December 2008
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
J.K. Rowling
Bloomsbury, London
2008
That very night a peasant woman knocked on the front door.
'My granddaughter is afflicted by a crop of warts, sir,' she told him. "Your father used to mix a special poultice in that old cooking pot--'
'Begone!' cried the son. "What care I for your brat's warts?'
And he slammed the door in the old woman's face.
At once there came a loud clanging and banging from his kitchen. The wizard lit his wand and opened the door, and there, to his amazement, he saw his father's old cooking pot: it had sprouted a single foot of brass, and was hopping on the spot, in the middle of the floor, making a fearful noise upon the flagstones.
Till min stora förtjusning fanns denna nätta lilla skapelse tillgänglig på nedersta hyllan i den lokala bokhandeln. Jag vet inte vad man kan förvänta sig efter den enorma succén med Harry Potter. Förmodligen kommer den här att sälja minst lika bra, men jag kan inte tro annat än att den kommer bli en besvikelse för många. Jag tänker dock ta mig an den med stor vigör, då det faktiskt är Rowlings stora illustrationsdebut.
