Reviews with content warning for Death - The Tales of Beedle the Bard

To no expected surprise, I finished this collection of short stories within one day. I probably would have finished it last night, but I decided to go to bed.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard (Bard = Poet), is a compilation of fictional fairy tales from the world of Harry Potter. I originally bought this book some time ago because I remembered hearing about Beedle while watching Part one of the Deathly Hallows. I didn't expect it to be as amazing as the Harry Potter books, because after all, these are fairy tales.

It's interesting that she decided to flip a switch for these short stories though. Normally, in fairy tales, any person who possesses magical powers is portrayed as the villain. In some of these stories, the person with the powers is actually one of or the main character. All in All, this was cute. After each tale, 'Albus Dumbledore's' notes on the specific tale were added.

1. The Wizard and the Hopping Pot.
- I found this to be rather cute. It tells the tale of a son who inherits his fathers cauldron, in which his father would heal the local townfolk of any and all ailments. His son, however did not share the same devotion for muggles, so he refused and became haunted by the 'Hopping Pot.' It tells a tale about karma.

2. The Fountain of Fair Fortune.
- A simple tale of a garden closed off by cemetery-like gates and when admittance was allowed, only one person could come forth and immerse themselves in the fountain. As it so happens, 3 witches meet, unburden themselves to each other of their troubles and agree to voyage forth together and eventually come to an agreement on which of them deserved it more. One of the witches becomes caught on a Knight's armor and when one of the witches are chosen, they all go in, along with the Knight. They are met with obstacles along the way and it tells a tale about perseverance.

3. The Warlock's Hairy Heart.
- This would not be a fable that I would read to my child when they were really young. It has a slightly disturbing ending. The Warlock watches his friends succumbing to the emotions that come along with love, and lost love, and deems to cast a dark spell upon himself as to prevent any feelings of love occurring for him. It is a tale about what happens when you deny love.

4. Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump.
- This one was pretty cute. A king decides that he wants to be the supreme and only living sorcerer and calls for the death of anyone believed or found to be a witch. He also puts up signs in hopes to find a wizard who shall teach him how to become a Wizard. A charlatan comes forth and takes advantage of this situation with magic tricks to fool the king into giving him funds. However, one of the maids is a real witch and begins cackling at the futile and ridiculous lessons the charlatan gives the king. It's a tale about the madness that humans succumb to.

5. The Tale of the Three Brothers.
- This is the one in the Deathly Hallows book that was the most mentioned, and I believe, even recited. I cannot say if it is like in the movie version (part one) that Hermione reads this tale aloud, but I believe it's the only of the 5 that are mentioned that is included in a Harry Potter book. A tale of 3 brothers who come to a river and find it hard to cross. So they created a simple bridge to cross, but while attempting to cross, they were stopped halfway by a hooded figure. Death. Death was cunning and pretended to congratulate them and rewarded them each a gift of their choosing. It is a simple tale to inform children in a simple way about Death.

There is brief mention in the commentaries by 'Albus Dumbedore,' of "Grumble the Grumbly Goat," but that tale was not included or it was never written and merely mentioned. The only bad thing about this book was I actually cringed when I read about a woman who felt that these tales of Beedle the Bard were too emotional destructive for children and rewrote most of them, except for the 'The Warlock's Hairy Heart,' because she couldn't find a way to make it cutesy wutesy. For example...terms like Wee Willykins, hoppity pot, dollies and grumpy-wumpykins...gag me with a spoon. I only cringe at this like I would an annoying part of real history. Otherwise, it was amusing to heard 'Albus Dumbeldore's' opinion of her.

Content Warnings