4,5/5
Tam da Tom Sawyer’ı üzerine bunu okuyunca iki çocuk kitabı üst üste okumuş oldum ve resmen 15-20 yaş gençleştim.

Mi aspettavo una storia epica e ricca di pathos simile a quella di Bard ne Lo hobbit, invece ho trovato una fiaba in sé poco originale e già letta (con varianti) altre mille volte presso altri mille autori. Delusione. Peccato...

Μια μικρή, όμορφη ιστορία! Και για μικρά και για μεγάλα παιδιά! Μεγαλειώδης ο τρόπος που ο Tolkien "πατάει" πάνω σε πραγματικά τοπονύμια, ώστε να μας παρουσιάσει μια μεσαιωνική ιστορία με δράκους και ιππότες! Μια ιστορία, μικρή, αλλά με πολλά πράγματα να πεί...

8.5/10
Farmer Giles of Ham is a short tale from the master of fantasy fiction J.R.R.Tolkien. Although the story is about a hero and contains giants, dragons and talking dogs,(actually it is just one dog) it is not an epic tale full with action. Don’t worry tho, because although it will not amaze you with great battles, it will put a smile on your face with nice humour.

One nice night a giant went for a walk. He was out for a while and got lost, he was also very hungry. He started to walk faster trying to find his home, when suddenly a fly beat him. The giant thought that he was about to enter a dirty place filled with flies and creatures bad fo his health. He realized that he turned wrong and decided to go back.

Giles the farmer was sleeping when Garn, his dog, called him in the middle of the night. Garn informed his master that a giant entered his fields and step on his favorite cow. Giles of course didn’t believe the dog and threw a bottle to the poor dog. When the dog continued he had no choice but to check. He took his gun and went out. A bit later he faced the giant, who couldn’t see him cause of the moonlight in his eyes. Giles got so scared that he accidentally pulled the trigger, that for his good luck was facing the giant’s huge face.

Word got out of the brave farmer but it would only lead to more funny adventures that I suggest you read yourself.

My husband Tim and I listened to this on our trip home from visiting my parents. We have both read this aloud to our children, read it privately and listened to it with Derek Jacobi on audio many, many times. Never gets old. We still laugh at the jokes which are now just plain old friends and we often call our dog Garm.

A true 5-Star book with an exceptional audio narration by Derek Jacobi.

Genealogy of this satirical story was quite haphazard. In The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, Volume 1: Chronology, Scull & Hammond duo explained that, according to Tolkien’s eldest son John, the story originated during a family picnic, which was ceased by a sudden rain shower, when the family was coerced to find a shelter under the eaves, and while the rain was pouring, father Tolkien began a story of farmer Gil. The story was at first written in a form of a dialogue between father and the son, and Tolkien intended to publish it after “The Hobbit”, yet it waited for 12 more years to be exposed into the bookshop windows’. The very tale is, I daresay, sheer reflection of Tolkien’s devotion to medieval literature, and the form resembles much of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, yet, of course, Tolkien imprinted his own mark into it, using both Latin and Greek to name his characters. Thus, farmer’s name arose from the archaic Latin term for a farmer – aegidius, which means kid hide, and is somewhat mocking, common phrase for a farmer. And Gil is its English match. Ham is abbreviation from hamlet – a small village. Gil’s dog is Garm, and Garm is the guardian of the Hell’s door in Norse Mythology (yet Tolkien’s Garm is rather a weeper than a guardian, but is able to talk), his favourite cow is Galathea (the goddess of milk) and his wife is Agatha. When a dragon, by his name Crysophylax (Greek coinage, meaning “the guardian of the gold”), emerges into the village, King will send Giles, a reputed giant bewilderer, and bestow him a sword named Caudimordax (tailbiter - which leaps out of its scabbard in the vicinity of the dragon) to repel the dragon. Then, the entire story inverted, and became a satire, at which end Giles became a King of his little Kingdom. The story bursts of beautiful medieval terms well fitted into the narrative, and it is suitable both for children, who will find the adventure, and the adults – to find and enjoy all the linguistic puns that Tolkien employed in this tale.

Mestre Giles morava em um vilarejo com seu cachorro falante, Ganildo. O vilarejo era tranquilo e pacato. Um gigante que se perdeu na floresta chega ao vilarejo de Mestre Giles. Giles atira no gigante que acha que foi atingido por algum mosquito. O gigante vai embora do lugar. Giles fica famoso pela suposta expulsão do gigante.
O gigante espalha a notícia de que existe uma terra desconhecida com muita comida. Quando chagam o inverno e a fome, um dragão, Crisofílaz, vai em busca de comida em direção às terras que o gigante informara. O rei dera uma espada de um matador de dragão a Giles por ter expulsado o gigante. O dragão se aproxima do vilarejo e Giles é pressionado a proteger o povo.
Giles encontra o dragão que o ataca, mas ele fere o olho e a asa do dragão com a espada reluzente. O dragão é ferido e promete pagar todo o povo pelos danos que causou e não voltar mais a atormentá-los. O dragão é solto e vai embora. O rei vai para o vilarejo esperar o pagamento do dragão. O dragão não vem e o rei ordena que todos, inclusive Giles, o cacem. O dragão mata os soldados do rei, mas ao encontrar Giles o teme por conta dos ferimentos que lhe causara. Giles cobra as promessas de pagamento.
O dragão entrega ouro a Giles e ainda leva o ouro para a casa de Giles prometendo protegê-lo. O rei chama Giles que não o atende. O rei vai à aldeia. O rei manda prender Giles, mas surge o dragão para protegê-lo. O rei vai embora e Giles se torna senhor da redondeza. Giles constrói um palácio para si e se torna rei do Reino Pequeno. Giles liberta o dragão e faz um pacto de não agressão. Tolkien diz que sorte e esperteza acompanharam Giles.

