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Priya · 08-31-2025, 04:59 PM

As I intimated in my previous post, in order to reconcile Tolkien’s hollowed-out and mounded hill with our world’s fairy-lore we need a bit more evidence. Tom Bombadil is obviously intricately involved. Or at least - knowledgeable.

But was Tom conceived as a creature of Faërie as I have suggested? To examine that angle, in depth, would take many lengthy posts - and I would love to chat more about that. Unfortunately such side-tracking isn’t desirable for this particular thread. So instead, I’m just going to summarize some of what I’ve gathered over the years in studying Tolkien’s marvelous creation.

Don’t fall over - but one prognosis is that Tolkien employed his ‘usual’ trick of making his tale a ‘source’, and gave Tom a purpose through making him the origin of many characters of our world’s fairy-stories, myths and legends. But to do so - he had to do it in a fragmentary way. Only bits and pieces of his tale could be tied up with our world’s accounts. At least - that is what I believe was his plan.

However, I caution - I’m just grazing the surface here. Tom is an extremely complex character; indeed an extraordinary piece of subcreation. By no means is this all there is to him, or the final say. And you are all welcome to discuss and argue with me - but please, if you don’t mind, in a different thread.

Fairytale

Tom appears in the role of the old ‘fairy-man’ in:

(a) Jack and the Beanstalk

Who was that odd-looking old man whom Jack had traded with?

“He hadn't gone far when he met a funny-looking old man, who said to him: 'Good morning, Jack.' ” 
- English Fairy Tales, Jack and the Beanstalk - pg. 60, J. Jacobs, 1890

Surely only a fairy being would have been in possession of magic beans?

The Queer Old Man, 'Jack and the Beanstalk', English Fairy Tales, F. Steel, 1890 (Illustration by Arthur Rackham)

One of the earliest printed illustrations of the famous tale records a bearded short man with a conspicuous hat and a blue jacket. Might he have been Tom?

Illustrations from 'The History of Mother Twaddle and the Marvellous Achievements of Her Son Jack', Benjamin Tabart, 1807

Then after the swap what happened to Jack's cow: 'Milky-White'?

Hmm ... for our tale clearly Tom had access to a providing farm animal. After all, the extent of dairy produce on the dinner table was substantial:

“... yellow cream and honeycomb, and white bread and butter; milk, cheese, ...”.
 – The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil

So we can see that there was no shortage of food during the hobbits' respite. With much of it being milk based, we might ascertain Tom's cow was a prodigious producer. Resonating with:

“... Milky-white, the best milker in the parish, ...”. 
- English Fairy Tales, Jack and the Beanstalk - pg. 61, J. Jacobs, 1890

And one can readily imagine that legends of Milky-white and her ample output originated in hobbit folklore to be passed along through the ages to our own world's myth through blended and corrupted tales of Tom's residence being awash in 'white milk':

“Frodo … watched the white chalky path turn into a little river of milk and go bubbling away down into the valley.”
 – The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil (my underlined emphasis)

And then on another matter, to the hobbits - who exactly were these black men, so much larger than them (and thus in comparison – of ogreish size), who had invaded a thoroughly English Shire with such animosity for its inhabitants? Many of the rustic little people had never encountered the Big Folk; from their viewpoint they must have looked gigantic:

“Sam ... was finding his first sight of Men ... quite enough, ...”. 
- The Fellowship of the Ring, At the Sign of the Prancing Pony

Apart from the 'ogre' fueled chase echoing Jack's experience, what about that heightened sense of smell? What was all the sniffing about?

“... inside the hood came a noise as of someone sniffing ...”.
 – The Fellowship of the Ring, Three is Company

Presumably it was connected to Aragorn's revelation:

“... at all times they smell the blood of living things, desiring and hating it.” 
– The Fellowship of the Ring, A Knife in the Dark

Hmm ... the smelling of blood combined with raw hatred! Now where have we seen that theme before? Yes, we must hark back once again to Jack and the Beanstalk and that most famous of English rhymes:

“ '... Fee-fi-fo-fum,
 I smell the blood of an Englishman,
 Be he alive, or be he dead 
I’ll have his bones to grind my bread.' ” 
– English Fairy Tales, Jack and the Beanstalk - pg. 63, J. Jacobs, 1890

Aren't the similarities becoming obvious now? Isn't it obvious how The Lord of the Rings mirrors Jack and the Beanstalk in that both heroes look out from a window on to beanstalks first thing in the morning!

