SMITH OF WOOTTON MAJOR by JRR Tolkien

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“Then the dawn came, and far away he heard the dawn-song of the birds beginning, growing as it came towards him, until it rushed over him, filling all the land round the house, and passed on like a wave of music into the West, as the sun rose above the rim of the world.”

title: Smith of Wootton Major

author: JRR Tolkien

published: 1967

publisher: George Allen & Unwin

genre: a tale of Faery

setting: Wootton Major & Faery-land

main themes/subjects: village life, the magic of Faery, mid-winer festival, childhood, the imagination, respect for Faery, the relationship bw magic & cooking, inheritance by spirit rather than blood, travels & traveling, Fae in disguise among humans, beautiful descriptions of Faeryland, lots of thematic & motif echoes from The Lord of the Rings

“At the children’s party the village of Wootton Major holds every year, Smith swallows a star, and this star is his passport into Faery. . .” — from Tom Shippey’s Introduction to TALES FROM THE PERILOUS REALM

my thoughts:

Smith of Wootton Major is a lovely, little fairy story that, while not exactly a part of his Middle Earth canon, still fits in with Tolkien’s larger theme of creating a mythology for England & features an Elfland or Faery-land that many readers will find looks very similar to Middle-earth.

On this reread I especially enjoyed seeing all the details that echoed elements from The Lord of the Rings such as the parallels between the “fay-star” & the star of Eärendil, the “fay-star” & the One Ring, Smith’s Faery-influenced smith skills & the legendary skills of Fëanor & Celebrimbor, the King’s tree & the Tree of Amalion (& the White Tree), the descriptions of Faery with the descriptions of Tol Eressëa & Valinor, Smith’s grandfather Rider’s name & story echoing that of Strider/Elessar’s, the conversation between Smith & the Faery King re: giving up the fay-star & Bilbo & Gandalf’s conversation about giving up the One Ring, the description of the Elven warriors with those of the Noldor, as well as, imo, parallels between Olórin/Gandalf & the Faery King/[spoiler].

A quick, charming read, this is another perfect read-out-loud book for children, especially around the Christmas holiday season as the Children’s Feast in the story is a midwinter holiday & features something akin to a king cake.

i would recommend this book to readers who love wholesome tales of Faery with inspiring messages about childhood, the imagination, & belief in, or at least a healthy respect for, magic throughout one’s life. this book is best read aloud, in the evening by the fire, with the whole household gathered round.

final note: Someone in our bookclub commented that they see this tale as a “quintessential fairy story” written by Tolkien according to his own “rubric” / model / template about what “fairy tales” are (as made explicit in his lecture, “On Fairy Stories”) & I very much love & agree with that take.

“‘All is well then,’ thought Smith. ‘So you are my heir. I wonder what strange places the star will lead you to?’”

season: Midwinter

music pairing:

further reading:

• LETTERS FROM FATHER CHRISTMAS by JRR Tolkien (1920-1945) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

• Roverandom by JRR Tolkien (1925) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

• “On Fairy Stories” by JRR Tolkien in TALES FROM THE PERILOUS REALM (1997)

• THE BOOK OF LOST TALES by JRR Tolkien

Tolkien’s bookshelf—

• PETER PAN in Kensington Gardens and Peter and Wendy, by JM Barrie

• JUST SO STORIES, by Rudyard Kipling 

• Five Children and It (1902), & The Story of the Amulet (1906), by Edith Nesbit

• The Wind in the Willows & The Reluctant Dragon, by Kenneth Grahame

• Sylvie and Bruno (1889-93) & Through the Looking Glass (1872) by Lewis Carroll

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare

• The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser (1590)

Click on the star ratings beside the titles I’ve read to read my reviews/thoughts about the book.

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