"Beedle the Bard was a storyteller who wove his tales in the 15th century. Although much of his life remains a mystery, we do know he was born in Yorkshire and that he was a wizard. There is also one surviving woodcut that depicts him with ‘an exceptionally luxuriant beard’. Aside from his facial hair, it’s impossible to truly know Beedle, but perhaps we can catch a glimpse of him in his stories. A wizard who was sympathetic to Muggles, ‘mistrusted Dark Magic’ and believed that ‘kindness, common sense and ingenuity’ were more admirable than even the most powerful magic". (W.W. Feature, "Everything you need to know about The Tales of Beedle the Bard)
The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of 5 stories written by 15th Century wizard and bard, Beedle. J.k. Rowling, when putting together the stories, initially thought it was multiple stores before realizing its just the same story. Five stories times 7. To me, that is what the collection feels like, it feels like a collection of shorts by the author and not a complete look at what he wrote and not a complete look at who the author is in his stories.
It is common for an author to project themselves in the works of their hands and, even if it was not intentional, it is still imagined from the mind and therefore the author. While the author may have written himself into the stories, it is still not clear how and who he is in it. But what if he simply uses people he knows with a similar characteristic of himself in his stories? This means that the father in the story; 'The Wizard and the Hopping Pot' represents Beedle for he was "a kindly old wizard" who was "well-beloved" to all muggles in the village. While the father would have similar traits to Beedle, he may also have similar traits to another wizard that was known in Stinchcombe. 'The Wizard and the Hopping Pot' will be this article's interest in explaining.
"Thou no more villagers came to seek help at the wizard's cottage for the rest of the week, the pote kept him informed of their many ills. Within a few days it was not only braying and groaning and slopping and hopping and sprouting warts, it was also choking and retching, crying like a baby, whining like a dog, and spewing out bad cheese...."
The first story in the book, 'The Wizard and the Hopping Pot", is the story of a father and a son's relationship, its the story of a wizard who helps the non-magical society, and hidden reflections of the wizarding bloodline. The father was a wizard who helped muggles as he is the only one who could help with all their ills and lost belongings. But he died, leaving the pot to his son who hated muggles for they were not like him, not magical. He was visited by 3 muggles who needed help and he left them to deal with their own problems which had a lasting impact of illness to his cauldron. The only way, he comes to see, to not be irritated is to help everyone. and in the end, became friends with the pot.
The story is a fairy tale that is "kind of moral, really, it's to teach young witches and wizards that they should be using their magic altruistically". Or with concern to and of others. (http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2017/01/01/pottercast-265-interview-with-j-k-rowling/).
The story has a symbol in the number of 3, three visitors came to the wizard for help, like the 3 ghosts that visited Ebenezer Scrooge. The story also is about Pure-Blood Ideology and a son who believes in that ideology, unlike his father. It does remind me of an inversion of sorts with Scourers who are squibs who hates magical habitants.
While the pure-blood idea is one theme, there is also the representation of someone when it comes to the cauldron who gets sick over time.
"Upon the father's death, the son found hidden inside the old cooking pot a small package bearing his name. He opened it, hoping for gold, but found instead a soft, thick slipper, much too small to wear, and with no pair".
The pot being alive is the only element of fairy tale in the story. Not the wizard who is like any reader of the community like a No-Maj/Muggle to "Grimm". The pot who harrases the young wizard for the illness it collects when left alone, the single slipper found in the pot; the pot is his father.
The slipper is the key to why it is this father and how in the end it fits teh shiny foot that sprung out of the pot's bottom. The foot is the foot of his father and the pot is his father. The more the young wizard does not help and cure illness, the more his father becomes ill. His father gets angry and annoys him to do something. The relationship beween them is shown through this after the death, a kind of forward reveal.
"The wizard could not sleep or eat with pot beside him, but the pot refused to leave..."
If the father is Beedle and the young wizard is his son, then this shows that relationship. But there is another alternative to who the father is and that is a potterer in Stinchcombe.
Linfred of Stinchcombe is all he is referred to and the earlist known relative of Harry Potter. Some of hte stories written may be based on some members of his family. The Three Brothers are known to be blood relatives directly to Harry. The village is Stinchcombe, Gloucestershire and he was liked immensely by all muggles in the 12th centiry. He was also good with potions with a garden and often experimented to create new products such as Skele-Gro and Pepperup. Linfred had 7 kids and one son was Hardwin who got a lot of gold. His story, however, is connected to one of the Deathly Hallows after marrying Iolanthe Peverell; holder of the invisbility cloak.
Beedle would have seen himself in Linfred and saw he similar complicated relationship to his son wo then had Hardwin become the star of his story. Did Beedle himself also have a lot of gold or was it simply just the relationship?
"Together, they set off back to the wizard's house, the pot's footstep muffled at last. But from that day forward, the wizard helped the villagers, like his father before him, lest the pot cast off his slipper, and begin to hop once more".
Comments