Description

The Tales of Beedle the Bard first appeared as a fictional book in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007), the seventh and final novel of the Harry Potter series. The book is bequeathed to Hermione Granger by Albus Dumbledore, former headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is described as a popular collection of wizarding children’s fairy tales, so that while Ron Weasley is familiar with the stories, Harry Potter and Hermione had not previously heard of them due to their non-magical upbringing.

The book Hermione receives in Dumbledore’s will is a copy of the original edition of the fictional book. It is described as an ancient-looking small book with its binding “stained and peeling in places”. In the novel it is also said the book has a title on its cover, written in embossed runic symbols.

The book acts as the vehicle for introducing the Deathly Hallows to the trio. Above the story “The Tale of the Three Brothers”, Hermione finds a strange symbol which later is revealed by Xenophilius Lovegood to be the symbol of the Hallows. The triangle from the symbol represents the Cloak of Invisibility, the circle inside the triangle symbolises the Resurrection Stone, and the vertical line represents the Elder Wand.

These three objects are also mentioned in the story itself, and are said to belong to the Peverell brothers, who are later revealed as being both Lord Voldemort’s and Harry’s ancestors. Towards the end of the novel, Dumbledore also confirms Harry’s connection to the Peverells, and states that the three brothers might in fact have been the creators of the Hallows.