Where do fairies and beings of imagination come from, and how are their stories made—how are fairy tales created?
J. R. R. Tolkien, a true master of the pen, reveals himself through an essay on fairy-stories. With vivid and engaging style, he leads us “through the back door” into his own narratives, helping us trace and understand why humans love fairy tales, and why they seek to build their own reality through stories and imagined beings shaped by fantasy.
Through this reflection, the act of storytelling becomes not just entertainment, but a deeper exploration of human imagination itself.
The essay is accompanied by the novella Leaf by Niggle, which suggests that the realm of fairyland is everywhere around us and that its wonders are accessible to everyone, and by the short dramatic text The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son, where the reader is introduced to the academic studies of J. R. R. Tolkien on Old English epic texts—sources that deeply inspired the creation of his Middle-earth mythology.
Through these companion pieces, Tolkien’s work emerges not only as storytelling, but also as scholarship and reflection on the roots of myth and language.
