Rowling says goodbye to Potter with fairy tales

By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - J.K. Rowling is to say goodbye to Harry Potter with a handwritten set of fairytales mentioned in her last wizard saga that she will auction for her children's charity.

Fans hoping for another dose of Potter will be disappointed as the tales will not be published, but Rowling said on Thursday she was half-way through writing another children's book.

A copy of "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" with illustrations by the author is to be sold at auction next month to raise money for The Children's Voice charity she set up.

"Writing it has been the most wonderful way to say goodbye to a world I have lived in for 17 years," said the author of the teenage wizard stories that have sold more than 350 million copies and made her the first billionaire author.

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard" are mentioned in the last Potter book as having been left to Harry's friend Hermione by their head teacher Albus Dumbledore, recently outed by Rowling as being gay.

Of the five wizarding fairytales only one -- "The Tale of the Three Brothers" -- is told in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". She has produced just seven copies, bound in brown leather and decorated in silver and moonstone designs.

"Six of these books have been given to those most closely connected to the Harry Potter books during the last 17 years," Rowling said in the book's dedication.

"This seventh copy will be auctioned; the proceeds to help institutionalized children who are in desperate need of a voice. So to whoever now owns this book, thank you -- and fair fortune be yours," she added.