Next, she lay down upon the middle-size bed. “This bed is too low!” she said.

Finally, she lay down upon the little small bed; and that was neither too high nor too low. “This bed is just right!” she declared. The bed was so comfortable that she snuggled in and soon fell fast asleep.

By this time the Three Bears thought their porridge would be cool enough to eat; so they came home to breakfast.

Seeing that a spoon was left standing in the great big bowl, Papa Bear exclaimed “Somebody has been eating my porridge!” in his great, rough, gruff voice.

Mama Bear saw that a spoon was standing in her middle-size bowl too. “Somebody has been eating my porridge!” she said, in her medium growl.

Then Baby Bear looked at his little small bowl and cried out in his small, squeaky voice: “Somebody has been eating my porridge, and has eaten it all up!”

The Three Bears then realized that someone had entered their house, and began to look about them. Papa Bear noticed that the hard cushion on his great big chair was ajar. “Somebody has been sitting in my chair!” he announced is his great, rough, gruff voice.

Next she tasted the porridge of the middle-size bowl, and said: “This porridge is too cold!”

And then she went to the porridge of the small bowl, and tasted that; and it was neither too hot nor too cold. “This porridge is  just right!” Goldilocks exclaimed, and she liked it so well that she ate it all up.

Then Goldilocks sat down in the great big chair, and found it uncomfortable. “This chair is too hard!” she declared.

Next she sat down in the middle-size chair and sank deep into the seat cushion. “This chair is too soft!” she said.

And then she sat down in the small chair, and that was neither too hard nor too soft. “This chair is just right!” she said. So Goldilocks settled into the small chair to rest. Just then the bottom of the chair broke out, and the chair was no longer just right, it was broken and very uncomfortable.

金发姑娘与三只熊 有声儿童故事 第1章

Once upon a time there were Three Bears, who lived happily together in a comfortable house in a wood. One of them was a little, small, wee Baby Bear; one was a middle-sized Mama Bear; and the other was a great, huge Papa Bear. They had each a bowl for their favorite food, porridge with milk and honey. There was a little bowl for Baby Bear, a middle-sized bowl for Mama Bear, and a great big bowl for Papa Bear. And they had each a chair to sit in; a little chair for Baby Bear, a middle-sized chair for Mama Bear; and a great big chair for Papa Bear. And they had each a bed to sleep in; a little bed for Baby Bear; a middle-sized bed for Mama Bear; and a great big bed for Papa Bear.

One day, after they had made the porridge for their breakfast, and poured it into their bowls, they walked out into the wood for a walk while the porridge was cooling.

While the Three Bears were walking, a little girl called Goldilocks wandered by the house. First she looked in at the window, and then she peeped in at the keyhole. She saw nobody in the house, but to be sure she knocked on the door and no one answered. Goldilocks was usually a good girl, and she knew she should not enter a house uninvited, especially if the family was not home. But she was in an especially mischievous mood, and turned the handle of the door. The door was not locked, because the Bears were good Bears, who did nobody any harm, and never suspected that anybody would harm them. So Goldilocks opened the door, and went in; and well pleased she was when she saw the porridge on the table. If she had waited patiently outside till the Bears came home, perhaps they would have asked her to breakfast; for they were good Bears—a little rough as the manner of Bears is, but very good-natured and hospitable. But the porridge looked and smelled delicious, and Goldilocks set about helping herself.

After a time, the search reached the home of Cinderella and her step-sisters. The sisters sent Cinderella upstairs to clean the drapes, then each tried every possible way of getting her foot into the slipper, but without success. The official in charge of the search then asked the sisters to fetch the servant girl. The sisters immediately began to laugh, and to ridicule Cinderella, at the very thought that it could be she who had captured the prince’s heart. But the official was insistent. “My orders are to try the slipper on every maiden in the kingdom,” he declared. The sisters relented and, with great amusement, called for Cinderella.

Cinderella arrived at home out of breath, without carriage or servants, in her shabby clothes. Nothing remaining of all her fleeting magnificence except one of her little glass slippers—the fellow of that she had left behind.

When the two sisters returned from the ball Cinderella asked if they had enjoyed themselves. “Certainly not!”, they replied, “The prince paid us no attention at all. He spent all his time with a princess whom no one seems to know, and who repaid his kindness by running off without so much as a goodbye.” They then reported that despite the strange princess’s abrupt departure, the prince seemed to have fallen very much in love with her.

