Con_Stripes | 03-09-2009 01:25 AM | Quote:
Originally Posted by aussiegirl
(Post 7941187)
Kayla raised her hand, "Okay this story is baasically about a king who wanted to learn the art of magic, not realising that you are actually born with magic and could not simply learn it. He asked for a witch or wizard to come forward and teach him magic. So a sneaky charlatan stepped forward and claimed that he was a wizard with enormous skill and that he would teach the king magic but he only knew a few simple tricks himself. So they set forth and began to practice but nothing really happened for the king and he grew quite angry when the washerwoman by the name of Babbitty laughed at their efforts. So the king decided to show his magic tricks to all the townsfolk and the charlatan grew quite nervous at this and decided to flee but the king forbade him to go. The charlatan spotted Babbitty polishing her wand and knew that she was a real witch and so he basically blackmailed her into helping the king perform his magic tricks in front of the townsfolk. So Babbitty consented to helping the king but of course when he was asked to bring back the dead, she could not perform that spell because as we know, no spell can awaken the dead. The charlatan pointed out Babbitty hiding in the bush and set the Witch-Hunters after her. Babbitty being the smart little cookie that she was hid inside a tree and began to speak from it. The charlatan thought she had turned herself into a tree and so he ordered them to cut the tree down but alas the tree stump still continued to talk. It claimed that by cutting the witch in half it had placed a terrible curse upon the town and that every time they hunted down a witch or wizard it will feel as though they themselves have been cut. And so the king vowed never to harm another witch or wizard and he had a statue of Babbitty erected upon the stump. The moral of this story is too never meddle in anything you do not truly understand and leave those alone who are different from yourself." | "It's a good story with a good moral." Truebridge commented. "Kayla, if you would come up to the board and summarise in bullet form." Quote:
Originally Posted by Ameh
(Post 7941197)
Shrugging and jotting down what Professor Truebridge had just said, he immediately raised his hand.
"In this story, there's a king who decides that he should be the only one who gets to do magic... and he makes a Brigade of Witchhunters to hunt down anyone who can do magic. He also puts out that he needs a Grand Wizard to teach him magic... and a regular Muggle decides that he can make money off this and goes to the castle to get the King to hire him for the job. He does some cheap Muggle magic tricks and the King hires him. The lying guy asks for a sack of gold, some rubies, and silver chalicey things so he can buy wants, perform spells, and make potions. He hides all this stuff in his house, and he's walking back to castle and stops to break two twigs off a tree to pretend that he's bought wands. The washerwoman, Babbity, she sees him doing this as he walks back into the castle." He paused, thinking. "The guy tells the King that the twig is a wand that's really powerful, but it won't work until he's worthy of it, so he takes him out to the Palace Grounds every day to practice 'magic', while all the while making sure to do silly tricks so the King will still believe his power. And one day, the King and the... what's the word they use for him.. oh, Charlatan. The King and the charlatan hear Babbity laughing at them... and the King gets all bothered, and he says he's gonna perform his magic the next day in front of people. The charlatan tries to explain himself out of it, and leave, but the King says that if he leaves, his Witchhunters will get him. So the charlatan is in big trouble now, because he's gonna get caught in his lies, and he goes to yell at Babbity... but when he looks through her window, he sees her doing magic and recognizes that she's a witch. And he tells her if she doesn't help him by making the king's 'spells' happen, he'll reveal her for a witch and the dogs will eat her. So Babbity goes along with it, but she says 'what do I do if I can't perform one of the spells he tries?'. The charlatan laughs at her and says that he's sure anything the King can imagine up is well within Babbity's skill range..."
He tapped his chin for a second and then continued.
