Goldilocks and The Family of Three

In the middle of the English countryside, in a quiet and idyllic overgrown forest, there stood a little picturesque cottage. It had a thatched roof, a large window at the front and rear of the property and a white picket fence that surrounded it. There was a small garden patch at the front of the garden where stunning sunflowers grew, while a small number of vegetables and herbs grew in the back garden.

The cottage was home to a quiet family of bears. There was Mummy bear, Daddy bear and their bear cub called Barry. They lived a very normal and uneventful life. Although they had no issues with the neighbours in the surrounding towns, they preferred to keep themselves to themselves.

Every couple of weeks, Mummy bear would take a trip into the nearest village to pick up supplies. She found it stressful, but the people were always nice and friendly.

While most humans were kind and just let the bears get on with their life, the same was not true of all humans.

One beautifully sunny Sunday morning, Mommy Bear was wide awake in kitchen making the bears' favourite breakfast, porridge. As she stirred and stirred the oats in the milk, she added a small measure of cream and cinnamon to give the dish extra depth.

"Is the porridge ready yet, Mummy?" Barry asked excitedly.

Mummy laughed because Barry had asked the same thing every day since he could speak, and she replied with the same answer every single time.

"It won't be ready until we have been for our walk. Go and tell Daddy we are getting ready to leave."

Daddy Bear was still in bed, and when he heard Barry approaching the doorway to their shared bedroom, he stayed perfectly still...as still as a mouse...until Barry was beside his bed.

"Bam!" he shouted, grabbing Barry and giving him tickles and a cuddle. Barry couldn't stop laughing, which set Daddy off. "Is it time for our walk?" Daddy asked as they both got their breath back.

"Yes, Mummy is just spooning some into bowls", Barry replied, with a little smirk still across his face.

"Excellent! I best get up and face the day" Daddy smiled as he hummed, pulled himself up and swung his long chunky legs off the side of the bed.

Barry ran ahead and into Mummy who was waiting at the door, and gave her a huge hug.

"Porridge smells delightful, Mummy" Daddy told Mummy Bear as he opened the door, and they made their way into the forest.

"Which path should we take today, junior? The stream or the cliff?" Daddy asked, looking down at his energetic little cub.

"The stream! The stream" Barry shouted with delight.

Both Daddy and Mummy Bear laughed and said "To the stream we go, then".

Barry ran ahead chasing butterflies, sparrows, bluetits and bees, while Mummy Bear and Daddy Bear followed closely behind.

It was every bit the picture of happy family life. As they made their way deeper into the east of the forest, they could hear the stream gently flowing and would not have heard what was happening back at their pretty little cottage.

A young woman named Goldilocks, who was known throughout the villages surrounding this particular forest as a spoilt brat. A product of her parent's lackadaisical approach to parenting, she genuinely believed she was entitled to whatever she wanted when she wanted.

The bears had never had dealings with Goldilocks before, because they kept themselves to themselves. All that was about to change as a rather fed up and tired Goldilocks walked through the forest to the clearing where the Bears' cottage sat. She caught a whiff of the porridge almost at once and could see through the window at the front into the lounge and the dining room where the table was set with three bowls.

"I wonder if anyone's at home", she murmured under her breath as she walked through the gate and up the pathway to the front door.

"Doesn't sound like it...oh well, there's only one way to find out", she shrugged and opened the door carefully.

As she took a quick look around, she noted three rocking chairs, three sets of pillows and three chairs at the table. She walked over to the dining room, grabbing one of the three skewers next to the fireplace. The bears used them for toasting marshmallows. Goldilocks tapped the end of the metal skewer against the wooden flooring as she made her way into the dining room.

Looking at the three bowls of porridge, she noted that there was more steam coming from the largest of the three bowls, so started at the smallest, Barry Bear's bowl, and greedily slurped at the creamy mixture, not worrying about all the slops of mess she was getting everywhere. When she had finished that first bowl and licked it clean, she pulled over Mummy Bear's medium-sized bowl, scraping the ceramic against the antique wooden table, and leaving scratch marks.

She made light work of that bowl and started on Daddy Bear's bowl. Unfortunately, her eyes were bigger than her belly, so she only managed half of Daddy Bear's enormous bowl.

She sat looking around at what she could do next and remembering the chairs, she jumped off Barry Bear's chair, knocking it down to the floor with a crash. Rather than stopping to pick it up, she made her way back into the living room, swinging the skewer around. Rather than sitting in the chair nicely, she took a mini little sprint and jumped bottom first onto Barry Bear's wooden rocker, breaking it almost at once.

Goldilocks cursed at the broken chair, kicking it as she stood up and adjusted her dress.

She pushed Mummy Bear's chair down in anger before sitting in Daddy Bear's chair. His was arguably the most comfortable, because he needed a lumbar support pillow. Goldilocks sat on the hair, rocking it back and forth while waving the skewer around, without a care in the world. So much so that she knocked down the carriage clock that sat atop the fireplace.

She yawned a little after her fun and games and decided she would just have a little nap before heading home.

She made her way up the stairs, kicking off her shoes as she approached the bedroom.

