Farmer Giles of Ham rewards readers of all ages. Tolkien keeps his tongue firmly in his cheek in telling it, and yet he never stoops to savage mockery. He loved the genre of the fairy story too well to sneer at it, and one of the tale's strengths is its fairy-tale atmosphere.

Tolkien develops the appropriate mood for a world in which animals talk and fabulous creatures roam into sleepy villages. The language is simple and yet not at all childish. Tolkien speaks directly to the reader only once, at the very beginning; after that he lets the story tell itself in an objective manner.

Tolkien derives humor from the ironic descriptions of his characters. Sunny Sam, the village blacksmith, a perennial prophet of gloom, never whistles while he works, unless, of course, something bad which he has foretold is about to occur. The king, who...