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Once upon a time, in a little house in a wood, lived three bears. One of them was a great, huge bear, the middle one was a medium-sized bear, and the smallest bear was a little wee bear.
Each of them had its bed, a chair, and a pot for porridge. There was a big bed for the Great Bear, a middle-sized bed for the Middle bear and a small bed for the Small, Wee Bear, a big chair for the Great Bear, a middle-sized chair for the Middle Bear, and a small chair for the Small Bear. There was also a little porridge pot for the Small Bear, a middle-sized porridge pot for the Middle Bear, and a big porridge pot for the Great Bear.
One day, after they prepared porridge for breakfast, and poured it into their pots, they went into the wood and left the porridge cooling, so that they wouldn't burn their mouths if they ate it too soon. While they were walking, a little old Woman came to their house. She first looked at the window and peeped in the keyhole. As she saw nobody, she decided to enter the house.
Since the Bears were good and didn't mean any harm, they left the door unlocked. So the old little woman entered the house. She was very happy when she saw porridge cooling on the table. Since she was no good, she decided to eat it. As if she was good, she would have waited for the bears to come home and then maybe asked them if they would share their breakfast with them, but as the story says the old little woman was no good.
"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."
First, she decided to taste the porridge of the Great Bear, but it was a little bit too hot for her. She said something bad about it and decided to taste the porridge of the Middle Bear. That middle-sized porridge was neither too cold, nor hot, so she again said a bad word about it and decided to try a porridge from a small-sized pot that belonged to the Small Wee Bear. That porridge was just right and she liked it so much that she ate it all up. But she couldn't not say a bad word about it as it wasn't enough for her, she was still hungry.
After she ate the porridge from the small pot, she wanted to sit down for a little bit. She tried to sit in the chair of the Great Bear, but it was too hard for her. She tried the middle-sized chair that belonged to the Middle Bear, but it was too soft for the little old woman. Then she tried the small chair that belonged to the Small Wee Bear and it wasn't too soft, nor too hard, it was just right. She sat there for some time until she felt like she needed a rest.
She went upstairs into the room where the three bears slept. First, she lay down on the biggest bed that belonged to the Great Bear, but the head of the bed was too high for her. Next, she tried to lay down in the middle-sized bed, but that bed was a bit too high at the foot for the little old woman. There was only one bed to try, the small one, so she lay down and the Small Bear's bed was just right. She quickly fell asleep.
Soon the three bears thought that their porridge would be cool enough for them to eat it, so they decided to return home. Since the old little woman left a spoon in the porridge, the Great Bear noticed that someone tried his porridge.
"Somebody has been at my porridge!", said the Great, Huge Bear, in his great, rough, gruff voice.
The Middle Bear looked at his pot and saw the same, there was a spoon standing in a pot. These were wooden spoons, so the little old lady left them as if they had been the silver ones, the little old lady surely would have steeled it and put it in her pocket. The Middle Bear also said that someone tried his porridge.
"Somebody has been at my porridge!", said the Middle Bear in his middle voice.
Then the Small Wee Bear looked at his porridge and noticed that it was all gone, the little old lady ate it all.
"Somebody has been at my porridge, and has eaten it all up!", said the Little, Small, Wee Bear, in his little, small, wee voice.
Now that the Three Bears noticed that someone was in their house, they started looking for that person who ate the Little Bear's breakfast. Since the little old lady didn't put the cushion on a chair back to its place, the Great Bear noticed that someone was sitting in his chair.
"Somebody has been sitting in my chair!", said the Great, Huge Bear, in his great, rough, gruff voice.
The Middle Bear also noticed a squat on her soft cushion so he said that someone also sat in his chair.
"Somebody has been sitting in my chair!", said the Middle Bear, in his middle voice.
That's when the Small Wee Bear noticed that someone sat the bottom out of his chair.
"Somebody has been sitting in my chair and has sat the bottom out of it!", said the Little, Small, Wee Bear, in his little, small, wee voice.
The Three Bears decided it was necessary to hurry in their search for this person who was in their house, so they went upstairs.
The Great Bear noticed that someone pulled the pillow on his bed so he said that someone's been lying on his bed.
"Somebody has been lying in my bed!", said the Great, Huge Bear, in his great, rough, gruff voice.
The bolster on the Middle Bear was also pulled out of its place so he said that someone's been lying on his bed too.
"Somebody has been lying in my bed!", said the Middle Bear, in his middle voice.
And when the Small Wee Bear looked at his bed. The pillow was in its place, and so was the bolster, but upon the pillow was sleeping the little old woman with her dirty, ugly head.
"Somebody has been lying in my bed,-and here she is!", said the Little, Small, Wee Bear, in his little, small, wee voice.
The little old woman somehow heard the gruff, rough voice of the great Bear but she thought it was the rumbling of the thunder or roaring of wind so she fast fell asleep. She also heard the voice of the Middle Bear, but it was as if someone was talking in her dream, so she fell asleep again. But when she heard the Small Wee Bears's sharp and shrill voice, that instantly woke her up. She saw the Three Bears standing on one side of the bed. She was so scared that she tumbled herself and ran to the window.
Since these were good bears that wish no harm and were so tidy, the window was open to enter the fresh air, so the little old woman jumped through the window. Whether she ran into the woods or broke her neck in the fall, the Three Bears never saw her again.
"Out the little old Woman 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 was taken up by the constable and sent to the House of Correction for a vagrant as she was, I cannot tell. But the Three Bears never saw anything more of her."
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