Albus Dumbledore on “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot”A kind old wizard decides to teach his hardhearted son a lesson by giving him a taste of the local Muggles' misery.The young wizard's conscience awakes, and he agrees to use his magic for the benefit of his non-magical neighbours.A pro-Muggle story showing a Muggle-loving father as superior in magic to a Muggle-hating son?It is nothing short of amazing that any copies of the original version of this tale survived the flames to which they were so often consigned.Beedle was somewhat out of step with his times in preaching a message of brotherly love for Muggles.The persecution of witches and wizards was gathering pace all over Europe in the early fifteenth century.Many in the magical community felt, and with good reason, that offering to cast a spell on the Muggle-next-door's sickly pig was tantamount to volunteering to fetch the firewood for one's own funeral pyre.Note 1. It is true, of course, that genuine witches and wizards were reasonably adept at escaping the stake, block and noose (see my comments about Lisette de Lapin in the commentary on “Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump” ) .