This was indeed the case; for, a few days after, the prince, with the sound of trumpets, announced a search for the maiden whose foot would exactly fit the slipper. He declared that when the maiden was found he would ask her to be his bride.

Cinderella did not notice how the time passed, and had quite forgot her godmother’s injunctions. While she therefore thought it was scarcely eleven o’clock, she was startled by the first stroke of midnight. She rose very hastily, and fled as lightly as a fawn. She ran so quickly that one of her glass slippers slipped from her foot. The prince ran after her, imploring her to return, but Cinderella left him quickly behind.

When he reached the palace gates, the prince inquired of the guards as to which direction the princess had gone. They replied that they had seen no one go out but a shabby peasant girl.

Being puzzled, the prince walked slowly back to the palace. Along the way he happened upon Cinderella’s lost slipper, which he picked up with the greatest care.

The arrival of so splendid an equipage as Cinderella’s could not fail to attract general notice at the palace gates, and as it drove up to the marble portico the servants, in great numbers, came out to see it.

The king’s son, to whom it was announced that an unknown princess had arrived, hastened to receive her. He helped her out of the carriage, and led her to the ball-room. Immediately as she entered the dancing ceased, and the violins stopped playing; so much was every one struck with the arrival of an unknown princess; and the only sound heard was that of admiration.

The prince was immediately taken by Cinderella’s charm, and the more he talked with her and recognized her kindness and good nature, the more enraptured he became. He invited her to dance and they danced with such grace that everybody paused to watch. When supper was served the prince could partake of nothing, so much was he occupied in contemplating the fair nature of the stranger. Cinderella was likewise stricken, for the prince was very kind and charming in his own right.

The coachman and postilion having likewise taken their places, the fairy said to Cinderella, “Well, my dear girl, is not this as fine as you could desire, to go to the ball with? Tell me, now, are you pleased with it?”

“O yes, dear godmother,” replied Cinderella; and then, with a good deal of hesitation, she added, “but how can I make my appearance among so many finely-dressed people in these shabby clothes?”

“Give yourself no uneasiness about that, my dear. The most difficult part of our task is already accomplished. On saying this, the fairy touched Cinderella with her magic wand, and her clothes were instantly changed into the most magnificent ball-dress, ornamented with fine jewels.

The fairy now took from her pocket a beautiful pair of glass slippers, which she caused Cinderella to put on; and when she had thus completed her work, and Cinderella stood before her, arrayed in her beautiful clothes, the fairy was much pleased.

The fairy godmother then spoke to Cinderella with great seriousness. “My dear, you must remember this – the spell will end exactly at midnight. You must be sure of the time and leave the ball before the twelfth strike of the clock.  At that moment your magnificent gown, carriage, and all the rest will change back to their former state.” Cinderella promised to faithfully attend to everything that the fairy had mentioned.

Then, two of the footmen sprang and opened the carriage-door, and assisted Cinderella into it.  and then, quite overjoyed, gave the direction to the footman, who bawled out, in a loud voice, to the coachman, “To the royal palace!”

Cinderella went immediately to gather the best she could find, and carried it to her godmother, though she could not guess how this pumpkin could make her go to the ball. Her godmother took the pumpkin and hollowed it out, leaving only the rind; she then struck it with her wand, and the pumpkin was immediately changed into a beautiful gilt car. Then next sent Cinderella for the mouse-trap, wherein were found six mice alive. She directed Cinderella to raise the door of the trap, and as each mouse came out she struck it with her wand, and it was immediately changed into a beautiful horse; so that she had now six splendid grays for her gilt coach.

The fairy was perplexed how to find a coachman, but Cinderella said, “I will go and see if there is a rat in the rat-trap; if there is, he will make a capital coachman.”

“You are right,” said the godmother; “go and see.” Cinderella brought the rat-trap, in which there were three large rats. The fairy selected one, on account of its beautiful whiskers, and, having touched it, it was changed into a fat coachman, with the finest pair of whiskers that ever were seen. She then said, “You must now go into the garden, where you will find six lizards, behind the watering-pot; bring them to me.” These were no sooner brought than the godmother changed them into six tall footmen, in handsome liveries, with cocked hats and gold-headed canes, who jumped up behind the coach just as if they had been accustomed to it all their lives.