Daddy Bear's bed was slightly bigger and more luxurious than the other two, because of his posture and back issues. So, she tried that one first, but was put off when her cheek pressed against the pillow, and it felt gross. Daddy Bear did sweat a lot during his sleep.

She was disgusted and quickly hopped from that bed to Mummy Bear's bed, knocking a lampshade over in the process with a smash.

Mummy Bear's bed was a little uncomfortable. She couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was, but she quickly hopped from Mummy Bear's bed to Barry Bear's bed.

Ah, perfection, she thought to herself as she quickly got comfortable and fell into a deep and relaxing sleep.

So deep and relaxing that she didn’t hear the three bears marching towards their cottage. So deep and relaxing that she didn’t hear the three bears growling in horror at what looked like the results of a burglary with Barry Bear’s rocking chair and the carriage clock lying on the floor in a mess. “Mummy, Daddy, the porridge is gone” yelled Barry in terror as his parents joined him with disgusted looks on their faces as they assessed the damage to the kitchen.

Sniffing around, Daddy Bear took a close look at his bowl and found one single golden lock of hair.

“Someone’s been in our house, eating our food, sitting in our chairs and breaking our things. Mummy Bear, fetch my tools, Barry lock the front door. They are probably still in the house,” sneered Daddy Bear as he didn’t want to alert the intruders that he was on to them.

Mummy Bear fetched Daddy’s tools – a pair of handcuffs and leg cuffs, some black tape and a large knife.

“Thank you dear, take Barry up to the bedroom and wait for me. Stay hidden, we don’t how many of them are here” he whispered, kissing his wife on the forehead and patting his son’s shoulder reassuringly. Daddy Bear patrolled around the small cottage and looked outside to the back garden. There was no sign of a break-in there, so he reasoned the intruder must have come through the front door.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Mummy Bear and Barry Bear stood nervously looking into the bedroom, shocked to see a human lying in Barry’s bear.

“Do you think it’s dangerous?” Barry asked nervously. “The only humans I know are from the village and they are all fine, but I’ve heard stories. I know Daddy has bad memories of interactions with humans when he was a child”. As Goldilocks tossed and turned in her sleep a little, they decided it was best to hide in the furthest corner of the room, until Daddy Bear came.

Goldilocks came to gently, as if nothing happened or was about to happen and sat up stretching her arms and yawning. Barry couldn’t help but peek. He was very intrigued. Mummy tried to pull him down to not make Goldilocks aware they were there. It was too late.

“Who’s there? I saw a set of eyes. If you are going to complain about the mess I made, it was an accident” she called out unapologetically.

Mummy Bear held Barry Bear close, as they heard Goldilocks hop out of bed and walk slowly to the corner of the room where they hid.

“Come out, come out wherever you are.” She teased them, with a sinister tone in her voice. “I know about you bears…my grandfather dealt with bears in the past. I’ve been taught a lot of tricks and tips for dealing with your kind.” She smirked as she got closer and closer until she was standing over a very petrified Mummy bear grasping an even more petrified Barry Bear. “Gotcha” she grinned.

She pulled out a knife from a handy pocket in her dress and pointed it at the terrified bears. “Who’s fir…”

Before she could finish the word and lash at the bears, she felt a blunt object hit the back of her head and passed out on the floor in front of the bears who were shaking, looking up at an incredibly angry Daddy Bear.

When Goldilocks next woke up, her head was sore and all around her was dark. She tried to speak, but couldn’t as her mouth was taped up, then tried to move but couldn’t as her hands were handcuffed behind her back. In the darkness as her eyes tried to adjust, she saw two white pools staring at her from the corner of the room. “It’s all okay,” said Barry Bear. “Daddy and Mummy will take it easy on you.” Goldilocks couldn’t really breathe a sigh of relief at those words, given her predicament.

Barry approached her slowly and carefully, gently pulled the tape from her mouth. “Let me go!” she shouted, finally having her voice again.

“Daddy and Mummy said you need to pay the consequences for your actions,” said Barry with a chilling calmness. “We know you killed our ancestors and if we let you go, you will do the same.” Daddy Bear interjected as he entered the room. “Please don’t do this” Goldilocks screamed. “It’s too late for apologies. You broke into the wrong cottage, deary.” Daddy replied, placing a hood over Goldilocks head as she screamed.

Fortunately, living so deep in the thick forest, no one would hear her screams of pain and anguish.

“Will they ever learn?” Mummy Bear asked Daddy Bear later that evening as they sat in their back garden while Barry picked some herbs for dinner. “I don’t know, dear. I don’t know” he shrugged as he patted a newly dug patch of grass with the end of his shovel.

*

Thanks for reading!

Author's Note: So, for as long as I can remember, I've had serious problems with the original versions of this story. I just never found it scary enough. The bears didn't seem ferocious or terrifying enough and Goldilocks really was in the wrong. So, I think I am right that the original morale of the tale was to respect people's privacy and belongings, or something therein.

So, I ramped things up a bit.

I was rather pleased with this and had the idea bumping around in my head for so long. Hope you enjoyed it.

Was originally put forward for the Tales Retold Challenge a year or so ago, but now this is put forward for the Legends Rewritten Challenge:

You can also look at some of my other work, if you have time and inclination: