Fastitocalon (poem)

"Fastitocalon" by Pauline Baynes
Poems by J.R.R. Tolkien
Fastitocalon
Poem Information
Written	Before June of 1927
Revised	1961 or 1962
Published	Stapeldon Magazine, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien
Subject(s)	Fastitocalon, Turtle-fish

Fastitocalon is a poem written by J.R.R. Tolkien published in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil that was attributed to Samwise Gamgee, who based it on "an older piece of the comic bestiary lore" which Hobbits like. The central character is Fastitocalon, the last of the Turtle-fish, and the setting is Middle-earth.

Poem excerpt

Look, there is Fastitocalon!
An island good to land upon,
      Although 'tis rather bare.
Come, leave the sea! And let us run,
Or dance, or lie down in the sun!
      See, gulls are sitting there!
                       Beware!

Etymology

Fastitocalon derives from the word astitocalon of the Shire-speech (rendered in modern English), which itself is an alteration or corruption of the High-Elven Aspido-chelōne (rendered in Greek, meaning "turtle with a round shield (of hide)"), and "the F was put on by the versifier simply to make the name alliterate".

Inspiration

J.R.R. Tolkien was inspired by an Old English bestiary, appearing in the Exeter Book. The idea of giant marine turtles ultimately derives from Eastern myths, and in the European versions the monster is often confused with whales.

Background

An early version of the poem was published together with Iumbo, or Ye Kinde of ye Oliphaunt as Adventures in Unnatural History and Medieval Metres, being the Freaks of Fisiologus in The Stapeldon Magazine, Oxford, vol. 7, no. 40 in June 1927 on pages 123-7.