Most of us are familiar with “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” a tale of the pretty young girl who comes into a house inhabited by a family of three bears when they’re away. She sits in their chairs, eats their porridge, and sleeps in their beds. She is eventually discovered when the bears return.
Three Fun Facts about Goldilocks and the Three Bears
- The bears were originally three good-natured bachelor bears. In later versions, they were changed to a family of bears: a father bear, a mother bear, and a baby bear.
- Early versions of the tale included a foul-mouthed, mean old woman rather than a pretty young golden-haired girl.
- Interestingly, a Goldilocks Zone is a habitable space where planets are neither too hot or cold where conditions could be just right for liquid water and therefore life.
Different Versions of Goldilocks and The Three Bears
In earlier versions of the tale, the bears are good-natured bachelors who decided to take a walk in the forest while their morning porridge cools. While they were gone, a mean old woman stumbles upon their cabin and enters. She breaks a chair, eats the porridge, and falls asleep. When the bears return, they run her out.
When Goldilocks replaces the old woman in later versions, her fate varies. In one version, she runs into the forest. In another, she is almost eaten by the bears, but her mother saves her. And in another, she makes amends with the bears and promises to be a good little girl. In others, she simply returns home.
The Moral of Goldilocks and the Three Bears
The moral can be ambiguous. Is it a tale of finding out what “just right” really means to each of us? Is it a warning to keep out of other people’s homes and things? In The Uses of Enchantment, Bruno Bettelheim criticizes the tale for not leaving a reader with a clear moral instruction and a promise of future happiness for having learned how to conquer a key Oedipal situation.
The tale makes use of the rule of three, a literary element that is often used to make a work more interesting. It’s believed that works featuring the rule of three are more satisfying and memorable than the use of other numbers in literature. In Goldilocks, for example, the rule of three applies to the number of bears and the number of bowls, chairs, and beds. In other works of literature, the rule of three applies to the number of attempts to overcome a problem to receive a specific desired outcome.
I believe the moral of the story lies in its use of the rule of three. Christopher Booker, a British author and journalist, said:
“[T]he first is wrong in one way, the second in another or opposite way, and only the third, in the middle, is just right… This idea that the way forward lies in finding an exact middle path between opposites is of extraordinary importance in storytelling.” (source)
It’s here that I feel we learn, even as adults, what the story is truly trying to tell us. It’s the middle ground, the breaking of extremes, that we find a path that just right. When we live life, neither here nor there, but firmly in the middle, we’re able to hear both sides, see both sides, and live in a happy compromise with both. It reminds me of an Ecclesiastes verse:
“It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.” Ecclesiastes 7:18
Perhaps our “just right” is only a matter of finding a balance, as simple and as difficult as that may be.
