“The Story of the Three Bears” is a literary fairy tale. It was written by Robert Southey and first published in 1837 in a collection of his essays and stories. Southey’s story is about an ugly old woman who enters the house of three bachelor bears during their absence. She eats their food, breaks a chair, and sleeps in a bed. She runs away when discovered. In time, the three bachelor bears became Papa, Mama, and Baby Bear. The old woman became a little girl called Goldilocks. The story supports several interpretations. It has been adapted to animated movies, a live action movie, and a short opera.
Three male bears—”a Little, Small, Wee Bear … a Middle-sized Bear … and a Great, Huge Bear”— live in a house in the woods. They each have a porridge pot, a chair, and a bed. One morning, they take a walk in the woods while their porridge cools. A little old woman—”an impudent, bad old Woman”—enters the house during the bears’ absence. She eats the little bear’s porridge, breaks his little chair, and falls asleep in his little bed. The bears come home, and discover the old woman asleep. She wakes, sees the bears, jumps out the window, and fall to her death—never to be seen again.
About 12 years after Southey’s story was published, writer Joseph Cundall changed the old woman into a little girl in his book Treasury of Pleasure Books for Young Children. Cundall made this change because there were many children’s books about old women at the time. Once the little girl entered the story, she stayed there. She was known over the years as Silverhair, Silverlocks, Goldenlocks, and other names. She finally became Goldilocks sometime in the early 20th century.
Picture Credit : Google