A couple of fun tidbits from Tolkien on Fairy-Stories
The book "Tolkien on Fairy-stories", edited by Verylyn Flieger and Douglas Anderson has, in addition to the final published draft of his essay "On Fairy Stories", some of the earlier drafts of the speech at St. Andrews that he turned into the essay. If you haven't read them, here are a couple of gems you might enjoy. They both come from what the editors call Manuscript B.
The introduction in the speech. "To be invited to lecture in St. Andrews is a huge compliment to any man; to be allowed to speak about Fairy Stories is (for an Englishman in Scotland) an honour difficult to sustain. I feel like a mortal conjuror who finds himself, by some mistake, called on to give a display of magic to the court of an Elf-king. After producing his rabbit, he may consider himself lucky if he is allowed to go home in his proper shape, or to go home at all."
And the second is a version that is similar to what he finally went with, but with an interesting twist. "“The Land of Fairy Story is wide and deep and high, and is filled with many kings and all manner of men, and beasts, and birds; its seas are shoreless and its stars uncounted, its beauty an enchantment and its peril every-present; both its joy and sorrow are poignant as a sword. In that land a man may (perhaps) count himself fortunate to have wandered, but its very mystery and wealth make dumb the traveller who would report. And while he is there it is dangerous for him to ask too many questions, lest the gates be shut and the keys be lost. The fairy gold (too often) turns to withered leaves when it is brought away. All that I can ask is that you, knowing all these things, will receive my withered leaves, as a token at least that my hand once held a little of the gold.”
I hope you have enjoyed these.