FARMER GILES OF HAM by JRR Tolkien
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“‘So knights are mythical!’ said the younger and less experienced dragons. ‘We always thought so.’
‘At least they may be getting rare,’ thought the older and wiser worms; ‘far and few and no longer to be feared.’”
title: Farmer Giles of Ham
author: JRR Tolkien
published: 1937
publisher: George Allen & Unwin
genre: comic medieval fable
setting: the Middle Kingdom
main themes/subjects: children’s fantasy / mock charter myth / a local legend featuring a brave farmer & his cowardly dog & his determined mare, a comic & light-hearted narrative voice, mock etymologies of actual place-names, a silly giant, an inconvenienced dragon, a selfish king, a vindictive miller, a morose blacksmith, & a bunch of useless knights, also puns
summary/blurbs/premise: a plucky farmer finds himself the hero of an unlooked for confrontation with a trespassing giant & before he knows it, he’s sent off by his village & the king to fight a dragon!
my thoughts:
This charming little fable is such a beautiful example of Tolkien’s light-hearted, whimsical, & indescribably clever way with words. Combining influences from medieval fables, children’s stories, fairy tales, heroic legends, charter myths, & place folklore, Tolkien weaves a story that is equal parts humor, adventure, & moral to such subtle & well-crafted effect that you will wish he’d spent ten times as much ink on the antics of Giles, his mare, & his little dog.
i would recommend this book to readers who enjoy lighthearted, wholesome, hilarious adventure stories. this book is best read aloud, & with all the proper voices. Or you could just listen to Derek Jacobi’s audiobook narration as it is *brilliant.*
final note: In our bookclub discussion for this book one of the readers pointed out that Saint Giles is traditionally the patron saint of the poor & Giles is certainly the everyman hero, standing up for justice in the face of a selfish & inept king, supplanting him, & ensuring that the rewards from his adventures benefit the whole community. Tolkien’s class consciousness is always on point. 💅🏻
“The song and tales of his deeds were many, and if forgotten at court, were still remembered in the villages.”
CW // some stressful situations with the dog
season: Spring
music pairing: medieval English folk music
further reading:
THE HOBBIT by JRR Tolkien (1937) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
BEOWULF: A TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY, by JRR Tolkien
“The Panther’s Tale” by Mahsuda Snaith in HAG: FORGOTTEN FOLKTALES RETOLD edited by Carolyne Larrington (2019) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=mythlore
https://antigonejournal.com/2022/01/farmer-giles-tolkien-latin/
Tolkien’s bookshelf—
“The Sword in the Stone” (part one of THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING), by TH White
The Dragon Tamers, by Edith Nesbit
The Reluctant Dragon, by Kenneth Grahame
“Saint George and the Dragon”
For more works by & about JRR Tolkien, check out this post:
Complete recs & TBR of works by & about JRR Tolkien
“The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet it is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: Small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.” — from THE FELLOWSHIP…
Click on the star ratings beside the titles I’ve read to read my reviews/thoughts about the book.
I earn commissions from the sponsored links to my shop on bookshop.org which allow me to keep my content like Book Reviews & Reading Lists free to all subscribers. <3
All graphics, images, & photography © Stop and Smell the Books unless otherwise indicated.
Subscribe below to see more of my favorite quotes & illustrations from this book. . .
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Stop and Smell the Books to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.