Goldilocks and the three bears the mystery

The three male bears also changed to the familiar Papa, Mama and Baby Bear. Wait, what? That version was retold many times and Silver-Hair evolved to Silver Hair, Golden Hair, Silver Locks and the winning choice - Goldilocks. How did the story change from a nasty crone to cute little Goldilocks? That switch is generally attributed to Joseph Cundall, whose 1849 collection, Treasury of Pleasure Books for Young Children, included the story of the three bears but changed the old lady to a young girl named Silver-Hair. вЂњFoxвЂќ was also a derogatory term for an old woman, so it became one who was nasty вЂ“ she was thrown out by her family for being foul-mouthed, dirty and more (weвЂ™ve never been nice about our older women - some things never change) but at least she lives вЂ¦ when the bears find her asleep with a belly-full of porridge, the little bearвЂ™s cries awaken her and she jumps out of the window and runs away. Poet Robert Southey obviously wanted to sell more books, so he cleaned up the story, which he may have heard from his uncle. ThereвЂ™s an earlier (by at least two decades) old English tale of a fox named Scapefoot who broke into a castle owned by three bears, stole their porridge, messed with their stuff and suffered the same fate as MureвЂ™s old woman. However, MureвЂ™s version may not be the first either. She obviously wanted to scare the little boy because the mean old lady in her tale gets caught by the bears, who are so angry that they try and fail to set her on fire and drown her before they finally succeed in killing the poor porridge-pilfering woman by impaling her on a church steeple! Now try and fall asleep, my little nephew!

Some scholars attribute the story to Eleanor Mure, who wrote a version in 1831 for her nephewвЂ™s fourth birthday. More on Southey later because it turns out his was not the first telling of this tri-bear tale. That story was published anonymously in one of his collections in 1837 and attributed to him in another collection published in 1848. Most literary scholars say it was an old woman, based on вЂњThe Story of the Three BearsвЂќ that was believed to have been written by English poet Robert Southey. If you think you know who or what comes next, you donвЂ™t. One day, after they had made the porridge for their breakfast, and poured it into their porridge-pots, they walked out into the wood while the porridge was cooling, that they might not burn their mouths, by beginning too soon to eat it.вЂќ And they each had a bed to sleep in a little bed for the Little, Small, Wee Bear and a middle-sized bed for the Middle Bear and a great bed for the Great, Huge Bear. And they each had a chair to sit in a little chair for the Little, Small, Wee Bear and a middle-sized chair for the Middle Bear and a great chair for the Great, Huge Bear. They each had 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.

One of them was a Little, Small, Wee Bear and one was a Middle-sized Bear, and the other was a Great, Huge Bear.

вЂњOnce upon a time there were Three Bears, who lived together in a house of their own, in a wood. Spoiler alert: the original title of this tale was вЂњThe Story of the Three Bears.вЂќ Sorry, Goldie! Now, as the home that is said to have inspired the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears goes up for sale, we learn the real story of three all-male bears (surprise!) and who really messed up their house and stole their food before running off into the woods вЂ¦ or perhaps suffered a worse fate.

That should have been apparent earlier this month when the gravestone was discovered of the woman whose sad life as a tormented stepdaughter in a mining town where children and dwarfs were forced to work in cramped, dirty tunnels became the basis for the story of Snow White. If all you know about classic fairy tales and bedtime stories is what youвЂ™ve seen in Disney movies or childrenвЂ™s books, then you know nothing about the original telling of these stories and the sometimes horrific tales of murder and mayhem they really are.

Goldilocks and the three bears the mystery