The Goldilocks Project

Goldilocks in Charge

         

 

 

 

     Once there was a girl named Goldilocks.  She was walking through the forest one day when she came to a house.  She knocked.  No one answered.  She went in.  There on the table were three bowls of porridge.  She tasted them.  "Yuck!" she said.  She pulled some cinnamon and sugar from her pocket and put them on the porridge.  Then she tasted again.  "That's better."

     There were three chairs in the parlor.  She sat on each of them.  "Ouch!" she said.  They were too hard.  She found pillows in the corner and sewed them into comfortably cushions for the chairs.  She sat down again.  "That's better."

     After she had rested, she went upstairs.  There were three beds.  They were a mess.  Quilts thrown here, sheets thrown there.  "Three pigs must live here," said Goldilocks, and she made the three beds, and tucked the corners in tight.  "That's better."

     Then she heard someone opening the door to the house.  She stood up straight and marched down the stairs.

     There in the doorway were three bears, a Papa bear, a Mama bear, and a little baby bear.  "HEY!  WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN..." the papa bear began.

     "It's about time you came home," stated Goldilocks.  "And I must say, it's a good thing I came along when I did."  She grabbed the baby bear's paw and dragged him to the table.  "Now finish your porridge, and I don't want to see you up from that table until you've cleaned your bowl."

     Then she turned to the Papa and Mama bear.  "And you should be ashamed.  Letting your child leave the house without his breakfast.  Now you two get over here and finish your breakfasts too.  No complaints now, hurry, hurry."

     Mama and Papa bear were so surprised that they sat at the table and began eating.

     "Yuck!" said Mama, Papa, and baby bear.  "What did you do to our porridge!"

     "I made it edible," said Goldilocks.

     "But it just needed to cool down," said Mama bear.  "It was just fine."

     After breakfast Goldilocks showed the three bears their new chairs.  "Now you be careful and don't rip these cushions." 

     The bears sat down.  "You've ruined our chairs!" said Papa bear.  "If we want comfortable we sit on those pillows in the..."  Then he noticed there were no pillows in the corner.  Papa bear began to turn red.

     But before he could eat Goldilocks she shoved them upstairs.  "When I came in here these beds looked like they'd exploded.  There'll be no more of that.  From now on beds will be made as soon as you wake up and they will stay made all day.  There will be no breakfast until all beds are made to my satisfaction."

     "What a waste," said baby bear.  "How can we take afternoon naps if our beds have to stay made."

     And there was more.  Goldilocks made the bears pick up their clothes, which were scattered around the room.

     Then she made them wash the walls, all through the house,

     and mop the floors,

     and paint the shutters,

     and rake the leaves.

     She made them do their exercises,

     and drink lots of juice,

     and take their naps (though the beds had to stay made).

     "From now on things are going to be different around here," said Goldilocks as she made them lie down.

     Then she closed the shutters and went downstairs to rearrange the cupboards.

     In the dark, where he couldn't sleep, because who could sleep on a made bed, Papa bear began to fume.  He thought of the porridge, and the chairs, and the beds, and the floors, and walls, and shutters, and leaves, and exercises, and juice.  This was not the way he wanted to live.  He and his family had been very happy before this, this Goldilocks had come.

     Finally he could take it no longer.

     He jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs.  Mama bear and baby bear were right behind him.  "YOU!" he said to Goldilocks.  "GET OUT!  GET OUT RIGHT NOW BEFORE I EAT YOU!"

     "My goodness!" she said as Papa bear picked her up.  "I believe you would.  I can see that you're beyond help and that my services would be more appreciated elsewhere."

     "I doubt it," said Papa bear as he threw her outside.

     Then Papa bear, Mama bear, and the little baby bear took the pads off the chairs, threw out the sugar and cinnamon, and messed up their beds.

     And they lived happily ever after.