J. R. R. Tolkien

1. J. R. R. Tolkien Short Stories “Leaf by Niggle” “Smith of Wootton Major” “Farmer Giles of Ham”

2. “Leaf by Niggle” Plot • Niggle painting picture, helping Parish • Niggle goes on trip • Work house • Sent to Tree • Works with Parish to improve Niggle’s Parish • Heads over the mountains

3. “Leaf by Niggle” Dystopia story • Atkins, Thompkins, Perkins • Inspector of Houses, of Gardens • Art not valued • Practical use of all resources • Responsibility to others paramount • No imagination • “Leaf by Niggle” put in museum

4. “Leaf by Niggle” Christian Allegory • Responsibility to neighbors • Preparation for afterlife • Purgatory • 1st and 2nd Voice • Perfection of world beyond death • Imagination / art / creativity as introduction to heaven

5. “Leaf by Niggle” Allegory of art • Niggle as subcreator: provides fantasy, recovery, escape, consolation • Concept of tree grows, Niggle adds other canvases • Practical world interferes with imagination • Niggle takes painting material with him • Reality of tree as imagined but better • Tree in context with forest, station, Parish’s garden, explore time and space • Creation ongoing

6. “Leaf by Niggle” Tolkien connection • Middleearth created as separate stories and later connected • Ambitious project, not just tree but world it fits into • Tolkien’s design to show wind, light reflected • Niggle and Parish both necessary

7. “Smith of Wootton Major” -- plot • Master Cook on holiday, Alf is Prentice • Smith chosen at 24-feast • Smith sings, slaps star on forehead • Smith visits Faerie, several times • Smith dances with Fairy Queen, takes message to King, time to pass on star • Alf leaves, Nokes gets wish to become thin

8. “Smith of Wootton Major” • Nature of Faerie • Part of our world, but star needed to enter • Extremes of joy / sorrow • Declining world • Explore time and space • Glimpse of Faerie in our world, Queen

9. “Smith of Wootton Major” • Why my favorite story • Representative of what Tolkien provided for us with Middleearth • Suggests Faerie, hobbits still here, just not visible to us • Idea of passing on ability to see wonder

10. “Smith of Wootton Major” Still round the corner there may wait A new road or a secret gate, And though we pass them by today, Tomorrow we may come this way And take the hidden paths that run Towards the Moon or to the Sun. FOTR

11. “Farmer Giles of Ham” -- plot • Giant comes rampaging, Giles hits with blunderbuss • King sends Caudimordax • Chrysophylax Dives shows up • Farmer Giles confronts dragon who promises payment • Giles and knights go to collect • Dragon carries treasure back • Giles made king of Ham, Tame (Thame)

12. “Farmer Giles of Ham” • Tolkien’s original impetus for writing this story was to explain place names • Like exploration of MiddleEarth as linguistic exercise • Like mythology answers origin questions

13. “Farmer Giles of Ham” -- themes • Reluctant heroism • Tradition • Declining world

14. Tolkien’s view of Fantasy • “On Fairy Stories” • Fantasy, Recovery, Escape, Consolation • Exploration of time and space • Interaction with other beings

15. Tolkien Other Stories • Roverandom • “Father Christmas Letters” • “Adventures of Tom Bombadil” • “The Cottage of Lost Play” • “The Notion Club Papers”