Volume 10 Number 3 Article 11

1984

The Little Kingdom: Some Considerations and a Map

R.C. Walker

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Recommended Citation Walker, R.C. (1984) "The Little Kingdom: Some Considerations and a Map," Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 10 : No. 3 , Article 11. Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol10/iss3/11

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Abstract Features a map of the locations in Farmer Giles of Ham, and discusses correspondences with actual locations.

Additional Keywords Tolkien, J.R.R. Farmer Giles of Ham—Maps; R.C. Walker

This article is available in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol10/iss3/11 MYTHLORE 37: Winter 1984 Page 47

The Little Kingdom S o m e Considerations and a M ap R.C. Walker

Farmer Giles of Ham is ostensibly a concern for ethics, breathes through this fairy tale. Or, rather, it is ostensibly a clever and effective morality tale. It is a tale for children; it ijs a fairy tale. In our story of badness ("evil" is too strong a more sophisticated age, adults can at last term) which brings upon itself its own come­ admit that they find literature of this type uppance. It is also a marvel of character rewarding and satisfying. development, in a brief space relating one man's discovery of his own strength of char­ There is something inexorably adult acter. And of course it is full of cunning about Farmer Giles, despite the seeming aim good humor. at children. An air, of Tolkien's humanistic Page 48 M YTH LORE 37: Winter 1984

Farmer Giles is set in England, in a Continued from page 46 time before the Saxon debacle, when various British kinglets were still playing at being 8 E. Martin Browne, Introdution, Religious Roman potentates... and of course when Drama 2, M ystery and M o ra lity P la y s (New dragons, giants, and all that were in full York: Meridian Books, 1958), p. 11. C.S. cry. It is specifically set in a portion of Lewis wrote wryly of Bishop J.A.T. the Thames valley east of Oxford. At the Robinson's attempts to topple this beginning this region is part of the "Middle ancient symbolic structure: "We have long Kingdom"; at the end it is an independent abandoned b e l i e f in a God who s i t s on a "L ittle Kingdom". throne in a localized heaven." C.S. Lewis, "Must Our Image of God Go?", God A number of places, all of them real, in the Dock (Grand Rapids, Mich: William are mentioned in Farmer Giles; and a cur­ B. Eerdmans, 1970), p. 184. sory tour of the area shows a few more points 9 The Comedy of Dante A lighieri, Cantica I , of interest. The towns or parishes of H ell, trans. Dorothy L. Sayers (Harmonds- Ham(mo), Oakley, Worminghall, Farthingho(e), w o rth : P e n g u in , 1 9 4 9 ), C anto XXXIV, 11. and Oxenford (now Oxford) are all mentioned, 28-29 as well as the Otmoor, an area west of Ox­ 10 I b i d . , C anto XXXIV, l l . 5 0 -5 2 . ford. It is interesting to note, since Giles 11 The O d y ssey , W.H.D. Rowse, t r a n s . , (New was known as Lord of Tame, that a river and York: Mentor, 1960), p. 78. town of Thame lie not too far to the west, 12 Oliver Marc, Psychology of the House, the Thame flowing into the Thames. In fact, trans. Jesie Wood, (London: Thames and in 1938 Tolkien made reference to "the L ittle Hudson, 1977), p. 98. Kingdom (with its capital at Thame)" (Let­ 13 Nancy M. Tischler, Dorothy L. Sayers, _A ters , p. 39), which leads one to wonder. Pilgrim Soul (Atlanta: John Knox Press, However, Farmer Giles itself refers to the 1980), p. 8. L ittle Kingdom as being in "the valley of the 14 A.H. Gardner, Outline of English Archi­ Thames^ (p. 66 of the combined edition with tecture (London: B.T. Basford, 1948), Smith of Wooton Major. emphasis mine). Third Edition, p. 62. A map of this region allows us to find 15 Stephen Gardiner, Evolution of the House Frogmore, St. Albans, Herts: Granada other places with literary associations as well. Southeast of Ham is the town of Buck- (Paladin), 1976), p. 153. land...and it's a good bet that a highly 16 John Keats, "The Eve of St. Agnes," v. detailed map would reveal more names from the x x iv , 11. 2 0 8 -2 1 1 . Shire in Oxenfordshire. To the south and 17 C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength (Lon­ west of Buckland is the Vale of the White don: The Bodley Head, 1945), p. 476. Horse, recalling the emblem of Rohan. 18 Dorothy L. Sayers, "Talboys," Striding Folly (London: New English Library, 1973 In the same area lies Wantage, where [1972]), p. 108. Alfred the great was born. Its true 19 Mathew 12:43-45. The story is told in immortality, however, lies in the classic Luke in almost the same words. l i m e r i c k : 20 Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space., There was a young lady of Wantage trans. Maria Jolas, (Boston: Beacon Of whom th e Town C le rk to o k a d v a n ta g e . Press, 1969 [1958], p. 136. Said the County Surveyor, "Of course you must pay her; You've altered the line of her frontage."

Finally, between Ham and Oxford, lies the town of Wootton, presumably the site of Smith of Wooton Ma jor. There is also, further west, a town of Wooton Under Edge...and of course Tolkien speaks of two W o o tto n s.

Appended to this short article is a map, done in part from descriptions of where places are located, rather than seeing the actual dots on a printed page. In this re­ gard, I am indebted to Ben Urrutia for first calling my attention to the fact that such a map was possible. In addition, also used were (1) Humphrey Carpenter's Tolkien, (2) David Dettman's "A Glossary to Farmer Giles of Ham" (in Minas Tirith Evening-Star, 9.9), (3) Encyclopedia Britannica, XI Ed. (1910), Vol. IX, Map of England and Wales (part III), (4) in Gershon Legman's The Limerick (#987) PREVIEW OF THE NEXT ISSUE: Issue 38 will or in William S. Baring-Gould's The Lure of feature some of the best papers given at the 1983 the Limerick (p. 228); an interesting variant Mythopoeic Conference. Besides the wide spectrum can be found on p. 178 of Louis Untermeyer's of articles, there will be all the regular and new Lots of Limericks. features. Do not miss this very fine issue.