False alarm on the reef?

The article below was written by Viv Forbes who is a regular contributor to pickeringpost.com where I find some very interesting ideas and information.  As this article as already been copied and shared on facebook, and I'd like to keep it as a reminder of some of the many false alarms we hear, I am sharing it on my blog. We hear so many false alarms as fashions ebb and flow - from eggs are bad for you to the coming of a new ice age - it's hard to keep track of it all.

False Alarm?       -------------

Corals – the Great Survivors by Viv Forbes

For at least fifty years, agitated academics have been predicting the end of the Great Barrier Reef. Now international “experts” are also sprouting coral calamity. But despite the alarms, the reef is still there.

An early scare focused on the Crown of Thorns Starfish which was going through one of its sporadic population booms. Such plagues come and go with the natural cycles of growth and decay. But the reef survived.

Then experts got scared in case someone drilled for oil on the Reef – so we had a Royal Commission and banned all that. However marine life seems to flourish around all artificial reefs such as jetties, shipwrecks and drilling platforms. Rigs have to be regularly cleaned of marine growth. 

Natural hydrocarbons have been part of the wild environment for longer than corals, which may explain why corals are remarkably tolerant of hydrocarbons. Despite natural oil and gas seeps, man-made spills, and hundreds of offshore drilling rigs, corals still thrive. 

After the worst oil spill ever during the First Gulf War there was no clean-up attempt apart from oil skimming because the 700 oil-well fires had priority. Fresh crude oil floats and is a danger to sea birds, but it soon reacts with air and salt water to become solid tar balls which sink to the sea floor. An inspection of the sea bed later to catalogue “the disaster” found teeming wildlife, with sea-grass, snails and fish thriving after the fertilising effect of the oxidising oil.

Corals are even thriving at the exact spot in the Montebello Islands where two atomic devices were tested by the British in 1952.

Another scare concerned coastal development and agricultural run-off. Again destruction of the Great Barrier Reef was forecast. Academics were summoned and a huge national park was established for their playground. Run-off still occurs, rivers still flood, but the reef is still there.

Lately global warming scares such as coral bleaching and ocean acidity have mesmerised the media. These are supposedly caused by wicked humans burning hydrocarbons and using energy by doing things. So we introduced a carbon tax, despite the fact that no unusual warming or acidity can be measured. And the reef is still there.

Now we are told that port dredging near Bowen is going to destroy the Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is 2,400 km long – stirring some mud at one small spot 40 km from the reef is unlikely to be noticed by the coral. Moreover, the stuff being dredged is comprised of natural material eroded from the land and put there over millennia by coastal rivers. Compared with the silt load discharged by rivers like the mighty Burdekin in a normal wet season, or stirred up by cyclonic surges, dredging is a non-event. The Reef has been coping with sediments like that for thousands of years.

All plants and animals need minerals for optimum health. Marine life gets its minerals from erosion of rocks on the land. Coastal rivers (and dredging of river silt) stir up the minerals which supply the off-shore environment. Like all nutrients, some is necessary, too much brings harm. 

Corals are among the greatest survivors on Earth and have been here for about 500 million years. Many of the types of corals found on reefs today were present in similar forms on reefs 50 million years ago.

Since corals first appeared there have been five mass extinctions when over 50% of all life forms on land and in the seas died. These episodes usually included massive volcanic events that filled air and sea with debris, lava, heat and acid fumes. And still corals survived.

Then there were asteroid impacts that created huge craters that dwarf man’s puny ports. Debris, rock, mud and slush were flung in all directions – far more and further than man’s dredging will ever do. Corals even survived this.

Corals also survived several deadly ice ages when sea levels fell so low that many coral reefs left their skeletons stranded as limestone hills on dry land. But always some colonisers followed the retreating seas and survived.

Then came the hot climate eras when the great ice sheets melted and sea levels rose dramatically. Some coral reefs drowned, but others just built on top of the old drowned corals forming the beautiful coral atolls we see today. Corals flourish in gently rising seas such as we have today – it gives them room to refresh and grow vertically.

And if the water gets too warm, coral larvae just drift into cooler waters closer to the poles. The Great Barrier Reef would move slowly south.

Corals have outlasted the dinosaurs, the mammoths and the sabre-toothed tiger. Captain Cook’s ship was almost disembowelled by the sturdy corals of the Great Barrier Reef in 1770. If Cook came back today, he would be unable to detect any changes in the Reef.

