Stories of Arda Home Page
About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search
swiss replica watches replica watches uk Replica Rolex DateJust Watches

Trust a Brandybuck and a Took!  by Grey Wonderer

This one was posted to my Live Journal a month or so back so you may have read it there.  Anyway, Pippin is 17, Merry is 25 and Frodo is 39.  If you haven't read it before then here it is!
GW
“On A Cloudy Day You Can See…”
 
 
They were stretched out on the grass on their backs looking up at the sky. Sheep grazed in the distance.  The only sound was the wind rustling the leaves on the trees and an occasional bleat from one of the sheep.  Merry had his hands behind his head and his feet crossed at the ankle. He stretched his toes and gazed intently at the clouds overhead. “Well, what do you think that one looks like?” he asked.
 
Pippin smiled and pointed toward the cloud in question. “It’s a sheep, Merry. See its fluffy little tail and its ears?”
 
Merry squinted at it and then nodded. “I suppose it is shaped rather like a lamb.” Merry found a second cloud and pointed to it. “I think that one looks a bit like a bird. See the wings?” he asked pointing out his cloud’s wings.
 
Pippin wrinkled his nose and frowned. “No, I think that one looks like a fat sheep running in a meadow,” Pippin said. “Those aren’t wings, Merry. It’s the way sheep look when they run.”
 
“Pippin, I don’t recall having seen a sheep run before,” Merry objected. “They sort of bounce or they graze or they walk, but I don’t remember seeing any running.”
 
“They run all the time, Merry,” Pippin assured his older cousin. “Some of them are very fast.” Pippin pointed to the sky. “Like that one that you mistakenly think looks like a bird.”
 
Merry scowled. “Well, it looks like a bird to me.”
 
Pippin yawned, raised his knees up slightly and pointed to a cloud in the distance. “What do you think that one is?” he challenged. “And do be serious if you please. Study it closely.”
 
Merry sighed and looked at the cloud turning his head this way and that in order to get the proper view. Then he grinned. “It looks like a tree. The big maple in front of the stables in Buckland, perhaps?”
 
Pippin snorted. “It is not a tree! Honestly, Merry I’m beginning to worry about your poor eyes. Anyone can see that is a Ewe and her wee lamb.”
 
Merry sat up and glared down at Pippin. “They are not all sheep, Peregrin Took.”  He pointed in the direction of the sheep in the meadow.  "Those are sheep.  Above us are the clouds and not all of those clouds look like sheep!"
 
“Well, of course not, Merry,” Pippin said innocently. “But so far all of the ones we’ve looked at today have resembled sheep. I suppose that’s only reasonable when you think on it.”
 
“How is that reasonable?” Merry demanded still staring at Pippin.
 
“Well, clouds are fluffy-looking like sheep are and clouds are white like most sheep are so it is only reasonable that a great many clouds look like sheep,” Pippin explained. He suddenly looked away from Merry and pointed to another cloud. “See, that one looks like the back of a sheep walking away across the field. You can see its tail!”
 
Merry followed Pippin’s gaze. “That looks like nothing. It’s just a cloud and it doesn’t have enough shape to be anything else.”
 
“The backside of a sheep doesn’t really have much shape either and that’s why it reminded me of one,” Pippin said. “You’ve gone and explained it perfectly as you always do, Merry.”
 
Merry groaned and lay back down on the grass. “You’re taking the fun out of this game. When I play this with Frodo we see all kinds of different things. With you, all you see are sheep!” Merry complained.
 
“Well, I’m only telling you what I see,” Pippin frowned. “You don’t want me to lie, do you?” Pippin pointed to another cloud and said, “I could say that looks remarkably like Sam’s father but it doesn’t really. It looks like a sheep jumping a fence. You can see how it looks like it’s up higher in the air in the front there.” Pippin grinned. “Of course since it’s a cloud it is rather high up, isn’t it?”
 
“I quit,” Merry said, closing his eyes. “You play if you like but I am tired of you seeing nothing but sheep.”
 
