled over her shoulders. And immediately the whole hall sparkled with such brilliance from this hair that it seemed that the sun gave all its light to the hair of the princess.
The queen looked straight at Irzhik and averted her eyes: she had never seen such a handsome and stately young man. The princess's heart was beating heavily, but her father's word is law. She will have to marry the old, evil king!
Irzhik took the bride to his master. He protected her all the way, making sure that her horse did not stumble, that a cold drop of rain did not fall on her shoulders. It was a sad return. Because Irzhik also fell in love with the golden-haired princess, but he could not tell her about it.
The grumpy old king giggled with joy when he saw the beauty, and ordered to quickly prepare the wedding. And Irzhik said:
- I wanted to hang you on a dry bough for disobedience, so that crows would peck at your corpse. But for the fact that you found me a bride, I declare you a royal favor. I will not hang you, but I will order you to cut off your head and bury with honor.
In the morning they cut off Irzhik's head on the chopping block. The golden-haired beauty sobbed and asked the king to give her the headless body and head of Irzhik. The king frowned, but did not dare to refuse the bride.
Goldilocks put her head to her body, sprinkled living water - her head grew, not even a trace was left. She sprinkled Irzhik a second time - and he jumped up alive, young and even more handsome than he was before the execution. And he asked Goldilocks:
- Why did I fall asleep so soundly?
- You would have fallen asleep forever, - Goldilocks answered him, - if I had not saved you, dear.
The king saw Irzhik and was dumbfounded: how did he come to life, and even become so beautiful! The king was a cunning old man and immediately decided to take advantage of this case. He called the executioner and ordered:
- Cut off my head! And then let Goldilocks sprinkle wonderful water on me. And I will come alive young and beautiful.
The executioner willingly cut off the head of the old king. But it was not possible to resurrect him. In vain they just poured all the living water on him. There must have been so much anger in the king that no living water could help. They buried the king without tears, to the beat of drums. And since the country needed a smart and kind ruler, he chose the people as the ruler of Irzhik - it was not for nothing that he was the wisest man in the world. And Goldilocks became the wife of Irzhik, and they lived a long and happy life.
And so ended this tale of how the animals repaid kindness for kindness and how the king lost his head.

Category: Tales of the peoples of Europe

Fairy tale Goldilocks, Czech folk tale

Once upon a time there was a king. Once an unfamiliar old woman came to him, brought a fish and said: “Order to cook this fish and eat it today at dinner. Then you will understand everything that any animal says.”

The king generously paid the old woman, called his servant Irzhik and ordered him to cook fish for dinner.
“Just look,” said the king, “don't try it yourself. Don't blow your head off." Irzhik took the fish and carried it to the kitchen. “No, come what may, and I will try what kind of fish it is,” he decided. When the fish was ready, Irzhik pinched off a small piece and swallowed it. At that very moment he heard what the hens were talking about in the yard. As if nothing had happened, the young man took the dish to the royal chambers and put it on the table.
After dinner, the king ordered Irzhik to serve a goblet of wine.
Irzhik took the jug and started pouring wine. At that moment, a bird flew in through the open window. She held three golden hairs in her paws, and another was chasing her and twittering: “Give it back, give it back! They are mine, not yours!” “But I was the first to notice how they fell to the floor when Princess Goldilocks combed her curls.” Then the second bird ran into the first and began to snatch its prey from it. Irzhik listened to the birds and spilled the wine. In the end, the birds got a single hair, and the third hair fell and, hitting the floor, rang like pure gold. The king guessed that Irzhik also understood the language of birds, and shouted: “You spilled the wine because you were listening to what the birds were arguing about! Tomorrow you will be hanged." “Ah, merciful king! - exclaimed Irzhik. - Have mercy on me!

“Didn't I tell you not to try magic fish,” said the king. “Come on, find Princess Goldilocks and bring her to my palace.” Then I'll have mercy on you."
Irzhik saddled a horse, took a bag of food and a purse with money on the road and rode aimlessly. He looks - at the edge of the forest, a bush is burning, and under it is an anthill. "Irzhik, help us!" the ants scream. Irzhik jumped off his horse and stamped out the fire. “Thank you, Irzhik,” the ants say. “If you need help, just remember us.” Irzhik laughed and drove on. He drives up to a tall spruce. He looks: there is a nest at the top, and below two crows squeak: “Help, Irzhik! Feed us!" Irzhik untied the bag of food from his saddle and threw it to the crows. “Thank you, Irzhik,” the crows croaked. "If it's hard for you, remember us."

Irzhik went to the seashore.
And on the shore, two fishermen are arguing: they will not share the caught fish in any way. “I will reconcile you, brothers,” says Irzhik. “Sell me your fish and share the money equally.” He gave the fishermen all his money and released the fish into the sea. She merrily splashed her tail and said: “Thank you, Irzhik! If you ever need help, remember me."

And the fishermen found out from Irzhik where he was heading, and took him to the island, where Goldilocks lived with her father in a crystal palace.
Here comes Irzhik to the crystal palace, bows and asks the king to give Goldilocks in marriage to his master.
“I don't know if your master is worth a bride like my daughter,” the king answers. “But if you solve three problems, I will give my daughter for your king, and if you don’t solve it, I will order you to be executed.”
The next day, in the morning, the king says to Irzhik: “My daughter had a pearl necklace, but the thread broke, and the pearls scattered across the green lawn. Go and collect them."
Irzhik came to the lawn, and the lawn is wide - try to find pearl seeds! “Here,” the young man thinks, “you have to be an ant. ” Before Irzhik had time to look back, the ants dragged pearls to his feet, all to one. Irzhik thanked the ants and carried the pearls to the king.

The king was surprised that Irzhik found all the pearls so quickly. “Here’s another task for you,” he says. - My daughter was swimming in the sea and dropped her precious ring. Find it and bring it."
Irzhik came to the sea and thinks: "You have to be a fish, not a man, to solve such a problem." Look - and the fish is right there, and brings him a ring. Irzhik thanked the fish and carried the ring to the king.
The king praised him, and the next day he sets a new task for the young man. “Get me now,” he says, “live and dead water for me.”
Irzhik is coming, he doesn't know where. Only the prophetic raven knows where these keys from under the ground beat. As soon as he thought this, crows flew to him with two vials: in one living water, in the other - dead. Irzhik thanked them and carried both vials to the palace.