"On Fairy-Stories" is an essay by J. R. R. Tolkien which discusses the fairy story as a literary form. It was written as a lecture entitled "Fairy Stories" for the Andrew Lang lecture at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, on 8 March 1939.
In the essay, Tolkien distinguished fairy tales from what he considered separate genres like beast fables and dream stories. Illustration for Helena Nyblom's fairy tale "The Ring" by John Bauer, 1914
The University of St Andrews is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the third-oldest university in the English-speaking world. St Andrews was founded in 1413 when the Avignon Antipope Benedict XIII issued a papal bull to a small founding group of Augustinian clergy. Along with the universities of Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh, St Andrews was part of the Scottish Enlightenment during the 18th century.
College Hall, within the 16th-century St Mary's College building
St Salvator's Chapel
The Gateway building, built in 2000 as an International Golf Club and now used by the university's School of Management
St Salvator's Quadrangle from the cloisters
