"I love tongue twisters. They make you so aware of your mouth. And... beard I suppose, If you have one while twisting your tongue. Babbitty Rabbitty." Ethan added on the end of his observation for good measure.


"Very good, Raiden. For both your answers there."

"Very logical choice, Celandine."

Truebridge nodded, As a half-blood himself he quite liked Beedles original version of the hopping pot too. "Right."

"I like that one too." Truebridge nodded, gravely.

"Very insightful. And there is nothing wrong with a happy ending if you get one."

"The slipper... is odd. But I imagine the pot's toes aren't much to look at so I like the idea of it wearing a slipper too."

Ahh, clearly Celandine was a pureblood then. "Come up to the front of the class, Celandine." Ethan told her.

"It is quite dark isn't it? Not all sweet and gooey at all."


"Very good, Jake." Ethan appreciated the thought the boy put into his responses, clearly thinking outside the box as well as making insightful and accurate points.

"Yes, Raiden please do. And Celandine, if you could share the version you are familar with please."

"That is right... for the original version."


"Ah. Good point about human nature." Ethan nodded and waited for Celandine and Raiden to share the two versions.

Ray raised his hand and answered "I think that would be the story of the The warlock's hairy heart" Ray answered. "The story truelly has a moral and a lot of meaning which for me was enough to get attached to the story also all the other stories have one I think that story just have much more meaning to me" Ray answered as he remembered his past

Clifford liked tongue twisters too.. he wished he was able to grow his very own beard though. The fluff he managed to produce from his chin was jut pathetic. Hmpf. But ah well ... Babbitty Rabbitty! Hehehe.

Gigglesnorting to himself, the Prefect set down his quill and waitied for Raiden and Celandine.

Jude had never heard the Pure-blood, Anti-muggle version, and a small frown of annoyance graced his face as he thought about it. Poor muggles. Nonetheless, he sat quietly and waited for the stories to be told.

Standing up and clearing his throat, Raiden was suddenly thankful that he'd never had a fear of speaking in front of people. He looked around the class, then started into the tale.

"In Beedle's version of The Wizard and The Hopping Pot, there's a wizard whose father passes away. The young man's father often helped out the Muggles in the village whenever their children were sick or something was going wrong with their animals... He was real helpful, and he had them all convinced that his medicines came out of this pot when he stirred it, like magic. Well, it was magic, but anyway. When he died, his son found a little package in the pot that his dad used to use to mix up potions for those who needed them... and in the package was a slipper and a note that said he hoped that his son would never need the slipper. Well the son was right angry, because I guess he was hoping that his dad would leave him more than a slipper and an old pot..." He thought for a second. He knew this story nearly word for word, but it wouldn't do to recite the whole thing to the class. It would take too long. "That night a woman came to him for help, because her daughter had a lot of warts, and he slammed the door in her face. The second after he did that, he heard something really loud in the kitchen, and he went to see what it was. The pot had sprouted out a brass foot and was hopping up and down and was covered in icky warts. Nothing he did could get the warts off the pot, and he couldn't get it to go away either. It just kept hopping and clanging and making an awful racket..." He paused again. "He didn't sleep cos of the noise, and then there was a man the next day who lost his donkey, and his family would go hungry without the donkey to take them to the market... but the wizard wouldn't help, and when he slammed the door on that man, the pot started making donkey noises, like HEEHAW HEEHAW and stuff like that, and there were sounds like hungry people too." Let's see, next was... "Oh and after that was a sick baby, and when he wouldn't help with that the pot filled with tears and splashed them everywhere when it hopped. Over the next few days the pot started making all sorts of horrible sounds, because more and more people needed help and the wizard was refusing, and it was starting to smell like icky milk and cheese and it spat out slugs at some point too... and the guy couldn't sleep cos of the noise... or eat because it was just plain nasty to try and eat with that thing next to you. And when he finally couldn't take it anymore, he ran through the village yelling "Bring me your ills, I have my father's cooking pot and I'll make you well and happy!" and he fixed all the people, and as he went the pot started being not icky. The warts went away and the crying stopped and the icky smells went away... and when he was done and had fixed everyone in the village, he went back to the pot, which burped up that slipper he'd gotten out of it when he'd inherited it, and he put it on the brass foot. And from then on he helped the villagers, because if he didn't the pot would kick off the slipper and start being icky again." He hoped he hadn't forgotten anything important... He looked at Professor Truebridge. "I remembered it all, right?"

