One year the Three Bears decided to make pickles. They didn't like pickles themselves, but whenever Goldilocks and her family had picnics in the forest they brought pickles.

"We'd better make pickles this year," said the Middle-sized Bear, "so if Goldilocks should come to see Sonny Bear we could offer her something she likes, to eat with her porridge."

Next day Big Bear took a huge basket and went for wild cucumbers. When he brought them home Middle-sized Bear, with Baby Bear's help, began making pickles. They washed the cucumbers in the big dishpan. Then Middle-sized Bear gave Sonny Bear a big spoon and a bag of coarse salt.

"Put the salt on the pickles," said Mother Bear.

For a few minutes Baby Bear did as he was told, and shoveled salt on the pickles. He was having a good time playing with the salt, when suddenly Baby Bear thought the salt looked so much like sugar that maybe it was sugar. By and by Baby Bear was so sure the salt was sugar that he opened his mouth wide and put in a big spoonful. Then how he roared and cried!

Father Bear came running in, and Mother Bear scooped salt out of Baby Bear's big mouth until she wondered how one spoon could have held so much. When she couldn't see any more salt, she washed Baby Bear's mouth with cold water from the spring.

After awhile Mother Bear put a large box of mustard on the kitchen table, and left it there while she went into the pantry to read a recipe for making mustard pickles.

Baby Bear wondered what was in that yellow box. Then he climbed in the middle-sized Mother Bear's middle-sized chair and reached for it. He worked and worked and worked until finally off came the cover of the box, and the mustard flew into Baby Bear's eyes. That mustard was so strong and hot it burned like fire!

Father Bear came running and Mother Bear came running! The mustard got in their eyes, too, and soon the Three Bears were dancing up and down on the kitchen floor, crying out, "Mustard! Mustard! Mustard!"

Then Father Bear had an accident. He knocked the pickles off the broad window sill into the sand.

"Never mind," said Mother Bear, as she carried Baby Bear to the door for fresh air; "the pickles wouldn't have been good anyway, for the book I've been reading says pickles must be made of garden cucumbers!"

It was a long time before wee Baby Bear stopped crying. Perhaps he might have cried until bedtime if a bumblebee hadn't brought him a bit of honey.

After that the Three Bears went to walk.

"Anyway," said the Middle-sized Bear, as she tied Baby Bear's bonnet strings, "anyway, there isn't anything so good as porridge! If Goldilocks can't eat porridge, if she ever comes visiting Baby Bear, she will have to go hungry! We shall certainly never make any more pickles!"

And they never did.