The Story of the Three Bears
A very similar version of the story predates Southey's published one of 1837. In 1831, a lady named Eleanor Mure wrote the story in rhyming verse for her nephew's fourth birthday. In both Southey's and Mure's versions, the character who enters the bears' house is an ugly old woman. The two versions differ only in some small details: Southey's bears have porridge, for example, while Mure's bears have milk.