Summary
Niggle goes outside and discovers he is on top of a large hill. He sees the train station at the bottom of the hill and begins walking toward it. Once there, he boards a train, though the Porter says there is not yet a name for his destination.
When he gets off the train, he finds his bicycle with his name on it. He rides along a path that eventually disappears altogether.
Soon, Niggle runs directly into a large tree. He realizes that it is the Tree from his painting, complete and idyllic.
Niggle explores his new surroundings and finds new areas that need work. He wishes he had Parish with him to help him cultivate the landscape. Soon, Parish arrives, and thanks Niggle for getting the Voices to release him. Niggle and Parish begin working together to plant flowers and build a cottage near the Tree. They work until the work no longer makes them tired. Parish loses his limp.
One day, they complete their work and go for a long walk. At the Edge of the country, they run into a shepherd, who offers to guide them toward the Mountains. Parish says he wants to wait for his wife, but Niggle agrees to go with the shepherd. Niggle and Parish shake hands and part ways. The narrator remarks that there is no way of knowing what happened to Niggle after that moment.
Townsfolk in Niggle's old country discuss Niggle's use to society, with a number of them disparaging Niggle for being too caught up in his silly paintings. One person, however, notes that he once found a portion of Niggle's paintings – a single leaf – and had it framed. He displays it in a museum where a few people see it, but the museum eventually burns down.
The two Voices discuss the place that Niggle and Parish worked on before Niggle left for the mountains, now called Niggle's Parish. They describe the place as "the best introduction to the Mountains" (10). The Second Voice tells the First Voice that he sent a message to Niggle and Parish letting them know the new name, and that they both laughed.
Analysis
The ending of the story ultimately redeems Niggle of any social transgressions he had made back in his home country by allowing him to work alongside Parish to complete his masterpiece. If readers continue to follow the allegory of life after death, a problem arises when Niggle moves from the Workhouse to the idyllic forest, as the forest becomes a second version of Purgatory that is not part of a traditional Christian narrative. This, however, is precisely where the story intervenes in that narrative, as Niggle's work alongside Parish is arguably more "cleansing" and rewarding than the menial labor he had performed at the Workhouse. In this way, the allegory of the story shifts to favor Niggle's Parish as the more useful form of Purgatorial progress. Even the Second Voice admits, at the end of the story, that sending people to Niggle's Parish is "the best introduction to the Mountains" (10).
The Mountains, of course, in all their mystery, are an allegory for Heaven and the ultimate afterlife. That the narrator does not follow Niggle to the Mountains once he accompanies the shepherd across the Edge emphasizes Tolkien's own commitment – that he expressed in his other fantasy works – to maintaining the omnipotence and mystery of God, or a general Creator, among men.
The final pages of the story also present two different narratives of Niggle's life. When the story shifts to show the conversation between the townsfolk, they disparage Niggle and mock him for his silliness and his painting. Only one person – Atkins – defends Niggle, noting that the scrap of canvas he found of Niggle's – and the leaf painted onto it – will not leave his mind. Still, the conversation ends on a note of futility as the narrator explains that the museum in which Leaf by Niggle was displayed eventually burned down. These details suggest a rather bleak outlook on Niggle's life, but they also represent an earthly and limited perspective.
When the story makes its final shift to the two Voices, readers are offered an alternative interpretation of Niggle from a seemingly infinite or perhaps divine point of view. The two Voices praise Niggle and Parish for the work they did on Niggle's Parish and the influence they have had over those who have since been sent there before the Mountains. When the Second Voice amusedly remarks that the "Mountains rang with [laughter]" after Niggle and Parish learned of the name for Niggle's Parish, the narrative suggests that Niggle lived a worthwhile life after all (as he is, presumably, existing blissfully in the Beyond) (10).
The story ultimately defends the notion of creative minds and creative impulses on earth, showing how creation – or sub-creation as it is often called in the Tolkien universe – is one of the central ways that humanity honors God.
