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Dreamflower's Mathoms I  by Dreamflower 9 Review(s)
Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: 19 on 4/23/2006
Awww! Love this followup to "The Dare!" Pippin made good use of his time. He's just the sweetest Hobbit! And that was a marvellous tribute. Oh, how I'd love to hear that song on the bagpipes!
God bless,
Galadriel

Author Reply: Glad you recognized why Pippin was grounded! LOL! I didn't want to make overt reference to it, so that people who'd not read it would be able to enjoy the story anyway.

Pip is indeed a sweetie!

I too, would love to hear it on the bagpipes! I wish some enterprising piper would do a CD of LotR music! I'd buy it in a heartbeat!

Frodo BagginsReviewed Chapter: 19 on 12/25/2005
Hey Dreamflower!! This was wonderful!! I can just see dear little Pip getting in trouble and writing Merry and Frodo. All those little letters were so Pipish! It's very, very cute!! Hannon le, for such a wonderful story to bring a smile to my face! Namarie, mell min! God Bless and Merry Christmas and Happy Yule! God Bless, Frodo Baggins

Author Reply: Yes, my Pippin tends to write rather short letters, LOL!
I hope that you have had a Merry Christmas and a Happy Yule as well. And thank you for your reviews; they were a lovely Christmas present.

GryffinjackReviewed Chapter: 19 on 10/20/2005
Awww, how cute! Pippin really is *not* a very good letter writer at all. lol!

If I figured this correctly, I think you have a problem with ages in the following stories:

Bilbo’s 111th birthday party - Frodo is 33, Merry is 19, and Pippin is 11

Frodo’s 40th birthday - Merry is 26 and Pippin 18 and played his lap harp

The Dare - Merry was 28 and Pippin was 20

What I Did This Summer - Pippin is 20 and is just now beginning to learn the lap harp and the Tookland pipes, so therefore he couldn't have played them when he was eighteen.

You might need to make some slight time adjustments in one or more of these stories.

Now for the rest of the review - Pippin's little letters are adorable! Although they are not long, they actually do say a lot.

"She won’t teach me “Ho, Ho, Ho, to the Bottle I Go”, as she said that kind of thing got me in enough trouble."

Aunt Peridot is a fantastic character. Not just for saying this, but for her ability to get Pippin to speak earnestly later on after the Quest.

"Frodo, don’t be too mad at Merry for that trick he played on you. I’m sure the molasses will come out of your shirt, and it’s not like you don’t have plenty of shirts anyway. I wish I’d seen your face though."

Will we get to see the full prank? Pippin's right - it's no fair for Merry to have this much fun without sharing it with him - or us.

"Don’t show this one to Frodo. Do you know what he’s got me for his birthday? Don’t tell me you haven’t snooped. I know you have."

lol! You know, I used to be just as bad as Pippin when it came to that. My family used to try and hide my presents from me - never worked.

"Just think, if I had not got in trouble, I never would have learned to play the lap harp or the pipes! So I suppose it has turned out well after all, though I still am sorry for what I did."

That's our Pippin - always the optimist who finds the silver lining in everything. That eternal bright outlook on life and hope is a quality that will serve him and those around him well not only on the Quest, but throughout life.

How touching for Pippin to play Bilbo's favourite walking song for Frodo. Being so similar to Frodo, Pippin knew just how much it would mean to his older cousin and he was right. It's quite a tribute.

Lovely ending.








Author Reply: You are quite right about the timeline; I think the easiest change for me to make is to have him playing the fiddle as well. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

I love Pippin's older Aunties; they are favorite OCs of mine, and I have a lovely and somewhat angsty backstory for them, but I've never quite been able to get it to gel into a story yet. So far it exists only in the occasional anecdote.

The prank? I don't know--I haven't given that one a lot of thought yet, but you never know.

That's our Pippin - always the optimist who finds the silver lining in everything. That eternal bright outlook on life and hope is a quality that will serve him and those around him well not only on the Quest, but throughout life.

You really do see him as I do. That makes me quite happy.