Oh. Okay. Celandine stood up and went to the front of the class. She listened carefully to Raiden before launching in to a brief and censored retelling of the version she had been brought up on.

"Okay so there is this wizard who is sad because his dad died, and he's in mourning and he just minds his own business and then all of a sudden theres a muggle mob that chase him and demand that he heals them and becomes their slave! They have torches and pitchforks and they try to hurt him! So the hopping pot comes to the wizards rescue and eats up all the muggles in the mob and all their nastiness comes out in the poor brave hopping pot with warts and boils and pus and venom, just like the thoughts the muggles had against the wizard. Finally the last few muggles that aren't all eaten promise they will let him do his magic stuff and live his life and grieve for his father in peace if he saves them from the pot that protects him. So because he is a nice innocent Wizard, he makes the pot spit up all the muggles it ate and they are alive but all disfigured to serve as a reminder for ever more not to be mean to wizardkind." Cela paused, "The end."

She wrinkled her nose, "I even like Beatrix Bloxam's version better. It only makes me feel a tiny bit sick because at least muggles don't lose limbs and stuff." She made a mental note to read the proper version and looked at Professor Truebridge expectantly.

Even though Evangeline knew that someone had rewritten Beedle's tales, she had never gotten interested enough to read them, and as she listened to Celandine tell the other version of The Wizard and the Hopping Pot tale, she was glad. That was just awful. Awful, awful, awful.

"That's definitely not pro-Muggle." Evangeline stated rather obviously, under her breath.

Jude's nose wrinkled at the thought of a pot eating up his mother and spitting her out all disfigured like. "Tha's 'orrible!!" he said, a bit louder than he'd wanted, and quickly blushed and looked around to see if anyone had heard him.

"I think I like the first one better.. the one Raiden told us." Clifford stated, throwing his arm in the air and offering his thoughts. This was a neat lesson. A hopping pot wearing a slipper? C'mon, it was hard to get any cooler than THAT!

Ana raised her hand "I'm muggleborn but i have already read it. I like the The Tale of the Three Brothers and The Fountain of Fair Fortune, but I like all the book. These tales have really good values and a lesson to learn" she smiled

"Thank you for your answer, Ray." Truebridge acknowledged, waiting for Raiden and Cela to stand and share.

"You were very thorough. Thank you Raiden." Ethan nodded.

"Right." Ethan examined Celandine carefully for a moment, she certainly didn't seem to be exhibiting any pureblood fanaticism over the story, but rather relayed it quite matter-of-factly.

"Exactly." Ethan nodded, "It's unpleasant."

"Very 'orrible and awful." Truebridge agreed gravely.

"So do I." It was pleasing to see the reactions of the Slytherin students to that tale. It wasn't all that long ago that such things as that were Slytherin standard after all. Nowdays, there would be at least as many half-blooded students in Slytherin as there were purebloods if not more.

"They do." Truebridge agreed with Ana before addressing the class as a whole.

"Would anyone like to comment on and compare the two versions? And perhaps comment on the version of this tale written by Beatrix Bloxam? Keeping in mind the topic of our last lesson, what could the rewrites have been considered as? What purpose did the anti-muggle version and Bloxam's version aim for?

"The anti-muggle re-writes of it were like ... propaganda, Sir?" Clifford blinked in surprise. It sorta made sense but he'd only realised when Professor Truebrudge mentioned the topic of the last lesson. "The anti-muggle tales were written in the hopes of like.. turning people against 'em? Making wizards believe they're like these.. savage people?"

