An early, unfinished short tale, based on a story from The Kalevala (The Land of Heroes), a collection of "runos" or songs handed down in the oral tradition by the folk living in that area of far northern Europe, once ruled by Sweden and then by Russia, which would eventually assert its own identity as the nation of Finland.
Tolkien discovered this collection of poems rendered into English shortly before he began his undergraduate career at Oxford University; in fact, he became so enthralled with them that he attempted to teach himself Finnish so he could read them in the orginal, at a time when he should have been focused on his examinations (he passed, but only received a disappointing "second," not an auspicious start for the scholarly career that was his ambition).
It changed his mind about pursuing the Classics however, and he devoted himself instead to the study of languages, which led to a very distinguished scholarly career as a philologist, and --- eventually --- to his enduring fame as an author and the creator of Middle Earth.
The volume also includes two versions of an essay on The Kalevala which Tolkien presented to two Oxford undergraduate literary clubs.
Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger presents us with this first and admittedly juvenile attempt at story telling because it reveals the earliest roots of recurring themes and motifs in Tolkien's mature mythology. Thus, it is of most interest to dedicated scholars and students of Tolkien, although not so much to the casual reader.
Click HERE for a review from the London Telegraph.
Click HERE for a review from the Washington Free Beacon.
Click HERE for a review from the Christian Science Monitor.
Click HERE for a review from the Boston Globe.
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