Week 13 story: Scrapefoot

Anchor: "Aaaand welcome back to Forest News at Five. We've got breaking news for you about a crime in our forest that will make you lock your doors tonight. For more, we go to the scene with reporter Lucy Lion."

Lucy: "I'm here at the three bears' castle with some truly startling news. In a neighborhood most assumed to be safe, the bears have seen otherwise today. Let's hear from the bear family now on the disturbing occurrence that took place here just hours ago."

Mother bear: "It was terrifying. When we got back from our wonderful afternoon picnic, I realized our castle's front door was open just a crack, and that's where the trouble started." 

Father bear: "When we walked in, I saw my son's chair was all broken down and clearly sat in, but that was only the beginning of what this hooligan did to our beautiful home."

Lucy: "The three bears report that on returning home, they found out that not only had someone sat on their chairs and broken the smallest one— the intruder had ventured into their kitchen. Here in this shot of the bear family's kitchen, you can see their regular saucers of milk, completely disturbed by the dairy-drinking criminal."

Mother bear: "We'd set our saucers out, completely full of milk, to meal prep for our dinner. When I saw that fool had completely drained my son's milk saucer, that's when everything really began to set in."

"Scrapefoot" by Joseph Jacobs.
Source: Wikimedia.

Lucy: "And that's where things got "even scarier," mother bear tells me."

Mother bear: "When we followed the dripping milk trail from the kitchen, it led us upstairs to the bedroom, where we found the culprit." 


Father bear: "That dastardly oaf was sleeping in our son's bed, all curled up under the blankets. You'd best believe I threw that criminal right out of our upstairs window. I heard him thump on the ground below, and saw him run away a minute later."

Mother bear: "At that point we were so distressed we didn't even bother to chase him down. Our son was wailing about his bed, milk, and chair."

Lucy: "Now, police tell me they have apprehended a suspect in the crime, a fox called Scrapefoot. It appears the fox, who has a clean criminal record, told police he was "just curious" about what the bears' castle was like, and realized once he got inside just how tired and hungry he was. He tells police he "didn't mean to hurt anybody," and will be apologizing to the bear family. The bears tell me they will be pressing charges against Scrapefoot for destruction of their property, and on behalf of the emotional distress of their young son."

Mother bear: "It's just a lot to process. I thought we were the alpha animals in this neighborhood, and to know we could be threatened like this... I don't know if I can feel safe again."

Reporter: "For Forest News, I'm Lucy Lion."

Author's note: This story, originally titled "Scrapefoot," is really just the tale of Goldilocks with a fox named Scrapefoot as the protagonist instead of Goldilocks. Scrapefoot is curious one day about what's inside the three bears' castle, and enters when they go out for the day. He tests their chairs (and breaks the smallest one), drinks from their milk saucers (and drains the smallest one), and sleeps in their beds. The bears return home while Scrapefoot is sleeping, notice the destruction around their home, wake him up, and throw him out of their upstairs window. I wanted to make this story a bit more engaging, since most people have known some form of this story forever, so I changed it to reflect a broadcast news segment. Most of the original story details are the same (I have omitted the part where the bears go through each room yelling "Who's been sitting in my chair?!" and so on), but the actual format is changed.

Bibliography: More English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1894).