"Judging by some parts on the Beatrix Bloxam version..." The Slytherin Prefect started, scratching her chin thoughtfully with her right hand, her left one raised. "Like the fact the the cauldron gets all kinds of nasty stuff after eating the Muggles seems to be a propagandistic method into .. brainwashing the young wizard minds." Ugh. How Evangeline was glad that this prejudices were disappearing. Slowly, very slowly, but still disappearing. "Not to mention the fact that in the end, the kind wizard punishes the bad Muggle, clearly giving a green card to everyone who wants to harm Muggles. Because they're bad and want to made wizards their slaves." Poor, poor kids who had to listen to this at night.

As distracted as she had been, Willow had failed to answer any of the questions Truebridge -who had woken up from his nap, clearly- had asked to the class. However, upon snapping back to reality just in time to hear Beatrix Bloxam's version of the story, she shuddered slightly.

Anti Muggle? Yes.

Should be read to children? Definitely not.

Gnawing on her rosy bottom lip as she pondered the entire thing over, Willow raised her hand, "Well, professor, I think that Beedle's The Wizard and The Hopping Pot is more aimed to children. Unlike Bloxam's," offered the fifth year, "I mean, I am sure that Beatrix Bloxam's wanted it to be for children, but the truth is, that reading young wizards about Muggles being eaten by a pot, and all those terrible things, would most likely be slightly disturbing for them. But then, I guess it all depends on the person, right?" Hmmm. She suppose so. Either way, whether they were easily scared or not, they were kids, and kids should not heard those kind of stories. "Not to mention that it would set a bad example on them, you know." Ooohh. And now that she thought about it. . . "Perhaps that was what Beatrix Bloxam was secretly aiming for, Professor?" asked the girl, "Perhaps she wanted children to believe that Muggles being eaten by a pot was good way to punish them? I mean, the only things we know about her is that she got married, died at the beginnings of the XX century, and that she wrote The Toadstool Tales! We don't even know if she was Half-blood or a Pure-blood, Professor." Not that she had any problem with that, but she was just stating what little she knew about the woman; her two best friends, after all, were half-bloods. "Though to be honest, professor, judging by her version of The Wizard and The Hopping Pot, I think she was one of those Purebloods that didn't like Muggles." Her nose wrinkled.

"Precisely, Clifford." Ethan nodded.

"Brainwashing. Very good." Truebridge nodded.


"Ah, my dear. In your own world were you? The version Celandine shared was not Bloxam's, though your points are still valid. Bloxams version was all ribbons and bows and pink and fluff and yuck. The anti-muggle version has not been officially accredited to anyone. There are three versions of this story. Do keep thinking, you are on the right track."


"I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on this." Truebridge encouraged. "The wizard and the hopping pot. Three versions. Propaganda. Go."


ooc: I sleep. feel free to answer, but please don't edit your posts from this point onward, just post again if you need to add something. You may discuss/chat on topic, but don't forget to raise your hand to answer. IF in doubt check the class rules. Break 'em and points will go.

Fun eh?

I'll pick this up again probably after the quidditch stuff is through to give everyone a fair chance, and all timezones a bit of a go.

Kayla raised her hand, "Well the most obvious comparison is that the Beedle's original version was most definitely pro-muggle and the altered version was anti-muggle. Bloxam's version was just pure sugar coating the whole story and turning it into something that was totally unrealistic and one that didn't make sense at all."

Trying to think of the questions at hand she continued, "In a time when muggles persecuted witches and wizards for being able to do magic, one can understand why the magical folk would want to portray the story in a different light. Having a pro-muggle sentiment would of course anger witches and wizards alike and so they went out and changed the story so that the wizard in the story was the victim of muggle atrocities and turned him into the ultimate hero and put the muggles in their place. Bloxam's version can only be considered as pure rubbish, it didn't exactly have a point besides trying to get your mouth around the stupid words."

