Leaf by Niggle

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Long after both Niggle and Parish have taken their journeys, the lovely place that they created together becomes a destination for many travelers to visit before their final voyage into the Mountains, and it earns the name “Niggle’s Parish”. Tolkien, J. R. R. (1964). J. R. R. Tolkien: Tree and Leaf. London: HarperCollins (published 2001). ISBN 0-00-710504-5. As Tolkien realized, Niggle was not allegorical, but he was autobiographical. “Leaf By Niggle” “arose from my own pre-occupation with The Lord of the Rings, the knowledge that it would be finished in great detail or not at all, and the fear (near certainty) that it would be ‘not at all’.”[10] One very late night or early morning in 1939, J.R.R. Tolkien awoke, a full story ready to burst from his already imaginatively feverish brain. Contrary to his normal hesitation and typical obsessive writing and rewriting, Tolkien’s short story, “Leaf by Niggle” emerged “virtually complete in my head. It took only a few hours to get down, and then copy out.”[1] If Tolkien had ever toyed with the ideas found in the novel—in terms of setting, character, or plot—he had no recollection of them or of any of it. Like Athena emerging whole out of the head of Zeus, “Leaf by Niggle” simply appeared on paper that very late evening or early morning in 1939, just prior to the beginning of the Second World War. Sometime in 1940, he read the story—presumably to an approving audience—to the Inklings. Again, the story just emerged, and Tolkien never even edited it after his initial copying it down. It was, he remembered fondly, “the only thing I have ever done which cost me absolutely no pains at all.”[2] Niggle is reunited with his old neighbour, Parish, who now proves his worth as a gardener, and together they make the Tree and Forest even more beautiful. Finally, Niggle journeys farther and deeper into the Forest, and beyond into the great Mountains that he only faintly glimpsed in his painting.

Cover of the deluxe 1 st edition of Poems and Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien. (1980, George Allen & Unwin. London.) Keller and Alsdorf begin with the original design of work, proclaiming it good and an intricate part of God’s good plan for human beings. The Hebrew word mlkh—the word for ordinary human work—is used repeatedly to describe the work God does in creating the world. Work was also a part of life in paradise, given to mankind as a part of the blessedness of the garden. The authors make the case that work is a foundational part of our makeup—so much so that without meaningful work, human beings develop a profound sense of loss.Mountains - A physical representation of the Mountains tipped with snow from Niggle's Picture located just beyond the Edge of Niggle's Parish, surrounding it in the distance. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of Godto be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it,in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decayand brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. Leaf by Niggle recounts the strange adventures of the painter Niggle, who sets out to paint the perfect tree. But he senses that he will be snatched away from his work long before it is finished – if indeed it could ever be finished in this world. For it is in another and brighter place that Niggle finds his tree is finished, and learns that it is indeed a real tree, a true part of creation.

Before him stood the Tree, his Tree, finished. If you could say that of a Tree that was alive, its leaves open­ing, its branches growing and bending in the wind that Niggle had so often felt or guessed, and had so often failed to catch. He gazed at the Tree, and slowly he lifted his arms and opened them wide. The short story begins by depicting Niggle, an artist, living in a society with little esteem for art. Niggle’s neighbor Parish, who is lame and has an ill wife, continually interrupts his work. Although Niggle views such disruptions as annoying, he still helps his neighbor due to his politeness.Annoyed at himself for being too kind hearted (thus, being “taken in” by the whims of neighbors), Niggle often swears to himself in frustration. His closest neighbor, Parish, is especially troublesome, and Niggle helps him but only with the self-realizing embarrassment that he “was merely soft without feeling at all kind.”[5] When he’s not hesitating in or grumbling about his charity towards others, Niggle should be preparing for an end-of-life journey. When he can, though, he devotes nearly all his time painting. In particular, he paints the leaves of a tree, though every once in a while, birds appear, mountains appear, and, sometimes, even the branches of the tree appears. These birds, mountains, and branches, though, emerge only reluctantly and, typically, off in the distance. Almost no one cares about Niggle’s paintings, and he longs for someone to proclaim, “Absolutely magnificent! I see exactly what you are getting at. Do get on with it, and don’t bother about anything else! We will arrange for a public pension, so that you need not.” No such C.S. Lewis figure, however, ever arrives in Niggle’s life.