What Tolkien short story follows the painter Niggle on a symbolic journey?

Leaf by Niggle is the Tolkien short story about the painter Niggle and his symbolic journey.

Tolkien wrote the story during the late 1930s or early 1940s, and it was first published in 1945 in the Dublin Review. Niggle is a painter who spends years working on a huge picture of a tree, while repeatedly being interrupted by practical duties and concern for his neighbor Parish.

The story has often been read as a reflection on artistic creation, duty, mortality, and the relationship between a small fragment and a greater work. Its title comes from the leaf that Niggle carefully paints as part of his larger image.

Unlike The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the story is not an adventure set in Middle-earth. It is a compact allegory or literary fantasy, which is why it is frequently discussed alongside Tolkien’s ideas about sub-creation and the value of making things.