Kayla took a breath before continuing on, "The anti-muggle version's aim was to put witches and wizards above the muggles. It showed that people with magical abilities were far more superior and that muggles should be chewed up and spat out. Bloxam, in her retarded wisdom thought Beedle's stories were unhealthy for young children and so she wrote her own versions to fill the minds of the children with happy, healthy thoughts and keep their slumber free of wicked dreams to protect their innocence. Unfortunately for her most kids just wanted to mash the books into a pulp."

Herminny raised her hand and said,"Beatrix Blaxham's version is the fluff version in my opinion, it is just too nice and less disgusting, kid freindly and just bleh, I can see why nobody liked this version".

"Beedle's is the best cause it teaches the right lesson that everyone in the community is one in the sameand he should have helped those people from day 1 and it shows the right thing to do is the best thing to doand changed the new owner of the pot for the better".

"The propaganda anti-muggle versions were just wrong making it seem like the was pot would not help these poor people because they are mugglesand spurted disgusting things out to ward muggles away, just so wrong".

Jude blushed deeper and shrunk into his seat. Was this professor making fun of his accent? "Sorreh..." he mumbled and looked down in hopes of making the bright red color drain from his face.

He listened to the question and thought about it for a moment. After a few moments of thinking it over, he raised his hand. "Well... first off an' ovblibiously... obliviouly... neh... oblivious... ob..." just stopped, and blushed more as he struggled with the word. "Obvisly," he gave up after leaving out a syllable, "de anti-muggol tales wa' ta tu'n witches an' wiza'ds against 'em... De Muggols, tha' is... An' it made Muggol's seem loike de bad guys, fer "attackin'" de poor, innocen' wiza'd... Whe' realleh i' was de poor, innocen' muggol's 'oo wan'ed 'elp from de wiza'd, jus' loike 'is fathah 'ad done... " he thought about the second question.

The purpose that was aimed for? Simple. "An' dey served ta make e'eryone try ta hate de Muggols. De re-writes woul' be calle'... well as Cliffad said, propropoporgan'a." His crimson cheeks deepened in their blush, "Bu' Oi'd call 'em... Loies. Loies an' slandah. Yeh tha's wha' Oi'd call em... an' no' jus' cuz Oi can' proneunce tha' othah big long word tha' Cliffad used... Tha's all i' is... good rep fer wiza'ds, bad rep fer muggols..." he finished after straining his train of thought into nothing.

Jude raised his hand again... "Oh, an' soir? Oi nevah 'eard de anti-muggle version, an' when we sta'ted talkin' 'bout Bloxam's an' den she," he motioned towards Celandine, "told 'er tale... an' Oi though' dey was de same. So... dair's 3 versions? Wha's the othah one?" he meant to ask nicer, but his curiosity simply got the best of him. He'd only ever been raised with one, the real one, and now all of a sudden he heard another one, and just was told their was a THIRD one... his mind was slightly blown.

Copernicus made a face and raised his hand. After having to write his entire first assignment on Bloxam, he had sort of developed a fondness for the batty woman. He grinned at Cela, for surely she had a little warmth in her heart for good ol' Beatrix. "I don't think we can completely discount Bloxam's versions. They were incorrectly translated, but she never intended them to be word for word translations. It takes a clever witch to retain the basic idea of a story and still fill it with her own hidden propaganda. And they were certainly more harmless than the anti-Muggle vitriol that most pureblooded witches and wizards grow up hearing." He was familiar with that one himself, from his Grandmother Kettleburn. "In fact, I would say that Bloxam's translations are very instructive, as they give us a clear picture of her own values and agenda, as well as an idea of what society must have been like when she wrote these stories. The Toadstool Tales were the most widely spread Beedle translations up until the Granger translation appeared in print."

Ludo raised his hand once more. "Well...my parents always spoke against Bloxam's stories. She seemed to be attempting to turn young wizards away from interacting with Muggles. Obviously, a controversy to many. Not many authors can instill such ideas so quickly as Bloxam did."

He paused before continuing. "I suppose the banning of her books became a form of propaganda. When persons are told they cannot have something, it tends to make them want it more. So that's probably why Bloxam's stories have become so infamous."

