Giles, the farmer of Ham

Aegidius the Farmer of Ham is a novel by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien that was published in 1949 and is the presumed translation of a manuscript in Insular Latin that recounts the Origins of the Little Kingdom.

Tolkien had not yet finished The Lord of the Rings, but "Aegidius..." is in many ways a parody of that one. The chivalrous paraphernalia of The Hobbit and the trilogy appears, the foolishness and vanity of the powerful and the rise of a common man without ambitions who becomes king through the chance of an adventure.

Egidio is like Bilbo, Frodo or Sam, a true anti-hero.

AEGIDII AHENOBARBI JULII
HAMMO AGRICOLE
DOMINI DOMITE
AULE DRACONARIE COMITIS
REGNI MINIMI REGIS ET BASILEI
MIRA FACINORA ET MIRABILIS EXORTUS

Or, in the vernacular:

The Ascense and the Wonderful Adventures
Egidio Farmer, Lord of Ham
Count of the Dragon Palace
and King of the Small Kingdom

Plot

Ægidius Ahenobarbus Julius Agricola de Hammo, or Aegidius of Ham for short, lives with his wife Agatha and their dog Garm on their farm in the central region of the island of Brittany. One day Garm wakes him up by announcing the intrusion into the farm of a giant, who has come from the North, nearsighted and a little deaf, who has gotten lost on his walk, and who, among other damages, has stepped on Galatea the cow, leaving her flat. like a mat. Egidio goes with his blunderbuss, which is shot over the giant's face due to the fright he gets when he sees it. He believes that an insect has bitten him and flees the place. The incident is celebrated by the inhabitants of the town, and Egidio's fame reaches the ears of the king, who gives him an old sword. Everything is going well for the farmer until a dragon named Chrysophylax Dives enters the scene. Aegidius, armed with the sword, which according to some inscriptions the priest discovers is Caudimordax or Tajarrabos, the sword of the former dragon slayer Bellomarius, which unsheaths itself when there is a dragon nearby, wounds Crisófilax, who promises to deliver his riches if you don't kill him. He marches to bring them. When the king finds out, he goes to Ham to claim the dragon's riches as his own, but he breaks his promise by not returning. The king sends Egidio and some of his knights to settle accounts with the dragon, which kills some and drives away others, but in the presence of Egidio with his sword, he is forced to give him a large part of his treasures, carrying with him him on the return. Aegidius, after denying the king the treasure, and with the help of Chrysophilax, creates his own kingdom. Already being king, he lets go of the dragon, who returns to his cave along with the part of the treasure that he did not deliver to Egidio.