The Tales of Beedle the Bard

> "*All the old kids' stories are supposed to be Beedle's, aren't they? The Fountain of Fair Fortune... The Wizard and the Hopping Pot... Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump...*"
> ― Description of *Tales of Beedle the Bard*[source]
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***The Tales of Beedle the Bard*** was a collection of stories written for young wizards and witches by Beedle the Bard. It was published by Chelf Press and had original illustrations by Luxo Karuzos. They were popular bedtime stories for centuries, with the result being that *The Wizard and the Hopping Pot* and *The Fountain of Fair Fortune* were as familiar to many of the students at Hogwarts, as *Cinderella* and *Sleeping Beauty* are to various Muggle children.

## Overview

Beedle's stories resembled Muggle fairy tales in many respects; for instance, virtue is usually rewarded and wickedness punished. However, there is one very obvious difference. In Muggle fairy tales, magic tends to lie at the root of the hero or heroine's troubles — the wicked witch has poisoned the apple, put the princess into a hundred years' sleep or turned the prince into a hideous beast.

In *The Tales of Beedle the Bard*, on the other hand, we meet heroes and heroines who can perform magic themselves, and yet find it just as hard to solve their problems as the Muggle heroes do. Beedle's stories have helped generations of wizarding parents to explain this painful fact of life to their young children: that magic causes as much trouble as it cures.

Another notable difference between these fables and their Muggle counterparts is that Beedle's witches are much more active in seeking their fortunes than our fairy-tale heroines. Asha, Altheda, Amata and Babbitty Rabbity are all witches who take their fate into their own hands, rather than a prolonged nap or waiting for someone to return a lost shoe. The exception to this rule — the unnamed maiden of 'The Warlock's Hairy Heart' — acts more like a Muggle's idea of a storybook princess, but there is no *happily ever after* at the end of her tale.

Most of these tales (with the exception of *The Warlock's Hairy Heart*) have been rewritten by Beatrix Bloxam and compiled into her book *The Toadstool Tales*; which has since been banned since it had a tendency to induce nausea and vomiting in the children who read, or had to listen to, them.

## The Tale of the Three Brothers

*Main article: The Tale of the Three Brothers*

> "*That is a children's tale, told to amuse rather than to instruct. Those of us who understand these matters, however, recognise that the ancient story refers to three objects, or Hallows, which, if united, will make the possessor master of Death.*"
> ― Xenophilius Lovegood[source]
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One story by Beedle is "The Tale of the Three Brothers". This story was about brothers who meet Death on the road and avoid his clutches; each in turn receives a gift from him, although Death attempts to twist each boon into a bane.

In 1998, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley came to hear the legend: The brothers came to a river which was too deep to wade across, and built a bridge using magic. Death appeared to congratulate them for their ingenuity, and offered them rewards (or so he said; his real intent was to give them traps which would be their undoing, because he felt cheated by their survival.) The first brother asked for a weapon that would always win any battle, a weapon worthy of one who had cheated Death. Death snapped a twig off an elder tree and gave it to him — the Elder Wand. The second brother asked for something to give him power over Death, for he had lost his loved one before this encounter. It was also an attempt to humiliate Death. Death gave him a river stone, which, by the terms of the deal, became the Resurrection Stone. The third brother, however, did not trust Death, and asked for something that would allow him to avoid Death. Death was trapped by his words, and handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility. The brothers continued on and went their separate ways.

Time passed. The first brother provoked a duel with a wizard he disliked, left him for dead, and afterwards boasted of his unbeatable wand. He was killed that very night by someone who had heard his boasting, and wanted the wand. The second brother found misery when he brought his former lover back to life with the Resurrection Stone and learned she had been happier dead, ultimately committing suicide in order to truly join her. The third brother hid from Death his entire life using the cloak until he finally reached a ripe old age, and he gave the cloak to his son. He and Death finally "met as old friends," and departed as equals.

The items mentioned in the "tale" became legendary artefacts known together as the Deathly Hallows. If joined together, they would make the wielder extremely powerful, the "Master of Death." (Dumbledore later states that the true Master of Death is one who accepts that it is inevitable, in much the same way Ignotus did. Dumbledore was also the one to reveal finally that the three brothers were the Peverells, though he believes that the tale of how they received the items is a fabrication which would naturally appear around such powerful items, whereas the Peverells simply created the items.)
Lord Voldemort sought the Elder Wand because he believed it would allow him to defeat Harry Potter. However, it was Harry himself who temporarily became the Master of Death, when he ultimately united all three artefacts.