Listening to Corey's commentary this week on the fading of the Elves, I was reminded of an account of the departure of fairies from England in Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill, first published in Strand Magazine in 1906 when Tolkien was 14. I know Corey has stated that it is pointless to consider to what extent a book like this may have affected Tolkien. However, I believe it is interesting to consider to what extent it may have informed the audience to which Tolkien was writing when he published The Hobbit, and to a lesser extent, his other works. Note that Kipling was an author of some importance; the next year he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. And Strand magazine had a large circulation, probably about 500,000 copies per month at the time of Puck's publication.
I believe that an analysis of Puck of Pook's Hill merits at least some consideration as we study Tolkien. I will limit myself to a few items from the first chapter, Weland's Sword, and the penultimate chapter Dymchurch Flit. First, consider the introduction of Puck in the first chapter. It occurs just after two children, Dan and Una, had enacted parts of A Midsummer Night's Dream on midsummer night in a Fairy Circle on their land. Then,
"they heard a whistle among the alders and ... the bushes parted. In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they saw a small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes, and a grin that ran right across his freckled face. [He had] a voice as deep as Three Cows asking to be milked ... [He was] a small thing - no taller than Dan's shoulder - ... [with] bare, hairy feet. ... At last, he laughed.
Please don't look like that. It isn't my fault. What else could you expect? he said.
We didn't expect anyone, Dan answered slowly. This is our field.
Is it? said their visitor, sitting down. Then what on Human Earth made you act Midsummer Night's Dream three times over, on Midsummer Eve, in the middle of a Ring, and under - right under one of my oldest hills in England? Pook's Hill - Puck's Hill... ! Beyond that, ... the Beacon Hill, to look over the Pevensey Levels, and the Channel ... It's as plain as the nose on my face.
By Oak, Ash, and Thorn! he cried, still laughing. If this had happened a few hundred years ago, you'd have had all the People of the Hills out like bees in June. ...
We - we didn't mean to, said Una.
Of course you didn't! That's just why you did it. Unluckily the Hills are empty now, and all the People of the Hills are gone. I'm the only one left I'm Puck, the oldest Old Thing in England.
[end of extended quotations from the book]
In the description of Puck, we see a little of Hobbit, a little of Tom Bombadil, and the laughter of the playful elves. We see more of this as we see more of Puck through the stories in different chapters.
But there are other little tidbits here that this book introduced (or reinforced) for Tolkien's future audience:
Alder trees - the first tree we encounter by name in Three's Company, as Frodo and friends cross the Water, west of Hobbiton, leaving the Hill.
Pevensey Levels - a name not used by Tolkien, but by C. S. Lewis, his friend and another member of the Inklings.
Beacon Hill - a hill on top of which a fire could be lit to act as a beacon, or as one link in a chain of beacons.
Puck's physical description - it sounds hobbity to me, right down to the bare, hairy feet. I don't know that Tolkien ever describes ear shape of the folk of Middle Earth, but here we are given pointy ears. But the deep voice of Puck reminds me of Tom Bombadil, who, like Puck the oldest, is Eldest. And Tolkien describes Tom's hand as brown-skinned. Note that hobbits are consistently described as having high-pitched voices, even sounding squeaky.
A Fairy ring - from which Puck was summoned.
Oak, Ash, and Thorn - the magic trees of Puck's tale (which we encounter in all the stories of the book) happen to be the exact trees mentioned by name in the penultimate line of the final Elf song of The Hobbit, even with the same punctuation as we find in Kipling's book.
The People of the Hills - the magic folk, are gone. They have departed. This includes not only fairies, but also (as we read later in the first chapter) "giants, trolls, ... water spirits, hill watchers, ... little people, ... gnomes and the rest, all gone.
The penultimate chapter of Puck is an account of the departure of the fairies from England, across the Channel on a boat. In that chapter Puck appears in another guise, as Tom Shoesmith (Tom Bombadil comes to mind). He recounts the story from long ago about Pharisees, which Una correctly interprets him to mean as fairies or People of the Hills. They had favoured the Marsh above the rest of England. (This calls to mind the Marish.) "A wonderful, choice place for Pharisees (fairies), the Marsh, by all accounts, 'til Queen Bess's father he come in with his Reformatories. (This alludes to Henry VIII establishing the Church of England and abolishing the Catholic Church in England.) "Queen Bess's father he used the parish churches something shameful. Justabout tore the gizzards out of I dunnamany (don't know how many). Some folk in England they held with 'en; but some they saw it different, an' it eended in 'em talkin' sides an burning' each other no bounds... That terrified the Pharisees (fairies): for Goodwill among Flesh and Blood is meat an' drink to 'em, and' ill-will is poison. (reminding one of the Red Maid story in LOTRO, or the 5th River-Maiden of Lebennin.)
(It is interesting that one reason the fairies favored the Marsh, was because it was standing water, not running water, again reminding us of Corey's discussion of the power of running water during his adventures with Gryfflet along the Gilrain. I don't know to what extent this a universal concept related to magic folk. It is also interesting to me that the Reformed, non-Catholic Church, seems to be bad for magic folk, given that Tolkien was Catholic.)
This Reformatories tarrified the Pharisees (fairies) same as the reaper goin' round a last stand o' wheat tarrifies rabbits. They packed into the Marsh from all parts, and they says, "Fair or foul, we must flit out o' this, for Merry England's done with, and we're reckoned among the Images." ... all but the one called Robin (Robin Goodfellow, another name for Puck).
Eventually, the fairies acquire a boat and a unknowing crew for it, with which they cross the Channel and leave England (all except Puck, and they leave to the East, not to the West).