We should of course minimise soil erosion, human pollution of offshore waters and direct damage or interference with the Reef. However, green extremists would like to sacrifice all of Queensland’s coastal industry on the coral altar - exploration, mining, farming, land development, tourism, forestry, fishing, and shipping. They need reminding it is only rich societies who can afford to care for their environment.

No matter what the future holds, corals are more likely than humans to survive the next major extinction.

In the event of yet another Ice Age we must hope that reef alarmists have not denied us the things we will need to survive - food, energy, chemicals, shelter, concrete and steel generated by carbon fuels.

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How did you MAKE that?

So many blogs I read are on arts and crafts and I enjoy looking at all the lovely things being made - so I thought it's probably time to show my work. It will have to be something a little bit novel as my crafting skills are just average. This latest project surprised me when it came out as well as it did.

I make laundry bags for Aussie Hero Quilts and Laundry Bags, to send to Aussie personnel deployed overseas.  I enjoy it because I know the bags will help people keep track of their laundry and that saves time often spent trying to find a clean uniform.  Also I can also be as creative as I like.  More information is available on the AHQ blog - http://aussieheroquilts.blogspot.com.au/

Laundry bags - cotton drill, and printed duck with kangaroos

Probably most of the AHQers make quilts - I've not done a large project like that for years, and quilts are mostly repetitive - that's not a put down, I love quilts, I love traditional patterns and modern styles. I love the fact that so much work goes into them. I especially love scrap quilts and crazy quilting, but - for me, once the design is decided the most interesting part is over.  Until it's completed, that is - holding up a quilt you have made yourself, or that has been made for you, is a very special feeling.

We had a dinner in Brisbane for the Qld AHQers and along with speeches, door prizes and a pretty good raffle, there was a laundry bag competition.  The theme was open, but the Aussie flavour seemed to be the most popular. I wanted to enter just to be in it and thought maybe I could have fun and be really creative.

I had a picture in my head of a photo bombing giraffe I'd seen on line and a painting by my little grandniece, Izzy. I thought of making a wall hanging or cushion from that image - but with an Aussie animal. Earlier in the year I'd used left over strips of fabric for the desert landscape above, with Ayres Rock and a kangaroo -  I could do that again.

Giraffe by Izzy

My plan was to draw onto calico with fabric pens, fuse that to the bag and see if I could draw more into it with the sewing machine - not embroidering, I'll leave that to the very clever ladies with wonderful computer embroidery machines -  just drawing with sewing thread using the common straight and zigzag stitches.

Now to the design.  Australia = big blue sky, bright sunshine, orange earth, lots of green, and blue ocean. Recently I'd made a block for a group quilt with these colours - it was included in the quilt they raffled at the dinner.

Aussie theme patchwork block

Choosing animals. I like kangaroos but they are not easy to draw - they can turn into huge mice or rabbits if you aren't careful. I wanted something orange to contrast with the blue I'd chosen as a background so I tried a kangaroo.

Years ago I made papier mache animals as stage props. They were the size of small children and were carried across the stage by the small children.  One was an emu. He'd be perfect.

Drawing animals is not easy for me and I always need to research. Once upon a time I'd be searching through books and magazines, then photocopying the pictures, but now we can google anything. I cfound animals in the positions I wanted, copied them. turned them black and white, erased the details and outlined the shape - just love PhotoShop.   I worked out the size I wanted then cut the pictures up in the program, as my printer only takes A4.  When printed I stuck the bits together, cut out the shape and used it as a guide to get the outline and proportions, drawing around it with a 3B pencil. The choice of picture is important because any foreshortening does not translate to a flat image.

Once the outline was on the fabric I filldc in the details with ink, looking back at the original photo on the computer screen. The pose or expression can be changed at this stage.  Colour and shading was done with fabric ink pens I bought on line.  When I felt it was ready I cut out the calico animal. The kangaroo looked uncomfortable - but they look that way in photos too. I had high hopes for the emu.

The background had to be sky blue but I didn't have the right colour. I like to use a medium weight cotton drill or printed duck for the laundry bags because it's sturdy and nice to sew and comes in lots of colours.  But my usual ebay sellers couldn't help me with sky blue drill or similar so I was forced to actually go to a shop. I'm not an expert on fabric but love to handle it and finally found some cotton chino in the right colour. I'd never seen Chino before.  It was a bit lighter in weight than the fabric I usually use, and felt a lot softer, but looked almost the same.... hmmm.

