Rating: G
Summary: The weather is wet, the children are cranky, Esmeralda tells a story...
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Merry is 6, Pearl is 13, Pimpernel is 9 and Pervinca is 3. (Or 4, 8, 6 and not quite 2 in Man-years).

RAINY DAY AT WHITWELL (A Tip and Tulip Story)

Merry stared out the window at the rain, steadily and drearily dripping down the panes, and heaved a great sigh. "I wish Frodo would come. He was supposed to come today."

The Brandybucks were visiting the Tooks at the farm in Whitwell. Bilbo was supposed to bring Frodo there to join them, ending Frodo's annual springtime visit to Bag End.

"You wouldn't want him to get sick, Merry," his mother said. She and Eglantine were sitting in the armchairs by the hearth. She was working on some mending--Merry was rather hard on his clothing--and Eglantine was busy knitting. Pearl, the oldest of the children, sat on an ottoman by her mother, embroidering a handkerchief. Pimpernel was trying to dress her favourite doll, somewhat hampered by the fact that little Pervinca had the doll's frock, and was refusing to give it up.

"Mother!" Pimpernel called plaintively.

"Don't whine, Pimmie. Vinca, give your sister the dress."

Pervinca stuck out her lower lip, and put the little garment behind her back. "Don't want to," she said, her brows drawing together.

Merry turned around disgustedly. "Lasses!" he said scornfully.

"Pervinca Took!"

Warned by the note in her mother's voice, Pervinca reluctantly brought forth the coveted item, and thrust it at her sister. "Don't want it anyway!" she said crossly.

Pimpernel snatched it. "Leave my things alone!"

Eglantine sighed. Having the children cooped up inside was often trying, especially since they had been looking forward to Bilbo's and Frodo's visit. She put her knitting aside. "Come here, Pervinca," she said in a firm, though kind voice. She took her youngest daughter into her lap. Pervinca put two fingers in her mouth, and glared at her older sister.

Esmeralda looked with sympathy at her sister-in-law. She had only Merry and Frodo, and Frodo was so much older than Merry that they never quarrelled. It made a difference also, she thought, that Frodo was Merry's cousin instead of brother--but right now she missed Frodo a lot. He'd have kept the little ones occupied, rain or no rain. Suddenly, she smiled. Thinking of Frodo gave her an idea. She knew just how he would have entertained this lot.

She lay her mending down, and said "Would you all like a story?"

Merry walked over to his mother's side. "What kind of story?" he asked.

Pervinca took her fingers from her mouth. "Tip and Tulip!" she crowed.

Merry smiled. He did like Tip and Tulip stories. Pimpernel brought her doll and sat down by her aunt's knee, and Merry claimed his mother's lap. Pearl continued her stitching. At thirteen, she thought herself too old for Tip and Tulip tales. Nevertheless, she was listening.

Esmeralda shifted Merry into a more comfortable position, and then commenced in the traditional words with which all "Tip and Tulip" stories began.

Once there were two little hobbits named Tip and Tulip. They were brother and sister, and they lived in a cosy little smial with their mama and their papa and their auntie.

They woke up one fine morning in early summer to the smells of first breakfast cooking--newly-baked sweet buns which smelled of cinnamon, and porridge and other good things. Quickly they dressed, and rushed to the kitchen.

"Oh, mamma, dear," exclaimed Tulip, "I am dreadfully hungry!"

"So am I," cried Tip. "Listen to my tummy growl!"

And indeed, Tip's tummy was growling as fiercely as a wild animal. His mother laughed, and said, "Well, by all means we shall feed you! Do wash your hands and sit at the table!"

So they did.

And soon their auntie set before them bowls of porridge with golden butter and honey, and a plate of wonderful sweet buns, and mugs of frothy white milk, cold from the cellar. The two children ate quickly, and when they had finished their third helpings, Tip pushed his empty bowl back and sighed, and said "That was delicious, Mama. What shall we do today?"

