A Middle English Vocabulary · Sir Gawain and the Green Knight · Ancrene Wisse · The Old English Exodus

Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.

Hammond, Wayne G.; Scull, Christina (2006a). The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Chronology. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-261-10381-4. Of course we also get the dual pleasure of something light and enjoyable as with most of Tolkien’s earlier works (ie. Roverandom or even the full length The Hobbit), mixed with the lush imagination of the king of fantasy Himself. Dopo averlo letto ed ammirato, nelle molteplici e caratteristiche illustrazioni, ne rimango discretamente soddisfatto, sinceramente leggerei quasiasi cosa scritta da Tolkien, però c'è qualcosa che non quadra... Now Farmer Giles would face pressure to defeat the dragon, capture the treasure and resist the greedy king. Armed with a magic sword, his faithful dog and gentle mare he goes out into the Wide World and changes history. It is said Farmer Giles of Ham was translated from a medieval manuscript, written originally in Latin. The manuscript claims that the fable gives the reasons for certain place names in England's county of Oxfordshire, which is where the “Middle Kingdom” of the story seems to take place. The fable's events are ambiguously dated to “before Arthur or the Seven Kingdoms of the English.”

This was a sweet little tale involving Giles the farmer, Chrysophylax the dragon, and Garm the dog (who was the star of the show for me). The knights sent by the King to pursue the dragon turn out to be full of excuses not to do their duty. The villagers look to Giles to do something. The local priest finds that the old sword is Caudimordax ("Tailbiter"), meant specifically for killing dragons. Bez obzira što je ovo delo više namenjeno deci, Tolkinova bajkovitost i magija pripovedanja ne izostaju ni u ovoj knjizi, tako da je ovo idealna prilika za prvi susret sa slavnim piscem, pre nego što zakoračite u Srednju zemlju. A quest cannot be complete without a hero, the role which Farmer Giles fills. Like Tolkien's hobbit heroes Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin, Giles is a common man who seems unlikely to improve his station in life, much less defend an entire kingdom against a dragon and later become its king. Giles's first heroic act is actually an accident: "scared out of his wits," he pulls the trigger on his blunderbuss and sends the giant off grumbling with a sore nose. By the end of the tale, however, Giles has grown so much in courage and power that he can face a dragon without fear and rebuff his own king. Yet, as a Tolkien hero, his growth is not surprising. Because he is close to the soil (like the hobbit heroes), he seems to be morally superior to all those around him; certainly he is superior to the King and all his court. Giles sets out and meets Chrysophylax. The sword turns out to be able to fight almost on its own; Giles hits the dragon with the sword, damaging its wing so it cannot fly, and leads it through the town. It is made to promise to bring its treasure to the villagers, but it does not keep its word.Così mi ritrovo tra le mani un racconto favolistico/folkloristico che Tolkien penò molto a far pubblicare e qui lo ritroviamo rimaneggiato, "aggiustato", allungato per poterlo rendere appetibile per la vendita. Another joke puts a question concerning the definition of blunderbuss to " the four wise clerks of Oxenford": "A short gun with a large bore firing many balls or slugs, and capable of doing execution [killing people] within a limited range without exact aim. (Now superseded, in civilised countries, by other firearms.)" [11] Tolkien had worked on the Oxford English Dictionary, and the "four wise clerks" are "undoubtedly" the four lexicographers Henry Bradley, William Craigie, James Murray, and Charles Talbut Onions. [12] Tolkien then satirises the dictionary definition by applying it to Farmer Giles's weapon: [13] A 2008 reprint on the book's 60th anniversary included illustrations by Alan Lee and an introduction by scholar Tom Shippey.

Reluctantly, Farmer Giles finally sets out to meet Chrysophylax. Once he does, he finds that his sword works more or less of its own accord; he wallops the dragon, preventing it from flying away, and drives it through town. When the dragon collapses in front of the Church, Farmer Giles, aided by his greedy neighbors, makes the dragon promise to go and retrieve them its hoard or else perish. The dragon, of course, agrees to go fetch his wealth.One fine summer night Giles was woken up by the cries of Garm, who warned him of a giant trespassing upon his property. Taking up his blunderbuss, the farmer fired his weapon (more or less by accident) at the face of the intruder, who turned around and went away (thinking he had been stung by a large fly). After getting up from where the recoil of the blunderbuss had laid him out, Giles found himself the Hero of the Countryside. Wie auch immer: Man erlebt, durch die ganze Geschichte hindurch, Tolkiens Gespür für sehr feinsinnigen Humor. Obwohl es sich bei dieser Erzählung eindeutig um ein Märchen (oder etwas, das sehr dicht dran ist) handelt, haben nicht nur Kinder etwas davon. Walker, R. C. (1984). "The Little Kingdom: Some Considerations and a Map". Mythlore. 10 (3). Article 11. Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past. To me this was a great little tale, falling just short of me loving it. I think this is a cute, silly story that could so easily fall into the realm of other fairytale stories/the same popularity, if only it was more readily available. Although, it is again one of those older children’s stories where while I’m reading I’m like, “this was told to kids?!” So with that being said this could easily have been dulled down or “Disney-fied” or made even more adult in a longer version/adaptation.