Tree and Leaf

Tree and Leaf is a small book published in 1964, containing two works by J. R. R. Tolkien:

  • a revised version of an essay called "On Fairy-Stories" (originally published in 1947 in Essays Presented to Charles Williams)
  • an allegorical short story called "Leaf by Niggle" (originally published in the Dublin Review in 1945).

The book was originally illustrated by Pauline Baynes.

"Mythopoeia" was added to the 1988 edition (ISBN 0395502322). Later versions also include "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son".

Both pieces were re-issued in the collection The Tolkien Reader (1966), and have also appeared in various subsequent collections.