Gems from the 'Lesser Works' of JRRT

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Here are two excerpts from a passage in Smith of Wootton Major, about his final visit with the Queen. When he is ashamed, remembering the little fairy that was on the cake, she says:

Better a little doll, maybe, than no memory of Faery at all. For some the only glimpse. For some the awaking.

Then he has a deep experience, I'd call it a religious one, and knows that he will not come back again - the sense of loss is so great in this passage, so touching and tragic simultaneously.

Then he knelt, and she stooped and laid her hand on his head, and a great stillness came upon him; and he seemed to be both in the World and in Faery, and also outside them and surveying them, so that he was at once in bereavement, and in ownership, and in peace. When after a while the stillness passed he raised his head and stood up. The dawn was in the sky and the stars were pale, and the Queen was gone. Far off he heard the echo of a trumpet in the mountains. The high field where he stood was silent and empty; and he knew that his way now led back to bereavement.

I can't help but wonder - what kind of loss did Tolkien experience to prompt this passage, especially since it was the last of his works published during his lifetime?

(PS - We now have not only a "minor works" quote thread on the Quotes forum, we also have a "minor works trivia" thread on the Quiz forum - come and join us in discovering new tidbits and gems there!)

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 3:18 PM February 08, 2004: Message edited by: Estelyn Telcontar ]