Goldilocks and Three Bears

Goldilocks and Three Bears is not a fairy tale by none of the definitions. My main criterion is a transformation of one or more main characters but none of the four characters didn't really change through the story. Even more, this transformation should be 'magical'. Think about changing from the frog into a prince or being eaten by the wolf and survive. There is no magic in The Goldilocks and Three Bears. Talking bears are simply not enough.

If you want to put this story into a literary drawer, it's a cautionary tale.

The name of the intruder changed throughout the history of this story. Before we had Silver Hair and Silverlocks and a fox without a name. The young girl who eats porridge, breaks a chair, and tries beds of the bears wasn't so good-looking in earlier versions. She was an old nosy woman without respect for others' privacy but some believe she was actually a fox in the oldest versions (one such story is titled Scrapefoot). Change from the fox to the old lady could happen thanks to Jacob Jacobs' rewritings with an error where the old English terms for the fox and the old woman sounded similar.

Modern audiences believe that Goldilocks is the name of the title character of the classic fairy tale Rapunzel. These are completely different stories. Changing the name of Rapunzel simply happened for commercial reasons. The character with a name related to precious metal is obviously more cute than the name related to vegetables. By the way, Rapunzel is not an original (as far as we can trace the original version) name too. She was Parsley at first.

Here you can check more Facts about Rapunzel.

They are the main characters of the story and for at least a century it was titled just The Three Bears, without mentioning the trespasser.

At first, they were just three bears. Later, they became Huge Bear, Middle-Sized Bear, and Little Bear. They were all presented as males. Only the last versions (so far) transformed them into a family with a father, a mother, and a son. This change caused at least two shifts of perception. The bears became closer to the audience (most children identify with the Little Bear) and the story became less scary.

Modern versions of The Goldilocks and Three Bears are simplified which improved the rhythm of the story. However, one important change of behavior of the intruder was done. Earlier versions present her not only tasting porridge and testing the furniture. She also commented on too hot porridge, too hard chair, and so on with impolite remarks which further added to her improper behavior.

We have already mentioned the changes in relations between the bears. By becoming a family they were truly humanized. We also learn that they live in a house, eat porridge, and have human furniture in the house. There are also versions where the behavior of the Goldilocks was excused by the clumsiness of the bears who lived in the household which they were not capable of maintaining. Goldilocks still came uninvited to their home but taught them important skills so they became more civilized.

Such a plot, of course, never gained popularity, because it loses the main tension.

Goldilocks and Three Bears is a perfect example of using the so-called Rule of Three. Number three is the best way to use all kinds of narrative tricks. With three elements you can repeat, escalate, create rhythm, and make a suspenseful imbalance. This is the reason that numerous writers created their own variations of this story for all kinds of audiences and that you can find the very same story, as simple as it is, as a popular example used during countless literary schools.

To explore more on the subject, I kindly recommend reading my article on The Meaning of Three.

Testing beds and sleeping in one of them is a very important part of the Goldilocks' intrusion. While eating others' food and destroying others' property clearly shows her rudeness, the sleeping part shows her more vulnerable part. When she does that in the obviously inhabited place she is just too careless to be considered as a true criminal. Her actions immediately look more like a childish lack of manners and experience than bad intentions.

This is not the only example where sleep plays an important role in popular stories for kids. You can even find testing the beds and similar places to sleep in Snow White or Bremen Town Musicians.

You guessed it, I wrote an article about The Role of Sleep in Fairy Tales as well.

It's a bit vague. While we clearly observe the improper behavior of the intruder, we don't really know if anybody in the story learned a lesson at all. As far as we know Goldilocks might break into the house of the three little pigs just a few minutes later. And we don't know if the bears learned to lock the doors. Of course, there are also versions where she is sent to a correctional facility...

The situation where somebody is looking for something 'just right' is widely described as the Goldilocks Effect. It is used in numerous areas of our lives. Salespeople are especially well-informed about the human need to buy something that is not too cheap and not too expensive. Astronomy is another major example: when we are looking for possibilities for life in the universe, we are looking for 'just right' conditions on the planet. Not too hot, not too cold. In a way, we can say, we are living on the Goldilocks.

All used images are in the Public Domain:

https://vintageillustrators.weebly.com/swifts-premium-calendar.html
https://topillustrations.wordpress.com/
https://just4fairytales.blogspot.com/2013/09/rosa-clementina-petherick.html
http://artyoushouldknow.canalblog.com/archives/2018/09/11/36697164.html