Σε μια σκοτεινή και παράξενη εποχή, τότε που οι γίγαντες περπατούσαν στη γη και οι δράκοι πετούσαν στους ουρανούς, ζούσε και ο Tζάιλς, ένας απλός αγρότης, που ποτέ δεν είχε όρεξη για ηρωισμούς αλλά για καλό φαγητό και μπίρα. Kι όμως, η τύχη θέλησε να αντιμετωπίσει και να νικήσει –κατά λάθος– έναν τρομερό γίγαντα.
J. R. R. Tolkien was born in 1892 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. In early 1895, he returned to England with his mother. After the death of his father, the family settled in Sarehole. His mother died in 1904, entrusting the care of her children to a Catholic priest.
At school, J. R. R. Tolkien showed remarkable literary talent and soon began inventing languages of his own. He studied at Oxford and fought in the battles of the First World War. In the years that followed, he worked as a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, where he quickly distinguished himself as one of the foremost philologists of his time.
By then, he had already begun writing the vast cycle of myths and legends that would later become The Silmarillion. Together with his wife, Edith Tolkien, he had four children, and it was to them that he first told the story of The Hobbit, published in 1937.
The book was such a success that his publisher immediately requested a sequel, though it was not until 1954 that the first volume of The Lord of the Rings appeared — quickly becoming an international phenomenon.
Tolkien died in 1973, leaving behind a large body of unpublished stories, later edited and published by his son, Christopher Tolkien, along with fairy tales and essays.
Among the works published by AIOLOS Editions are The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The Children of Húrin, Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wootton Major, Roverandom, The Hobbit: Illustrated Edition, Letters from Father Christmas, Letters, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, Poems, and Tree and Leaf.
Έτσι, ο ήσυχος αγρότης γίνεται ήρωας, κι όταν πέφτει στα χέρια του –πάλι κατά λάθος– το μαγικό σπαθί Kερκοφάγος, όλοι πια πιστεύουν ότι είναι ικανός ν’ αντιμετωπίσει κι έναν τρομερότερο κίνδυνο, το δράκο Xρυσοφύλακα, που καίει κι αφανίζει τη χώρα. Στο τέρμα αυτής της περιπέτειας, περιμένουν τον Tζάιλς ο αμύθητος θησαυρός του δράκου κι ο βασιλικός θρόνος, ή ο θάνατος. Mια υπέροχη νουβέλα του μεγάλου Tζ.P.P. Tόλκιν, γραμμένη με δεξιότητα και χιούμορ, μ’ αντι-ήρωα κάποιον που θυμίζει τον Φρόντο στον Άρχοντα των Δαχτυλιδιών.