Free Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling Page A

is intended to answer a few of the most frequently asked questions that have been arriving in my weekly postbag ever since this book was first published in 1927. The first of
these is that most fundamental question of all – what is a “beast”?

    W HAT I S A B EAST ?
    T he definition of a “beast” has caused controversy for centuries. Though this might surprise some first-time students of
Magizoology, the problem might come into clearer focus if we take a moment to consider three types of magical creature.
    Werewolves spend most of their time as humans (whether wizard or Muggle). Once a month, however, they transform into savage, four-legged beasts of murderous intent and no human conscience.
    The centaurs’ habits are not humanlike; they live in the wild, refuse clothing, prefer to live apart from wizards and Muggles alike, and yet have intelligence equal to theirs.
    Trolls bear a humanoid appearance, walk upright, may be taught a few simple words, and yet are less intelligent than the dullest unicorn, and possess no magical powers in their own right except
for their prodigious and unnatural strength.
    We now ask ourselves: which of these creatures is a “being” – that is to say, a creature worthy of legal rights and a voice in the governance of the magical world – and
which is a “beast”?
    Early attempts at deciding which magical creatures should be designated “beasts” were extremely crude.
    Burdock Muldoon, Chief of the Wizards’ Council 1 in the fourteenth century, decreed that any member of the magical community that walked on two legs
would henceforth be granted the status of “being,” all others to remain “beasts.” In a spirit of friendship he summoned all “beings” to meet with the wizards at
a summit to discuss new magical laws and found to his intense dismay that he had miscalculated. The meeting hall was crammed with goblins who had brought with them as many two-legged creatures as
they could find. As Bathilda Bagshot tells us in
A History of Magic
:
    Little could be heard over the squawking of the Diricawls, the moaning of the Augureys, and the relentless, piercing song of the Fwoopers. As wizards and witches attempted
     to consult the papers before them, sundry pixies and fairies whirled around their heads, giggling and jabbering. A dozen or so trolls began to smash apart the chamber with their clubs, while
     hags glided about the place in search of children to eat. The Council Chief stood up to open the meeting, slipped on a pile of Porlock dung and ran cursing from the hall.
    As we see, the mere possession of two legs was no guarantee that a magical creature could or would take an interest in the affairs of wizard government. Embittered, Burdock
Muldoon forswore any further attempts to integrate non-wizard members of the magical community into the Wizards’ Council.
    Muldoon’s successor, Madame Elfrida Clagg, attempted to redefine “beings” in the hope of creating closer ties with other magical creatures. “Beings,” she declared,
were those who could speak the human tongue. All those who could make themselves understood to Council members were therefore invited to join the next meeting. Once again, however, there were
problems. Trolls who had been taught a few simple sentences by the goblins proceeded to destroy the hall as before. Jarveys raced around the Council’s chair legs, tearing at as many ankles as
they could reach. Meanwhile a large delegation of ghosts (who had been barred under Muldoon’s leadership on the grounds that they did not walk on two legs, but glided) attended but left in
disgust at what they later termed “the Council’s unashamed emphasis on the needs of the living as opposed to the wishes of the dead.” The centaurs, who under Muldoon had been
classified as “beasts” and were now under Madame Clagg defined as “beings,” refused to attend the Council in protest at the exclusion of the merpeople, who were unable to
converse