Their mama smiled at them, and said, "Well, first, little hobbits must tend to their tasks! And then, after second breakfast, perhaps you would like to go berrying! I do believe that the blackberries below the meadow are ripe!"

So after first breakfast, Tulip helped Mama wash and dry the dishes, and make the beds and dust the baseboards, while Tip helped Auntie to sweep the doorsteps and feed the chickens and fetch the dry clothes from the clothesline, and soon enough it was time for second breakfast. They had worked up quite an appetite for bacon and eggs and toast and juice, and Papa joined them this time.

Once they had filled up their corners, they headed out together to pick berries. They carried two empty baskets, as well as a small bottle of mint tea and a couple of sandwiches tied up in a napkin for their elevenses.

"Now, be careful, children! Don't go any further than the hedgerow below the meadow, and be home by luncheon!"

Tip and Tulip played in the meadow on their way to the hedgerow, chasing after butterflies and one another, until they were laughing and breathless. When they finally plopped down upon the ground by the bramblebushes that made up the hedgerow, they decided to eat their sandwiches and drink their tea. They finished off their elevenses by eating some of the berries straight from the bushes.

Then they set to picking the berries, and they sang a song--I daresay you know it too:

"Sing a song of summertime,
Sing a song of sunshine.
The berries are juicy, ripe and sweet--
Lovely berries can't be beat!
Oh, there is no finer treat
Than I know of for to eat
Berries juicy, ripe and sweet!
Berrying, a-berrying!
We love to go a-berrying
In the summer-summertime,
In the sunny sunshine!"

They were filing their baskets, and even, like good little hobbits, putting more berries into the baskets than themselves, when suddenly a shadow passed over them.

It passed over quickly, but they looked up. There above them a bird--a very *large* bird was sailing!

"It's a hawk!" exclaimed Tip fearfully. He looked at his sister, and she looked at him.

Now, Tip and Tulip knew what to do as well as you do, my dears, I am sure, though they did not like it a bit. As quickly as any bunny could have, they scrambled into the brambles, and crouched down as small as they could make themselves.

"Oh Tip," whispered Tulip, with tears in her eyes, "I'm frightened. But these brambles are so very prickly!"

"So they are," said Tip, and he sniffled a bit, too, though he put his arm around his sister and held her closely. They peered up at the bird, patiently circling. "Oh, please," whispered Tip, "go away, Mr. Hawk!"

But he did not, not for ever so long. Poor Tip and Tulip huddled there, feeling very hot and uncomfortable and scratchy-itchy. But they dared not leave their hiding place.

What they did not know was that their Papa, who had been busy in the vegetable patch, had looked up and seen the hawk high above, as well.
Quickly, he threw down his hoe and raced across the meadow, thinking of his dear children and their danger.

The hawk, realizing that his little prey was lost, flew away, and Tip and Tulip were ever so glad to see their Papa, who helped them to get out of the briars and thorns.

"I'm so proud of you, children," he said, hugging them tightly. "You did just the very right thing."

And so they all went home--and they did not forget the full berry-baskets, for after all their trouble, it would have been a shame to lose them!

Their Mama fussed over them, and gave them both a bath, and rubbed all their itchy scratches with cool, soothing lotion.

And Auntie made a splendid blackberry pie for tea, and they gobbled it all up, every last crumb.

"Blackberries!" Merry cried. "I wish we had some blackberry pie now!"

"Hawks are scary," said Pervinca.

"That's all right, Vinca," Merry said stoutly, "I wouldn't let any old hawk get you! I'd throw stones at it and chase it away!"

"Look!" exclaimed Pimpernel, "the rain has stopped!"

The children ran to the window to look out at the sudden sunshine. "Mum!" called Merry, "come look!"

Eglantine and Esmeralda rose and went to gaze out the window themselves at the rainbow spreading itself across the sky.