New Preface by Lynette Longman.
There is a strange coincidence between the childhood of magical children and their Muggle compatriots. In the last 18th and early 19th century, The Brothers Grimm assembled Muggle folktales, in the German speaking part of the world. A century earlier, Charles Perrault assembled his own collection of French Folk Tales and rhymes. These two collections strangely resemble two collections within our own world: The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and Ma Matinwald's Old Book. The Tales of Beedle the Bard are parallel to the collections of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, though Beedle's book predates the birth of these two men. This book is more like the writings of Charles Perrault, or like the collection called "Mother Goose", another Muggle collection whose origins are less than clear. Ma Matinwald has been claimed to be many historical figures, from the wife of the first Minister of Magic, to the grandmother of famous Quidditch player Mario Le Miew. While some of these claims have some evidence for them (it is well known that Le Miew's grandmother read him fairy tales, and he sometimes tried to use these to inspire his team when he was captain of the French National Team, to the disgruntlement of many of the other players), it is clear that none of the proposed witches were named Matinwald, and most Matinwald researchers agree she simply represents the archetypal grandmother figure.
Ma Matinwald's Old Book has seen many different editions published, and many unpublished as well. The shortest known edition contained only one rhyme, the Tail of Timtim. It read "Timtim had said, fervefacioed, then his tail turned red, and then he was dead." It famously sold only two copies, one of which was immediately returned for a refund, and so this is became of the rarest books in the wizarding world. The longest known edition contains over 800 tales and rhymes, most of which appear to have made up by the 'editor' Gail Grossman, whose work has mostly been discredited (she has also had the audacity to try and discredit those of us in the field whose research is true, thankfully her efforts have been largely unsuccessful).
This edition aims to restore the original tales in their original form. Obviously, it is nearly impossible to create a truly authentic edition, but with careful research, near perfection can be reached. We are pleased to present to you "Ma Matinwald's Old Book, New Edition".
