<P> What was originally a frightening oral tale became a cozy family story with only a hint of menace . The story has elicited various interpretations and has been adapted to film, opera, and other media . "The Story of the Three Bears" is one of the most popular fairy tales in the English language . </P> <P> In Southey's tale, three anthropomorphic bears--"a Little, Small, Wee Bear, a Middle - sized Bear, and a Great, Huge Bear"--live together in a house in the woods . Southey describes them as very good - natured, trusting, harmless, tidy, and hospitable . Each of these "bachelor" bears has his own porridge bowl, chair, and bed . One day they make porridge for breakfast, but it's too hot to eat, so take a walk in the woods while their porridge cools . An old woman approaches the bears' house . As she has been sent out by her family, she is a disgrace to them . She is impudent, bad, foul - mouthed, ugly, dirty, and a vagrant deserving of a stint in the House of Correction . She looks through a window, peeps through the keyhole, and lifts the latch . Assured that no one is home, she walks in . The old woman eats the Wee Bear's porridge, then settles into his chair and breaks it . Prowling about, she finds the bears' beds and falls asleep in Wee Bear's bed . The dark end of the tale is reached when the bears return . Wee Bear finds his empty bowl, his broken chair, and the old woman in his bed and cries, "Somebody has been lying in my bed, and here she is!" The old woman starts, runs away, breaks her neck and goes to the hospital . </P> <P> The story was first recorded in narrative form by British writer and poet Robert Southey, and first published anonymously as "The Story of the Three Bears" in 1837 in a volume of his writings called The Doctor . The same year Southey's tale was published, the story was versified by George Nicol who acknowledged the anonymous author of The Doctor as "the great, original concocter" of the tale . Southey was delighted with Nicol's effort to bring more exposure to the tale, concerned children might overlook it in The Doctor . Nicol's version was illustrated with engravings by B. Hart (after "C.J."), and was reissued in 1848 with Southey identified as the story's author . </P> <P> The story of the three bears was in circulation before the publication of Southey's tale . In 1813, for example, Southey was telling the story to friends, and in 1831 Eleanor Mure fashioned a handmade booklet about the three bears and the old woman for her nephew Horace Broke's birthday . Southey and Mure differ in details . Southey's bears have porridge, but Mure's have milk; Southey's old woman has no motive for entering the house, but Mure's old woman is piqued when her courtesy visit is rebuffed; Southey's old woman runs away when discovered, but Mure's old woman is impaled on the steeple of St Paul's Cathedral . </P>

Who wrote the original goldilocks and the three bears