เล่มนี้สนุกมาก เป็นเรื่องราวของชาวนาผู้หนึ่งทีมีความกล้าหาญ จนสามารถกลายเป็นพระราชาได้

ต่อไปนี้จะเหมือนกับสปอย์นะ

ถ้าอ่านในเล่มจะมีการกล่าวว่าชาวนานั้นเพียงโชคดี จึงได้ชนะยักษ์ ชนะมังกร แต่ถ้าลองสังเกตดีๆจะเห็นได้ว่า จริงอยู่ที่ชาวนาโชคดี มีอาวุธ มีนู้นนี่นั้น แต่ว่าสิ่งหนึ่งที่ขาดไม่ได้เลย คือความกล้าหาญ ชาวนานั้นกล้าที่จะเผชิญหน้ากับยักษ์ ในขณะที่ชาวบ้านคนอื่นๆนั้นปิดประตู ปิดหน้าต่าง ทรุดตัวใต้ผ้าห่มแล้ว

ชาวนากล้าที่จะเผชิญกับมังกร กล้าที่จะถือดาบเก่าๆหนักๆ ดูไร้ประโยชน์ เข้าไปต่อกรกับมังกร ถ้าชาวนาไ้ม่เริ่มที่จะไปต่อสู้ ก็คงไม่ได้มีโอกาสกลายเป็นพระราชาอย่างแน่แท้

อีกทั้ง คนแต่งยังไม่หลงลืมความเป็นมนุษย์ที่ชอบการโม้ เล่าเรื่องราวซะใหญ่โต ความโลภของพระราชาที่อยากได้ของๆคนอื่น โดยมาอ้างว่าเป็นของตัวเอง สอนให้เห็นว่าคนที่ไม่ลงมือทำอะไรเลย และประมาทไปวันๆ สุดท้ายก็จะไม่ได้อะไรเลย ไม่เหลือแม้กระทั้งความศรัทธาของประชาชน

เล่มนี้ จึงรวมเรื่องราวไว้ครบครัน แม้ว่าจะเล่มเล็กอ่านจบไว แต่จินตนาการ และแง่คิดนั้น กลับยิ่งใหญ่มากๆเลย

Farmer Giles of Ham is written in 1937 but published in 1949 so within Tolkien lifetime. My thoughts are this has much more depth than Roverandom and a lot of cleverness that I saw behind the craft. Like how Don Quixote is many things, but primarily is a commentary on Chivalry Knighthood and those types of narratives. I believe Farmer Giles of Ham, serves a similar function, being a humorous take upon the Arthurian Legends. It’s not a deconstruction, but it seems to be more of a commentary and parody of certain attributes of those stories. The character Giles is a fantastic example, just being a farmer and using non-chivalry ways of overcoming his obstacles. Plus, it is another take on the Beowulf story, this is most apparent with the giant and primarily Chyrsophylax the dragon ( which is a very fun dragon to read). They are also a lot of Philological wordplays which some went over my head and some I understood. Honestly, where Roverandom is more targeted onward children here this has a larger appeal to both adults and children alike. I honestly think this is his funniest novel, I haven’t reread Hobbit and LOTR for some time but it's so good with its word choice. Even some themes it dealt with regarding unchecked power, though some of it not in the focus, the implication are very interesting.

Overall, it’s a very good novel and it's worth seeking out.

7.5/10

One of the other Tolkien stories I read a few times over the past years. A cute short story featuring a brave hero, and of course, a dragon. It's well fleshed-out and easy to read, unlike some of Tolkien's other works. The edition I have was also accompanied by lovely artwork. Recommended for Tolkien fans and fans of short fantasy stories!

Esse é um daqueles livros divertidíssimos que você lê com um sorriso no rosto e dá boas gargalhadas.
Pai Tolkien não decepciona.
Fica a recomendação. Diversão garantida!
Ps: Garm, o cachorro que fala é muito engraçado. huahuahau socorro-socorro!

Un contadino dalla faccia tosta si scontra con giganti, draghi e re, in un crescendo di importanza e di fedeli quattro zampe estasiati. Il cacciatore di draghi è un bellissimo racconto di Tolkien, ironico e scorrevole il giusto; una storia di rivalsa dei piccoli verso i prepotenti che è sempre un piacere rileggere.

P.S. Il lavoratore sempliciotto prende a pesci in faccia i potenti fino a sovvertire la monarchia, governando poi con l'aiuto della saggia moglie. Un giorno comprenderò come i fascisti possano prendere J.R.R. Tolkien come modello. Giusto in Italia...