Chapter 4

_Goldilocks._ O dear! I do wish mother would come home. I am going to meet her. She told me not to go out of the garden lest I should get lost; but if I keep in the road, I _can't_ get lost! Come, Dollie, you and I will go just a little way to meet mamma.

How warm it is in the sunshine! I think we shall go into the shady wood a little while. Let us pick some of these pretty flowers to make a wreath--won't mother be surprised when I show her all these flowers. Here is a lovely red one; and here's another like a daisy.

How dark it is here! I cannot see the road. I wonder if I'm lost! O mamma, mamma! I'm afraid. Dear Dollie, I'm glad you are with me.

_Dollie._ But I'm afraid, too!

_Goldilocks._ Please, dear Dollie, don't be afraid. Why, there's nothing to be afraid of--oh!

_Dollie._ What is the matter, Goldilocks?

_Goldilocks._ Look, what is that?

_Dollie._ I don't see anything.

_Goldilocks._ I thought I saw a bear.

_Dollie._ Well, I hope not. I don't like bears.

_Goldilocks._ But there is a little house. Isn't it a funny little house? I wonder who lives there!

_Dollie._ Dear Goldilocks, please, don't you think we'd better go home? I don't like strange little houses in the wood.

_Goldilocks._ Perhaps a kind fairy lives there who will show us the way home.

_Dollie._ Yes, or perhaps she is the Gingerbread Witch who will turn us into gingerbread for her supper!

_Goldilocks._ Don't say such uncomfortable things, Dollie. She couldn't turn you into gingerbread, anyway.

_Dollie._ Well, I know I'm made of sawdust, but she might make mush of me for breakfast!

_Goldilocks._ I know you're fooling now, dear Dollie. Let's look in the window. I don't see anyone. I'll knock at the door. No one answers. Come, Dollie, we'll open the door and walk in. How nice and warm it is. There is a good fire in the kitchen stove.

_Dollie._ Yes, and I smell something good to eat.

_Goldilocks._ Here it is on the table--what pretty bowls--one, two, three! I'll taste the porridge in the big bowl first. O Dollie, it is too hot! I burned my mouth.

_Dollie._ Try the next bowl. Perhaps the porridge in the middle-sized bowl is not so hot.

_Goldilocks._ No, indeed, it isn't; but it is too cold.

_Dollie._ Aren't you hard to please? I'm so hungry I could eat anything.

_Goldilocks._ Now this in the little bowl is just right. Sit down, Dollie, and we'll eat it all up.

_Dollie._ Do you think it is very polite for us to eat it all?

_Goldilocks._ You should have spoken of that before. It is too late now when it is all gone. Come, let us go into the parlor.

_Dollie._ Don't you think we'd better go home?

_Goldilocks._ How can we when I don't know the way? I'm tired, and I think I'll rest awhile in this nice big rocking-chair. But it's too high; I can't get into it.

_Dollie._ Don't move it out of its place.

_Goldilocks._ Never mind! I'll try the middle-sized chair. I don't like this, it is too low.

_Dollie._ Well, Goldilocks, you must not put chairs out of their places!

_Goldilocks._ Oh, it won't hurt them. Now let us try this pretty little chair. Come, Dollie, I'll sing you a song:

Rock-a-bye, Dollie, in the treetop, When the wind blows, the cradle will rock; When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall And down will come Dollie, cradle and all!

[_Chair breaks._]

_Dollie._ Well, something broke then!

_Goldilocks._ Yes, the cradle and all came down that time. Dear, O dear! I wish I hadn't rocked you so hard. I wish I hadn't run away! [_Crying._]

_Dollie._ Don't cry, dear Goldilocks. Let us see what we can find in the next room. Perhaps some one is in there who will take us to your dear mother.

_Goldilocks._ O Dollie! I'm a naughty girl not to mind my mother. If I'd only stayed at home in the garden!

_Dollie._ Oh, see the big bed!

_Goldilocks._ I'm so tired I believe I'll climb in and go to sleep. But I don't like it. This big bed is too hard.

_Dollie._ And this middle-sized one is too soft.

_Goldilocks._ But this little one is _just right_. Go--to--sleep--Dollie--