help!

[salixbabylon]

You know how you're writing and writing and suddenly you realize that you're not sure about some random factoid which is turning out to be very important and neither wikipedia nor your own memory are helping? That's when I turn to my f-list:

Dear Fellow Harry Potter Geeks,

Are house elves literate? Is there ever any mention of them writing or leaving notes or reading something???

This is a key point in my fic and if they aren't, I'm in for a massive re-write.

Help please?

-Salix

Comments

[taz34.livejournal.com]

I don't remember ever reading where Kreacher or Dooby read or wrote anything. And I also asked my SIL because she's been reading the books from when they first came out and she doesn't remember a mention of them being literate either. Hope this helps.

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

I can't either, but I'm thinking some of them must have, been. I know the books mention them taking care of children (which I would assume might involve reading them stories), and probably their employers might occasionally have need of them being able to read instructions or even just "Go get my that box in the attic labeled 'Aunt Florence' and bring it to me" sort of things. Or cookbooks...

Anyway, I'm going to say some of them can, and hope I'm not contradicting canon. ;)

[taz34.livejournal.com]

I don't think you'd be doing any kind of injustice if you wrote that they can read and write. I just don't remember it being mentioned. And that's probably just because JKR didn't think it was that significant.

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

Good point. ;)

[nebulein.livejournal.com]

just because it was never mentioned that they are literate wouldn't have to mean that necessarily all of them are illterate, right? i tend to go and just establish my own canon in cases like this...

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

Agreed. And since it's so damned useful (esp in my story), I'm going to say they can. Screw canon. ;)

[uinendolothen.livejournal.com]

I'm probably not much help but I don't recall ever seeing anything that would indicate that House elves can read. That said, another friend pointed out that they do whatever their masters want them to do - so perhaps if their master ordered them to read, they'd be able to?

I checked the HP Lexicon site ... never been there before but have seen it referenced in fics as a place where people found info. This is what they have to say: http://www.hp-lexicon.org/bestiary/house_elves.html. (Apologies if you've already looked there which would make this rather redundant.)

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

Exactly - I'm sure if their masters needed them to, they would learn. And since they do things like raise children, cook, and might occasionally need to read something their master wrote, I'm going to say at least some of them can.

I hadn't actually looked at the lexicon yet, so thanks for the reminder that wikis aren't my only resource. ;)

[megyal]

I think they can? I'm not sure, anyway. I've always assumed that they could! But maybe they don't have to. In the lexicon, it doesn't say yes or no, so you could probably use it either way. And I don't remember anything in the books saying anything about that, either.

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

I think they can, too (see my replies to other comments). So I'm saying they can and that's that. ;)

Thanks for your vote!

[slash-kitten.livejournal.com]

I think Dobby, as a free elf, would've wanted to learn how to read and write. The other house-elves, I'm not sure.

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

I think some of them might need to, so I'm going to say that some of them must be literate.

Thanks for weighing in on the matter! :)

[severkarogueova.livejournal.com]

I remembered having read something about Dobby's reading... Here it is...

The Match Maker
by Minx
‘It is a fact generally acknowledged, that a young man in possession of a fortune must also be in search of a wife.’

Dobby looked up from Pride and Prejudice and pondered this. From what he’d seen of the courtship of Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Napier, Lucius, although in possession of a fortune, had not exactly been actively seeking anything. The older Malfoys had selected Narcissa and arranged the marriage. Dobby returned to his reading. Among the things that he enjoyed greatly about Hogwarts were the facts that he had actual free time, and that the library had an extensive selection of what Dobby had learned were called ‘novels’, completely made-up stories about people who didn’t even exist. He thought that this was a particularly powerful kind of magic. He read on.
...

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

Hehehe! I love the idea of Dobby reading Muggle classics!

Good to know I won't be the first slasher to use the idea, whether it's strictly canon or not. :)

[severkarogueova.livejournal.com]

LOL... Therefore Dobby definitely can read. ;-)
I couldn't resist to re-read the story again. It ends this way:

...In the kitchen Dobby smiled secretly to himself. He had made Harry Potter happy at last. He sipped his Butterbeer and reached for his latest novel, Huck Finn. Something about Tom and Huck made Dobby think of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black...

The Matchmaker

[k9asylum.livejournal.com]

any chance I could get the link to The Matchmaker by Minx????

Re: The Matchmaker

[severkarogueova.livejournal.com]

Sure, here is the link I have in Favorites, but it seems not work.
http://www.vidweasels.com/Minx/Other_SH/
I don't know if it'is my problem or if it doesn't function anymore. If you can't find the storz on the net, mabye I can send it to you by e-mail.