Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump

Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump

    A long time ago, in a land far far away, a King decides to keep all the magic in the world for himself. In order to get all the magic, he needs to gather all the witches and wizards in the world, so he forms the Brigade Of Witch -Hunters, armed with packs of wild dogs. But first, he needs to learn how to use magic, so he calls for someone with magical abilities to teach him. No real wizards or witches respond, but a muggle pretends to be a wizard, and offers to teach him, despite not knowing any magic himself.

   Soon, the Muggle teacher demands money and treasures for his services, and he hides all these objects in his small house. Babbity, the king's washer woman, hides and watches the Muggle as he pulls two twigs from a tree and later pretends these are wands.

   While the king and the Muggle are practicing, they hear Babbitty laughing hysterically from her cottage. This enrages the King, who demands that the Muggle help him perform in front of his subjects to show off his new abilities. The Muggle tries to back out by saying he has to go out of town, and cannot help him, but the King threatens to send the Brigade of Witch-Hunters after him, and if anyone laughs while the King is performing, the Muggle will be beheaded. The Muggle heads to Babbitty's house, where he spies on her, and finds out that she is a real witch. He asks her to help him, or he'll expose her.

   Amused, Babbitty agrees to help out the poor Muggle. He tells Babbitty that she will hide in the bush tomorrow, and make it seem as if the King himself can do magic. While they perform, the crowd is astonished by the disappearance of a hat and a levitating horse; then, one of the members of the brigade asks if the King can make his dead dog return to life. The King tries, but Babbitty does nothing, because she knows no magic can raise the dead. The crowd laughs at the King, and the King wants to know why the spell isn't working. The Muggle points to the bush, and says a wicked witch is blocking them. Babbitty runs from the bush, and when the hounds chase after her she "disappears", leaving the dogs barking at a tree.

  The Muggle tells the crowd that Babbitty turned into the tree, and that the tree must be cut down, because she is an "evil" witch. The crowd is wild, and the tree is cut down. As the crowd starts to leave, they hear a cackling coming from the stump. Babbitty tells the crowd that real wizards and witches cannot be cut in half, and that they should cut the Muggle in half to prove it. The Muggle confesses he is a fraud, and Babbitty tells them that the King is cursed, and he'll feel an axe stroke every time a witch or wizard is harmed. So the King makes a proclamation declaring that witches and wizards are protected and that they must not be harmed. Babbitty demands a statue be built of herself, to remind everyone what has been decreed. The King promises it will be done, and erects a statue of her made of gold. Soon after, an old rabbit appears out of a hole in the stump with a wand in its mouth, revealing that Babbity has been hiding in her Animagus form, and she leaves the kingdom. Forever after, the statue of Babbitty remains on top of the stump, and no witch or wizard is ever hurt in that kingdom ever again.

The Tales Of The Three Brothers

The Tales Of The Three Brothers

   There once three brothers who were travelling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across. However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure.
   It was Death. He was angry that he had been cheated out of three new victims, for travellers usually drowned in the river. But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers upon their magic, and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him.
   So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death! So Death crossed to an elder tree on the banks of the river, fashioned a wand from a branch that hung there, and gave it to the oldest brother.
   The the second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and asked for the power to recall others from Death. So Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to the second brother, and told him that the stone would have the power to bring back the dead.
   And then Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death. So he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility.

   Then Death stood aside and allowed the three brothers to continue on their way and they did so, talking with wonder of the adventure they had had, and admiring Death's gifts. In due course the brothers separated, each for his own destination.

    The first brother travelled on for a week or more, and reaching a distant village, he sought out a fellow wizard with whom he had a quarrel. Naturally, with the Elder Wand as his weapon, he could not fail to win the duel that followed. Leaving his enemy dead upon the floor, the oldest brother proceeded to an inn, where he boasted loudly of the powerful wand he had snatched from Death himself, and of how it made him invincible. That very night, another wizard crept upon the oldest brother as he lay, wine-sodden, upon his bed. The thief took the wand and, for good measure, slit the oldest brother's throat.
   Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone. Here he took out the stone that had the power to recall the dead, and turned it thrice in his hand. To his amazement and his delight, the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry before her untimely death appeared at once before him. Yet she was silent and cold, separated from him as though by a veil. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered. Finally, the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as truly to join her.
   But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life.

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