Letter 137a

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Letter 137a
Recipient	Norman and Lena Davis
Date	21 April 1953
Subject(s)	Thanks for having Tolkien as a guest, lecture on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Letter 137a is a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded edition.

Summary

Tolkien had recently been a guest of the Davises in Glasgow, where he was giving the W.P. Ker Lecture on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. He expresses relief that his performance was acceptable, though not as good as it could have been due to nerves, and thanks them for their generous hospitality (quoting a wheel from the poem that begins "I am derely to yow biholde"). Tolkien also apologizes for not having written before, though he mentions having sent flowers.

Tolkien also mentions travelling in a train carriage with "a Scotch mother and a wee lassie." The little girl's comment on Tolkien was: "I like him, but I canna understand a word he says." Tolkien replied that "the latter was universal but the former not so usual."