J.R.R. Tolkien’s short story Leaf by Niggle first appeared in print in 1945.
The story was published in the Catholic literary magazine The Dublin Review in January 1945. It follows Niggle, a painter obsessed with creating a single vast tree, while everyday duties and an approaching journey prevent him from completing his work in the way he imagines.
Leaf by Niggle is often read as an allegory involving artistic creation, duty, mortality, and the possibility that unfinished earthly work may find a fuller meaning. Tolkien resisted simple one-to-one interpretations, but the story clearly reflects concerns that recur in his essays and fiction, including the relationship between imagination and ordinary responsibility.
The tale later appeared in collections such as Tree and Leaf, published in 1964. It is sometimes dated to that collection because many modern readers encounter it there, but its first magazine publication was two decades earlier, in 1945.