English Fairy Tale Doll: "Goldilocks"
Collection: Everyday Connections
This topsy-turvy doll depicts all four characters of the British fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears, published in the 1830s as "The Story of The Three Bears." In this story, three anthropomorphic male bears—"a Little, Small, Wee Bear, a Middle-sized Bear, and a Great, Huge Bear"—live together in a house in the woods.
The story describes the bears as very good-natured and hospitable. Each bear has his own porridge pot, chair, and bed. One day they take a walk in the woods while their porridge cools. An old hairy woman, who is described in the story as bad and ugly, discovers the bears' dwelling. She enters the house. The old woman eats the Wee Bear's porridge, then sits on his chair and breaks it and, finally, falls asleep in Wee Bear's bed.
The bears return. Wee Bear finds the old woman in his bed and cries, "Somebody has been lying in my bed,—and here she is!" The old woman jumps from the window, and is never seen again.
Twelve years after the publication of that story, another author, Joseph Cundall, transformed the antagonist from an ugly old woman to a pretty little girl. This version is the one that has lasted into this era.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_the_Three_Bears