Jude raised his hand and answered quickly, "Because o' de woo'cut tha' was done of 'imself, de onleh survoivin' pi'ture of any sort of 'im, includes a failly prominen' beard on 'is face." He tried to speak clearly, because his accent always blundered his words even worse when he spoke quickly. Then, he smiled and sat back to listen.

"Right. Either to make people think he was jolly or perhaps because his chin was sensitive to cold. Or maybe because his mother didn't like it and he was rebelling." Truebridge mused.

"Thank you, yes quite right."

"And why indeed would anyone add a beard to a woodcut if someone didn't have one... unless they weren't so great at depicting chins. Though we'd have to figure out who made the woodcut to check if they had chin-depicting abilities."

"Xylography." Ethan repeated. He just liked saying it.

"I believe it only... err... explained that he had a beard. And... that he was a man with a beard who probably liked his beard or else he wouldn't have a beard."

"Exceptionally luxuriant would be in the eye of the woodcut beholder I'd say. I mean, I'd define luxuriant as more of a tactile description than a visual one and we can only imagine that the giant bushy beard depicted in the woodcut could possibly feel luxuriant... let alone exceptionally so."

Truebridge nodded as Jake spoke, "Oh yes, I used to think that too. Maybe Beedle the Beard was his gangster name. But in any case... there is a woodcut, just the one, and in it he is shown with a big ol' beard."

"Right." Ethan agreed, secretly plotting ways to get this kid to speak again because his accent was all interesting and just dripping with whimsy.

Ethan paused and looked around, wondering where Allie's cat was.

"So, Kayla mentioned a similarity between Beedle's tales and Muggle fairy tales. Can anyone explain a few differences between the wizarding tales and the muggle ones?"

Kayla raised her hand once more, "In Beedle's stories his witches are more active in seeking their fortunes than the muggle fairy-tale heroines. The three witches in the Fountain of Fair Fortune and Babbitty Rabbitty are witches who take fate into their own hands, rather than taking a hundred year nap like Sleeping Beauty or waiting for someone to return her glass slipper like Cinderella."

Raiden's hand went up again. "Uhm, in Beedle's tales... the ladies in them are much more active in seeking their own happiness. In lots of Muggle stories, the poor women are made to just sit around and wait for happiness to happen to them, but in Beedle's tales, they get to pursue their happiness." He thought for a moment before continuing. "And in Beedle's stories, magic is shown to cause as much trouble as it can cure. They're faerie tales, but they're not true to the Muggle faerie tales in that not everything can be solved by a spell or a magic rock. Sometimes the problem has to be overcome a different way."

Cela raised her gloved hand, "Well, wizarding tales and muggle tales both deal with magic. But with wizarding tales the focus is on learning that magic causes as much trouble as what it can cure, while muggle tales sorta look at magic as a quick fix with little to no understanding of what its limits and consequences are." Hmmmm what else?

"In muggle stories, usually the magic users are portrayed as bad or evil and are the cause of the woes and hardships that the main good characters have to face. In wizarding stories the main characters, the good ones, they can use magic too. Also wizarding tales show girls in a more positive light. Muggle tales usually depict a damsel in distress."

Elizabeth raised her hand once again. "Muggles, in their fairy tales, depict magic as what causes the problems for the people in them, and the heroines always need a prince, or someone, to help them achieve their goals. The tales of Beedle the Bard show Wizardkind that, while we can perform magic, we still have other problems that may not be able to be fixed by that. And he depicts his heroines as active, and able to accomplish things on their own."

Being a half-blood certainly did pay off, and Evangeline raised her hand once more. She knew the Muggle fairy tales just as well as she knew Bard's. "To start with, in the Muggle tales, magic is always the cause of all the problems. Like in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the witch magically poisoned the red apple so that when Snow White ate it, she'd .. die. But in Beedle's tales, the heroes know how to use magic, but they can't really solve their problems through it. Mum always used the tales to explain me why I couldn't use magic to solve everything." Evangeline gravely said with a nod. "The other difference.." Started Evangeline as a smile flickered upon her lips. She liked this one. "Is that the heroins of Beedle the Bard's tales are much more active and search for the solution of their problems. Like Asha and Altheda! Unlike the Muggle's female characters, they dont become 'damsels in distress' while waiting for Prince Charming to rescue them. They rescue themselves." YAY!

A woodcut. Are you... just... kidding me. His face was on a piece of wood.
Sigh.

Jake nearly giggled when Truebridge mentioned a gangster name, fighting hard to repress the mental images, Jake raised his hand. He liked this class, it was like if you answered wrong it was still okay.

