1394 SR

Bilbo glanced out of the window. Looking after Pippin was not a task to be undertaken lightly. That lad could get into mischief in an empty room, and who knew what havoc he might cause in the Gaffer's flower beds?

       "That's it, lad. Is the tray loaded? Go along then. I'll be out with the teapot in a minute."

       "It's alright, Uncle Bilbo. Gandalf's watching him. He's a Wizard. Surely he can keep Pippin in order?"

       Bilbo humphed. Wizard or no, he privately thought Gandalf would have a problem with the little Took, although they seemed to get on very well.

       Frodo walked into the garden, careful to look where he was walking. Pip left so many toys around that it was easy to trip, and he was too fond of Bilbo's pasties and Bell Gamgee's cherry cake to see it spread all over the path. He placed the tray carefully on the table and turned as an excited Pippin hurtled towards him.

       "Fwodo! I teached Gandalf a new song!"

       "Did you, Pip? That's nice."

       Frodo paled slightly. Pippin loved to sing but he did not always use the established words. Like all small children, Pip liked to use words his parents would rather he did not know. At Yule 'Mary Had a Little Lamb...' had been reinvented as 'Mary had a belly-button' and the Three Blind Mice might have been alarmed to learn that the farmer's wife cut off something other than their tails.

       "Most .......ah..........educational it was too," murmured Gandalf, his voice quivering slightly. Thankfully Gandalf was in a good humour and at least the tiny Took had not been turned into something unnatural.

       A snigger from behind the hollyhocks told Frodo that Sam had also found the song amusing.

       Bilbo looked down at the little lad and smiled indulgently. "And what song did you teach Gandalf, my lad?"

       Pippin batted his eyelashes and gazed innocently at everyone. "I teached him a song about a birdie."

       "Which one is that, dearest?" asked Frodo."I don't think I know that one."

       A slow and very mischievous grin spread across Pippin's face, he clasped his hands in front of him and recited, in a sing-song voice:

           Little birdie in the sky,                                                                                                        

          Dropping things from way up high.

          Angry farmer wipes his eye,

          Very glad that cows don't fly!

       Frodo bit his lip. Bilbo was making loud snorting noises, the Wizard's shoulders were shaking and the spluttering from the nearby flower bed announced that Sam had abandoned all pretence and was probably stuffing a handkerchif in his mouth to stifle his mirth.

       Gandalf blew a large smoke ring and said casually, "In all my years in Arda I don't believe I have heard that particular ditty. Peregrin Took, you have broadened my education!"

       "I can believe that," said Bilbo.

       Pippin beamed. He had managed to teach a Wizard something!

                                                                          ************

       Foreyule 1418 SR

       Gandalf often sang very softly to himself as he wandered the paths of Rivendell, puffing on his pipe and considering the journey to come. One morning Aragorn listened carefully to what Gandalf was singing, shook his head in case his hearing was faulty, and then began to laugh. Boromir glanced at the Man.

       "Something amuses you?"

       "Have you heard what Gandalf is singing?" Aragorn gasped when he could catch his breath.

       "I must confess I was not really listening," replied the Gondorian Captain-General. His expression grew more incredulous. "Did I hear.......? Did he just.......?"

       "Gandalf's not as fierce as you'd think," said Pippin with a confiding nod. "I taught him that song years ago." He turned and winked at his fellow hobbits. "I'll teach it to you later if you like."

       Bilbo watched the four young hobbits disappear into the house for elevenses, then smiled at the two Men. "I should take him up on that, gentlemen.You don't receive an offer like that every day. And if he can teach a Wizard..........."

       "Umm," mumbled Boromir.

       "Quite," said Aragorn.

       In the shadows, a very amused Dwarf and a startled Elf exchanged smiles. The journey had suddenly become much more interesting.