The $4 Million Fairy Tales

In the Harry Potter series, The Tales of the Beedle Bard is a collection of stories told to children from wizarding families. When famed wizard Albus Dumbledore died, he left his copy to Hermione Granger in the hope that it would prove "entertaining and instructive". (Which, of course, it did.)

In the real world there are only seven copies of The Tales of the Beedle Bard, each hand-written and illustrated by J.K. Rowling herself. The books are all bound in leather and decorated with silver and semi-precious stones. The first six were given as gifts to people who helped with the Harry Potter books. The seventh was just sold at auction for four MILLION dollars.

The money from the sale will be donated to The Children's Voice charity, which "campaigns for children's rights across Europe, especially in Eastern Europe, where many children and teenagers grow up in institutions."

How absolutely wonderful! Read the CNN article here.