Farmer Giles of Ham: Ægidii Ahenobarbi Julii Agricole de Hammo Domini de Domito Aule Draconarie Comitis Regni Minimi Regis et Basilei mira facinora et mirabilis exortus, or in the vulgar tongue, The Rise and Wonderful Adventures of Farmer Giles, Lord of Tame, Count of Worminghall and King of the Little Kingdom by J. R. R. Tolkien
Embellished by Pauline Diana Baynes
80 pages
Published 1949
Read July 30
Rating: ★★½ out of 5
A pleasant fable of faux-medieval shenanigans, anticipating the comical fantasies (and, naturally, the wordplay) of Terry Pratchett and Peter S. Beagle. I'm not sure what to add that wouldn't be mere plagiarism of the Wikipedia page; it wasn't until I read that source that I even considered the satire of class relationships inherent in the interaction of Master Giles and Chrysophylax Dives, so if I began picking into subtext now, I'd just be recycling what I just read there. As it stands, merely transcribing Tolkien's original Latin and vulgar subtitles just about doubles the length of this review. I will say it's something of a treat to read a "fresh" (to me) Tolkien free of the ponderousness of tone and worldbuilding of Middle-earth -- though, honestly, Ham strays too far toward weightlessness to linger in the mind or have remotely equivalent impact.
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