"The Beedle the Bea- I mean Bard ones, they show, like... well, they're darker," Jake tried. He hadn't really read many muggle ones, nor heard of them, and stories like these were often twisted so much out of shape. "And they show that magic can't fix everything... like the one with the dead dog," Jake had indeed cried at that one... poor dog. "And it showed that the dog couldn't be... erm... alive-ified..." Jake's face went kind of blank. Is that the word? "And the lessons are harsher... Basically, the wizarding ones are alot more closer to the truth... I think, anyway."

Is it just me or have I not rambled in a loooooong time? Jake thought to himself glancing out of the window for a second.

Raising his hand, he began to speak again. "Theh muggol ones almos' always 'ave magic as bein' de sou'ce o' dair problems... Where in Wiza'din' ones, the magic folks 'ave jus' an equa' 'ard time ta solve dair problems, even wit' usin' magic... An' the wiza'ding "maidens in distress"" Jude raised his hands to make the quotation marks in the air. "are more... active an' 'elpful in de ways o' ge'in 'emselves outta dair predictaments," he failed at pronouncing that word right, but he didn't care, "dan de girls in Muggol tales..."

"Bu'! Thin's tha' are de same... voi'tue ge's rewa'ded, wickedness ge's punished... All tha' stuff...." Jude smiled again after he finished.

"Well, in muggle stories, isn't it all made up? Like, muggles don't know that magic eally exists. Whereas, in the tales of Beedle the Bard, they're teaching wzard children, and of course, they know magic is real." Miles said. He knew that muggles read fairy tales with magic in them, but that didn't mean they knew that magic was true.

"I think that in muggle stories, the element of magic is portrayed as a helping hand to the hero or heroine also sometimes it is shown as the reason of the whole twist. In wizarding stories, magic is already there, it is shown as a part of the life of the character. Unlike muggle stories, where the story shift to the dependance on magic, wizarding stories tend to focus more on how to use magic in the correct way, a spell is protrayed as a moral not a tool to drive the story" Ray explained after he had raised his hand.

"How much do you think the stronger portrayal of females in Wizarding stories relates to their ability to do magic? Would muggle females in wizarding stories such as beedles tales, still be portrayed as smart, strong and capable individuals?" Ethan posed the question after listening to Kayla, but gestured that the entire class was welcome to speculate.

"We can't always count on magic to make our problems go away, can we?"

"Good point about magic users in muggle stories often being potrayed negatively. We will cover that in our next lesson." Truebridge nodded.

"Right." Truebridge nodded, "Well put."

"Interesting how magic is usually the cause of the problems in muggle stories and yet not always the solution in wizarding ones." Ethan noted.

"They are darker. Less sugar coating because the morals and lessons are much, much more important for us to learn than those presented in muggle stories. Good points, Jake."

"Thank you for pointing out the things that are the same." Ethan nodded.

"Very goooooood point." Ethan nodded, waving his hand in the air, because he actually did care for hands to be raised.

"Thank you, Ray. Good points."

Truebridge cleared his throat, "I remind you all to raise your hands when answering." His tone was bland, but the words were certainly a warning.

"So... If you would all tell me which is your favourite of Beedles tales and why it is your favourite. For those of you who are muggleborn or just not familiar with Beedles work, go ahead and tell me about a muggle fairy tale that features magic users."

Clifford sat quietly, twirling his quill absently between his fingers. The Tales of Beedle the Bard? His Mother had read him a few of those tales when he was younger.. his favourite was always..

"Well Sir.. I liked "Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump" the best.. just because I thought it had a really cool title." Hehe. "Babbitty Rabbitty. Babbitty Rabbitty." Oh gosh, he could just say that all day!

Raiden's hand went up again. "I rather like the story of "The Warlock's Hairy Heart". It teaches us that invulnerability, while we might see it as a blessing, could actually be a curse. The man thinks he's conquered everything, but when his invulnerability keeps him from the one thing he wants, he rejects it and in the end his selfishness for that ends up destroying the one thing he wanted..." He thought for a second, and then raised his hand again. "And I think that Muggle women would be just as strong in stories like Beedle's tales. I don't think it's just their magic that makes them strong in the stories. I think Beedle saw people for who they were, and he knew that women would stand up for themselves, what they want, and for what's right. Because magic doesn't automatically ensure morals or strength. And I think his faerie tales made a point of showing us that."

Hmmmm. Cela hadn't ever really thought about it. She didn't really... know that muggle females weren't portrayed in a positive light but now that she thought about it and raised her hand, "Professor, magic doesn't discriminate based on gender. I think that has a whole bunch to do with how girls are portrayed in our stories."

She listened to the next question and raised her hand again, "Oh! Well I like Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling stump because it mostly conforms to the laws of magic so its really.... real. And it has an animagus in it even though Beedle didn't get all of that stuff straight as far as what an animagus can and can't do in its animal form."