So the rationale of Kipling's fairies leaving and their means for doing so is different from Tolkien's Elves. But it does provide a context into which Tolkien could create his alternative story. In both stories, England had once been home to all sorts of non-human (magic) folk, but they have all gone, across the water to other lands.
I believe that an analysis of Puck of Pook's Hill merits at least some consideration as we study Tolkien. I will limit myself to a few items from the first chapter, Weland's Sword, and the penultimate chapter Dymchurch Flit. First, consider the introduction of Puck in the first chapter. It occurs just after two children, Dan and Una, had enacted parts of A Midsummer Night's Dream on midsummer night in a Fairy Circle on their land. Then,
"they heard a whistle among the alders and ... the bushes parted. In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they saw a small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes, and a grin that ran right across his freckled face. [He had] a voice as deep as Three Cows asking to be milked ... [He was] a small thing - no taller than Dan's shoulder - ... [with] bare, hairy feet. ... At last, he laughed.
Please don't look like that. It isn't my fault. What else could you expect? he said.
We didn't expect anyone, Dan answered slowly. This is our field.
Is it? said their visitor, sitting down. Then what on Human Earth made you act Midsummer Night's Dream three times over, on Midsummer Eve, in the middle of a Ring, and under - right under one of my oldest hills in England? Pook's Hill - Puck's Hill... ! Beyond that, ... the Beacon Hill, to look over the Pevensey Levels, and the Channel ... It's as plain as the nose on my face.
By Oak, Ash, and Thorn! he cried, still laughing. If this had happened a few hundred years ago, you'd have had all the People of the Hills out like bees in June. ...
We - we didn't mean to, said Una.
Of course you didn't! That's just why you did it. Unluckily the Hills are empty now, and all the People of the Hills are gone. I'm the only one left I'm Puck, the oldest Old Thing in England.
[end of extended quotations from the book]
In the description of Puck, we see a little of Hobbit, a little of Tom Bombadil, and the laughter of the playful elves. We see more of this as we see more of Puck through the stories in different chapters.
But there are other little tidbits here that this book introduced (or reinforced) for Tolkien's future audience:
Alder trees - the first tree we encounter by name in Three's Company, as Frodo and friends cross the Water, west of Hobbiton, leaving the Hill.
Pevensey Levels - a name not used by Tolkien, but by C. S. Lewis, his friend and another member of the Inklings.
Beacon Hill - a hill on top of which a fire could be lit to act as a beacon, or as one link in a chain of beacons.
Puck's physical description - it sounds hobbity to me, right down to the bare, hairy feet. I don't know that Tolkien ever describes ear shape of the folk of Middle Earth, but here we are given pointy ears. But the deep voice of Puck reminds me of Tom Bombadil, who, like Puck the oldest, is Eldest. And Tolkien describes Tom's hand as brown-skinned. Note that hobbits are consistently described as having high-pitched voices, even sounding squeaky.
A Fairy ring - from which Puck was summoned.
Oak, Ash, and Thorn - the magic trees of Puck's tale (which we encounter in all the stories of the book) happen to be the exact trees mentioned by name in the penultimate line of the final Elf song of The Hobbit, even with the same punctuation as we find in Kipling's book.
The People of the Hills - the magic folk, are gone. They have departed. This includes not only fairies, but also (as we read later in the first chapter) "giants, trolls, ... water spirits, hill watchers, ... little people, ... gnomes and the rest, all gone.
The penultimate chapter of Puck is an account of the departure of the fairies from England, across the Channel on a boat. In that chapter Puck appears in another guise, as Tom Shoesmith (Tom Bombadil comes to mind). He recounts the story from long ago about Pharisees, which Una correctly interprets him to mean as fairies or People of the Hills. They had favoured the Marsh above the rest of England. (This calls to mind the Marish.) "A wonderful, choice place for Pharisees (fairies), the Marsh, by all accounts, 'til Queen Bess's father he come in with his Reformatories. (This alludes to Henry VIII establishing the Church of England and abolishing the Catholic Church in England.) "Queen Bess's father he used the parish churches something shameful. Justabout tore the gizzards out of I dunnamany (don't know how many). Some folk in England they held with 'en; but some they saw it different, an' it eended in 'em talkin' sides an burning' each other no bounds... That terrified the Pharisees (fairies): for Goodwill among Flesh and Blood is meat an' drink to 'em, and' ill-will is poison. (reminding one of the Red Maid story in LOTRO, or the 5th River-Maiden of Lebennin.)
(It is interesting that one reason the fairies favored the Marsh, was because it was standing water, not running water, again reminding us of Corey's discussion of the power of running water during his adventures with Gryfflet along the Gilrain. I don't know to what extent this a universal concept related to magic folk. It is also interesting to me that the Reformed, non-Catholic Church, seems to be bad for magic folk, given that Tolkien was Catholic.)
This Reformatories tarrified the Pharisees (fairies) same as the reaper goin' round a last stand o' wheat tarrifies rabbits. They packed into the Marsh from all parts, and they says, "Fair or foul, we must flit out o' this, for Merry England's done with, and we're reckoned among the Images." ... all but the one called Robin (Robin Goodfellow, another name for Puck).
Eventually, the fairies acquire a boat and a unknowing crew for it, with which they cross the Channel and leave England (all except Puck, and they leave to the East, not to the West).
So the rationale of Kipling's fairies leaving and their means for doing so is different from Tolkien's Elves. But it does provide a context into which Tolkien could create his alternative story. In both stories, England had once been home to all sorts of non-human (magic) folk, but they have all gone, across the water to other lands.
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