Beedle the Bard SPOILERS The Warlock and his hairy heart

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 185175

_svirn:
They are original only in the sense that the imagery is straight out
of the Harry Potter world. But plot-wise and "moral-wise", so to
speak, they are quite ordinary and bland. 

Alla:
OOOOO, nice to see you.

I did not say that JKR invented the wheel with those tales of course; 
however I would not call them ordinary and bland either. I mean, to 
me there are only very few morality lessons in the fables and fairy 
tales and the new plot, new imagery is the only way to make them 
fresh.

I mean, fairy tales teach kids and adults alike to be nice to the 
people around them, be courageous, and be smart, judge people based 
on what is inside instead of outside
 What else? I mean, I am sure if 
I think few more minutes, I would think of three or four other 
lessons, but besides that? How many of them can we count?

So, within fairy tales constraints I do like JKR's creativity with 
those.

A_svirn:
Babbity-rabbity, for
instance, seems to be derivative from the "Emperor's clothes" – it's
like Andersen set in the Potterverse.

Alla:

I don't know, does it? I mean, I thought of "A heart of stone" as I 
said, when I read "Warlock", I really did not think of "Emperor's 
clothes" when I read Babbity. I mean, come to think of it, of course 
there are similarities, however it feels to me that Anderson was 
taking much more satirical approach toward the King, who failed to 
see his dress maker for what he was and towards the crowd. It feels 
to me that JKR pities the king more than mocks him AND I am not sure 
I know who is the analogue of the Babbity in Anderson's tale. The 
boy? But we know nothing about him and JKR concentrates on Babbity a 
lot and develops her quite a lot for a tale, no?

A_svirn:
As for the "Hairy Heart", I am
with Dumbledore on that one: the whole thing seems like a rerun of
the Horcrux theme (or vice versa) – the search of invulnerability at
the expense of humanity. It reminds me not so much of "A Heart of
Stone", but of ye good olde Kaschei the Immortal.

Alla:

Of course there is a horcrux theme, but again, I felt it was nicely 
blended in the teaching story for wizarding kids and heh, funny you 
mention Kaschei, I did not get that vibe at all. And I read the 
Scandinavian tale with a very strong Kaschei theme just a few days 
ago. To each their own of course, I did like those stories a lot, 
especially Warlock and Fountain.

I mean, what is Fountain in essence? Does it teach anything new? Of 
course not, just tells us to do good things for the friends and you 
will be rewarded, yes? But this is one morality lesson that I can say 
that I remember often enough and use often enough, so to hear it 
being retold in WW imagery was nice.

I actually like the Death and three brothers the least of the lot. 
Maybe because I know it well by now, but it seemed to me to be the 
least imaginative of them.

A_svirn:
I think the best part of the book is actually Dumbledore's
commentary, and the best part of the commentary is its sloppiness and
patent insincerity. <SNIP>

Alla:
I enjoyed Dumbledore's comments too and I share Pippin's POV I think 
on why it was written the way it was.

JMO,

Alla