“Frodo ran to the eastern window, and found himself looking into … a tall line of beans on poles; ...”, 
– The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil

“So Jack jumped up and dressed himself and went to the window. And what do you think he saw? why, the beans ... had sprung up into a big beanstalk ...”. 
-English Fairy Tales, Jack and the Beanstalk pg.63, J. Jacobs, 1890

… and there is quite a bit more …

(b) The Little Folk’s Presents - In Grimm’s Fairy Tales

In being extremely succinct, the most interesting part for us is the implied ‘fairy pact’ between two mortals and a little old fairy-man. In order to seal the agreement:

“… the old man clapped them both on the shoulder, in a friendly manner …”. 
– The Little Folks’ Presents – Tale 182, Grimm’s Household Tales, J. & W. Grimm, Translated by M. Hunt, 1884 (my underlined emphasis)

Such an act is also present in The Fellowship of the Ring where Tom, as an old man, taught the hobbits a summoning verse. Then via a specific motion:

“… he clapped them each on the shoulder with a laugh, …”, 
– The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil (my underlined emphasis)

and thereby his side of the ‘fairy pact’ was sealed in agreeing to answer a distress call.

(c) Other fairytales in which we encounter resonances to Tom

The Blue Mountains in Andrew Lang’s Yellow Fairy Book
The Bell Deep by Hans Andersen
Tom Thumb as set down by Richard Johnson
The Legend of Bottle Hill as set down by T. Keightly

& no doubt there are several more!

………..

But I want to put fairytales aside and instead turn to ‘Legends’. Because it’s Tom’s hidden likenesses to the god Lugh, and thus a connection to Tara - that I really want to get to!

