MIDDLE-EARTH TIMELINE
Farmer Giles of Ham is a comic tale set in the Little Kingdom, a part of Britain long before King Arthur. Ægidius de Hammo, a farmer who would rather be left in peace, becomes a local hero by chance after scaring off a giant with his blunderbuss. When the dragon Chrysophylax comes raiding, Giles, armed with the sword Tailbiter and helped by his dog Garm, must deal with the beast and with the greedy King of the Middle Kingdom.
Tolkien first told the story to his children and published it in 1949 with George Allen and Unwin, with illustrations by Pauline Baynes. It plays with mock scholarship, presenting itself as a translation from the Latin with a learned foreword.
A reluctant farmer, a talkative dog, a sword called Tailbiter and a cunning dragon in Tolkien's comic tale of the Little Kingdom.