Review of “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” by J.K. Rowling
After finishing the Harry Potter
series, I decided to dive headfirst into the rest of the wizarding
world by reading other stories such as “The Tales of Beedle the
Bard”. The book is first mentioned in Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows. Ron refers to it as a children's book filled
with the magical world's version of fairy tales. “The Tales of
Beedle the Bard” is a collection of five short stories recounted by
Beedle the Bard. In between each story is an anecdote by Albus
Dumbledore and an explanation of magical terms that people might not
know.
The first story is “The
Wizard and the Hopping Pot”, a tale about a young man whose
father passes away and leaves him a magical pot. The father and son
are wizards, and the father used to help the non-magical townsfolk
with their problems. The son disapproved, and after the father
passed, the villagers came to the son seeking help, and he refused
them. Whenever he refused a person, the pot took on the attributes of
the people's problems or illnesses. The pot hopped and hobbled and
cried and coughed night after night until it drove the son crazy. He
decides to solve the people's problems with his wand, and the pot
reverts back to pot; a slipped on its foot to prevent the clanking
sound.
This story very much feels like it is an old fairy tale with a moral lesson of not being selfish. I enjoyed this story, but it feels a bit too short and rushed. I would like more time with the son being tormented by the hopping pot and learning why it's essential to help people in need. The story addresses the issue of certain wizards hating non-magical people or muggles. I wish the son would realize that muggles are no better or worse than he is, rather than helping them avoid the annoying pot. Because this is a fairy tale, magic replaces the need to explain the moral lesson.
The following story is “The Fountain of Fair Fortune”, which is my favorite of the five tales. This is about three witches, Asha, Altheda, and Amata, seeking the fountain of fortune to resolve each of their issues. Asha has an incurable disease, Altheda was robbed and lost her wealth, and Amata is heartbroken after losing her lover. Once a year, the fountain can heal one person. Accompanying them on their journey is a muggle knight, Sir Luckless. The man helps them overcome some of the obstacles they encounter on their way to the fountain. To cross a stream, one of the witches solves the riddle and gives away her tears. Once they reach the fountain, Asha is in so much pain that she cannot move, so Altheda gathers some herbs from the magic garden and creates a potion that heals Asha from her disease. By accidentally creating a cure, Altheda believes she can sell it and recover her fortunes. So, the two witches off the fountain to Amata, but she is no longer heartbroken after the river washed away her tears. She realizes her ex-lover was a terrible man. So, the three witches offer Sir Luckless to the fountain as a reward for his help. He bathes in the water of the fountain and then asks Amata to marry him. Believing him to be worthy, she agrees with none of them, knowing that the fountain actually contains no healing powers.
I love this story for a few reasons. I love the journey and obstacles the witches have to overcome to reach the fountain. They make their way through the woods, up a hill, and over a river, all classic fairy tale settings. This story is a great fairy tale that has the witches seeking something to fix their problems, only to have their problems fixed along the way. The journey of seeking the fountain itself is the cure that the witches need. The ending of the story depicts the marriage between a witch and a muggle. Like the first story, an issue that is divisive among the magical world with pure-blood lovers hating the mix of muggles with wizards. The one thing I find odd is that the second witch solves the first witch's health problem fairly easily. Which makes sense because these are WITCHES; it's not a surprise they find a magical cure. I suppose they needed the special herbs from the fountain's garden, but the story makes it sound like Altheda only now thinks to try to make a potion cure.
The third story is “The Warlock's Hairy Heart”, probably my least favorite of the five stories. It is also the darkest of the stories dealing with dark magic. A warlock removes his heart because he thinks that love is for fools and refuses to let his heart control him. After his parents die and he inherits the castle and riches. Having never wed, his servants feel sorry for him that no one will ever love him. Overhearing this, the warlock decides to find himself a wife. He sets his eyes on a beautiful woman visiting the town, even though he feels nothing for her. He decides to have a feast and invites the woman. He tries to charm her, but she tells him she can't be with him because he has no heart. The warlock takes the woman down to the dungeon and opens a coffin that contains his heart. Deprived of life for years, the heart has shrunken and turned hairy. The ghastly sight frightens the woman, and she tells the warlock to fix it. He puts the heart back into his chest, but the heart is savage and unruly. The townspeople come down to the dungeon and find the warlock has killed the woman and is holding her heart in his hand. He tries to remove his heart again, but it refuses, so he cuts it out and dies holding a heart in each hand.
