English Fairy Tales | Page 8

HAS BEEN AT MY PORRIDGE!"
said the Middle-sized Bear in his middle-sized voice.
Then the Little Wee Bear looked at his, and there was the spoon in the porridge-bowl, but
the porridge was all gone!
"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN AT MY PORRIDGE, AND HAS EATEN IT ALL UP!"
said the Little Wee Bear in his little wee voice.
Upon this the Three Bears, seeing that some one had entered their house, and eaten up the
Little Wee Bear's breakfast, began to look about them. Now the careless Goldilocks had
not put the hard cushion straight when she rose from the chair of the Great Big Bear.
"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY CHAIR!"
said the Great Big Bear in his great, rough, gruff voice.
And the careless Goldilocks had squatted down the soft cushion of the Middle-sized
Bear.
"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY CHAIR!"
said the Middle-sized Bear in his middle-sized voice.
"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY CHAIR, AND HAS SATE THE
BOTTOM THROUGH!"
said the Little Wee Bear in his little wee voice.
Then the Three Bears thought they had better make further search in case it was a burglar,
so they went upstairs into their bedchamber. Now Goldilocks had pulled the pillow of the
Great Big Bear out of its place.
"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN LYING IN MY BED!"
said the Great Big Bear in his great, rough, gruff voice.
And Goldilocks had pulled the bolster of the Middle-sized Bear out of its place.
"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN LYING IN MY BED!"
said the Middle-sized Bear in his middle-sized voice.
But when the Little Wee Bear came to look at his bed, there was the bolster in its place!

And the pillow was in its place upon the bolster!
And upon the pillow----?
There was Goldilocks's yellow head--which was not in its place, for she had no business
there.
"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN LYING IN MY BED,--AND HERE SHE IS STILL!"
said the Little Wee Bear in his little wee voice.
[Illustration: "Somebody has been lying in my bed,--and here she is!"]
Now Goldilocks had heard in her sleep the great, rough, gruff voice of the Great Big Bear;
but she was so fast asleep that it was no more to her than the roaring of wind, or the
rumbling of thunder. And she had heard the middle-sized voice of the Middle-sized Bear,
but it was only as if she had heard some one speaking in a dream. But when she heard the
little wee voice of the Little Wee Bear, it was so sharp, and so shrill, that it awakened her
at once. Up she started, and when she saw the Three Bears on one side of the bed, she
tumbled herself out at the other, and ran to the window. Now the window was open,
because the Bears, like good, tidy Bears, as they were, always opened their bedchamber
window when they got up in the morning. So naughty, frightened little Goldilocks
jumped; and whether she broke her neck in the fall, or ran into the wood and was lost
there, or found her way out of the wood and got whipped for being a bad girl and playing
truant, no one can say. But the Three Bears never saw anything more of her.
[Illustration: "Somebody has been at my porridge, and has eaten it all up!"]

TOM-TIT-TOT
Once upon a time there was a woman and she baked five pies. But when they came out of
the oven they were over-baked, and the crust was far too hard to eat. So she said to her
daughter:
"Daughter," says she, "put them pies on to the shelf and leave 'em there awhile. Surely
they'll come again in time."
By that, you know, she meant that they would become softer; but her daughter said to
herself, "If Mother says the pies will come again, why shouldn't I eat these now?" So,
having good, young teeth, she set to work and ate the lot, first and last.
Now when supper-time came the woman said to her daughter, "Go you and get one of the
pies. They are sure to have come again by now."
Then the girl went and looked, but of course there was nothing but the empty dishes.
So back she came and said, "No, Mother, they ain't come again."

"Not one o' them?" asked the mother, taken aback like.
"Not one o' them," says the daughter, quite confident.
"Well," says the mother, "come again, or not come again, I will have one of them pies for
my supper."
"But you can't," says the daughter. "How can you if they ain't come? And they ain't, as
sure's sure."
"But I can," says the mother, getting angry. "Go you at once, child, and bring me the best
on them. My