"The Story of the Three Bears" (often known today as "Goldilocks and the Three Bears") is a children's story first recorded in narrative form by English author and poet Robert Southey and first published in a volume of his writings in 1837. The same year, writer George Nicol published a version in rhyme based upon Southey's prose tale, with Southey approving the attempt to bring the story more exposure. Both versions tell of three bears and an old woman who trespasses upon their property.

The story of the three bears was in circulation before the publication of Southey's version. In 1831, for example, Eleanor Mure fashioned a handmade booklet about the three bears for her nephew's birthday, and, in 1894, "Scrapefoot", a tale with a fox as antagonist, was uncovered by the folklorist Joseph Jacobs. "Scrapefoot" bears striking similarities to Southey's tale, and may have predated it in the oral tradition. Southey possibly heard the tale, and confused its "vixen" with a synonym for a crafty old woman.

The tale experienced two significant changes during its early publication history. Southey's elderly antagonist morphed into a pretty little girl called Goldilocks, and his three male bears became Father, Mother, and Baby Bear. What was originally a fearsome oral tale became a cozy family story with only a hint of menace. The story has seen various interpretations and has been adapted to board game format, film, opera, and other media. "The Story of the Three Bears" is one of the most popular fairy tales in the English language.

In 1890, the folklorist Joseph Jacobs expressed a general belief about the tale when he stated, "[This] is the only example I know of where a tale that can be definitely traced to a specific author has become a folk-tale." He modified his opinion in 1894 when apprised of a similar tale told to the illustrator John Batten. Batten purportedly heard it from a 'Mrs. H.' who had heard it from her mother more than forty years earlier. In Mrs. H's tale, the three bears live in a castle in the woods and are visited by a fox called Scrapefoot who drinks their milk, sits in their chairs, and rests in their beds. The suggestion was then put forward that Southey had heard the fox tale and had mistaken the word 'vixen' (female fox) for that of a common appellation used to describe a harridan. As a result of the misunderstanding, Southey cast the antagonist in his tale as an unpleasant old woman rather than a fox. "Scrapefoot" then belongs to the medieval beast epic, in particular the Fox and Bear tales such as "Reynard the Fox".