"The next day, the King gathers people and starts his magic show. First he tries to disappear a woman's hat, and Babbity makes it happen, cos she's hiding in the bushes where they won't see her. Then, the King levitates a horse in the air, but it's really Babbity doing that too. And then, one of his Witchhunters comes forward and says that the King should bring their dog back to life, cos he ate a poisonous something earlier that day and died. Well, the King tries, but Babbity just smirks in her hiding place because she knows that no spell can bring back the dead... and the charlatan's gonna get in trouble because the King's spell isn't working, so he points at Babbity and calls her a wicked witch. And the people chase her, and when she gets over a hedge she disappears. And the witch hunting dogs are after this old tree nearby, so the charlatan yells that Babbity's disguised herself as a tree and they cut the tree down, thinking they're gonna kill her... but she's not the tree at all, and the next thing they know, they're hearing her voice saying that they can't kill a witch by cutting them in half, and they should try on the charlatan... who immediately admits that he's not magical at all, so they won't cut him in half. And as he gets dragged off to the dungeons, Babbity says that by cutting her in half, they've put a curse on the kingdom and every time a witch or wizard is killed by the Hunters, the king will feel pain in his side like an axe and he's gonna want to die. And then she says that he has to build a statue of her on the stump of the tree, which they do, and when all's said and done and they leave, a rabbit comes out from under the stump with a wand in her teeth and disappears. Because Babbity wasn't the tree, she was under the tree. And because of her, no witch or wizard was ever prosecuted in that kingdom ever again." | "Wow." Truebridge listened and blinked a few times, "That... yeah, that's the story alright." Quote:
Originally Posted by Oesed
(Post 7941210)
Summarize the story. Right. After bending down to reach for her school bag -that was on the floor- and taking out a fresh parchement, Willow dipped the tip of her quill inside her bottle of ink, and started to write her summary, chuckling a bit as she wrote certain parts of it.
Honestly--trying to do magic with a regular twig? Willow could not blame Babbity for having laughed at that, for she would have done it, too.
Done with it, she proceed to re-read it to see if she had forgotten to mention something important about it.
After adding the part of the rabbit leaving the kingdom with a wand on his mouth -ew-, Willow started to write about the lessons that could be learned from the story. Done with writing her notes, Willow proceed to listen to Winters and a young Slytherin boy tell a summary of the story to the class. | "What you got there, Willow?" Truebridge saw the Ravenclaw was busy writing notes, "How bout you come up and list the lessons we learn from the story on the board." Quote:
Originally Posted by Anna Banana
(Post 7941218)
Anna raised her hand and said, "The story begins with a King in a faraway land deciding that he wants to keep all the world's magic for himself. Of course it begins with selfish...don't they all? I don't know when these people will ever learn!" Anna playfully rolled her eyes and shook her head at the King's nonsense. Whoever thought they could keep all the world's magic for themselves? Hmpf. "So this King devises a plan to gather all the witches and wizards of the world by forming a Brigade of Witch Hunters. The Witch Hunters have packs of wild dogs that he...I guess...feels will help capture the magical population. If you ask me, though, I don't think he knew what he was getting himself into. I mean, would you allow yourself to be captured by a pack of wild dogs? I don't think so!"
"The King then calls upon a real witch or wizard to assist him in learning magic. Only, no real magical people respond. He only hears from a muggle who claims to know magic. Of course he really doesn't, though. Muggles only know tricks that they believe to be magic!" Anna said. "The King is forced to give this Muggle money and treasures for his services, items which the muggle hides away in his small house. One day, Babbity, a woman who does the King's laundry, spies the muggle tearing limbs from a tree and using them as 'wands'. She knows then that he is definitely a fake, and she even laughs at the King and the muggle as they attempt to learn what they consider to be magic. Whoever heard of a wand looking like a limb, though?" Anna asked, shaking her head once again.
"In a fit of anger, the King demands that the muggle perform in front of the King's subjects to allow the King to show off his new magical abilities. The muggle tries to back out, of course, but the King threatens him with the Brigade, causing him to give in. Shortly thereafter, a few muggles go to Babbity's house to spy on her, and they find out that she is a real witch. They demand help from her and tell her that if she refuses, they'll turn her in.," Anna continued. Babbity agrees to hide in a bush to make it seem as if the King is doing the magic himself, when really it's going to be Babbity's magic being displayed."
"Trouble begins when a member of the Brigade asks the King to bring his dead dog back to life. Of course the King, nor Babbity, can do this, as it is impossible to use magic to bring back the dead. The crowd laughs at the King, who wonders why the spell isn't working. The muggle points to the bush, where Bappity is hiding, and tells the King that Babbity is blocking the magic. Babbity runs from the bush with the dogs from the Brigade right behind her, then finally disappears," Anna said.
