"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—