THE THREE BEARS.
Laura and Fanny came one Saturday to spend the day with their Grandmamma. The moment they got into the house, little Laura ran to the book-case, to get a book to read; and Fanny asked for a needle and thread, and began to sew up a corner of the red cloth that was on the work-table.
Both these little girls were very fond of coming to see their Grandmamma, and she liked to have them come; for they gave her no trouble, and were very good and polite to every body.
Pretty soon Laura said, "Oh, dear! this is not a very interesting book, I am tired of reading it. I wonder where Aunt Fanny is. I believe I will go find her, and get her to tell me a story."
"A story!" said Fanny, "then I will go too." So she stuck her needle in her work, and they both ran out of the room.
They found their Aunt Fanny in the next room. She was sitting at her writing-desk, writing a letter.
"Oh, Auntie!" said Laura, coming up to the desk, "how much you have written; I am sure you must be tired. Suppose you stop a little while, and rest yourself by telling us a story."
Her Aunt laughed, and said that was a very clever way of getting a story out of her, and asked the children what kind of a story they would like.
"I like a fairy tale," said little Fanny.
"And I like a ghost story," said Laura. "I think a ghost story is great fun, for I never believe a word of it."
"But you know I never tell ghost stories," replied her Aunt; "they are very silly things. I will tell you a story about three bears, which I read a long while ago. I do not remember it exactly, but I think I can make it do for you."
"Oh, yes! yes!" cried the 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]
[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 the shape of the little ragged dirty old woman that was fast asleep, and snoring like a trumpeter, on the bed. The great big bear went and stood at the head of the bed; the middling sized bear went and stood at the middle of the bed; and the tiny bit of a bear went and stood at the foot of the bed. Then the great big bear said—
"'Who is this in the bed?'
"The middling sized bear said—
"'It looks like a dirty old woman.'
"'And there's some of my porridge sticking on her lips,' said the tiny bit of a bear. As he said this, the old woman awoke, and opened her eyes.
"When she saw the bears, she was frightened almost out of her wits; so she started up, and jumped right out of the window, that was close to the bed, and ran off with all her might and main. Then the bears tumbled down stairs head over heels, pell-mell, and rushed out of the house, to catch her and eat her up; but they were so fat, they could not run as fast as she could; so the little ragged dirty old woman got off, all out of breath, but safe and sound."
"What did the tiny bit of a bear do for his dinner?" asked Fanny.
"He had to suck his paws, I suppose," answered her Aunt; "but I do not know, for that was the end of the story."
The children had laughed very much at this story, because their Aunt had told it to them in a way that made it very amusing. They thanked her, and said they hoped she would tell it to them again, the next Saturday. She promised she would, and told them to run off, as she wanted to finish her letter. So the little girls went off, and spent the rest of the day in various ways, taking care not to be troublesome or noisy; and when they went home, they told their Mother, as well as they could, the funny story of the three bears.