Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump

• Type: Wizarding fairytale
• Author: Beedle the Bard
• Appears In: The Tales of Beedle the Bard
• Known Readers: Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Albus Dumbledore

“Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump” is a popular children's story in the wizarding world. The tale is set in a kingdom ruled by a foolish Muggle King who despises magic yet simultaneously desires to be the sole possessor of it. He forms a “Brigade of Witch-Hunters” to capture and execute all wizards and witches in his land. However, the King also wants to learn magic himself. A cunning charlatan with no magical ability exploits this desire, presenting himself as a powerful sorcerer and offering to be the King's private instructor in exchange for gold and jewels. Unable to perform any real magic, the charlatan is soon discovered by Babbitty Rabbitty, the King's elderly washerwoman, who is secretly a real witch. After she laughs at his pathetic attempts to do magic, the charlatan threatens to expose her to the Witch-Hunters unless she agrees to help him fool the King. Babbitty reluctantly agrees. During a public demonstration, she hides in a bush and secretly performs the spells the charlatan pretends to cast. She successfully makes a hat disappear and levitates the King's horse, astonishing the crowd. However, the Captain of the Brigade then challenges the charlatan to bring his dead hound back to life. Babbitty knows that no magic can raise the dead and refuses to assist. When the charlatan inevitably fails, he exposes Babbitty, accusing her of blocking his spells. Babbitty flees into a nearby forest with the King and his men in pursuit. She disappears behind an old crab apple tree just as the Witch-Hunters arrive. The enraged King and charlatan declare the tree to be Babbitty in disguise and order it to be cut down. As the woodcutters fell the tree, a loud cackling laugh emanates from the remaining stump. The stump proclaims that a wizard or witch cannot be killed by being cut in half and threatens to inflict a similar, agonizing pain upon the King. It demands that a statue of Babbitty be erected upon it as a permanent reminder of the King's foolishness. Terrified, the King promises to cancel the witch hunt and build the statue. Shortly thereafter, a stout old rabbit holding a wand in its teeth is seen hopping away from a hole beneath the stump's roots and leaving the kingdom. The stump continues to cackle at the King for many years.

• Babbitty Rabbitty: The protagonist, a clever old witch and an Animagus who can transform into a rabbit. She works as a washerwoman for the foolish King.
• The King: A greedy and foolish Muggle monarch who is easily deceived by the charlatan.
• The Charlatan: An unscrupulous and non-magical swindler who pretends to be a wizard to gain wealth.
• The Captain of the Brigade: The leader of the King's Witch-Hunters.

The central moral of the story is the limitation of magic, most significantly that it cannot reverse death. This is a fundamental law of magic in the Harry Potter universe and a recurring theme throughout the series, especially in relation to the Resurrection Stone and Horcruxes. The tale also serves as an introduction to the concept of Animagi. Babbitty's escape is a classic example of an Animagus transformation. However, as noted by Albus Dumbledore, the story has created many popular misconceptions, such as the idea that an Animagus can speak in their animal form (the cackling stump was a trick performed by Babbitty from her hiding place) or that one can turn back into a human if their animal form is killed.

This story is one of the five tales in The Tales of Beedle the Bard, the book of wizarding fairytales bequeathed to Hermione Granger in Albus Dumbledore's will. When Hermione reads the stories aloud, Ron Weasley recognizes them from his childhood, highlighting the cultural difference between wizards raised in the wizarding world and those, like Harry Potter and Hermione, raised by Muggles. While not as directly relevant to their quest for the Horcruxes as The Tale of the Three Brothers, this story reinforces the crucial lesson that the dead cannot truly be brought back to life, providing important context for the trio's understanding of the Deathly Hallows.

In his notes on the tale (as found in Hermione Granger's copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard), Albus Dumbledore praises it as the “most realistic” of Beedle's stories. He elaborates on the story's core messages:

• The Limits of Magic: Dumbledore emphasizes that the story correctly illustrates that there is no magic that can reawaken the dead.
• Animagus Misconceptions: He clarifies that the story is the source of much confusion about Animagus transformations. He confirms that the talking stump was a piece of clever trickery by Babbitty from a hole beneath its roots, not a property of her being an Animagus.
• Anti-Muggle Sentiment: Dumbledore notes that in some older, less sanitized versions of the tale, Babbitty conspires with the charlatan to terrorize the King with fake Dark Magic. He also reflects on how the King's desire to monopolize magic is a flaw shared by certain wizards.

“Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump” was written by J.K. Rowling as part of the collection The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Initially, only seven handwritten copies were produced, with one being auctioned for charity in 2007. The book was later published for the general public in 2008, with proceeds going to the Lumos charity. (J.K. Rowling)