ABSTRACT
Animals and nature abounded in Robert Southey’s poetry that his scant foray into fairy tales produced a legacy engrossed with the lives of anthropomorphised bears. This chapter focuses on changes in the depiction of food in the story, and explores the significance of these changes for our understanding of the tale and its historical development. A paper by Mary Shamburger and Vera Lachmann sought to connect the origin of the tale with Southey’s interest in Scandinavian literature, suggesting that the tale was inspired by the Norwegian “Snow White” and arguing that Southey concocted a formula of tale elements from various tales to create “The Three Bears.” Didactic tales were beginning to take a more prominent and explicit role in instructing children and governing nursery behavior. This tale is a prime example of how fairy tales and the fairy-tale world can be used to describe and model a role for the intended audience.