Tobi raised his hand and said thoughtfully, "Some wizards who are less friendly to Muggles would consider the original story propaganda. A story doesn't have to be a reworking of an original tale to be propaganda, it's still a biased story for one side of an argument or another. Beedle Bard's version of The Wizard and the Hopping Pot Clearly favours Muggles, and the version Cela told us is Anti-Muggle, they're both biased on opposite sides. As for Beatrice Bloxam, that is censorship in its own way, which is a tool of propaganda, used in card stacking to keep the scales unbalanced for whatever side you wish. Bloxam's side was that children should never hear such gruesome tales. And when her books were banned, that was censorship again, for another side of an issue, that people shouldn't be exposed to such fluffy sugary tripe. It isn't right on either side, but who can tell where the truth would lie? especially in a fictional story, we claim creative license and leave it at that. Personally I don't think it's right to ban or destroy books at all, it's our own responsibility to govern what we're ready to read, but I've gotten off topic again, haven't I?"

Anna had so far been reluctant to answer, because she'd only ever read the Beedle Bard version. She listened as her classmates spoke, trying to piece together all they were discussing. When she was finally sure she had something to contribute (nevermind how incorrect it was going to be), she raised her hand. "Professor, I'm terribly sorry, but I'm only familiar with the Beedle Bard version of the tale. I've been listening to the discussion, however, and I may be able to piece together a bit of it," she said.

"First of all, the Beedle Bard version is quite pro-muggle. The tale teaches us that no matter which type of bloodline we come from, we are all equal nonetheless. Pureblood...half-blood...muggleborn...it all doesn't really matter in the end," she said. "Another version would be the one pureblood sometimes tell. It's different from the first version I mentioned, because it degrades muggles, and attempts to teach against them. The first version, of course, taught that we're all equal. Propaganda-wise, these stories invite a reader to join a particular bandwagon."

"Also, Celandine spoke of a version where Muggles were depicted as people who attack wizards and witches, torturing them with pitchforks and such. Propaganda-wise, this puts Muggles in such a horrible light. The story continues to have the hopping pot eat the muggles, which is, if you ask me, simply disgusting," Anna finished.

Iliana prowled down the corridor, feeling relaxed once again in her graceful kitty form. She had tried to convince herself to steer clear of his classes but in the end she just couldn't seem to stay away. Pacing back and forth outside his door, Iliana listened intently to the activity going on inside. Only when the pain in her hind leg increased did she finally decide to slip inside the door. Slowly, she limped her way up to the Professor's desk and sat down before him, wrapping her tail around her feet in her normal fashion.

"Very well put Kayla." Ethan nodded, "You pretty much got the crux of the three main versions."

"Soreh for what?" Truebridge blinked at the kid and listened to his answer. "Loies an' slandah. Quite right. The third version, as Kayla mentioned; was sugar coated with the intent to save wizarding youth from corruption. I believe the hopping pot wore ribbons and spouted rainbows and bunny rabbits and the like."

"Very good, Copernicus. Thank you for sharing your knowledge on Ms. Bloxam. I'd ask you to sum up her version but even that might cause a few upset stomachs so we shall refrain."

"Good relating to propaganda, thank you Ludo."

"You have not gotten off topic at all, rather you make brilliant points as usual, Tobi. I'd suggest the rest of you take note of what Tobi and Copernicus in particular have to say."

"Ah yes, Celandine's version was in fact one of the pureblood retellings, though very, very sanitised." Ethan nodded, "Thank you Anna for relating a type of propaganda to the discussion."

"Oh." Ethan actually smiled a little bit as the cat showed up. He carefully picked the pretty little thing up and set her in his lap, noting she was favouring her hind leg a bit.

"Alright, we will move on for now, The fountain of fair fortune. Would anyone like to sum it up? And do share what impact you believe it has on yourself and on wizarding society."

"Is that a fountain that gives everyone money?" Ross asked