The blue alone lacked richness so adding a strip of bright yellow desert, in cotton drill, to the bottom made a big difference. Using a fabric fix I ironed/glued the animals to the chino.  Ugh. Chino is not the same as drill.  It stretched out of shape and twisted. Also it was very humid that day and the fixative came away from the backing and didn't iron on properly. That turned out to be a good thing as I was able to pull the calico off and stretch the chino in the other direction - almost flat.  But, it meant the glue didn't take hold at the edge ... so all the edges would have to be covered by stitching. These little accidents along the way have a part in defining the finished piece, and I love that. Art often wanders in a different direction to the pattern.

Heat fusing the sketches on calico to the backing and stitching on Kangaroo

Stitching, stitching, stitching. I changed top thread colours but kept a neutral in the bobbin. The back of the piece was almost as interesting as the front. Some areas were straight stitched first, outlining the eyes and some long feathers, but most were zig zagged in different widths, making sure feathers or fur stitches covered all the raw edges.  I worked on the stitching for 4 or 5 days - in spurts. I loved it.  Maybe it wasn't exactly like drawing with thread, a little more like painting at times, I was learning what my machine would do in the way of free stitching and it was exciting to see the animals develop under the sewing machine.  I love the eyes on both of them and Emu's little grin is his own. Kangaroo looked a bit nervous so I added a stalking emu and then Emu needed a kangaroo to chase him.

Ironing the back of the fabric to smooth out puckering  - stitching feathers onto Emu

There are no instructions to give because the stitching is like drawing, you go with what feels right at the time. I did spend time unpicking tiny stitches when the Chino stretched our of shape, several times. And no, I didn't win the competition - I didn't really expect to. I find the sort of things I make never get the popularity vote, I think my designs have to grow on people - and, the judges were male soldiers. They are not into fabric art, they want something to give them a laugh, to tell jokes about and that's what they chose.  Congratulations to the winners, who understood the nature of their recipients.

At this stage the bag was one flat piece. I decided on where to fold it, ironed, stitched the side seam (three rows of stitching), ironed, added the channel for a drawstring, lined the bag with flannel shirt type checks and ironed again. While sewing the bottom seam I realised the bottom of the Emu and Kangaroo would meet in an ugly, thick lump. All I could do was sew in another folded strip of fabric to at least make colour break. The final job was to thread the drawstring through. I use cotton sash cord because it feels so nice.

OOppppsssss I had cut out a yellow sun which was to be over-stitched in white, but I  forgot to attach it before sewing on the drawstring channel. By that time I'd done so much sewing and unpicking ... I just couldn't do anymore. The sun was left off.

One flat piece - side seam stitched and ooopps, the sun wasn't included - bottom seam done with inset strip
- Kangaroo on a full laundry bag.

I posted the bag away and found I missed Emu's face for days, almost like losing a pet. When I saw it in the display a week later he seemed to have settled down and was sitting fairly flat.  I wonder who will open a parcel one day, pleased to get a new laundry bag, and find my Emu looking back at them. I'd love to see that.

The finished bag - Kangaroo's side with the lining hanging out, Emu in all his glory
and demonstrating how he'll look on a full laundry bag. He might be a little bit scary.

What next?

It's impossible to prepare for everything, even though we try.  This 2013/14 summer began with threats of bush fires, damaging storms and cyclones - not all at once but it seemed like it  And a year ago we couldn't have guessed that a brand new baby would now be part of our extended family. Two years ago we didn't think we'd still have a dog. Disaster or delight, tremendous or trivial -  there are no guarantees. And when we do survive and find that new kind of normal something else will come along ... what next?  We just can't imagine.

Our family and friends know our dog and how much a part of our lives he is.  Now coming close to his 13 birthday (March 2014) we are aware he won't live forever and we've tried to prepare for that while avoiding the toe tapping wait mode. As a medium size male dog his life expectancy is about 10.  Being an active male Staffie could lower that - but, he is de-sexed, on a good diet, exercised daily, lives inside the house and sleeps on a soft surface - so his life expectancy is 12+. 

For the first five years we had very few problems, apart from noticing we had a hyperactive dog who madly chased anything that moved. And we soon found we had to check him daily for ticks and remove those, every day. Short haired dogs don't need brushing and a squirt from the hose can extend bathing for weeks.

There was a broken tooth, caused by chewing big logs and a split claw, possibly caused by rolling big logs in the paddock and both of these had to be removed under anaesthetic. A wound received when he was attacked by wild dogs required the vet's attention. Then he began growing warty things and a few mystery lumps on his legs. These were cut off and a grass seed embedded in his bottom lip led to the removal of the lip, so now he looks up at you and shows his bottom teeth.

