Which Tolkien children’s story features the farmer who confronts the dragon Chrysophylax Dives?

Farmer Giles of Ham features the farmer who confronts the dragon Chrysophylax Dives. Tolkien’s comic medieval fantasy was published in 1949 by George Allen & Unwin, with illustrations by Pauline Diana Baynes in later editions.

The story is set in a fictitious version of England and follows Ægidius Ahenobarbus Julius Agricola de Ham, usually called Farmer Giles. After he accidentally drives away a giant, the king calls on him to face a dragon threatening the countryside. Giles gains unexpected fame and eventually challenges the dragon on his own terms.

The dragon’s mock-Latin name, Chrysophylax Dives, means roughly ‘rich gold-lover.’ Tolkien uses the story to parody heroic legends, royal bureaucracy, scholarly language, and the conventions of dragon-slaying tales.

Farmer Giles of Ham is not part of the Middle-earth narrative. It belongs with Tolkien’s shorter, lighter works, alongside stories such as Leaf by Niggle and Smith of Wootton Major.