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Have you got a
favourite number? I have. It's any number, but the number three! My
younger sister, Goldilocks (perhaps you've heard of her), had such
a bad time with the number three, that I've never forgotten it! It
happened one day when she went for a walk and got lost. She didn't
know where she was. Suddenly she came across a cottage, she distinctly
remembers it was number three, so she knocked on the door intending
to ask the people who lived there the way back home. Well the door
was open so Goldilocks called out politely, "Hello, anybody home?"
but nobody answered, so she decided to go in and wait for whoever
lived there to come back. That was a big mistake. It was all downhill
from then on!
The cottage was very neat and tidy, and as Goldilocks looked around
she noticed that there was three of everything - three cups hanging
on the dresser, three chairs around the fire-place, even three books
on the coffee table. There were three umbrellas in the umbrella stand,
three toothbrushes in the toothbrush holder and set out on the table
she counted one, two, three bowls of porridge. So Goldilocks worked
out that there must be three people living in the cottage. Pretty
clever huh?
The smell of the porridge drew her over to the table - mmm, her tummy
started rumbling at the yummy smell. It seemed like hours since she'd
had breakfast. Goldilocks didn't think anyone would notice if she
just tasted a little tincy-wincy bit of porridge from one of the three
bowls, so she picked up a spoon and scooped up some from the first
bowl. Phew, it was so hot she could hardly swallow it! So she tried
some from the second bowl, and that was cold! Goldilocks didn't know
anyone who liked cold porridge, but at least it cooled her mouth down
from the first lot. Then she tried the porridge from the third bowl,
and guess what, it was just right. Not too hot, not too cold, just
perfect! And before she realised what she'd done, Goldilocks had eaten
the whole lot! She realised she'd have a bit of explaining to do when
the occupants came back to the cottage so my sister thought she'd
better sit down and wait for them.
She went over to the three chairs around the fireplace and plonked
herself down in the biggest one. Ooo it was so hard, she just couldn't
get comfortable, so she moved to the one next to it. That was so soft
Goldilocks nearly got lost in all the cushions. But the last chair
was perfect, neither too hard nor too soft, so she settled down on
it to wait for the owners to come home. She'd only been sitting for
a couple of seconds when .... bang! Crash! It collapsed from under
her and she ended up on the floor with the chair in pieces. Goldilocks
tried to put it back together, but she never was very good at woodwork
and it just fell apart again. So that was two things my sister had
to explain to the owners!
She decided it would be a good idea to have a little nap while waiting
- at least she couldn't get into any more trouble if she was sleeping
- or so Goldilocks thought! In the bedroom there were .... you guessed
it ... three beds! She tried the first bed but the mattress and pillow
were too firm. The second bed was so soft she sank right down into
the mattress and could hardly breathe. But the third bed, aaahh it
was so comfortable that my sister fell asleep as soon as her head
hit the pillow. And while sleeping there, Goldilocks had the strangest
dream ......
She dreamt that three bears came into the cottage - a large bear with
a big booming voice, a medium sized bear with a normal voice, and
a little bear with a tiny soft voice. The bears went straight over
to the table and noticed that their porridge wasn't the way they'd
left it.
"Somebody has been at my porridge!" boomed the large bear.
"Somebody has been at my porridge!" said the medium sized
bear.
"Somebody has been at my porridge and has eaten it all up!"
said the little bear softly.
Then the large bear noticed where Goldilocks had re-arranged the cushions
on his chair trying to get comfortable.
"Somebody has been sitting in my chair!" he boomed.
"Somebody has been sitting in my chair!" said the medium-sized
bear.
"Somebody has been sitting in my chair and broken it all to pieces!"
cried the little bear in a soft voice.
The three bears decided to look around for the intruder and went into
the bedroom. The large bear could see the dent in the pillow!
"Somebody has been lying in my bed" he boomed.
"Somebody has been lying in my bed" said the medium sized
bear.
"Somebody has been lying in my bed, and she's still there!"
Goldilocks laughed to herself about the strange dream she was having.
It seemed so real! That was when she opened her eyes and looked up
from the bed to find three bears staring down! She rubbed her eyes
and looked again. Three bears! A large bear, a medium sized bear and
a small bear. Goldilocks wasn't dreaming - they were real! She suddenly
realised that they were the owners of the cottage where everything
was in threes. She wanted to explain that she hadn't meant to eat
all the porridge, or break the chair or fall asleep in somebody's
bed! But looking at their faces, they didn't seem to be in the mood
for explanations! So Goldilocks just jumped up and ran as fast as
she could away from that cottage!
I bet you would have done the same thing with three angry bears breathing
down your neck. Anyway, now you'll understand why three is not my,
nor my sister's favourite number! Even though it all happened a long
time ago, we've never forgotten those three bears. I wonder if they
remember Goldilocks?
© Banksia Productions Pty Ltd
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