One day J. R. R. Tolkien informed C. S. Lewis of yet another addition to the growing list of characters with which he was populating his monumental Lord of the Rings. Lewis's verdict? "Not another f---ing dwarf!"

[The men, great friends, were founding members of a group of Oxford writers(known as the Inklings) which met every Thursday at Lewis's home and every Tuesday at Oxford's Eagle and Child to smoke pipes, drink beer, and read aloud from their works in progress. Their nickname for the forementioned pub? "The Bird and Baby."]