Along the way he suffered pancreatitis which required not one, but two trips to the all-night vet hospital, in heavy rain, followed by a low fat diet forever. When a lump that had been growing on his nose was diagnosed as a mast cell tumour the vet felt we would only have him for a few more months - that was in Dec 2009. We held our breath and prepared. Half his nose was taken off in July 2010 and he went onto a homeopathic remedy. He recovered well, though he sneezes more than other dogs.  However arthritis was developing in his hips - we hoped it would slow him down. That was enough, and we looked for a smooth run ahead.

In March 2011 his right back leg went limp and we were told the knee had to be rebuilt. When you have a dog with a huge personality, who communicates well, is usually obedient and never chews your shoes how can't say 'no'.  Three months convalescence was hard on all of us and then in December the other knee went and we went through it all again. What next?

Time passes and we forget. I changed his diet to almost no commercial food and we added sweet potato, pumpkin, oats and psyllium husk powder to his home cooked meat. We had a healthy, happy dog.

We try to keep Rufous close to us, always on a rope or lead but there are still times when he can't resist the call of the wild by running after a kangaroo or dashing off to welcome a visitor and changing direction to chase a kookaburra - and he comes home limping. Our hearts sink until he's had a good rest and recovers. It's sad to hold back a dog who loves to run. His high need for activity has to be satisfied by several walks a day and a short run on a long rope.  He loves being outside so playing with ants under the clothes line or watching RJ weed the crop is good for him.

Early one Friday morning, hubby RJ was tending the new ginger on the far side of the farm, near a neighbour's house. The neighbour was upset about the loss of several chickens overnight and they were discussing the possibility of foxes or wild dogs, with Rufous sitting quietly nearby. As usual the rope on his collar was attached to a long stick which he drags along when walking as a reminder to him, and which can be tucked under something heavy if he has to stay put.

Something moved in the bush. Without warning Rufous was off - rope flying behind, stick bouncing along the ground until it caught between two trees, held for a split second, the weathered rope broke ......  dog gone.

I knew nothing of this, being asleep in bed at home. The phone rang about 8am and I didn't get to it in time. A message on the answering machine identified Lisa who said she had found a 'little' Staffie and could I phone her back.  What?

I phoned RJ and asked, "Where is Rufous?"

His uninformative reply was, "I don't know".

"Um .... isn't he with you?"

"No".

That was no help. I phoned Lisa and asked her to describe the dog.

"He has a sore nose," she said.  "The phone number was scratched on his registration tag."

Oh yes, I remember - I'd done that months ago when two adventuring Staffies had turned up at our house and we contacted the owners through the phone number on one of the collars.

Lisa and I swapped addresses - she was actually in our street but right at the top of the very steep hill and on the opposite side of a deep gully. To get there Rufous would have run uphill through dense bushland. There are deep gorges, a creek and several springs in there as well as thorns and spiky plants and possible wild dogs, foxes, snakes and kangaroos. She offered to drive him home as she was about to take her girls to school.  I couldn't suggest walking up to their driveway because I can't walk Rufous home on the lead without being molested by all the other dogs in our street.  I waited by our letter box with his lead and soon saw a little red car approaching, very slowly. Behind the L plates was a teenage driver in school uniform. In the back seat, beside another girl in school uniform, sat my darling boy, looking as if he was always chauffeured by pretty girls.

Lisa jumped from the front passenger seat and helped Rufous climb out of the car, still trailing a wet broken rope. I snapped his lead on quickly. He didn't look at me but turned away to sniff grass along the roadside.

"He's a lovely boy," Lisa said. "He had a good play with our boy before we knew he was there. We've had Staffies in the past and we know a good one when we see it. Now we have a Neo Mastiff".

I was numb, still thinking of what might have happened if I'd not scratched the phone number onto his tag.  Mastiffs are big dogs, aren't they?  We waved goodbye. At home Rufous had a huge drink of water. I wiped him down and he was soon asleep. RJ came in feeling guilty. I just hoped Ruffies new knees would be okay. He limped a bit, but at the hip, not the knee. Phew.

I googled.  'Neapolitan Mastiffs are one of the largest dog breeds with males weighing up to 80kg and measuring 65-75cm (26-30"). They are heavy boned and thickset with a big broad head.  They salivate heavily particularly when they are hot or after eating and drinking. If they want to come inside the house you'll have to wipe their mouths and faces with a towel.'  That's a big sloppy dog.

