by basprunger in Censoring Fairy Tales, Dark Fairy Tales, Fairy Tale Resources, Fairy Tales in Pop Culture, Modern Fairy Tales, Unconventional Fairy Tales Tags: Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump, Dumbledore, fairy tale censorship, fairy tales, Hans Christian Andersen, Harry Potter, Harry Potter and Fairy Tales, Hermione Granger, J. K. Rowling, Ron Weasley, The Deathly Hallows, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Tales of Beadle the Bard, The Warlock's Hairy Heart, Wizarding Fairy tales, Wizards

J. K. Rowling puts a lot of emphasis on fairy tales in her famous “Harry Potter” series. In fact, she suggests that fairy tales often hold more truth than we imagine. This is true especially in her final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

In this book, Dumbledore bequeaths mysterious objects to Harry, Ron, and Hermione in his will. To Hermione goes a book of wizarding fairy tales, one of which is “The Tale of the Three Brothers.” This so-called children’s story describes three magical objects that can’t possibly exist: an invincible wand, a stone that can raise the dead, and an invisibility cloak that renders its wearer completely invisible and endures eternally no matter what spells are cast at it. Whoever controls all three of these objects would find himself the master of death.

Of course, not only does the story turn out to be based in fact, but all of the objects actually exist. With some help from each of them, Harry is able to overcome his greatest foe. Although he could use these objects to master death, his wisdom matches that of the brother who chose the invisibility cloak. Harry recognizes that he was meant to possess these items for a time, but that wielding the Elder Wand or the Resurrection Stone can only bring trouble to his life. In the end, he learns the same lesson the fairy tale was meant to teach.

Not only did Rowling provide us with an example of a fairy tale that turned out to be true (not unlike the stories of Robin Hood and King Arthur), but she also published the full book of fairy tales that Hermione received from Dumbledore: “The Tales of Beedle the Bard.” This book contains five beautifully imagined stories that clearly draw on recognizable fairy tale themes. For instance, the tale of “Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump” bears some resemblance to Hans Christian Andersen’s story of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

While this is a way for Rowling to flesh out the fantastical world of her books by providing a peek into wizarding society’s cultural knowledge, it is more than that. In Rowling’s books, Ron is the least capable of finding deeper meaning in the fairy tales because he, having grown up in a wizarding family, has heard them all his life. Rowling has already told us that there was deep truth behind one of the stories. What might the others be hiding and, what indeed can still be gleaned from the fairy tales that we read as children? If we refuse to look deeper, as Ron did, we might really miss out. This is especially implied because Rowling also uses more familiar fairy tales in her books as well; Hans Christian Andersen wrote a fairy tale called “The Philosopher’s Stone.” While he did not invent the concept, his mention of it seems relevant in this context.

“The Tales of Beedle the Bard” also manages to bring some witty critique to the fairy tale table. Many of today’s fairy tales have been doctored and made less violent for modern children. In her book, Rowling discusses how the best story it contains, “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart,” has been rejected by some wizarding parents for its violent and disturbing nature. She portrays those who wish to alter and censor this story and others like it as utter fools, betraying her own opinions on the subject; children may be heartier than we give them credit for, and if the only stories we read them are about happy puppies and beautiful butterflies, they can never hope to find deeper meaning within them.