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Post by Author By Night on Feb 20, 2009 18:59:25 GMT -5
I think this was my favorite of the tales. What did you think of the fact that the fountain actually held no magic?
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Post by Mirabelle on Feb 22, 2009 19:29:09 GMT -5
Dumbledore's notes to this one had me in stitches. It reminded me of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and I was hoping while I was reading it that someone was going to be inspired to write a fic where Neville, having forgotten his Hogwarts history, agrees to direct Hogwarts' next Christmas pageant to disasterous results.
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Post by magikcat on Feb 24, 2009 15:17:16 GMT -5
I got "Beadle the Bard" for my almost-9-year-old sister for Christmas, and when I asked her to read her favorite to me she picked the "The Fountain of Fair Fortune". For that reason I think this particular tale will always have a special place in my heart.
I really enjoyed Dumbledore's notes about FoFF -- it seemed somewhat odd but still believable to have "the play from hell" happening. And the fact that the Fountain had no magic just exemplifies the genius JK has when it comes to irony.
For me, I saw a lot of Neville in Sir Luckless (partly because I LOVE Neville and tend to see him everywhere ;D). Because they're both humble, steadfast men who take a little time before reaching their full potential. And in they end they're the ones we cheer for and who wins the girl who deserves him.
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Post by vegablack on Mar 24, 2009 13:40:06 GMT -5
Yeah I saw Neville in the Knight in Rusty Armor too.
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Post by pigwithhair on Mar 27, 2009 19:32:55 GMT -5
This was definitely my favorite: because of the knight (I agree with the above Neville comparisons) and because of the irony of the fountain. This is really clever - the cleverest of the bunch, imo - and has some of the perverted sense of things in it that really appeals to me. Jane Austen did that in her writing quite a bit.
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Post by vegablack on Apr 22, 2009 13:54:17 GMT -5
I think the fact that the fountain wasn't magical at all probably horrified some wizard readers as much as the marraige between a witch and a Muggle did. (Malfoy wanted to ban the book because it encouraged love affairs between wizards and Muggles.)
The characters save themselves through strength of character rather than strength of magic. The Muggle knight is as able to lift himself out of his own misfortune without the magical aid of the three witches. The story would read the same if all three women were actually Muggles since even the herbs that healed Asha didn't need to be magical to be successful. The Fountain of Fair Fortune itself is a sham and not really magical at all. The power of magic might seem to be undermined by the entire story. The story is as much about the power of love, and self-sacrifice since the women and the knight selflessly serve each other and that service to each other brings their success.
Finally Muggles and Witches are shown working together successfully. That might be even more threatening than Romantic love since wizards could mix with Muggles without revealing their true nature. A romantic-sexual affair is threatening in a different way than co-operation between equals.
In the hopping pot the Muggles are recipients of the wizards help, but in this story the Muggle acts as an equal saving himself and marrying a witch. That must have seemed very subversive.
Dorris Crockford on the Dumbledore's Army LJ asked why this story was banned instead of altered. This is my thinking on the question.
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Post by queenie on May 5, 2009 18:25:38 GMT -5
vegablack's right, the story is very subversive. Also, I must agree with author by night, it's far and away my favorite. I only wish that the three heroines maybe didn't have such similar names!
Why was the fountain nonmagical. I don't have a broomstick (seriously, I don't, I live in a dorm) but if I did, I'd bet that the story has been altered numerous times, the way that Sleeping Beauty has gone from "prince raped her and left her to bear twins who then sucked out the poisoned splinter" to "prince just has to fall at her feet to get her to wake up" to "I Know You, I've walked with you once upon a dream..."
It might be a reason similar to the common belief that the Deathly Hallows are myth. Those items are absurdly powerful to think about - well, now that we know that Invisibility Cloaks aren't really like Harry's. (I miss Abigail Loomis.) If the Fountain was real, it would be an industry. Armies would have tried to storm it. People would pay to get into the garden first. People would spend all their lives looking for it. Imagine! Lifelong Felix Felicis...
Since something like that probably doesn't exist... we think... it's a way of imparting a very important message: magic cannot solve everything. Rely on yourself. Hard work, cooperation, and cleverness and bravery and striving for the stars *cough* will get a lot more done than lying around wishing or feeling sorry for yourself. The individual trials they face teach: never give up. Learn to let go of the past. Be resourceful, don't panic. And at the very end, recognize when you have good fortune, and be able to share it. And hey, one more important message: losing your wand is not the end of the world! A very Transcendentalist story!
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