This sounds
like a story that would have been written by Edgar Allan Poe. It is
very much a dark fantasy tale in the spirit of Poe. I'm not so sure
what the exact moral lesson is here. The story points out that the
warlock does not want his heart to control his actions, which causes
him to become a monster. We don't get enough of the woman to provide
a counter to the warlock. He doesn't really learn the value of love
and why a person's heart is important. It's a great grim tale but
lacks the moral lesson I want from a love story.
The fourth
story is “Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump”. This is
another interesting story in the collection. A fake wizard pretends
to teach the king magic. The castle's wash maid, Babbitty, watches
the impostor and cackles a loud, causing the king humiliation. So,
the king demands the fake wizard allow him to create real magic. The
impostor sorcerer confronts Babbitty and discovers that she is a
witch. He convinces her to do magic for the king, and when the king
tries to bring a dog back to life and babbitty cannot, the king turns
on the sorcerer. The fake accuses Babbitty, and the king's
witch-hunting dogs follow her to a tree. The fake claims that
Babbitty has turned into the tree, and the king cuts it down. The
stump presumes to cackle, and Babbitty forces the sorcerer to admit
he is a fake. She curses the castle, and in return, the king
apologizes and proclaims that witches will no longer be hunted. After
the king and his people leave, a rabbit hops out from behind the
tree, and it is revealed to be Babbitty in disguise.
The
commentary to this story is noteworthy for being one of the first
stories about a witch or wizard turning into an animal. The first
mention of animagi is in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,
revealing Sirius Black to be an animagus, turning into a black dog.
I'm not fully sure what the moral lesson of this story is. It could
be that the impostor should have never lied or that it is wrong to
persecute witches. It's not clear what happened to Babbitty after
that incident. Does she stay as a rabbit or have to move to another
town? Or can she just return to her old life, now that the king has
agreed to not hunt witches? It also does not address the fact that
the king wanted to learn magic, despite being a muggle, but then was
quick to hunt Babbitty for being a witch. Probably a bit of sexist
double standards here.
The last story is “The Tale of the
Three Brothers”, which was already told in Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows. This is maybe my second favorite of the five
stories, maybe because of the actual effect on Harry's story. Three
brothers reach a river and use magic to cross it. This calls forth
death because the river usually drowns people. Death gives each
brother a wish. The first brother asks for the most powerful wand
ever, the second brother asks for a way to resurrect the dead, and
the third brother asks for a way to hide from death. The first
brother uses the wand to battle a foe, but his boastful nature causes
him to be killed in his sleep and the wand taken from him. The second
brother uses the resurrection stone to bring back his dead lover, but
she is cold and does not truly live. This tortures the brother, and
so he takes his own life to be with her. The last brother uses the
cloak of invisibility to evade death until he is an old man. He gives
the cloak to his son and greets death like an old friend. The three
objects form the deathly hallows.
This is a great story
because of the deathly hallows and because it is a cautionary tale.
The first two brothers seek a power they cannot control, and the
first brother's arrogance gets him killed. The third brother does not
seek power but is clever enough to not trust death. Instead of
controlling death, the third brother merely avoids it until he is
ready to die. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,
Dumbledore tells Harry that the true master of death is not someone
who seeks to control death but someone who is not afraid to die.
Because Lord Voldermort was afraid to die, he could not truly master
the deathly hallows. What makes this story great is that it feels
like a proper fairy tale. The three brothers are reminiscent of the
three little pigs or Goldilocks and the three bears. Three is a
common theme in classic fairy tales. The theme of death is also very
much a part of fairy tales, and there is a clear moral lesson being
told.
If I were to rank these stories, it would be “The
Fountain of Fair Fortune”, “The Tale of the Three Brothers”,
“The Wizard and the Hopping Pot”, “Babbitty Rabbitty, and Her
Cackling Stump”, and “The Warlock's Hairy Heart”. If you love
fairy tales and want to explore more of the wizarding world, then you
should read “The Tales of Beedle the Bard”. The audiobook version
is a well-done production. Some actors from the movies narrate the
stories, and Jude Law reads Dumbledore's commentary. The audio
version always uses a lot of sound effects to help immerse the
listener into the world of magic. After reading this book, I am
looking forward to continuing to dive into the wizarding world by
reading “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” next.
If you enjoyed reading this review, please leave your feedback or comments. Thank you, and be sure to follow the blog on social media for all the new updates as I continue to review the Harry Potter series.
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