Roverandom is a story written by J.R.R. Tolkien, originally told in 1925. It deals with the adventures of a young dog, Rover. In the story, an irritable wizard turns Rover into a toy, and Rover goes to the moon and under the sea in order to find the wizard again to turn him back into a dog. The author wrote Roverandom for his son Michael Tolkien to amuse him upon the loss of his favorite toy a little lead dog. The work is in tone a children's story, but contains many allusions and references in the manner of Farmer Giles of Ham.
It was submitted for publication in 1936 after the success of The Hobbit, but was not published for over sixty years — finally being released in 1998. In this year an audiobook of the story was also released, narrated by actor Derek Jacobi.
In 1997 Roverandom was included in Tales from the Perilous Realm, the official one-volume book of Tolkien's short stories.
Portrayal in adaptations
The Lord of the Rings Online
The little lead dog makes an appearance in one of the quests of the online game The Lord of the Rings Online. Near the small hamlet of Dwaling north of Oatbarton in the Shire, the player character will find a local hobbit named Ronald[1] who tells how his son had a favorite toy, a lead dog, which was lost during a picnic. The quest is to find his son's little lead dog for him.
Translations around the world
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
|---|---|
| Arabic | روفيراندووم |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Роверандом |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Роувърандъм |
| Georgian | როვერანდომი |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Роверандом |
| Norwegian | Rundtomrask |
| Polish | Łazikanty |
| Russian | Роверандом |
| Serbian | Роверандом (Cyrillic) Roverandom (Latin) |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Роверандом |
| Urdu | روورانڈوم |
References
- ↑ Ronald was one of J.R.R. (John Ronald Reuel) Tolkien's middle names.