Leaf by Niggle is a short story written by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1938 and 1939 and first published in the Dublin Review in January of 1945. It can be found most notably in Tolkien's collection titled Tree and Leaf. Along with the seminal essay "On Fairy-Stories", "Leaf by Niggle" helps to reveal the underlying philosophy (i.e. "creation" and "sub-creation") of much of Tolkien's fantastical writings.
In 1997, Leaf by Niggle was included in the official collective publication of Tolkien's short stories, Tales from the Perilous Realm. In 2003, an audiobook of this story and Smith of Wootton Major was released, narrated by actor Derek Jacobi.
Synopsis[]
An artist named Niggle lives in a society that does not value art. Working only to please himself, he paints a canvas of a great tree in the middle of a forest. He invests obsessive attention to detail in every leaf of his tree, making every leaf uniquely beautiful. Niggle ends up either discarding all his other artwork or tacking pieces onto the main canvas, which becomes a single vast embodiment of his vision.
However, many mundane chores and duties prevent Niggle from giving his work the attention it deserves, so it remains incomplete and not fully realized.
At the back of his mind, Niggle knows that he has a great trip approaching and must pack his bags, but he keeps delaying the task.
Niggle's next door neighbor, a gardener named Parish, is always needing help with various jobs since he is lame of foot and has a sick wife; Niggle, having a good heart, takes time to help, though he does so grudgingly. Niggle catches a chill doing errands for Parish in the rain.
At last, Niggle is forced to take his trip. He is not prepared and therefore ends up in an Workhouse Infirmary where he must perform menial labor each day.
He is eventually paroled from the Workplace Infirmary and is sent to a place in the country to work as a gardener in a forest. To his joy, he discovers that the forest is in fact the Forest of his great painting, which is now long abandoned and nearly destroyed (except for one perfect leaf which is placed in the Town Museum). The Great Tree in the Forest is the true realization of his vision, to which the flawed and incomplete form of his painting could not do justice.
Niggle is reunited with his old neighbor, Parish, who now proves his worth as a gardener, and together they make the Great Tree and Forest even more beautiful. Finally, Niggle journeys farther and deeper into the Forest and beyond the Edge into the great Mountains that he only faintly glimpsed in his painting.
Allegory[]
"Leaf by Niggle" has been interpreted as an allegory to life, death, purgatory, and heaven: Niggle is not prepared for his unavoidable trip, as humans often are not prepared for death. His time in the Workhouse Infirmary and subsequent discovery of his Great Tree represent purgatory followed by paradise. The story also gives insight to Tolkien's religious philosophy of creation and sub-creation: "true creation" is the exclusive province of God, and those who aspire and create things only make "echoes" (good) or "mockeries" (evil) of the truth - while "sub-creation" of work that echo the true creations of God is a way for mortals to honor him.
Appearances and mentions[]
| Characters | Species and creatures | Locations | Factions, groups and titles |
| Events | Objects and artifacts | Miscellanea |
Characters
|
Species and creatures
Locations
|
Factions, groups and titles
|
Events
|
Objects and artifacts
|
Miscellanea
|
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Afrikaans | Blad deur Niggle |
| Albanian | Fletë nga Niggle |
| Arabic | ورقة نبات بواسطة نيععلي |
| Azerbaijani | Niggle tərəfindən yarpaq |
| Basque | Niggle-ren hostoa |
| Catalan | Fulla de Niggle |
| Croatian | List po Niggle |
| Czech | List od Nimrala |
| Danish | Nørkles blad |
| Dutch | Blad van Klein |
| Esperanto | Folio per Niggle |
| Finnish | Niukun lehti |
| French | Feuille, de Niggle |
| Galician | Folla por Niggle |
| Georgian | ნიგლის ფოთოლი |
| German | Blatt von Tüftler |
| Gujarati | નિગ્ગલ દ્વારા પર્ણ |
| Haitian Creole | Fèy pa Niggle |
| Hebrew | עלה לפי ןיגגלי |
| Hindi | णिग्ग्ले द्वारा पत्ता |
| Hmong | Nplooj ntoos los ntawm Niggle |
| Icelandic | Lauf af Niggle |
| Irish Gaelic | Duilleog ag Niggle |
| Japanese | ニグルの木の葉 |
| Javanese | Godhong kanthi Niggle |
| Kurdish | Pel bi destê Niggle (Kurmanji) |
| Latin | Folium a Niggle |
| Latvian | Lapas ar Niggle |
| Lithuanian | Lapas, nutapytas Niekelio |
| Luxembourgish | Blat vum Niggle |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Лист од Ниггле |
| Manx | Duillag er Niggle |
| Marathi | निग्गल करून लीफ |
| Nepalese | पत्ता द्वारा निगले |
| Norwegian | Blad av Niggle |
| Old English | Lēaf to Niggle |
| Pashto | پاڼه د نیګګلې |
| Persian | برگ توسط نیگگله |
| Polish | Liść, dzieło Niggle'a |
| Portuguese | Folha por Niggle |
| Romanian | Frunză de Niggle |
| Russian | Лист кисти Ниггля |
| Slovak | List podľa Niggle |
| Slovenian | List z Niggle |
| Somalian | Caleen by Niggle |
| Spanish | Hoja, de Niggle |
| Sundanese | Daun ku Niggle |
| Swahili | Jani na Niggle |
| Swedish | Blad av Niggle |
| Turkish | Niggle tarafından yaprak |
| Vietnamese | Lá của Niggle |
| Western Mari | Нигглын ӹлӹмӓшӹжӹ |
| Yiddish | בלאט דורך ניגגלע |