The Three Bears and Golden Hair

Title: The oak-tree fairy book: favorite fairy tales. Editor: Clifton Johnson. Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company, 1905. Original from: the University of California. Digitized: Oct 16, 2007. Length: 365 pages. Illustrated by George Willard Bonte Birth Date: 1873-05-16 Death Date: 1946-03-13.

This Image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1923 are copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF from the U.S. Copyright Office. Works published before 1923 (in this case 1905) are now in the public domain.

This image might not be in the public domain outside of the United States, this especially applies in the countries and areas that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works, such as Canada, Mainland China (not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany, Mexico, and Switzerland. If your use will be outside the United States please check your local law..

Now the house that Golden Hair was in belonged to three bears — a big bear, a middle-sized bear, and a little bear. Shortly before Golden Hair rapped at their door they had cooked their porridge for dinner and set it on the table.

Then they had gone out for a little walk to give the porridge time to cool. While Golden Hair was asleep the bears came home. As soon as they entered the kitchen and looked at the table they saw that things were not as they had left them.

"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN TASTING MY PORRIDGE!" growled the big bear in his great, gruff voice.

"and Somebody Has Been Tasting My Porridge!" said the middle-sized bear.

" And somebody has been tasting my porridge and eaten it all up!" piped the little bear.

"We will look around," said they, "and see if there has been any more meddling."

Then they went into the parlor.

"Somebody has been sitting in my chair!" growled the big bear in his great, gtuff voice.

"And somebody has been sitting in my chair!" said the middle sized bear.

"and somebody has been sitting in my chair and broken it all to pieces," piped the little bear.

Then they went upstairs to the chamber.

"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN TUMBLING MY BED!" growled the big bear in his great, gruff voice.

"and Somebody Has Been Tumbling My Bed!" said the middle-sized bear.

"And somebody has been tumbling my bed, and here she is!" piped the little bear.

Golden Hair waked up just then, and before the three bears could catch her she slipped from the bed and scrambled down the stairs and out at the door. Then she ran home as fast as her legs could carry her, and she never went near the three bears' house again.