Preview of Farmer Giles of Ham Summary:

Farmer Giles of Ham is the most finely-crafted and delightful of Tolkien's minor works. Thoroughly suffused with sly wit and word-play, it is also a welltold mock-heroic tale. He revised it in July 1947, two-and-a-half years before completing the first draft of The Lord of the Rings. In Farmer Giles of Ham, Tolkien gently mocks the elements of heroic fairy tales—the plot; the fabulous creatures, such as giants, dragons, and talking dogs; the weapons; the people; and even the hero.

In its tone, themes, and characterization, Farmer Giles of Ham represents a return to the less complicated world of The Hobbit. For example, Farmer Giles behaves in much the same way as Bilbo Baggins, the hero of The Hobbit; the giant resembles Bert, William, and Tom, the stupid trolls in The Hobbit; and Chrysophylax the dragon is a sly, cowardly relative of Smaug, the dragon of The...