欧宝娱乐

** spoiler alert ** I'm having a hard time deciding which is my favorite tale, but I'd lean towards The Fountain of Fair Fortune, with the The Warlock's Hairy Heart coming in a close second (if only it had been executed a little better!).

Keeping in mind that these are wizarding fairy tales, with commentary by Dumbledore and translated by Hermione (oh MAN, wouldn't it be awesome to get into a crazy discussion about Hermione as a biased translator? Dumbledore's comments are obviously 100% biased) - the book is really quite cute. It shouldn't take you much more than 30 minutes to read it but I was expecting a short read(and honestly, my #1 complaint is the binding -t he book just feels awkward, and I am dreading when the spine is obviously cracked open).

Spoilers start here:

Tale #1: The Wizard and the Hopping Pot: The most obvious morality tale in the book. A young man inherits his father's cauldron and his father's requests for aid from needy (but humble & worthy!) Muggle neighbors, resists with an attitude, and is taught a lesson in charity. I found Dumbledore's notes more interesting than the tale itself.

Tale #2: The Fountain of Fair Fortune: Almost a Wizard of Oz-type story; a Muggle Knight and 3 witches quest for their greatest wish to be granted at the Fountain of Fair Fortune, but end up solving their problems on the journey. I really think JKR could have expanded this out into much more of a short story, although it does make sense in the fable/fairy tale format. Really quite cute, and the "happiest" of the bunch.

Tale #3: The Wizard's Hairy Heart: Obviously the darkest tale; a man turns to the Dark Arts and cuts himself off from enjoying life by literally taking his beating heart out of his chest so he will never be hurt. Dumbledore's notes sort of point towards the ZOMG TERRIBLE HORCRUX IS TERRIBLE idea, but never outright says, so this Tom Riddle kid TOTALLY ate this one up at the Muggle orphanage--OH WAIT, HE TOTALLY DIDN'T.

Tale #4: Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump: A really stupid Muggle king wants to wipe out witches and wizards, gets scammed by a con man, but his dishwasher is a real witch and not only stops the persecution but even gets a gold statue through her own cunning. I think this was my least favorite out of the 5.

Tale #5: The Tale of the Three Brothers: We know this one from Deathly Hallows, but 3 brothers run into Death, get the Elder Wand, the resurrection stone thing, and the Invisibility Cloak. Brothers 1 and 2 are totally dumb and die pretty quickly, but Brother 3 knows meeting Death is inevitable, but hides and lives into old age. Again, Dumbledore's notes are very vague, and full of, NOW, THIS WAND/STONE BUSINESS IS TOTALLY FOLKLORE (also, can I just say how much the term Deathstick amuses me to no end??) BUT INVISIBILITY CLOAKS RUUUULE.

Overall, it's sort of cool to think how these tales might have played into the upbringing of some of the characters. The Weasley kids probably heard all of these 10 million times.

Oh, AND! I forgot, my favorite part is when "Dumbledore" goes into as close as he can get into a rant about censorship concerning the content of the tales (the Malfoys across the ages are big into banning books). It's even more funny considering HP's history, and the fact that JKR was nice enough to let Dumbledore give the gentle smackdown.