Dumbledore's Favorite Book

What books should a somewhat gifted seven-year-old child enjoy reading?

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi..."

After thinking for a moment, Manus listed a string of book titles. It was clear that they gradually shifted from stories and entertainment to more specialized works.

"What a studious child."

Dumbledore could not help but sigh. How many books had he read when he was seven?

Well, although he had read books before, it seemed he had never finished a single one.

Partly because children did not Love reading, of course, but also because Dumbledore's family circumstances had been rather unusual.

No matter what, it was astonishing for a seven-year-old child to have read so much, and to have done so voluntarily.

"Studious... am I? I just like reading these books."

Dumbledore's eyes crinkled.

"It seems you are a humble child as well."

Humble?

Manus's gaze returned to the book at his side.

He had only been telling the truth.

Knowledge could help people understand the world. Whether positive or negative, real or fictional... the size of a person's world depended on how much knowledge they possessed.

Moreover, knowledge itself was fair and reliable. There was only the difference between possessing it and not possessing it. It would not betray you, nor would it deceive you. It would only faithfully remain by your side, so long as you treated it sincerely as well.

Magic was the most special kind of knowledge. It was knowledge that explained how the world was built, how it could be changed, and how it could be controlled.

It was knowledge that could directly bring power.

That was why Manus felt Love for magic.

For the orphan who had once possessed nothing, it was the most direct and reliable path to understanding everything and obtaining everything through his own power.

As he looked back on the past, an indescribable emotion welled up in Manus's heart, silently setting the beginning of some change in motion.

A faint flicker of surprise and delight passed through his eyes, but Manus hid it well. The next moment, he looked at Dumbledore.

"Professor Dumbledore, you must have read quite a lot of books too, right?"

"Of course... but now that I think about it, it has been a very long time since I last sat down and quietly finished a book."

Dumbledore looked somewhat wistful.

"Then, Professor Dumbledore, which book do you like best?"

Dumbledore's eyes flickered. After a few seconds, he spoke.

"My favorite book? I have never really considered that question before. Of all the books I have read, there are many from which I have benefited greatly. But if I had to choose my favorite..."

At that point, Dumbledore did not directly name the book. Instead, he looked at Manus.

"You have read this book too. Would you like to guess which one it is?"

"Oh?"

A string of titles flashed through Manus's mind—the ones he had just mentioned, including the book beside him. Among them, which one could Dumbledore consider his favorite...

Basic textbooks such as The Standard Book of Spells and One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi were clearly impossible. That left only books like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which, while still educational, had a certain amount of charm.

Or perhaps this wizard, whose emotions were particularly abundant, actually liked books related to sports and Love-related hobbies, such as Quidditch Through the Ages?

Seeing Manus lost in thought, Dumbledore had no intention of letting him agonize over it, so he smiled and revealed the answer directly.

"It is The Tales of Beedle the Bard."

The Tales of Beedle the Bard?

Manus instinctively glanced at Talking to Your Wand beside him.

Both were collections of fables and fairy tales, but he actually preferred Talking to Your Wand. Its stories were longer and more vivid and interesting.

Yet Dumbledore had chosen The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Manus did not believe Dumbledore had never read Talking to Your Wand.

So, did The Tales of Beedle the Bard contain some secret he did not know about, or was it simply due to some subjective emotional reason?

"Then, would you like to guess which story is my favorite?"

So what was special was not the book itself, but one particular story within it?

Manus recalled the contents of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

There were not many possible answers, because The Tales of Beedle the Bard contained only five stories in total:

The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, The Fountain of Fair Fortune, The Warlock's Hairy Heart, Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump, and The Tale of the Three Brothers.

Of them, Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump praised a witch's cleverness while depicting the greed and foolishness of a Muggle king and a swindler. It was probably the least profound of the five stories and the least worthy of deeper consideration.

The Wizard and the Hopping Pot and The Fountain of Fair Fortune taught people to help others and to change their own fate rather than pinning their hopes on something that could bring good luck.

If those two stories truly had anything worth digging into, it could only be that the hopping pot that cured all illnesses and the fountain that brought good fortune actually existed. But even so, they were probably not Dumbledore's favorite stories.

That left The Warlock's Hairy Heart, a story that warned people that the beauty of the heart was more important than wealth and status.

When Manus had read it as a child, he had not found anything particularly special about it. But after discovering the relationship between magic and the soul in this world, the meaning of the story became somewhat different.

The soul could affect magic, and magic could naturally affect the soul as well.

In the story, the warlock had shut away his heart for too long. When he wished to embrace happiness, he was controlled by his hairy, shriveled heart and killed the girl who was meant to bring him happiness. That had once struck Manus as rather abrupt.

But if the warlock's sealing away of his heart for status and wealth was understood as using some kind of magic that required him to seal away the beautiful side of his heart for status and wealth—

And if his heart growing hairy and shriveled from its long confinement, even controlling him to kill the girl, was understood as the prolonged use of that magic eventually affecting his heart in turn and truly stripping it of those beautiful things—

Then the story's warning made perfect sense, and it was very magical.

But if there was some additional deeper meaning, Manus could not see it. It could not possibly be an allegory for a lich's Horcrux, could it?

Horcruxes did not have such side effects.

Finally, there was The Tale of the Three Brothers, a story that seemed somewhat unsuitable among fairy tales. Manus believed it discussed the meaning of life through Death, something children probably could not understand.