The story of the three bears was in circulation before the publication of Southey's tale. In 1813, for example, Southey was telling the story to friends, and in 1831 Eleanor Mure fashioned a handmade booklet about the three bears and the old woman for her nephew Horace Broke's birthday. Southey and Mure differ in details. Southey's bears have porridge, but Mure's have milk; Southey's old woman has no motive for entering the house, but Mure's old woman is piqued when her courtesy visit is rebuffed; Southey's old woman runs away when discovered, but Mure's old woman is impaled on the steeple of St Paul's Cathedral.