{"id":31198,"date":"2016-10-26T12:12:46","date_gmt":"2016-10-26T16:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/?p=31198"},"modified":"2016-10-26T12:12:46","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T16:12:46","slug":"my-deepest-apologies-for-the-three-bears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/2016\/10\/my-deepest-apologies-for-the-three-bears\/","title":{"rendered":"My Deepest Apologies for the Three Bears"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Sydney Vollmer<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>In our present time, it seems stories are constantly being changed or redone to make them more applicable to our lifestyle.\u00a0 This certainly isn\u2019t an entirely new phenomenon in the course of literature, but the frequency seems to be picking up.\u00a0 Like any other content, fairytales are not excluded in this world of remakes, but how much are we allowed to change things?\u00a0 How does it impact the future generations who are learning these stories for the first time?<\/p>\n

We all know the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. \u00a0<\/em>I can\u2019t say what version you first heard, but I would bet it was the same one I learned as a kid. \u00a0My preschool teachers, parents, and Stella the Storyteller from Barney all told me this story about a family of bears who lived in the woods. \u00a0There was a Mama Bear, a Papa Bear, and a Baby Bear. \u00a0One morning, they make porridge for breakfast. \u00a0It\u2019s too hot to eat right away, so they take a walk while it cools. \u00a0That same morning, a little girl named Goldilocks is walking through the woods and sees their house. \u00a0She goes in for whatever reason\u2014be it curiosity, tiredness, hunger, or what-have-you. \u00a0Once inside, she sees the porridge and goes to eat it. \u00a0Papa\u2019s is too hot. \u00a0Mama\u2019s is too cold. \u00a0Baby\u2019s is just right and she gobbles it up. \u00a0In the living room, Goldilocks sees three chairs. \u00a0Papa\u2019s is too hard. \u00a0Mama\u2019s is too soft. \u00a0Baby\u2019s is just right\u2026but she breaks it. \u00a0Sleepy now, she heads to the bedroom. \u00a0Papa\u2019s bed is too hard. \u00a0Mama\u2019s bed is too soft. \u00a0Baby\u2019s bed is just right, and that\u2019s where the bears find her when they come home from their walk and discover the mess she made in their house. \u00a0Goldilocks wakes up and runs past the bears, down the stairs, and all the way home. \u00a0She then learns her lesson and never enters into a home without permission again. \u00a0Sound familiar? \u00a0Good.<\/p>\n

The original tale isn\u2019t very different, except instead of Goldilocks being a little girl she is an unnamed, old woman\u2014and she curses each time something doesn\u2019t go her way. \u00a0Even when she eats all of Baby Bear\u2019s porridge, she\u2019s mad the bowl couldn\u2019t hold more. \u00a0And Baby Bear\u2014not a baby. \u00a0In fact, the bears were originally not a family, but bachelor bears\u2014one was huge, one was medium-sized, and one was tiny. \u00a0Finally, maybe the most important change is when the old woman wakes up.\u00a0 She does not run past the bears. Instead, she jumps from the second-story window. \u00a0It is left up to the reader to decide whether she dies in the fall or is able to run away, but I think we all know in our hearts what the answer is.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Within my office here in the Archives & Rare Books Library, at this very moment I have two versions of this story\u2014one from the collection of English Fairy Tales<\/em> collected by Joseph Jacobs, published in 1890, and one from English Fairy-Tales Retold by F. A. Steel<\/em>, which was published in 1918. \u00a0The two versions bear<\/strong> a strong resemblance to one another. \u00a0In fact, the only differences are a few words and phrases here and there and the change of the old woman into Goldilocks. \u00a0The supposed reason behind this change was to make the story more appealing for young children. \u00a0At the time, there were more stories about little, old women than there were about little girls. \u00a0It was also decided that making the character attractive rather than ugly would be more appealing to readers. \u00a0That change was made nearly 100 years ago, and the story has stayed fairly constant since then\u2026until now. \u00a0Children today may be learning the story a bit differently thanks to a show called Super Why!<\/em><\/p>\n

