Goldilocks: if Jane Austen had Penned It
The Family of Bear had live in Somerset for three generations. The residents of Porridge Park, their vast estate, was Lord Tyler Bear, a wealthy statesman, and his wife Lady Charlotte, a distant descendent of the Duke of Norfolk, thus completing Lord Bear’s high social status through matrimony. They had one son, Edward, who was often referred to as Baby Bear in the more intimate social circles. Lord and Lady Bear were very fond of their young son and thus spoiled him with gifts of fine furniture and toys.
At seven years of age he was quite accomplished due to his parents constant attentions. He could draw remarkably well for his age and was undertaking his fourth year of study on the pianoforte. His parents were particularly proud of his accomplishments in Schubert Sonatas and swore to their dinner guests that Edward was quite a prodigy.
Lady Charlotte Bear had one sister, Katherine, who unfortunately had married capriciously to Alfred Dutton, a man very much beneath her rank. (The Bear Family rarely thought or spoke of her.) It was not until Lady Bear received a letter from Katherine that she considered her miserable sister. For Mrs. Dutton was the hapless mother of five children and expecting another in March. Would you please take our eldest, Anne as a ward? She had written, and give her a good education and opportunity in life? She is but seven and a very sweet girl.
We most certainly will not! Lord bear had said. She is not our responsibility. But Lady Bear, though slightly frivolous, had an amiable heart and persuaded Lord Bear to accept Anne. This was not accomplished until she had made clear that under no circumstance would Anne marry Edward. For they would certainly be fond of each other argued Lord Bear. “But,” Lady Charlotte had said, “we will not allow such nonsense to occur, and think, Tyler, how dire the poor girls opportunities are now.”
When the day came for Anne Dutton to arrive the whole house was anxious to observe her person and conduct. She reached Porridge Park a quarter past noon with very little luggage and was remarkably under dressed for the winter weather. Charlotte Bear later noted to her friends that Anne was a tiny figure with an explosion of blonde-gold hair and Lord Bear, in the company of his wife, would often refer to the little thing as “goldilocks.”
Her first week at the house went by without event. The child was reticent and unaccustomed to proper decorum. She left meals early and returned to the small room allotted to her. It was not until after the Bear Family left for their customary Sunday luncheon, and Anne was left with the servants, that she began to explore the vast manor.
The first room investigated was the immaculate dining hall. Anne had naturally had her meals there all week, but was too timid to openly observe the room’s grandeur. Now alone, she touched the reachable edges of fine wood and fingered through the linens soon to be distributed around the table for supper. Anne pretended to me mistress of the room and giggled with delight upon finding three wrapped boxes. The poor child could not read and therefore carelessly distributed of the silver card on the first box which read, “To: Lord Bear.” Her eyes widened with excitement as she unearthed a whole section of perfectly decadent chocolates! With absolutely no self-restraint the girl ravenously grabbed the candy and slipped it in her tiny mouth. After a moment of expectation the bitter taste of dark chocolate registered on her taste buds and she promptly spit the chocolate back out! “How bitter!” She cried.
The second box of chocolates with a similar silver ribbon that read, “To: Lady Bear” was also tasted. Her palate was once again offended, as she pulled out a coconut chocolate. (Lady Bear was fond of the exotic.) It was not until she reached the final box, “To: Baby Bear” that Anne found pure felicity. For within the smallest box of all resided three rows of caramel chocolate candies that Anne devoured with zeal.
Quite stuffed on chocolate the blonde child wandered into the living room. The ornate furnishings intimidated her as she searched for something with which to occupy herself. A shiny gold instrument in the form of a trumpet first caught Anne’s eye. It was placed horn end down on a holder and seemed quite complicated to remove. Her fancy quickly shifted to the large harp adjacent to the settee. She reached to touch it when her eyes fell upon Edward’s beautiful black pianoforte in the corner. Anne ran to it and began pounding aimlessly, her chocolate fingers smearing all over the clean white keys.
This continued for several minutes until she was overtaken with weariness. Instead of heading straight to her own room, Anne wandered into the opulent master bedroom. The massive bed was way to large for her to climb into and Lady Charlotte’s day bed was not as comfortable as it looked. The next room over was Edward’s and Anne admired his goose-feather comforter.
When the Bear Family returned they found that the presents sent to them had been opened and sifted through. Edward was most upset to discover that his favorite chocolate candies were gone. When they went to the living room, Edward found that his instrument had chocolate fingerprints all over the formerly clean keys. “This is Goldilocks doing!” shouted Lord Bear, furious with the child. He stormed towards her room as the other two followed quickly behind. But before they reached it they saw her asleep in Edward’s bed. Her little body wrapped in blankets and her face covered in chocolate. Disarmed by the sight of her, Lord Bear could not help but chuckle, for his heart was stern, but kind. He picked Anne up into his arms and placed her in her proper bed. Edward was most perplexed by the whole affair but not resentful of his cousins misconduct. The whole family, including Anne, would often laugh at the tale of “little Goldilocks making a mess!”
In fact, at Anne and Edward’s wedding fourteen years later, it greatly amused their guests.