Chapter 39. Celebration

A running, swirling, spinning whirl of hobbits covered the field next to the Smials in a glorious game of chase. The Thain swooped down upon young Bilbo Gamgee, catching him up, tossing him high into the air before placing him on his shoulders.

'Lookit me! Lookit me!' crowed the tiny hobbit. 'I'm riding on an eagle!'

Little Periadoc Brandybuck pushed against his mother. 'Want down!' he demanded, kicking his legs.

'All right,' Estella said, laughing, putting him down and watching him toddle into the middle of the game. She held her breath until the tiny lad was swooped up by young Frodo Gamgee and carried about in high glee.

'Eagles!' the Thain shouted. 'We need more eagles, quick, before Gandalf and the dwarves are roasted! I've got the burglar!'

Reginard, Ferdibrand, Meliloc, Samwise, and Merry each pounced to take up a small hobbit, running in circles with their burdens until all collapsed in a laughing heap where the Thain designated the eyrie to be. Suddenly Pippin called out, 'The burglar's perishing from hunger! Who wants some lovely fresh-caught coney?'

At a general groan from the children, he said, 'But that's the way eagles like it! Fresh caught and still warm!' The moans continued, and he said, 'O all right, then, who would rather have seed cake and jam tart?' There was a chorus of cheers, and he added, 'Into the Smials then! 'Tis time for tea!'

'How about apple tart?' Merry asked.

'For you, anything, cousin! As long as you don't eat up all the seedcake before I get some!' the Thain laughed. They walked into the Smials, shooing the children before them.

'I can't see anything at all wrong with you, Sir,' Woodruff said as the Thain came up to the watchers at the entrance. She'd examined him after dinner last night, finding the leg as sound as if it were new-made. His lungs, too, were healed. For the first time since the pneumonia had nearly killed him, not long after he came of age, he was taking more than half breaths. 'Whatever do you need a healer for?' she added with a smile.

'I don't!' Pippin said smugly. 'You're out of a job.' He grinned. 'On second thought, you may stick around. We might still need you to tend the occasional scraped knee or birthing.'

Estella caught the look he gave Diamond and gasped. 'Really?'

'Aye,' Diamond said with a grin of her own. She was showered with congratulations.

Pippin snaked his arm around her and adjusted his long strides to accommodate hers. 'And what would my lovely wife like this day for her tea?' he murmured.

'I can't think of a single thing,' she answered, nestling against him. 'I've everything I ever wanted.'

***

The hilarity continued at the tea table, led by the mischievous Thain. He asked all sorts of absurd and ridiculous questions about the Mayor's journey to Gondor and kept the children laughing with his wide-eyed credulity.

'Walking trees! You're having me on,' he said. 'Trees don't walk, not unless you cut one down and set half a hundred hobbits to carry it!'

'O, they walk all right,' the Mayor said placidly, taking another bite of his jam tart.

'I don't believe it!' the Thain snorted. 'Next you'll be telling me that elves and dwarves walk about together in great friendship, and play at Frogs* in company.'

'Well,' Sam said, 'I hate to disillusion you, but...'

'And did you have to go all the way to Gondor to get a babe?' Pippin broke in. 'Seems as if there's plenty here in the Shire to go around.'

Sam dissolved in helpless laughter, and the Gamgee children gave a shout.

'What's the Mayor doing here, anyhow?' the Thain demanded. 'I thought he'd be down in Southfarthing, to open the Strawberry Festival.'

'They moved the Southfarthing Strawberry Festival to the Fourth of June,' Rose answered. 'Seems as if the Mayor's tied up on the First. They have some pony races at the Great Smials, you know.'

'O really?' the Thain said, interested. 'I didn't know that. Perhaps we'll go to the pony races this year then, what do you think, little wife?'

'I think you need to eat this last piece of seedcake before anyone else does,' Diamond smiled.

'My wife is a wonder, she truly is,' Pippin informed all the other hobbits. 'She always knows just what's best for me.' He took a large bite of his seedcake and smiled at Diamond. 'Think there's any more where this came from?'

'If there's not, I'll just tell the cooks to make more,' she said.

***

Race day dawned bright and promising, and the crowds were about early, hobbits seeking for the best vantage points on the hills surrounding the course.

'Good thing we've got front seats already reserved,' Pippin said. He smiled at Diamond. 'Ready?'

'Quite,' the Mistress nodded.

They mounted their ponies and walked them decorously to the racecourse, where Mayor Samwise waited to open the festivities.

Swinging down, Pippin went to help his wife from the saddle, and silence fell as the two approached the Mayor. As the hobbits realized that their Thain was walking without prop or stick, the cheers began to swell into a deafening roar as the Thain and his wife reached the Mayor's side.

'Lookee there, Violet,' the Thain said in perfect imitation of a farmer's drawl. 'Looks as if the Thain's growed hisself some new legs! Wonder wot 'e's usin' for fertiliser!'

The Mayor was convulsed with laughter, but managed to take himself in hand. He raised his arms for silence, and the cheers gradually died. 'Ladies and gentlehobbits...!' he cried. Surely this was the most joyous celebration he'd opened in a long time.

***

*Author's Note: See "Frogs" for details of this game.