Scene: the interior of The Eagle & Child (aka The Bird & Baby) public-house. The Inklings are conversing over pipes and pints.
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J.R.R. Tolkien:
Take street-lamps, for example. They’re so insignificant, so transient, so very much of the moment. Fairy-stories have better things to talk about – permanent, fundamental things. You wouldn’t put a street-lamp in a fairy-story.
C.S. Lewis:
Hold my beer.
Footnotes!
“On Fairy Stories” by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.
The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis.
LOVE it!!
It fits in with a discussion I joined on FB this morning about Tree & Leaf. I do love Tollers’ little fairy tales, especially Farmer Giles of Ham, and Smith of Wootton Major. (I’m dutifully reading The Hobbit before LOTR, and really enjoying it.) But surely The Professor has something like a lamp post somewhere in his stories? 😀
If Lewis dashed off to jot down an idea in his notebook, that would make sense – probably just a few yards away frm the others, rather than hurrying home. I don’t see him as a hurrier. Tolkien’s Ents were based on his long slow stride, and his booming voice as he approached the lecture room, speaking already.
Glad it hit the spot marked X!