Farmer Giles of Ham : The Rise and Wonderful Adventures of Farmer Giles, Lord of Tame, Count of Worminghall, and King of the Little Kingdom

This is a lovely little whimsy of a tale, with a cast of characters who manage to transcend their stereotypes (bluff farmer, wily dragon, cowardly and boastful dog) in their witty encounters. There isn't much of any depth in the book, but so what? It reads just like a classic retelling of a

folktale, except that the tale didn't exist until Tolkien dreamt it up while fantasizing about the origins of English placenames. And if you have a copy without Pauline Baynes's mock-medieval drawings, then throw it away and get one which has them. MB 15-vi-2007

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LibraryThing member nebula21

This was the 50th Anniversary Edition with the original manuscript and notes on the intended sequel. This is a entertaining children's story with giants, dragons and an unlikely hero. It was interesting to see how the story progressed from the first manuscript to the final published version.

LibraryThing member SylviaC

I think this is the book that has been in my TBR pile longer than any other--probably about 30 years. Given that it is only 78 pages long, I have no idea why I didn't read it sooner. It's a silly little story, fun to read, about an unlikely hero with a cowardly talking dog.

LibraryThing member BenKline

Quick fun story and read. Tolkien has an amazing way in just creating a small realized place/world, and then telling a story there for its best effect.

LibraryThing member Sonya.Contreras

Didn't know Tolkien had written a children's book.
It included notes, edited manuscripts and thoughts that were later revised.

The story was engaging, following a man who started as a farmer and realized what luck at the right time will achieve. A lesson in power and pride.

Boys enjoyed the giants,

dragons and time period. I enjoyed that magic did not reign and life was a bit normal.

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LibraryThing member quondame

The first Tolkien I ever read, I remembered this as hilarious and original - and it was in 1960 when I was 11. It's still an amusing riff on making an alliance with a dragon rather than slaying it. The absurd anachronisms of blunderbuss and sugar pastry as well as the traditional ones of knights in

4th-5th cent Britain were entirely overlooked at that first reading.

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LibraryThing member SeriousGrace

Farmer Giles (aka Aegidius Ahenobarbus Julius Agricola De Hammo) lives in a kingdom where giants and dragons occasionally terrorize the community. Normally one to mind his own business and not get involved, Farmer Giles is seen as a hero after he chases off a giant terrorizing the village and

squashing livestock. After such accidental bravado, it is only natural that the village appoint Farmer Giles as the one to slay a greedy dragon (worm) when it comes calling on Ham. With a talking dog and an overworked mare, Giles accepts the challenge. The result is as humorous as it is childish. This is a book for children of all ages, after all.

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LibraryThing member ulan25

Love this edition of the book, with its gallery of illustrations by Pauline Baynes, a copy of the original text and the unfinished sequel, and notes on different parts of the story. The introduction also gives a background on how the story came to be and how it saw publication (via another glowing

review by Rayner Unwin!) :)

The audiobook performed by Derek Jacobi is beautiful too.

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