Which J.K. Rowling short story collection is presented as a book of wizarding fairy tales?

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is J.K. Rowling’s collection of wizarding fairy tales.

The book appears within Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as a volume left to Hermione Granger by Albus Dumbledore. Its five tales include “The Tale of the Three Brothers,” which explains the origin of the Deathly Hallows and becomes important to the final novel’s plot.

Rowling published the collection as a real book in December 2007, shortly after the Harry Potter series ended. The standard edition includes commentary by Albus Dumbledore, while Rowling’s notes explain the tales and their place in wizarding culture.

The book is sometimes confused with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them or Quidditch Through the Ages. Those are also Hogwarts-related companion works, but Beedle the Bard is specifically a collection of fictional fairy tales rather than a textbook or sports history.