“I wonder if we put a sheep on the roof of the barn would it look like a cloud?” Pippin asked ignoring Merry’s pouting. “I mean if you were looking up at it properly with the sky behind it wouldn’t it look like a cloud hanging over the barn instead of just a sheep standing on the roof?”
 
Merry’s eyes snapped open and he stared at Pippin. “We are not putting a sheep on the barn roof! I don’t care what it would look like! We aren’t doing it! Is that clear?”
 
“It is,” Pippin frowned. “I was just thinking is all. I mean if clouds look like sheep then sheep must look rather like clouds in the proper setting. I can’t think how else to get one high enough up save for putting it on the barn.”
 
“How would you go about it?” Merry asked. “You don’t even have a plan.  I know that the barn isn't as high as some barns and that it doesn't have a loft or anything, but it is still entirely too high for you to easily put a sheep on top of it.  What do you plan to do, go over to one of the sheep, pick it up and toss it onto the roof?”
 
Pippin’s eyes sparkled and he said, “They won’t walk up a ladder but they will walk up a wide, wooden plank if you lead them and you pick out one that’s rather brave.”
 
“What if it were to fall?” Merry objected. 
 
“Well, naturally, you can’t let it fall, Merry. It would kill it,” Pippin said.
 
“Of course it would,” Merry said squeezing his eyes shut tightly. “We are not doing this!”
 
***
 
Frodo lit his pipe and leaned against the base of the tree. “It’s a lovely day for looking at the clouds,” he said. “There’s one over there. What do you think that one looks like?”
 
Merry chewed the bite of apple that he’d just taken, studied the cloud and then said, “That looks like a sheep on the roof of a barn.”
 
“It does?” Frodo frowned squinting at the cloud as he puffed his pipe. “You can see all of that in that one cloud?”
 
“I can,” Merry confessed and took another bite of his apple.
 
“That’s very creative, Merry,” Frodo said looking slightly confused. “I was going to say that it looked like a cow.”
 
“No, it’s a sheep on the roof of a barn,” Merry sighed. He continued to point at various clouds. “That one is just a sheep. That one over there is a sheep lying down. That one is a sheep on its back with its tiny feet in the air. That one is two sheep standing nose to nose.”
 
Frodo looked at Merry and smiled. “You’re teasing me, aren’t you?”
 
Merry sighed deeply and leaned against the tree next to Frodo. “I wish I were but after playing this game with Pippin, all I can see now are sheep.”
 
“Where is Pippin today?” Frodo frowned. “I haven’t seen him all week.”
 
“You aren’t likely too either,” Merry said. “He’s at home in Whitwell cleaning out the barn.”
 
“What has he done now?” Frodo asked.
 
“Let’s just say that sheep will gladly go up a plank onto the roof of a barn, but they aren’t too keen on walking back down,” Merry said. “And Paladin Took was not at all keen on spending most of an afternoon getting that stubborn sheep off of the barn roof.”
 
Frodo’s eyes widened. “He did not put a sheep on the roof of a barn! Did he?”
 
“Not on his own, no,” Merry said. “My father wasn’t too pleased about it either but I suppose since he didn’t have to get the sheep off of the barn roof that he was a bit more understanding when it came to my punishment.”
 
“Was that your idea? Did you suggest putting a sheep on the barn?” Frodo demanded. His pipe had fallen to the grass beside of him but he didn’t seem to see it just now.
 
“Actually, that was one of Pippin’s ideas,” Merry said. “I should think that would be obvious to you, Cousin.”
 
“You actually agreed to that?” Frodo asked looking a bit stricken. “When the subject of placing a live sheep on the roof of a barn was broached, you actually agreed to assist in that venture?”
 
“After a while,” Merry said thoughtfully. “I don’t recall exactly when it started to sound like a good idea. I know that when he first brought the subject up, I was completely against it. I pointed out several very good reasons why we shouldn’t even discuss it but in time, well, you know how it is.” Merry took a bite of his apple and pointed to a large cloud. “That one is a very fat sheep laying on its side.”
 
 
The End
 
 
G.W.     04/27/2006




<< Back

Next >>

Leave Review
Home     Search     Chapter List