Book Review: The Tales of Beedle Bard

This is a series of short stories written by J.K. Rowling and would be consistent with the Hogwarts world Grimm Fairy Tales.  Their are five stories included, with commentary from Albus Dumbledore.  He credits Hermione Granger with translating the stories.  It is published in 2008 by Mixed Sources.
I really enjoyed the first story, "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot."  This is about the son of a wizard, who is stingy with his services to his non magical neighbors, unlike his father who tried to help everyone.  The pot forces the son to be empathetic, and teaches him a good lesson.
"The Fountain of Fair Fortune" presents three witches and a knight who seek the fountain.  In the end the all leave their troubles behind in the struggle to get to the fountain.  It seems perhaps the fountain was not magical at all.
Both of these two stories are interesting as Dumbledore points out, in that they have interaction between magical and nonmagical people.
I did not care for "The Warlock's Hairy Heart."  Too bloody for my taste.  Dumbledore points out that it is difficult to manipulate love, and in this case the warlock had hidden his heart away to avoid love.
"Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump" is entertaining.   It is very similar to "The Emperor's New Clothes."  The king is determined to learn magic, and forbids and hunts down all other magical beings.  He is taken in by a con artist, and doesn't learn any magic.  The Babbity Rabbit, an animagus escapes the emperor and the conman by transforming into a rabbit.  Albus points out this story teaches that death cannot be conquered with magic.
The last story, "The Three Brothers" we already know from the last Harry Potter.  The three brothers defeat death, and are given a wand, a magic stone to defeat death, and an invisibility cloak.  The first two brothers are captured by death all the same.  A wizard kills the first brother in his sleep to steal the wand.  The second brother brings his love back to life, but finds she is not really among the living, but only a half life.  He suicides to really join her.  The youngest brother, uses the cloak to hide from death, and then when he is of good age gives the cloak to his son, and meets death willingly.
Of course a point to the story in the last Harry Potter is if this legend is true, and if these items actually exist, so as to defeat death.  I enjoyed this book and it was a fast read.