The Tales of Beedle the Bard Book

What came before Harry Potter? J.K. Rowling, author of the immensely successful series, invented Beedle the Bard to get her over a plot hump in the last Harry Potter book. Only seven copies were created, and only one sold. However, soon she will share Beedle the Bard with the entire world in a general release version, the proceeds of which will go to benefit children's charities.

Harry Potter fans were first introduced to the tales of Beedle the Bard as an integral part of the plot of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The three items that had to be collected to become the Master of Death were outlined in one story in a book left to Hermione Granger by Dumbledore upon his death. But there were four other stories included in this unique work of literature, each of which has been called a treasure by those who've read it.

This critique must be taken with a grain of salt. The book was released in extremely limited form; only seven copies currently exist, and the reviewers don't include independent critics or fans, but only the current possessors of the book and a very few others.

J.K. Rowling hand-wrote and hand-illustrated seven copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Of these, six were given to six people who had contributed most materially to the creation of the Harry Potter books; Rowling has declined to say who those six were. The seventh was auctioned last year by Sotheby's; expected to go for somewhere in the low six figures, everyone was shocked when it sold for just under $4 million to Amazon.com.

The books themselves are beautiful. Like the fictional version, each is small, about the size of a regular paperback or a little larger. Each is hand-bound in red Moroccan leather, and decorated with chased silver ornaments: corner protectors, edge protectors, and a large embellishment in the center of the page. Set into the silver of each book are semi-precious stones, a different stone for each book. The Amazon version is thus known as the Moonstone Edition. Like their owners, the stones for the other six books have not been disclosed.

The text within the books has not been fully disclosed, though Amazon has released pocket synopses of them. A few of the drawings Rowling included have been reproduced online. Currently, however, most of the information about these books is being kept very quiet.

Within the pages of the books, you will find five different stories. only one of which is critical to the Harry Potter series. "The Tale of the Three Brothers" tells the story of how three young brothers cheat Death, who, in revenge, offers each a wish. In reality, the wishes are monkey's paws - in other words, the granting of the wish leads only to misery for the wisher. The three items wished for by the brothers, together, are the Deathly Hallows referred to in the last Harry Potter book.

The other four books are "The Warlock's Hairy Heart," about a warlock who locks his heart up so he will not fall in love; "Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump," about a king who wants to control all the magic in his kingdom and finds that the results are embarrassing for him at best; "The Fountain of Fair Fortune," about three troubled witches and their quest to heal what ails them; and "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot," about a young man who learns a lesson from his deceased wizard father about what it means to care for your community.

Each story is clearly inspired by fairy tales of the past, but the only one J.K. Rowling specifically identifies a source for is "The Tale of the Three Brothers," which she says was inspired by the Pardoner's Tale from Chaucer - which itself is drawn from older sources.

J.K. Rowling is best known today as the author of the seven-book Harry Potter series, which has been wildly successful throughout the world. Many do not realize that her life story is a real rags-to-riches fairy tale itself. For years, she and her daughter were on public assistance while she struggled to finish her first Potter novel. It is no accident that Rowling is intensely interested in childen's issues. The charity she chose to donate all the proceeds of The Tale of Beedle the Bard to is the Children's High Level Group, which is focused on improving the lives of children in Eastern Europe from the top down. Rowling doesn't really need the money anyway; from poverty, she has amassed a net worth of over $1.1 billion, a feat that to many seems like magic indeed.