Yes, Pippin knew just what would really please his Frodo.


LarnerReviewed Chapter: 19 on 4/20/2005
Lovely story told in letters.

Author Reply: This one was fun. My Pip's a rather concise correspondent, LOL!

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 19 on 2/4/2005
I don't blame the family for their response to Pippin learning the Tookland pipes. I'm only surprised they didn't immediately rescind the punishment and send him to stay with Merry.

He must have been bored to write so many letters. But not quite squashed enough to avoid playing tricks on his sisters!

Author Reply: I think telling him to take it outside was sufficient. Bagpipes are pretty much an outdoor instrument even at their best. But I believe that his parents were aware of his musical talent enough to know he would fairly quickly get beyond the "tortured cat" phase. Also the grounds at the Smials are fairly extensive, LOL! Personally, I do not think *I* would care to live with a beginner on the pipes...

Well, his father *did* tell him the letters could count towards his lessons, so I think that was a bit of an incentive. And of course, he really missed his Merry and his Frodo. As for his sisters, that's what little brothers do. It's almost unnatural to avoid it...LOL!

Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: 19 on 2/3/2005
Letters from Pippin. Those were so cute and so in character. At one point I suspected that it must have been harder on Pip's family to keep him entertained than it was on Pip to be punished. Sometimes a grounding is hard on the entire family isn't it? LOL

Author Reply: Yes. And imagine how much harder it must have been in those days without television, canned music, and video games, LOL!
But thank goodness for Auntie Peridot and Cousin Ferdinand. Still, can you imagine the early days of someone just learning to play bagpipes?

GamgeeFestReviewed Chapter: 19 on 2/3/2005
Yay, my fic of Pippin letters! Squee! I love it! And who is Pippin trying to kid, he would too be bouncing off the walls, lol. Cute. I love how Pippin reassured Frodo that he loves him too when he only wrote to Merry. But what was "you know what" about? Hm, molasses and crickets. Those crazy hobbits. :)

Author Reply: Yes, I guess I should have given you credit! I had, for some time the idea that Pippin had used that time when he was grounded to learn to play the bagpipes and the lap harp, but I wasn't sure quite how to tell it. Thanks for the idea.
I'm sure Pippin never wants to admit to a sugar high when he has such a sweet tooth.
He was trying to worm out from Merry what Frodo was giving him on The Birthday.
But Merry-wheedling doesn't work quite as well long distance, with no green eyes to back it up, LOL!

SharonBReviewed Chapter: 19 on 2/2/2005
Oh how funny and oh how it sounds so like Pippin. And heavens what did Merry do with the molasses that got on Frodo's shirt? Come to thnk of what was it that child did in the first place that got him grounded for the summer? How sweet taht he learned The Road Goes Ever On just for Frodo.

Author Reply: The story of what he did to get grounded for the rest of the summer was in "The Dare", which was rather a serious/angsty young Pip story. But I thought that all that time on his hands--well, five years later in "Life of a Bard" he plays not only the fiddle, which he learned from Esmeralda, but also the lap harp and the bagpipes--so that would have been a good time for him to start learning to play the other instruments. I had been looking for a way to tell that story, and everyone seems to like Pippin's letters, so...

As for Merry and the molasses, I'm waiting for that bunny to nibble...

Hai TookReviewed Chapter: 19 on 2/2/2005
That was so neat the way you wrote it all in letters! So Pippin's never been much of a letter writer has he? They were all rather short. I liked that Pippin wrote only to Merry and then to Frodo as well because he didn't want Frodo to be upset. It was nice to see why Pippin learned to play all those instruments! Thanks for the fun!

Author Reply: I thought it would be a fun way to show it. My Pippin's letters are always short. Some of these were actually quite long by his standards.

Pippin wouldn't want to hurt Frodo's feelings, you know. (Not that I don't think Frodo already knew that anyway, *grin*)

Yes, with that amount of time on his hands, he'd need to find something better to do than putting crickets in the sugar bowl, or he never would have gotten to come out of his room, LOL!

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