 First edition cover | |
| Author | J. R. R. Tolkien |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Pauline Baynes |
| Cover artist | Pauline Baynes |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's literature Fantasy fiction |
| Publisher | George Allen & Unwin |
Publication date | 20 October 1949[1] |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| ISBN | 978-0-04-823068-3 |
| Preceded by | "On Fairy-Stories" |
| Followed by | The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son |
Farmer Giles of Ham is a comic medieval fable written by J. R. R. Tolkien in 1937 and published in 1949. The story describes the encounters between Farmer Giles and a wily dragon named Chrysophylax, and how Giles manages to use these to rise from humble beginnings to rival the king of the land. It is cheerfully anachronistic and light-hearted, set in Britain in an imaginary period of the Dark Ages. It features mythical creatures, medieval knights, and primitive firearms.
Scholars have noted that despite the story's light-hearted nature, reflected in Tolkien's playful use of his professional discipline, philology, it embodies several serious concerns. The setting is quasi-realistic, being the area around Oxford where Tolkien lived and worked. The story parodies multiple aspects of traditional dragon-slaying tales, and has roots in modern and medieval literature, from Norse myth to Spenser's The Faerie Queene. Its concern for the "Little Kingdom" embodies Tolkien's environmentalism, in particular his well-founded fears for the loss of the countryside of Oxfordshire and surrounding areas.
- ^ Hammond & Scull 2006a, p. 353.