"In the end, Babbity begins cackling, letting the crowd know she is alive and well, and she tells them that a real witch or wizard can not be cut in half. You see, the muggles thought she was inside a tree, so they cut it in half, thinking the could kill her. Babbity tells them to try and cut the muggle in half to prove her point. Of course the muggle then confesses that he is a phony, but by the time, Babbity has cursed the King. She tells him that he'll wish for death everytime a witch or wizard if harmed. Babbity finished by demanding a statue of her be made and put up to remind everyone of what they've done. She then reveals she is an animagus by coming out of the tree in her rabbit form, her wand in her mouth. She then leaves the kingdom, but her statue remained on the stump," Anna finished.
Anna took a deep breath and continued. "Of course we can learn not to be selfish, and not to wish for things which are out of our control. The King wa selfish in that he wanted all the magic in the world for himself, and he was willing to pay any price to get that magic. He should have just taken delight in what he was naturally given and tried to be a fair ruler of his kingdom," she said. "He would have gotten far more respect that way. The story also shows us that those telling the truth and living fairly will always outwit those who try and cunningly meet their needs." | "Thank you, Anna." Truebridge nodded. Quote:
Originally Posted by Crayola
(Post 7941243)
Summarise the story? Oh Merlin. That was the biggest of them all, and Evangeline really didnt know that much about it. Strangely enough, she had never found it that funny. Eh. Silly ickle her. She didnt know it'd be useful! "There is this foolish, greedy king who wants all the magic for himself. But giving the fact he doesnt know any magic at all and that there were true magical people on his kingdom, he needs to learn magic and get rid of all the wizards." Silly little King. Greedy people were nasty. "So he gets himself a teacher. Only that .. his teacher doesnt really know anything about magic and it's only there for the money." The sixth year stopped talking and grew thoughtful for a moment before sheepishly smiling, her cheeks getting warmer. "I don't really remember how, but there's this witch Babbitty's ... who someone is forced to help the fake wizard. Yes, because the King wants to do a live performance of his magic and he'll kill the charlatan if he cant." Why would Babbitty help him, she was sure though. "During the performance, someone asks the king to revive a .. hound, I believe and obviously, Babbitty can't help with that, because .. well, magic can't revive the dead. The charlatan told her on and she ran away to the woods, where she flees into an old tree, and the fake wizard says she has turn into the tree and they cut the tree down .. I think. In the end, the charlatan confesses and the stump makes the king agree that he shall build a statue of Babbitty in that same place. Then, a old rabbit is seen leaving the stump with a wand on its teeth"
Okay. That should do it, no? Even if she had forgotten parts of it. Hehe.
"This tale teaches us that lying doesnt take us anywhere, and that greediness is usually trouble." The Prefect said, scratching her chin. Surely there was more. "Oh ... and manipulation aint good either." Haha. | "Manipulation ain't good... if you suck at it." Truebridge commented, "Thank you, Evangeline. Good answer." Quote:
Originally Posted by Waterloo
(Post 7941308)
Clifford threw his arm excitedly in the air. YAY for BABBITY RABBITTY! "Basically there's this King dude who's a wizard wannabe, yeah? And he goes about waving twigs around thinking he's totally cool." HAH! "BABBITTY finds it hilarious obviously and starts cackling like a mad woman.. but then he blackmails her cos he's a bully and she helps him do this performance thing." Poor Babbitty. "Erm.. someone wants him to bring their dog from the dead, but obviously he cant do that cos he's a big fat fake and magic cant do that." Big breath. "But then there's a nice happy ending with Babbitty's statue." Hmm. "It teaches us that twigs don't make good magic wands and that some people like Babbitty Rabbitty have really awesome names." There. | 'Good, Clifford." Truebridge nodded, lifting the cat up to nuzzle it before setting it back in his lap. Quote:
Originally Posted by Ameh
(Post 7941344)
Raiden put his hand in the air again, having totally forgotten to add the lessons learned in the story.
"The lessons in this story are pretty clear. Lying can get you into really bad situations. And trying to make it so you're the only one who has something will backfire too. Like, the King wanted to be the only one with magic, but because of this, Babbity told him she'd put a curse on him so he'd feel pain if he tried to go after magic people again." He thought for a moment, then continued. "Also... I think another lesson is 'don't mess with things you don't know or understand', because the king tries to mess with magic and he gets himself into trouble...And that magic can't bring anything or anyone back from the dead." | "That's right, Raiden. Someone likes stories , eh?"
Ethan nodded, "Phew! That was a long one, huh? But you are all doing wonderfully.
"Alright, so it's probably time to cover.... which tale is left?" |