children, "three bears!--that will be funny I
know."

So their kind Aunt laid down her pen, and took little Fanny upon her
lap, and told Laura to get a bench and sit by her side, and commenced
her story.[A]

[Footnote A: This story should be read aloud. When the reader comes to
the "great big bear," or to any thing he says or does, he (the reader)
should read in a loud gruff voice; all about the "middling sized bear,"
in the ordinary voice; and all about the "tiny bit of a bear," in a high
small squeaking voice.]

"Once upon a time there were three bears, that lived in a thick wood.
One was a GREAT BIG BEAR, one a MIDDLING SIZED BEAR, and the third _a
tiny bit of a bear_. The GREAT BIG BEAR lived in a GREAT BIG HOUSE; the
MIDDLING SIZED BEAR lived in a MIDDLING SIZED HOUSE; and the _tiny bit
of a bear_ lived in _a little speck of a house_; and the houses were
close together.

"Well, one day the bears went off to take a walk; and, while they were
gone, a little ragged dirty old woman came through the wood. All at
once, she spied the three houses; so she hobbled up to see who lived in
them. First she went into the great big bear's house, and there she saw
a great big bowl of porridge on the table. She tasted it. It was a great
deal too hot. Then she came out of the house, and went into the middling
sized bear's house, and there she saw a middling sized bowl of porridge.
So she tasted it, and found it was a little to hot. She came out, and
went into the tiny bit of a bear's house, and there she saw a little
mite of a bowl of porridge. She tasted it, and it was just right, so the
little ragged dirty old woman eat it all up. Then she went up stairs and
laid down on the tiny bit of a bear's bed, and was very soon fast
asleep.

"By and by, the bears came home. The great big bear went into his house,
and looked on the table. Then he said, in a tremendous voice--

"'Somebody has been at my bowl of porridge.'

"The middling sized bear went into his house, and, looking on the table,
he said in a middling sized voice--

"'Somebody has been at my bowl of porridge.'

"Then the tiny bit of a bear went into his house, and, looking on the
table, he said, in a little squeaking voice--

"'Somebody has been at my bowl of porridge, and eat it all up.'

"Oh, how angry he was. He went to the door, and called the other bears,
and they all three went up stairs together, to search for the thief; and
there they found the thief, in