The Tales of Beedle the Bard - J. K. Rowling

The girlfriend bought the Hogwarts Library bookset, which contains 3 small books, so I've set out to read them.

The first one is The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a small 100 page book, which was featured in the movies as containing the Tale of Three Brothers... which explained The Deathly Hallows origins.

Plot

The book is the collected "fairy tale" stories written by 15th century bard Beedle.  During the course of 5 short stories parents tell their children before going to bed, as we muggles tend to do with our Cinderella's and relevant tales.  Ranging over a wizard not wanting to help the villagers where he lives until he gets nearly driven mad by his magic cauldron, over the tale of a Warlock that wanted to feel love and the story of the Three Brothers, we learn more about magic through the ages.  Every tale is accompanied by notes by Professor Dumbledore to give some more perspective on the morals and the settings of the tales.

Opinion

It's a fun little read, even though I teared through it in just two hours.  It's light-hearted, and those wizards certainly know how to make children stories.
But all in all, it's just that, some light reading before bedtime, and not one that will make a lasting impression over the years.

Rating: 5.5 / 10