Well, one does need to have a habit of reading small print to find that answer! (...or the idea of looking through the very excellent index to Tolkien's
Letters... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] ) Here's what he says:
Quote:
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They are made small (little more than half human stature, but dwindling as the years pass) partly to exhibit the pettiness of man, plain unimaginative parochial man... mostly to show up, in creatures of very small physical power, the amazing and unexpected heroism of ordinary men 'at a pinch'.
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(PS - Mariska, I'm looking forward to a new 'minor works' question...)
<font size=1 color=339966>[ 4:12 AM February 03, 2004: Message edited by: Estelyn Telcontar ]
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth..
.'