Now that I've read 'Smith of Wootton Major' a second time, I'm beginning to think about the autobiographical aspects of the story. Smith is the obvious characterization of Tolkien himself - probably not many who would argue that point. The difference between him and Niggle lies in the fact that 'Smith' was written 20 years later, the last fiction Tolkien completed. We should go into more detail on that comparison, but for now, one thought is puzzling me:
I made the same deduction you did, Helen - Alf Prentice, the Faery King come to live among the humans, seems to be an obvious Christ reference. Same connection for the Faery Queen = Mary, Queen of Heaven. That would make the Realm of Faery equivalent to Heaven!! In my mind, Faery seems traditional and rather pagan; I cannot connect the two with each other.
Shippey says that Tolkien himself remarked that Hall and Cook were allegories of church and parson and goes on to say:
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The revelation that a Cook can also come from Faery very much supports Tolkien's deep belief (or desire to believe) that his gift for fantasy in no way comprimised his religion. Fantasy and faith...are harmonized.
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This is quite a revolutionary thought to me; can you reconcile Faery and the Christian faith?