The following tales are similar to the Goldilocks and the Three Bears fairy tale, AT-171: The Three Bears. I have included the English language tales of this type which have been gathered by title by D. L. Ashliman in his A Guide to Folktales in the English Language. Sometimes I include tales of other classifications when I deem them relevant to the theme. The tales come from many cultures and are similar to the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story in various ways. I have placed the tales in alphabetical order with bibliographic information and links to texts of the stories if a text is available on the internet.

Scrapefoot (England) *
The Three Bears (Appalachia) *
The Three Bears (England, Opie)
The Three Bears (England, Briggs) 
The Three Bears (England, Jacobs)  *
The Three Bears (England, Lang)  *

* Full text of tale is available online.

A web version of this tale exists at Scrapefoot.

This tale is AT-171.

An English language version is available in:

Jacobs, Joseph, ed. More English Fairy Tales. New York: G. P Putnam's Sons, n. d.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in deluxe hardcover, hardcover or paperback.

Return to top of page

A web version of this tale is available at The Three Bears (Appalachia) (off SurLaLune site).

This tale is AT-171. It comes from Appalachia in the Southeast United States.

An English language version is available in:

Collected by James Taylor Adams, Big Laurel, Virginia. James Taylor Adams Collection.

Adams, James Taylor. "The Three Bears." AppLit. Tina L. Hanlon and Judy A. Teaford, creators. 2000-2006. Appalachian College Association and Ferrum College. 27 May 2006 <http://www.ferrum.edu/applit/texts/The3BEars.htm>.

Return to top of page

A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions. The tale is reprinted from the original version by Robert Southey published in 1837.

This tale is AT-171.

An English language version is available in:

Opie, Iona and Peter. The Classic Fairy Tales. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

Return to top of page

A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is AT-171.

An English language version is available in:

Briggs, Katherine M., ed. A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the England Language. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1970, 1971.

Return to top of page

An altered version of the tale is presented on SurLaLune with annotations at Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Note about my adaptation of the story: Joseph Jacobs based his The Story of the Three Bears on one of the earliest literary versions of the tale by Robert Southey. This version does not feature the now familiar Goldilocks, but a little, old vagrant woman instead. For my annotated version of the tale, I have altered Jacobs' version to reflect Goldilocks by name and description instead of the little old woman. I kept the extra descriptions of the old woman's illegal and uncouth activities although many of these are usually removed in the Goldilocks variants. I wanted to keep the references for annotating. Personally, I just like these references as they portray Goldilocks as the juvenile delinquent she has always been in my view of the story. You can read more about these changes and variants on the History of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the Annotations for Goldilocks and the Three Bears pages. You can read the unaltered story from Jacobs' English Fairy Tales at The Story of the Three Bears.

This tale is AT-171.

An English language version is available in:

Jacobs, Joseph. English Fairy Tales. London: David Nutt, 1890.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in deluxe hardcover, hardcover or paperback.

Return to top of page

A web version of this tale exists at The Three Bears. Note that Andrew Lang based his version of the tale on Robert Southey's version from 1837.

This tale is AT-171.

An English language version is available in:

Lang, Andrew, ed. The Green Fairy Book. New York: Dover, 1965. (Original published 1892.)
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

Return to top of page