Monday morning at 8.30 I was asleep (I stay up late). RJ stuck his head around door and said, "I've just phoned the vet and they say to bring Rufous up straight away".

"What? Why?"

"He's peeing blood".

"What?"

"He'll be okay, go back to sleep".

As if.  "Ask them to cut his nails while he's there".

There were two phone conversations during the day and then they said we could collect him at 4.30.  He had been sedated to have his bladder x-rayed and blood samples taken (and nails trimmed). Urine had been collected and they walked him around until they got a poo sample. He was howling with boredom when we arrived.

The x-ray showed an odd shape in his bladder. Tumour?  The samples were sent away for testing and the x-ray went to a specialist for diagnosis.  We came home with 10 days' supply of antibiotics and a receipt for a lot of money.  A few days later the vet phoned to say Rufous had an E-coli infection in the bladder and needed another 30 days on antibiotics.  What about the bladder shadow?  No one knows what that is.  Oh.

I googled.  'E-coli is the most common bacterium isolated in canine urinary tract infections. Dogs may have an urinary tract infection at any age but in male dogs it is generally classified as complicated. E-coli can invade the host's immune system. One possible source of E-coli is drinking water contaminated by faeces.'

The antibiotics were big white tablets, just right to feed to a dog ... NOT.  They have grooves in them so they break into four small pieces ... if you have huge muscles in your fingers.  Give with food - that should be possible if they are not too bitter.  I licked one - errrk.

The dose was three half tablets twice a day. I experimented with cooked oats, rolling little balls, pushing the half tab inside and then dipping into melted coconut oil (he loves it) or peanut butter (loves that too) and convince him it was a treat. He often swallows treats whole if there is another one waiting - but he can also swish it around his mouth, swallow the good bits and spit out the tablet.

That was good for the morning tabs. In the afternoon I tried to deprive him of snacks and fed him a little bit late so he was hungry enough to eat up the loaded oat balls hidden in his cooked meat and sweet potato. They all went down, mostly. If food was left in the bowl I temped him with a smear of peanut butter - but even with good fats I have to be careful because of his history with pancreatitis.

I was quite good at serving up his meds after 40 days. The follow up urine test showed no blood or infection.

It's not easy keeping Rufous tethered all the time, but it's much safer at his age. He likes to be outside and can still get up to mischief, eating possum poo when we aren't looking, getting bitten by ants when he tries to play with them, lunging at toads, biting the heads off lizards, trashing cardboard cartons. He plays hide and seek games with me and chasing with RJ.  He has a good life but he's not pampered - all dogs sit on the couch to watch TV, don't they?

Many other dogs are not looked after as well. There are dogs around here that run wild all day, sleep outside on hard ground, get chilled in wet weather, eat crap and tinned food and don't even have their ticks removed.  If Rufous picked up that E-coli infection during his two hour escapade up the hill why don't all these other dogs get it too?  And that is the mystery parents of young children wonder about. 

You just never know what will happen next so look after your pets and your children and all the other people you care for, treasure them and let them be a blessing - there are no guarantees for safety or long life.

ONCE UPON A TIME

 'Upon a day' or 'Once upon a time' has long been a traditional opening for myths, fables and folklore.  For most of us the phrase would belong to our earliest memories of listening to stories. I loved story time and looking at my books. I was delighted when my mother acted out parts of the story as she read and used squeaky voices.  But, those fairy tales they read to us when we were very young were often nicely revised versions of folk tales - originally almost horror stories designed to entertain with fright or teach lessons. 

Fairy Tales, originally called Little Tales, usually involved fantasy with magical creatures, curses, goblins, witches spells and the like. They often began with 'once upon a time', referring to a supposed age when magic was still in use. One old German opening was 'In the old times when wishing was still effective'.

Folk tales and legends included actual events and were often stories for adults while moral tales, including beast fables (animal characters) were told to adults and children.  Many stories appeared in a variety of languages, with changes to suit the local culture.

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm travelled Germany writing down the folk tales told to them by a variety of people. They published a book titled 'Children's and Household Tales', volume one in 1812 and volume 2 in 1815 with a total of 83 stories.

The Brothers Grimm continued to add to the collection  and now we can read 200 stories under their name.  Stories without proven German origins were rejected and the brothers rewrote many tales to make them more acceptable to families. We now refer to their collection as Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Many of those tales have been made over again by the Walt Disney machine and what once were stories of horror, mutilation, curses and despair are now mostly plastic sugar and spice.

