Leaf by Niggle

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Cover art for the audiobook by Pauline Baynes depicting Niggle painting the Tree

"Leaf by Niggle" is a short story written by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1938-39 and first published in The Dublin Review in January 1945. It can be found, most notably, in Tolkien's book titled "Tree and Leaf", and in other places. This is notable because the book, consisting of a seminal essay called "On Fairy-Stories" and "Leaf by Niggle", offers the underlying philosophy of much of Tolkien's fantastical writings. The story is very much an allegory of Tolkien's own creative process, and, to an extent, of his own life. Tolkien wrote in Letter 241, "It is not really or properly an 'allegory' so much as 'mythical'". On the other hand, in Letter 153 he said, "I tried to show allegorically how [subcreation] might come to be taken up into Creation in some plane in my 'purgatorial' story Leaf by Niggle".

Plot

The story begins by explaining that an artist, named Niggle, has a long journey to make, but procrastinates on it due to disliking the idea.

Despite being a painter, he spent much of his time being hindered from painting. The laws of his society forced him to do things he considered a nuisance. Most of the time, he could not find a way out of these things, though he did them well. He had other distractions as well such as being kind and being idle (doing nothing). Most of the time he was kind, he did small jobs for his neighbor , Mr. Parish, who had a lame leg. However, Niggle is described as not really taking any joy in being kind and even occasionally loosing his temper. His final distraction from painting was whenever he occasionally remembered his journey and ineffectively packed a few things.

Working only to please himself, he paints a canvas of a great Tree, in the middle of a Forest, with many other trees around as well. He invests each and every leaf of his tree with obsessive attention to detail, making every leaf uniquely beautiful (of course, he niggles over each one!). Niggle ends up discarding all his other artworks, or tacks them onto the main canvas, which becomes a single vast embodiment of his vision.

However, there are many mundane chores and duties that prevent Niggle from giving his work the attention it deserves, so it remains incomplete and is not fully realized.

At the back of his head, Niggle knows that he has a great trip looming, and he must pack and prepare his bags.

Also, Niggle's next door neighbor, a gardener named Parish, is the sort of neighbor who always drops by whining about the help he needs with this and that. Moreover, Parish is lame of foot and has a sick wife, and honestly needs help — Niggle, having a good heart, takes time out to help.

And Niggle has other pressing work duties that require his attention. Then Niggle himself catches a chill in the rain upon going out to get a doctor for Mrs. Parish and a builder for Mr. Parish’s roof. However, the doctor arrives two days later, in time to deal with both Mrs. Parish and Niggle. The builder never comes at all.

More than a week later, Niggle's cold fades away and he tries to paint again, only to be interrupted by the Inspector of Houses, who threatens to take Niggle’s painting away to fix Parish's roof under the justification that "houses come first" as "That is the law".

When Niggle tries to protest, he is interrupted yet again by a man wearing all back who calls himself the Driver. The Driver forcibly takes Niggle away in a carriage, giving him very little time to pack. The driver takes him to a train, which then takes him through a dark tunnel and to a railway station. Niggle is so surprised as he is rushed out by a Porter that he forgets the one bag that he had time to pack. As a result of the missing luggage, the Porter ends up sending Niggle in a ambulance to a place called the Workhouse Infirmary. Niggle describes his experience there as akin to a prison and that the officials and attendants were unfriendly and the only person he ever saw was a severe doctor. During his life there, he at first worried endlessly about the past, pondering on his life choices. Eventually, he becomes accustomed to his life there that he becomes good at the work. He became the "master of his time". In other words, he conquered his procrastination and no longer was restless inside.

Eventually, he is forced to take a break by the severe doctor. During that break, he overhears two voices speaking about what the First Voice calls "the Niggle case".

The Second Voice makes the argument that through Niggle put off his journey until the last minute, "His heart was in the right place".

The First voice counters that his heart did not function correctly and that he wasted so much time and that he arrived at the Workhouse Infirmary without any luggage. The first voice believes that Niggle should spend more time working.

The Second Voice suggests to the first that they should decide Niggle's fate by looking at the Records for favorable points, though the first voice assumes that there would be very few.

Eventually, he is paroled from the institution, and he is sent to a place in the country to work as a gardener in a forest. But he discovers that the forest is in fact the Tree and Forest of his great painting, now long abandoned and all but destroyed (except for the one perfect leaf of the title which is placed in the local museum) in the home to which he cannot return — but the Tree here and now in this place is the true realization of his vision, not the flawed and incomplete form of his painting.

Niggle is reunited with his old neighbor, 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.

At the end of the book, the two voices conclude the story. The Second Voice considers Niggle's area to be the perfect holiday spot and that they are sending more people there.

The First Voice proposes that they have to give the region a name.

However, the Second Voice claims that the Porter had the matter already settled some time ago, when he shouts "Train for Niggle's Parish in the bay". The Second Voice claims right after that they sent a message to Niggle and Mr. Parish to see what they think of the name.

The First Voice presses the Second Voice to tell them and is told:

"They both laughed. Laughed—-the Mountains rang with it!"

Characters

Listed in order of appearance:

1. Niggle
2. Mr. Parish
3. Mrs. Parish
4. Doctor
5. Builder
6. Inspector of Houses
7. Driver
8. Porter
9. Severe Doctor
10. First Voice
11. Second Voice
12. Shepherd
13. Councillor Tompkins
14. Atkins
15. Perkins

History

Publication history

Leaf by Niggle book

HarperCollins published the short story in its own volume for the first time on 28 July 2016. There was however a separated print in 2003.

There is a paperback edition published as well: Leaf by Niggle (paperback)

See also

• Leaf by Niggle (book)
• Leaf by Niggle (paperback)
• Tales from the Perilous Realm

External links

• Leaf by Niggle by Priscilla Tolkien at tolkienestate.com
• Leaf by Niggle - a symbolic story about a small painter
• The Workhouse - Tolkien's Purgatory, discussion of Leaf by Niggle at The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum