I love this book! Beautiful illustrations and a fun story set in the Middle Ages.

This review is based off of the Harper Collins Pocket Hardcovers sold in a set as the “Tolkien Treasury.” This book includes the published version of the story, the first manuscript version, and the short outline for the sequel. I’m including that info because I don’t know if other versions include the same.

To me this was a great little tale, falling just short of me loving it. I think this is a cute, silly story that could so easily fall into the realm of other fairytale stories/the same popularity, if only it was more readily available. Although, it is again one of those older children’s stories where while I’m reading I’m like, “this was told to kids?!” So with that being said this could easily have been dulled down or “Disney-fied” or made even more adult in a longer version/adaptation.

I feel like pretty much from top to bottom this story is about greed. While Giles is considered to be good to his people, and well liked, he is also still tempted by the gold of the dragon. Albeit, not as grossly as the king and his court.

Of course we also get the dual pleasure of something light and enjoyable as with most of Tolkien��s earlier works (ie. Roverandom or even the full length The Hobbit), mixed with the lush imagination of the king of fantasy Himself.

Personally a 5/5* for me, as I liked it even more the second time around.

An enjoyable little story, with a wonderful narration from Derek Jacobi.

Would probably never have picked this up, if it wasn’t Tolkien and I have to admit to being somewhat underwhelmed by his non-middle earth stories.

Pošto je zima i sezona praznika, dobio sam želju da čitam i nešto magično i bajkovito. Ova knjiga upravo je to.

U pitanju je delo koje je Tolkin takodje prvenstveno napisao zbog svoje dece i priča koju im je kao malima pripovedao. Medjutim, ovo delo nije postalo klasik kao što je slučaj sa Hobitom.

Hobit je primetno ozbiljnije i obimnije delo, ali Farmer Gil od Hama nije ništa manje vredan. U pitanju je bajkovita priča u srednjovekovnom stilu. Tolkin koristi mnoge zaboravljene i mnogima nepoznate reči i izraze. Naravno, za sve postoji objašnjenje na kraju knjige. Pored toga, u ovom izdanju su i brojne crno-bele ilustracije.

Ovo je jedna kratka i zanimljiva priča, uz dosta šaljivih i satiričnih delova. Glavni junak jeste farmer Gil od Hama, a može se reći i njegov pas Garm. Farmer neplanirano i neočekivano postaje junak u kraljevstvu, da bi vrlo brzo taj status morao stvarno opravdati. Ne bih previše opisivao radnju koja je inače kratka, već bih se osvrnuo na brojne motive i skrivene detalje u priči. Tu je dosta pouka, kao što je sa Tolkinom uvek slučaj. Pročitao sam već u jednom od utisaka na internetu o svakom značenju imena koje je Tolkin koristio u ovoj priči, pa sam se nakon toga i sam malo više informisao. Iznenadilo me koliko je toga zapravo sakriveno i do detalja osmišljeno. Još jednom potvrdjuje veličinu i obim ideja ovog čoveka. Priča mi se veoma dopala i došla je na red za čitanje u pravo vreme. Pogodna je za decu, ali i odrasle koji žele da rasterete mozak od briga i svakodnevnice i za promenu uživaju u kratkoj priči koja će vam se sigurno dopasti.

Delightful. It has a much more light-hearted tone than The Hobbit or LOTR; I was laughing practically the whole time. It’s not connected with Middle-earth, but I guess it does have some magic since Garn (the dog) can talk (the most common words being “Help! Help!”) and Tailbiter jumps out of its sheath when a dragon is a couple miles away. Good for all ages!

Herlig historie fra Tolkien dette. Småmorsom bonde skremmer tilfeldigvis bort en drage, får et sverd og blir en helt. Har ingenting å gjøre med verken Hobbiten eller LotR, men like fengende å lytte til.

Ali zmaj koji se izvinjava što je napravio nered??? Preslatko

I forgot how hilarious this entire thing is. I mean, obviously the overall story is funny, the highly reluctant farmer, the canniness of the grey mare (she’s the real hero here and we all know it), the ridiculous Latin and Tolkien’s never-ending (and never not funny) digs at the spoiled simpering knights and their greedy indebted king. But also almost every single line is hilarious. The way it’s written.

“They all crowded round him, calling him Good Aegidius, Bold Ahenobarbus, Great Julius, Staunch Agricola, Pride of Ham, Hero of the Countryside. And they spoke of Caudimordax, Tailbiter, The Sword that would not be Sheathed, Death or Victory, The Glory of the Yeomanry, Backbone of the Country, and the Good of one’s Fellow Men, until the farmer’s head was hopelessly confused.”

&c. It’s just rather great. Whether he’s being comic, whimsical, or tragic, Tolkien is just thoroughly Up My Alley. I love his writing so much.

Bought with the same Christmas book voucher as The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Smith of Wootton Major. My copy is an extremely shabby piece of bookage now.

This was an absolutely delightful short story. I'm definitely adding this to our family read aloud list!

WARNING: Oh, that's kind of disappointing. This book is really, really tiny. I was expecting it to be the same as its look-a-like edition from the 1970s. This measures about 3.5" x 4.5" by eyeball. Much less than half the size of the original first edition with the same wonderful artwork. Sad Tolkien fan :(

A reluctant farmer is driven by practical circumstances to put his wits and grit to work to overcome the cynical neighbors and far dangers coming near.

Tolkien’s common hero trope highlights the value of everyday folk doing what they can do when they set their minds to doing their duty.