Tree and Leaf

Fairy-stories are not just for children, as anyone who has read Tolkien will know. In his essay 'On Fairy-Stories', Tolkien discusses the nature of fairy-tales and fantasy and rescues the genre from those who would relegate it to juvenilia. This is aptly and elegantly illustrated in the haunting short story, 'Leaf by Niggle', which recounts the story of the artist, Niggle, who has 'a long journey' to make and is seen as an allegory of Tolkien 's life. The poem Mythopoeia relates an argument between two unforgettable characters as they discuss the making of myths. Written in the same period…