{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_76444/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_76444","id":"gutenberg_76444","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76444","summary":null,"tags":["Bears -- Juvenile fiction","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's stories","Fairy tales"],"text":"[Illustration:\n\n  THE THREE BEARS.\n\n  PICTURED\n  BY\n  A.E. Kennedy.\n\n  COPYRIGHTED 1911 BY SAM^l GABRIEL SONS & COMPANY NEW YORK.\n\n  NO. 101\n  _PRINTED IN U. S A._\n]\n\n\n\n\nTHE THREE BEARS.\n\n\nThere was once a happy little family of Bears--Papa, Mamma and Johnny\nBear--living in a cozy cottage near a large forest.\n\nOne day, when the sun was shining and the woods looked so bright and\nbeautiful, Papa Bear said to his family, \u201cI think we ought to go for a\nlong walk and enjoy the sunshine.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d answered Mamma Bear, \u201cthat will be very nice and jolly; but\nbefore we go, I must get our luncheon ready.\u201d\n\nSo they waited until Mamma Bear had cooked three bowls of hot\nporridge--there was a great big bowlful for Papa Bear, a middle-sized\none for herself, and a tiny little one for Johnny. When she was\nfinished and had put the three bowls on the table to cool, Papa Bear\ntook out his big, silver-handled cane, and they started off for a long\nwalk. On the way, little Johnny had lots of fun playing with his kite.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: Getting ready for the walk.]\n\nThey found a lovely, shady spot in the middle of the woods, and here\nthey sat down. Little Johnny climbed a big branch, Mamma Bear sat\nwith her back against the tree, while Papa Bear was so tired that all\nhe could do was to sit on the ground, and very soon he fell fast asleep.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen Johnny Bear came down the tree, and ran around, picking lots\nof gay, pretty flowers in the fields and chasing all the bright\nbutterflies that flew around him. By and by, he saw that his Mamma had\ndropped her knitting and was also fast asleep; so there was nothing\nleft for little Johnny but to lie down in the shade and shut his eyes,\nand soon he, too, was in dreamland. There was the whole Bear family\ntight asleep in the woods!\n\nNow, that very morning, a little girl had lost her way. This little\ngirl\u2019s name was Goldenlocks, because her hair was so bright and yellow\nthat it seemed like real gold. Poor little Goldenlocks had started out\nfor a walk, but had lost the path that led back to her house. So she\nwandered about in the woods, frightened and very hungry, until she\nspied the house which belonged to the Three Bears. Of course, she did\nnot know that the Bears lived in it, and so she was not afraid to go up\nto the door and knock.\n\n[Illustration: In the woods.]\n\nNobody answered, and since she was so hungry, she dared to peep\nthrough. What do you think she saw? Why! right on a table in front\nof her stood the three bowls of steaming porridge that Mamma Bear had\nset out to cool! Goldenlock\u2019s mouth watered at the sight of these\ntempting bowls, and, though she knew it was wrong, she jumped into the\ndining-room.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nGoldenlocks began by trying the porridge in the biggest bowl. She\ndipped a large spoon into the food, but the porridge was so hot that it\nalmost burned her tongue off.\n\nNext she tried the middle-sized bowl; but she did not like this any\nbetter, for the porridge was not sweet enough.\n\nLast of all, she tried the smallest bowl--and this was fine! It was\njust right, and Goldenlocks soon ate every bit of it.\n\nWhen she had finished all the porridge in the smallest bowl, she still\nfelt very tired. In one corner of the room, she saw three chairs in\na row--a big one, a middle-sized one, and a little one. At first,\nGoldenlocks thought she would like the biggest chair best of all, and\nso she climbed up on it; but the seat was too broad and the back too\nhigh, and she was not comfortable.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNext she tried the middle-sized chair; but that was too hard, and she\ndid not like it, either.\n\nLast she tried the smallest chair, and this, again, was just right! She\nfelt so comfortable that she sat in it a long, long time--until the\nbottom gave way and she tumbled to the floor!\n\nGoldenlocks then looked around for a bed, so that she could lie down\nand sleep. She went upstairs on her tip-toes, and there she found three\nbeds. And these beds, just like the bowls and chairs, were, first, a\nbig one, which belonged to Papa Bear; then a middle-sized one, which\nwas Mamma Bear\u2019s, and last of all, a little one for Johnny Bear.\n\nGoldenlocks tried them all, but could not make herself comfortable\nexcept in the smallest bed. So she lay down on that, and as quick as a\nwink, was fast asleep.\n\nNow, the Bear family all woke up, out in the woods, and looked at one\nanother in surprise. \u201cMy heavens!\u201d said Mamma Bear, \u201chere it is almost\ndinner-time, and we are far from home.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d growled Papa Bear, \u201cand oh, my! I am terribly hungry.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: \u201cWho\u2019s been eating my porridge?\u201d]\n\n\u201cSo am I,\u201d squeaked little Johnny Bear, \u201cI certainly shall enjoy my\nbowl of porridge.\u201d So they hurried home as fast as their feet could\ncarry them.\n\nBut just think what they saw when they entered the dining room! \u201cWho\u2019s\nbeen tasting my porridge?\u201d grumbled Papa Bear, in his deep, angry voice.\n\n\u201cWho\u2019s been tasting my porridge?\u201d cried Mamma Bear, all excited.\n\n\u201cWho\u2019s been tasting my porridge and eaten it all up?\u201d squealed little\nJohnny Bear, at the top of his shrill voice.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen Papa Bear spied the three chairs in the corner. \u201cWho\u2019s been\nsitting in my chair?\u201d he roared.\n\n\u201cWho\u2019s been sitting in my chair?\u201d cried Mamma Bear.\n\n\u201cWho\u2019s been sitting in my chair and broken it all to pieces?\u201d screamed\nJohnny Bear, and he began to cry bitterly.\n\nThey were all very angry and upset. They hunted all over the house for\nthe stranger who had spoilt their dinner and broken Johnny\u2019s chair.\nThey could find no one downstairs, so they went up to their bedroom.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHere Papa Bear thundered out another terrible roar--\u201cWho\u2019s been lying\non my bed?\u201d Mamma Bear looked at her bed, and then she, too, exclaimed,\n\u201cWho\u2019s been lying on my bed and mussed it all up?\u201d Little Johnny Bear\nrushed up to his own bed, and cried, \u201cWho\u2019s been lying on my bed--oh,\nlook! there she is!\u201d\n\nAt once, there were awful noises and excitement. Poor Goldenlocks\njumped out of bed and ran downstairs as fast as she could. Papa and\nMamma Bear and Little Johnny followed her, growling and threatening\nher, until she was frightened out of her wits. She saw an open window\nand through this she jumped and made her escape. She was soon far away,\nthrough the woods and back home. She promised her mother that she would\nnever again wander away.\n\n[Illustration: Goldenlocks\u2019 escape.]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s note\n\nSome illustrations were moved from where they were in the original to\nplace them nearer to the text describing the picture.\n\nMinor punctuation errors have been changed without notice.","title":"The three bears","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":1193}