Hans Christian Anderson

The brothers Grimm inspired others to collect tales in their own language and writers such as Hans Christian Anderson continued writing tales that often drew on fables.  First published in 1822, his stories have been translated into over 125 languages, including The Emperor's New Clothes, The Princess and the Pea, Thumbelina and one I remember very well, The Tinderbox, live on today.

Whether they are fables or folk tales we all love the stories and new tales are being written for future generations. One of my favourites, by Oscar Wilde was published in 1888 - 'The Selfish Giant' - a moral tale of self sacrifice.

And from the Grimm collection;

The Pied Piper: (pied being a sort of patchwork of different colours) In the original story the piper rids the town of rats and when the town leaders refuse to pay him he leads the children to, not a wonderful paradise, but the river where they all drown.  That'll learn 'em.

Snow White: The evil queen wants Snow White killed because she is prettier than the queen. The hunter is told to take Snow into the forest and kill her,  cutting out not just her heart, but her liver and lungs too which were to be served for dinner in the palace.  Later when the Prince finds a dead Snow White in the forest, he hoists her body onto his horse and this jostling awakens her - not the Disney kiss.  When exposed in the end as an evil woman, the queen is welded into red hot iron shoes and forced to dance herself to death. ewwwwww

Cinderella: The Cinderella story dates back to 1st century BC in different forms, with different names.  In the version collected by the Grimm brothers the ugly sisters cut off parts of their feet to fit into the glass slipper. Does the Prince not notice the pools of blood? Eventually their eyes are plucked out by pigeons and they spend the rest of their lives as blind beggars, while Cinders enjoys a life of luxury in the castle.

Little Red Riding Hood or Little Red Cap:  This story was so horrible even the brothers Grimm had to nice'n it up.  In the original versions there was no woodsman to rescue Red and sometimes not even a grandmother. We tell this tale to babies when it's really about a young girl being seduced by a wolf and losing her virginity. An old saying from France, referring to a girl losing her virginity, translates as 'she saw the wolf'. In some versions, to illustrate that her life is over, the wolf eats her up.

Sleeping Beauty: A young woman falls into a deep sleep as the result of a prophecy. While unconscious she is raped by the King, gets pregnant, delivers twins and it is her children who finally wake her, not the modern day kiss of a handsome prince.

Hansel and Gretel: This is a scary story even today but in an early French version, called The Lost Children, the wicked witch was actually the devil.  The devils wife attempts to help the children but they are forced to trick her and then they slit her throat to aid their escape.

The Frog Prince: In the Grimm collection there is no magical kiss. The frog makes a bargain with the Princess to take him home to the palace to live. He gets closer and closer to her until he is in her bed but she throws him against the wall. Somehow this turns him into a Prince ... and it's a little confusing.

Rapunzel: Letting down her hair too often gets Rapunzel in the family way so the witch cuts off her hair and sends her away.  When the Prince comes back the witch lets down the hair for him. He is afraid of the witch, rejects her advances and she pushes him out the window. He falls into thorn bushes and brambles, which blind him, so he wanders the forest forever.

The Little Mermaid: One of many by Hans Christian Anderson this story originally ended with the mermaid's suicide, after watching her Prince marry a human Princess. Walt Disney added the happy ending we have today.

The Story of the Three Bears:  First published in 1837, this story by English author and poet, Robert Southey, featured a malicious old woman who invades the home of three male bears. As early as 1813 Southey had been telling the story to friends in various versions including a fox or vixen as the female. It is possible that this version had been a traditional oral tale. By 1849 Southey had changed the old woman to an intrusive little girl, who was given various names referring to her hair colour until she became Goldilocks early in the 20th century, and the three male bears evolved into father, mother and baby bear. The oral tale ending with the intruder being torn to pieces by the bears became the soft cuddly family story that is the most popular tale in the English language today. It comes under the banner of fairy tales even though it is more of an animal fable. The underlying theme of harsh punishment for those who trespass in areas they should not has changed to one of accepting others who seem different and making life 'just right', with the bears being the good guys. Some cartoon versions today show Goldi remaining with the bears to live happily ever after.

Usually this happy ending refers to the main characters only and indicates a work of fiction. It also gives us the comfort so necessary today.  While we read 'they lived happily ever after', many years ago it was 'and they all lived happily in the ever after'.