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Three Bears: Not Your Mother's Bedtime Story

Three Bears is not your mother’s bedtime story. You meet Goldilocks as she is coming to grips with her reality of poverty and disdain, and makes a conscious choice to become a forest dweller. Albeit completely unprepared for life in the forest, or anywhere for that matter. Once she enters the forest is she truly on a journey, or has all choice been striped from her? She is aided by two squirrels and the forest itself (which is a main character in the development of her story). Oblivious to the magic around her, Goldilocks assumes everything on her path is there for her alone and doesn’t stop to consider it might belong to someone else. She is a force of nature off in search of her palace and all else is fodder feeding that goal. She doesn’t stop to consider the need to learn appreciation or compassion, as those were complaints spewed at her by an angry and selfish mother.
Companions she meets on her way consistently transmute into threats, forcing her to flee further down her forest path which unbeknownst to her draws the chains of her fate tighter. Eventually, she escapes and arrives at her dream of a rich reality, only to have others’ reality yank it out from under her. Leaving Goldilocks with few options, save death.
The tale borders on dark aspects but is mired in humor as Goldilocks tries and fails, and tries again, to grow into a self-sustaining human.
Fairytales. They have amused us for centuries by providing outlets for entertainment, education and venting of political emotion. They even made at least one cartoonist a millionaire if Disneyland is any indication of the power fairytales hold. We all know the famous ones and have the books, movies and dolls, but whatever happened to Goldilocks and the Three Bears? Wasn’t she as pretty as Sleeping Beauty? Wasn’t she as abused as Cinderella? We all know Goldilocks’ story, but it’s a short tale quickly set aside so we can dream about princesses and charming princes whisking them away on their mighty steeds. True, bears can’t compete with handsome princes, but does that make Goldilocks less noteworthy? Why was she in the forest? What made her enter the bears’ home? Where were her parents? Do bears actually live in cottages deep in the forest? Does anyone take three seconds to think about the plight of poor Goldilocks?
Why is it more important to us that Cinderella finds her other glass slipper than it is for Goldilocks to find her soft chair? Why do we cringe at the wicked witch tricking Snow White into biting the poisoned apple and cheer when the bears chase Goldilocks from Baby Bear’s bed?
This story may not answer these questions, because it doesn’t have a cursed princess or a wicked witch or a handsome prince…or, does it?

220 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 4, 2014