Super Why!<\/em> shares the objective of many kids\u2019 shows: teaching children basic skills. \u00a0This show focuses on reading, basic manners, and problem-solving skills. \u00a0The series takes place in \u201cStorybook Village.\u201d \u00a0All the usual characters live there, including Goldilocks and the Three Bears.\u00a0 The plot of a typical episode goes as follows: a storybook character comes to the group of friends, known as the Super Readers, with a \u201cSuper Big Problem.\u201d \u00a0The Readers know they can look in a book to help them solve said problem. \u00a0They then delve into a fairytale, encountering obstacles along the way. \u00a0Each obstacle they successfully overcome awards them with \u201cSuper Letters.\u201d \u00a0At the end, these Super Letters come together to spell out the answer to their original Super Big Problem. \u00a0That all sounds great. \u00a0But what happens when they start changing these classic stories for the purpose of teaching the children a real-life application of a moral?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at their episode on Goldilocks and the Three Bears<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We open to see one of the Super Readers, Whyatt, showing us around his big brother\u2019s room. \u00a0In the process of showing us how his big brother spends his time he completely trashes the room! \u00a0(*GASP*) He feels so terrible, because he didn\u2019t mean to do it and now his brother is mad at him. \u00a0He\u2019s not sure how to fix things so he assembles the Super Readers, who take a dive into Goldilocks and the Three Bears<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Super<\/a><\/p>\n

Goldilocks causes her usual mayhem, but the end of the episode doesn\u2019t leave her shrieking through the house at the discovery of three bears living there. \u00a0In this <\/strong>version, Goldilocks knew <\/strong>the house belonged to the Three Bears. \u00a0She was just waiting for them to get back and she became bored. \u00a0Amazingly, Goldilocks never notices she is making a mess. \u00a0As soon as it strikes her that she might have inconvenienced the Bears, she decides to clean up everything she destroyed. \u00a0Upon the Bears\u2019 return, Mama Bear is thrilled someone mopped her floor and Baby Bear is happy when Goldilocks offers to make him more porridge. \u00a0What about the Super Letters you ask? NLECA PU. \u00a0For those of you who don\u2019t feel up to an anagram right now, it unscrambles to \u201cCLEAN UP.\u201d \u00a0Whyatt goes back to his house and cleans up his brother\u2019s room. \u00a0He apologizes and everything is hunky-dory. \u00a0Everyone is happy. \u00a0So what\u2019s my problem?<\/p>\n

I have no problem with the lesson the story gives. \u00a0Children should learn to clean up and apologize for their actions. \u00a0Often, it does result in being forgiven. \u00a0But the show takes a cautionary tale and turns it into a Happily Ever After. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Do we not get enough of that with Cinderella and the like? \u00a0Could we not let children know that sometimes apologizing isn\u2019t enough? \u00a0That it\u2019s wrong to not apologize in the first place? \u00a0That sometimes things don\u2019t have the ending we hope for?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m all for children learning from the things they watch and read, but I think they could still learn the lesson if the story had its original ending. \u00a0I actually think the children would learn more that way, because they get to come up with the answer on their own. \u00a0Let\u2019s see\u2026That whole being disrespectful of property thing didn\u2019t really work for Goldilocks. \u00a0Maybe I shouldn\u2019t touch this thing that\u2019s not mine.<\/em> \u00a0And if they do <\/strong>touch it: Maybe if Goldilocks had tried apologizing to the Three Bears, things would have ended differently. \u00a0Maybe I can apologize to my mom for breaking her favorite coffee cup<\/em>. \u00a0Create educational stories. Let children watch educational TV. But don\u2019t forget to let children learn by actually thinking for themselves. \u00a0They\u2019re smarter than we give them credit for.<\/p>\n

If you would like to learn the original forms of fairytales so you can tell them to your child, please come see our collection of rare editions, many illustrated by Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac. \u00a0We would love to share this world of fantasy and sometimes unhappy endings with you. \u00a0Call us at 513.556.1959 or email us at archives@ucmail.uc.edu<\/a>.\u00a0 You can also visit us on the web at \u00a0http:\/\/www.libraries.uc.edu\/arb.html<\/a> and our Facebook page can be found at \u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ArchivesRareBooksLibraryUniversityOfCincinnati<\/a> where we post all sorts of delights every day.\u00a0 We\u2019re open Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm. \u00a0In the meantime, don\u2019t go into any unfamiliar houses, and if you do, just steer clear of second-story windows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Sydney Vollmer In our present time, it seems stories are constantly being changed or redone to make them more applicable to our lifestyle.\u00a0 This certainly isn\u2019t an entirely new phenomenon in the course of literature, but the frequency seems … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[67],"class_list":["post-31198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arb","category-uclibraries","tag-rare-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}