08-31-2025, 04:59 PM	#11
Priya Pile O'Bones Join Date: Sep 2023 Posts: 16	As I intimated in my previous post, in order to reconcile Tolkien’s hollowed-out and mounded hill with our world’s fairy-lore we need a bit more evidence. Tom Bombadil is obviously intricately involved. Or at least - knowledgeable. But was Tom conceived as a creature of Faërie as I have suggested? To examine that angle, in depth, would take many lengthy posts - and I would love to chat more about that. Unfortunately such side-tracking isn’t desirable for this particular thread. So instead, I’m just going to summarize some of what I’ve gathered over the years in studying Tolkien’s marvelous creation. Don’t fall over - but one prognosis is that Tolkien employed his ‘usual’ trick of making his tale a ‘source’, and gave Tom a purpose through making him the origin of many characters of our world’s fairy-stories, myths and legends. But to do so - he had to do it in a fragmentary way. Only bits and pieces of his tale could be tied up with our world’s accounts. At least - that is what I believe was his plan. However, I caution - I’m just grazing the surface here. Tom is an extremely complex character; indeed an extraordinary piece of subcreation. By no means is this all there is to him, or the final say. And you are all welcome to discuss and argue with me - but please, if you don’t mind, in a different thread. Fairytale Tom appears in the role of the old ‘fairy-man’ in: (a) Jack and the Beanstalk Who was that odd-looking old man whom Jack had traded with? “He hadn't gone far when he met a funny-looking old man, who said to him: 'Good morning, Jack.' ”  - English Fairy Tales, Jack and the Beanstalk - pg. 60, J. Jacobs, 1890 Surely only a fairy being would have been in possession of magic beans? The Queer Old Man, 'Jack and the Beanstalk', English Fairy Tales, F. Steel, 1890 (Illustration by Arthur Rackham) One of the earliest printed illustrations of the famous tale records a bearded short man with a conspicuous hat and a blue jacket. Might he have been Tom? Illustrations from 'The History of Mother Twaddle and the Marvellous Achievements of Her Son Jack', Benjamin Tabart, 1807 Then after the swap what happened to Jack's cow: 'Milky-White'? Hmm ... for our tale clearly Tom had access to a providing farm animal. After all, the extent of dairy produce on the dinner table was substantial: “... yellow cream and honeycomb, and white bread and butter; milk, cheese, ...”.  – The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil So we can see that there was no shortage of food during the hobbits' respite. With much of it being milk based, we might ascertain Tom's cow was a prodigious producer. Resonating with: “... Milky-white, the best milker in the parish, ...”.  - English Fairy Tales, Jack and the Beanstalk - pg. 61, J. Jacobs, 1890 And one can readily imagine that legends of Milky-white and her ample output originated in hobbit folklore to be passed along through the ages to our own world's myth through blended and corrupted tales of Tom's residence being awash in 'white milk': “Frodo … watched the white chalky path turn into a little river of milk and go bubbling away down into the valley.”  – The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil (my underlined emphasis) And then on another matter, to the hobbits - who exactly were these black men, so much larger than them (and thus in comparison – of ogreish size), who had invaded a thoroughly English Shire with such animosity for its inhabitants? Many of the rustic little people had never encountered the Big Folk; from their viewpoint they must have looked gigantic: “Sam ... was finding his first sight of Men ... quite enough, ...”.  - The Fellowship of the Ring, At the Sign of the Prancing Pony Apart from the 'ogre' fueled chase echoing Jack's experience, what about that heightened sense of smell? What was all the sniffing about? “... inside the hood came a noise as of someone sniffing ...”.  – The Fellowship of the Ring, Three is Company Presumably it was connected to Aragorn's revelation: “... at all times they smell the blood of living things, desiring and hating it.”  – The Fellowship of the Ring, A Knife in the Dark Hmm ... the smelling of blood combined with raw hatred! Now where have we seen that theme before? Yes, we must hark back once again to Jack and the Beanstalk and that most famous of English rhymes: “ '... Fee-fi-fo-fum,  I smell the blood of an Englishman,  Be he alive, or be he dead  I’ll have his bones to grind my bread.' ”  – English Fairy Tales, Jack and the Beanstalk - pg. 63, J. Jacobs, 1890 Aren't the similarities becoming obvious now? Isn't it obvious how The Lord of the Rings mirrors Jack and the Beanstalk in that both heroes look out from a window on to beanstalks first thing in the morning! “Frodo ran to the eastern window, and found himself looking into … a tall line of beans on poles; ...”,  – The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil “So Jack jumped up and dressed himself and went to the window. And what do you think he saw? why, the beans ... had sprung up into a big beanstalk ...”.  -English Fairy Tales, Jack and the Beanstalk pg.63, J. Jacobs, 1890 … and there is quite a bit more … (b) The Little Folk’s Presents - In Grimm’s Fairy Tales In being extremely succinct, the most interesting part for us is the implied ‘fairy pact’ between two mortals and a little old fairy-man. In order to seal the agreement: “… the old man clapped them both on the shoulder, in a friendly manner …”.  – The Little Folks’ Presents – Tale 182, Grimm’s Household Tales, J. & W. Grimm, Translated by M. Hunt, 1884 (my underlined emphasis) Such an act is also present in The Fellowship of the Ring where Tom, as an old man, taught the hobbits a summoning verse. Then via a specific motion: “… he clapped them each on the shoulder with a laugh, …”,  – The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil (my underlined emphasis) and thereby his side of the ‘fairy pact’ was sealed in agreeing to answer a distress call. (c) Other fairytales in which we encounter resonances to Tom The Blue Mountains in Andrew Lang’s Yellow Fairy Book The Bell Deep by Hans Andersen Tom Thumb as set down by Richard Johnson The Legend of Bottle Hill as set down by T. Keightly & no doubt there are several more! ……….. But I want to put fairytales aside and instead turn to ‘Legends’. Because it’s Tom’s hidden likenesses to the god Lugh, and thus a connection to Tara - that I really want to get to!