Let's Read Tales of Beedle The Bard, part one: The Wizard And The Hopping Pot.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Thought of starting a Let's Read of ToBtB. Let's say I have mixed feelings about it so far... :/



General Plot of the Story: Muggle-loving father dies and leaves his Muggle-hating son a slipper (presumably because the guy was...weird. :P). Guy's a jerk to other people because they can't use magic. The titular pot starts to go ballistic. Guy can't take it any more and changes his ways. Muggles get well again. Guy fits slipper on hopping pot (I shit you not), and the pot hops away...honestly, it's kind of like an acid trip. Bizarrely sweet, though.

Dumbledore's commentary (call it All There In The Manual): Dumbledore says, and I quote, "A simple and heartwarming fable, one might think -- in which case, one would reveal oneself to be an innocent nincompoop." (11) Well, good to know that Dumbledore's crankiness/bitterness has survived from beyond the grave. :P (Speaking of which, what's the commentary doing there? Is Dumbledore -- ghost-collaborating with Hermione? Is Hermione relaying his instructions? Is Harry? I'm so confused. XD) Nothing really of interest here (well, other than the bit about Beatrix Bloxam and the "ARGH KILL IT WITH FIRE!" reaction that a lot of the kids had to her...interpretation of "The Wizard And The Hopping Pot").

Thoughts: I will admit -- risking my own life -- that this is actually sort of sweet. Or would be, if the wizard had done the deeds he did out of the goodness of his heart (or if he wanted to change). *Cough* A Christmas Carol. *Cough* Mostly, he had a change of heart if only to shut the pot up. That said...it's mostly okay, so far. Not bringing out the nerd rage yet. (Well, other than Dumbledore's commentary, but...um, yeah)

Dumbles Rage-O-Meter: 5. It's bad, but it's within tolerable range. Continue. :)

Comments

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

*This*! :D

Seriously, why didn't *you* write the HP books? :)

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

If I wrote the Harry Potter books Harry would have hung up on the wizarding world as soon as he became an adult and saw how messed-up and utterly childish it and everyone in it was (he probably would have still defeated Voldemort, but that would be incidental to his growing-up).

In my stories, adults who devote their lives to magic are always unduly childish, since all they ever think about is how best to play with their pretty powers. I'm sick of stories that treat the magical world as being just plain better than the real world.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

*This*! :D

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Yes, thank you! That would actually be a very interesting concept.