The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Rowling's book of wizarding fairy tales, first seen as Hermione's bequest in Deathly Hallows.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a book of fairy tales by J. K. Rowling, sharing its name with a storybook mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In that novel, Albus Dumbledore leaves the book to Hermione Granger in his will.

Rowling first produced only seven handwritten, illustrated copies. One was auctioned at Sotheby's in late 2007 and bought by Amazon for £1.95 million, the highest price ever paid at auction for a modern literary manuscript.

Quick Facts

Author: J. K. Rowling
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Series: Harry Potter
Genre: Fantasy
Set in: Wizarding World
Publisher: Children's High Level Group
Published: 4 December 2008

Facts from the source article.

Background

In the series the book is a popular collection of wizarding children's stories, so Ron Weasley knows them while Harry and Hermione, raised by non-magical families, do not. Hermione's copy is an ancient-looking small book with a title in embossed runes.

The book introduces the Deathly Hallows to the trio: above The Tale of the Three Brothers, Hermione finds a symbol that Xenophilius Lovegood identifies. Its triangle stands for the Cloak of Invisibility, the circle for the Resurrection Stone and the line for the Elder Wand. The Peverell brothers of the tale are later revealed as ancestors of both Harry and Voldemort.

The book was published for the general public on 4 December 2008, with proceeds going to the Children's High Level Group, later renamed Lumos. Rowling has said The Tale of the Three Brothers was inspired by Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale.