Goldilocks and the three bears free

English | Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

*

Once upon a time, in a little house on the edge of the woods, a girl called Goldilocks lived with her parents. One morning, she woke up as the sun was streaming through her window; thinking it was time for school, she leapt out of bed.

Downstairs her mother was busy.

“It’s far too early for school. Don’t get under my feet. Why don’t you go out for a walk? You can pick me some blackberries to make a pie for dinner tonight,” she grumbled.

Goldilocks went skipping into the woods swinging a basket for the blackberries. Singing to herself, she went further and further into the woods.

*

After a while, she began to feel hungry and a little tired. Across a clearing in the woods she suddenly saw a cottage.

“Perhaps I could get something to eat there and have a rest,” she thought.

She knocked on the door but there was no reply. Gently, she pushed the door and, to her surprise, it opened. Cautiously, she went in.

“Hello?” she called, but no one answered.

The door had opened into a kitchen. On the table she could see three bowls of porridge which smelled so delicious that it made her tummy rumble. The bowls were three different sizes: big, middle-sized and tiny. And by each bowl was a chair also big, middle-sized and tiny.

Goldilocks scrambled onto the biggest chair because it had the biggest bowl of porridge by it. She picked up a big spoon and tried the porridge.

“Ouch!” she cried.“This porridge is too hot!”

She moved onto the next chair and the next bowl. Picking up a middle-sized spoon she tried the porridge.

“Yuck!” she said, for it was very very cold.

Goldilocks moved onto the next chair and the smallest bowl. Picking up the smallest spoon, she tried the porridge. It was just right. So, very quickly, she ate it all up.

As she was finishing it, she began to hear a strange creaking sound and, just as she ate the last spoonful, the legs of the chair she was sitting on broke and she landed with a bump on the floor.

*

After all the porridge and the bump, she suddenly felt very sleepy. So she went up the twisty stairs to see if she could find somewhere to lie down.

First of all, she found a great big bed. She climbed up onto it but, oh, it was too hard.

Then she found a middle-sized bed. She climbed into it but it was too soft, she felt as though she would disappear in it.

Then she found a teeny tiny bed. This felt just right so she climbed into it, pulled the covers over herself and was soon fast asleep.

*

While she was sleeping, the owners of the cottage came back. They were three bears: Daddy Bear, Mummy Bear and Baby Bear. They’d been for a walk in the woods before breakfast and now they were hungry.

“Hello, what’s this?” growled Daddy Bear, in his great big voice. “It looks as though someone’s been messing with my porridge and whoever it is has left muddy footprints on my chair.”

Mummy Bear came to look.

“You’re right, my dear,” she said in her soft, growly, middle-sized voice. “Someone’s been eating my porridge too and I’m sure the cushion on my chair has been sat on.”

Then Baby Bear began to cry.

“Someone’s been eating my porridge and they’ve eaten it all up and they’ve broken my chair as well!” he sobbed in his little, squeaky, teeny, middle-sized growl.

“Who could have done this? And where were they now?” they wondered.

They looked around the house and went upstairs.

“Well,” growled Daddy Bear, “someone’s been lying in my bed but they’re not there now.”

“Someone’s been in my bed too,” said Mummy Bear, “but I can’t see them.”

Then they heard a squeak from Baby Bear.

“Daddy! Mummy! Come quickly, there’s someone fast asleep in my bed!”

Daddy and Mummy Bear raced into his room and stood around the bed looking down at Goldilocks. She woke with a start and was frightened to see three bears all looking at her. 

Before they could say anything, she jumped out of bed, out of the window and ran away through the woods back to her home because she didn’t know that they were really gentle, friendly bears.

“Well I never,” growled Daddy Bear, scratching his head. “My grandfather told me people were strange. Fancy, eating all that porridge and then running away.”

Puzzled, the three bears went back to the kitchen where Daddy Bear mended Baby Bear's chair, while Mummy Bear made more porridge. And from that day to this, bears all over the world have always known that people are strange creatures who are not to be trusted with porridge.

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Goldilocks and the Three Bears

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Picture by Bertie - a retake of the classic illustration by Walter Crane.

Duration 3:15.
Based on the Charming version by the Victorian writer Andrew Lang.
Read by Natasha.

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.

One day, after they had made porridge for their breakfast, they walked out into the wood while the porridge was cooling. And while they were walking, a little girl came into the house. This little girl had golden curls that tumbled down her back to her waist, and everyone called her by Goldilocks.

Goldilocks went inside. First she tasted the porridge of the great, huge bear, and that was far too hot for her. And then she tasted the porridge of the middle bear, and that was too cold for her. 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.

Then Goldilocks went upstairs into the bed chamber and first she lay down upon the bed of the great, huge bear, and then she lay down upon the bed of the middle bear and finally she lay down upon the bed of the little, small wee bear, and that was just right. So she covered herself up comfortably, and lay there until she fell fast asleep.

By this time, the three bears thought their porridge would be cool enough, so they came home to breakfast.

“SOMEBODY HAS BEEN AT MY PORRIDGE!” said the great huge bear, in his great huge voice.

“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.

Then the three bears went upstairs into their bedroom.

“SOMEBODY HAS BEEN LYING IN MY BED!” said the great, huge bear, in his great, rough, gruff voice.

“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, upon the pillow there was a pool of golden curls, and the angelic face of a little girl snoring away, fast asleep.

“Somebody has been lying in my bed, and here she is!” Said the little, small wee bear, in his little, small wee voice.

Goldilocks jumped off the bed and ran downstairs, out of the door and down the garden path. She ran and she ran until she reached the house of her grandmama. When she told her grandmama about the house of the three bears who lived in the wood, her granny said: “My my, what a wild imagination you have, child!”

(Updated with shorter version September, 13, 2016).

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