Her favourite Beedle tale? Oh noes. That was hard to pick! Hmmm. But if she had to choose.. "I think that'd be "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot", Sir." The Prefect answered, raising her hand, glad that this lesson was actually going pretty well. YAY! "It's a very pro-Muggle story, aint it? It shows the superiority of the pro-Muggle Dad when compared to their hating son." And the blood differences were something Evangeline despised. "It taught little ickle me that no matter what they say, purebloods aint better than the rest. They're the same." Yup, because blood didnt define who you were. Yup, yup.

"Well Sir," Jude began, simultaneously as his hand reached the air, "Oi realleh loiked "Theh Wiza'd an' de 'Oppin' Po'" because... Well, oi thoink de oidea be'ind de po' i'self... is brillian'. An' i' goes ta show dat wiza'ds shoul' be noice ta muggol's, an' oi loike tha' cuz me mum's a muggol, an' oi thoink tha' she dese'ves ta be trea'ed well, too... An' the oidea be'ind an 'opping po' jus' makes meh giggle e'er toime oi 'ear i'..." he said, giggling at the thought of an iron pot hopping around following the wizard.

Kayla raised her hand slowly still pondering the question, "Well his stories portrayed the heroines who triumphed were not powerful in magic but who showed the most kindness, common sense and ingenuity. Unlike the their muggle counter parts they went out and sought what they wanted and did not wait around hoping that favour would just fall into their laps because as we know real life doesn't work that way." She thought about the second part of the question before speaking again, "Yes I think muggle females would be portrayed the same as witches, Beedle was pro-muggle and I think he would treat them all the same. It is not the magic that makes you what you are but your brain, personality and outlook."

"The Fountain of Fair Fortune is my favourite tale mostly because it showed teamwork between the four, acceptance of someone different and selflessness and oh yeah of course it had a happy ending...always a sucker for happy endings."

Miles raised his hand quickly, so he could get his answer in. His mother used to read him these stories when he was a little boy. Hehe. "I like 'The Wizard and the Hopping pot'. I always have, mainly because I like the idea of the pot wearing a slipper." He grinned.

Celandine turned and looked at the two Slytherins in confusion. The version she knew wasn't pro-muggle at all. She raised her hand, "Professor... I don't know that version."

Joanne raised her hand to answer " well I really enjoyed "The warlock's Hairy Heart" she said " I think is one of the stories which moral is very strong, and it combines a strong love story and the end... well its tragic, on the contrary of most muggle tales." she nodded as she spoke.

Sugar-coating? SUGAR! WHERE?!

Jake raised his hand. "I kinda like The Warlock's Hairy Heart, mainly because of the way he totally cuts things off, metaphorically speaking," he explained, remembering the literal interpretation of that. "And it's kind of ironic, too, in places... like, he ends up dying after he tried to stop becoming weak..." Jake screwed up his eyes; this wasn't making much sense and his brain was totally distracted. "And, it kind of shows that love is totally fatal, dangerous," he added on at the end, a little quieter. "The Fountain of Fair Fortune is wicked awesome, too, because of the last part... where we find out that the waters weren't enchanted, we can read into that alot."

Trying to think of an answer to the very first question, Jake raised his hand again. "Muggle women, I don't think he would have focused on them, but Beedle never specifically point out how strong or weak they are... still, if he did I don't think they would necessarily be less strong, just less significant in the stories... being wizards tales..." Jake trailed off a little, abandoning that point. "As for smart, strong and capable... I can only see why muggle women were less capable... because they didn't have wands. After all, Beedle seemed pro-Muggle, so he wouldn't be making all the women like damsels in distress... Maybe it was a woman in a beard writing stories where Women were totally strong, disguised as a man so people would take notice," Jake shrugged. He wasn't too certain of that whole time period.

OH. OH. Raiden's hand shot up. "Oh, Mr. Professor Truebridge, can I tell her?" He looked at Celandine, bouncing in his chair. "There's two different versions... three if you count the one Beatrix Bloxam wrote, but my mum says that's just stupid and nobody should count it for anything because honestly, it's a load of abraxan dung and nobody will ever take it seriously..." he stopped babbling and reset himself on the line of what he was talking about. "There's a version that purebloods tell sometimes, that's very mean and against muggles, that came out when the witch hunts were going on... and then there's the real version of the story, the one that Jude and Evangeline Green are talking about." He looked at Professor Truebridge. "Should... should I tell her how it goes, or do you want to, Professor?"

Jake raised his own hand again, catching on to what was going on. "Professor, perhaps the hopping pot story... it's like, the man in the story was anti-muggle, but the moral wasn't, is that right, like at all?"

Ludo raised his hand, thinking back to all the stories his parents and older siblings had told him as a kid. One in particular came to mind.

"Professor? I always preferred 'The Wizard's Hopping Pot' because it showed that human nature is not permanent, but quite changeable. And I always enjoyed trying to predict what malady the wizard would suffer from next until it beat sense into his head." he ended with a smile.