Smith of Wootton Major

A short story about a blacksmith in an English village who, as a boy, swallows a magic star hidden in a cake. The star gives him the ability to enter Faery — an otherworldly realm of beauty and danger — for the rest of his working life, until the time comes to pass the star on to someone else.

No. It is set in a self-contained world with no connection to Middle-earth. However, it is deeply concerned with the same themes about the role of fantasy and imagination that underpin all of Tolkien's work.

It is accessible to older children but is primarily an adult story in feel and theme. The melancholy of its ending and its meditation on what it means to lose access to the extraordinary are themes that reward adult readers most.

About 10,000 words — around an hour's reading. It is typically published alongside Farmer Giles of Ham or collected in Tales from the Perilous Realm.

The silver star represents the gift of access to imagination and fantasy — what Tolkien called 'sub-creation.' The story is widely read as an allegory about the creative gift itself: how it is bestowed, what it demands of the person who holds it, and how it must eventually be passed on.

It was his last original work of fiction published during his lifetime, appearing in 1967. Tolkien died in 1973; the many posthumous publications that followed were all compiled from earlier manuscripts.