Smith of Wootton Major / Leaf by Niggle

Two of Tolkien’s acclaimed modern classic ‘fairie’ tales, read by Derek Jacobi.

Smith of Wootton Major

Every twenty-four years in the village of Wootton Major the Feast of Good Children was held. This was a very special occasion and to celebrate it a Great Cake was prepared, to feed the twenty-four children who were invited. The cake was very sweet and rich and entirely covered in sugar icing. But inside there were some very strange ingredients and whoever swallowed one of them would gain the gift of entry into the Land of Faery.

Leaf by Niggle

This story recounts the strange adventures of the painter Niggle who set out to paint the perfect tree. But he sensed that he would be snatched away from his work long before it was finished, if indeed it could ever be finished in this world. For it was in another and brighter place that Niggle found his tree finished, and learned that it was indeed a real tree, a true part of creation.