Tales From The Perilous Realm
by J. R. R. Tolkien
BBC Full Cast
64K
* "Farmer Giles of Ham", a short story about an English farmer who encounters a dragon. Tolkien's title page, written in Latin, is missing from this edition. Garm, previously drawn by Pauline Baynes as a greyhound, is now drawn by Alan Lee as a Mastiff.
* "Smith of Wootton Major", another short story, set partly in Faerie and partly in the area near Oxford.
* "Leaf by Niggle", a highly allegorical short story often (including here) published in tandem with the essay "On Fairy-Stories" as Tree and Leaf.
* The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, a collection of poems claiming to be "of hobbit origin" (and the only item in the compilation that is directly related to Middle-earth and The Lord of the Rings).
How exciting to hear all these J. R. R. Tolkien fairy tales on audio book! I feel like I am back in my childhood with my mother reading to me. The difference in this audio book however, is that there are different voices for characters and background sounds and music, thus making it more of a production than just a normal audio book read. The stories are enchanting, while intelligent of course, and it is so good to hear more from a master storyteller like Tolkien. I was not familiar with any of them so each one is a treat.
One of the "stories" actually contains a couple of long poems as well as some others and I enjoyed them very much. It was a nice change of pace in THE ADVENTURES OF TOM BOMBADIL. I think this one can be listened to many times to get more out of each poem as you listen again and again. I think "The Shadow Bride" can be discussed more than the others, as it seems to have a deeper, not so light, feel to it.
FARMER GILES OF HAM would be the story I would most like my students to listen to. It is light and has a grand, although not so willing, hero. It has the requisite dragon and brave knights who should slay him in ordinary tales, but in Tolkein we don't look for ordinary. Here we find a chubby farmer who seems to be the only one who can do battle with the dragon. There is also a talking dog that the students would enjoy. It is charming and funny and one people of all ages would enjoy.
LEAF BY NIGGLE is a tale with a much deeper meaning to it. The memorable presentation brings life and death into it in subtle ways, which make for a second listening, or third, to try and see what Tolkein really meant by the subtle use of symbolism in the tale. All of this in what in simpler terms might just be about an artist who is painting a picture of a tree.
SMITH OF WOOTTON MAJOR delightfully tells about a special gift to a not so special person and what this gift does for him. I think this might have been my favorite but then again, each time I listen to the wonderfully written words of Tolkein, I find more in the stories to like and change my mind again. This is an audio book, or if you get the book, that you will read and read again and be anxious to share with others as I was, and as I did, and I am sure will continue to do for years to come!
Replies
Thanks for sharing.