its author put it. To that end this
version of "The Three Bears" follows Southey
with the change of a single word. At the head
of the story he placed these lines from
Gascoyne:

"A tale which may content the minds
Of learned men and grave philosophers."

THE STORY OF THE THREE BEARS

ROBERT SOUTHEY

[Transcriber's Note: For this story, different
sized text was used to indicate the size of the
different bears' voices. The largest text has
been denote by use of the ~ symbol and the
smallest text has been denoted by use of the +
symbol.]

Once upon a time there were Three Bears who lived together in a house of
their own in a wood. One of them was a Little, Small, Wee Bear; and one
was a Middle-sized Bear, and the other was a Great, Huge Bear. They had
each a pot for their porridge; a little pot for the Little, Small, Wee
Bear; and a middle-sized pot for the Middle Bear; and a great pot for
the Great, Huge Bear. And they had each a chair to sit in; a little
chair for the Little, Small, Wee Bear; and a middle-sized chair for the
Middle Bear; and a great chair for the Great, Huge Bear. And they had
each a bed to sleep in; a little bed for the Little, Small, Wee Bear;
and a middle-sized bed for the Middle Bear; and a great bed for the
Great, Huge Bear.

One day after they had made the porridge for their breakfast and poured
it into their porridge-pots, they walked out into the wood while the
porridge was cooling, that they might not burn their mouths by beginning
too soon to eat it. And while they were walking, a little old Woman came
to the house. She could not have been a good, honest old Woman; for
first she looked in at the window and then she peeped in at the keyhole;
and seeing nobody in the house, she lifted the latch. The door was not
fastened, because the Bears were good Bears, who did nobody any harm and
never suspected that anybody would harm them. So the little old Woman
opened the door and went in, and well pleased she was when she saw the
porridge on the table. If she had been a good little old Woman, she
would have waited till the Bears came home, and then perhaps they would
have asked her to breakfast, for they were good Bears--a little rough or
so, as the manner of Bears is, but for all that very good-natured and
hospitable. But she was an impudent, bad old Woman, and set about
helping herself.

So first