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Marigold's Wedding  by Dreamflower 11 Review(s)
Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: 999999 on 1/4/2006
Oh, this was very sweet! Poor Merry! Nothing like being stuck in a hard place and having no choice but to jump right in. :-) Reminds me of when my grandpa died (I was almost twelve) and I was wanted to play the piano at the visitation. No practice, no time, I felt like I'd cry any minute, and I sat in a cold room stuffed with people, playing hymns and gentle love songs, a few things resembling lullabies, and back to more hymns, for three and a half hours. But I, like Merry, was glad I did it in the end, and I'd do it again tomorrow. "I think that I'm going to kill him and tell everyone he died." LOL! God bless,
Galadriel

Author Reply: Yes, this was not one of Merry's favorite things to do. I am quite sure he would have sympathized with you greatly.

What was funny was that Merry having to play in front of people was a bunny Marigold had asked for. She thought it was going to show up in a different fic altogether, but I put it in this wedding fic instead as a special surprise for her.

Baggins BabeReviewed Chapter: 1 on 3/22/2005
What a lovely description of a Shire wedding! I love to see the hobbits enjoying themselves, and how good to see Frodo having a nice time for once!
Thank you for that.

Author Reply: I like to let Frodo have a good time as often as possible. Although he was gradually beginning to withdraw, it was still during the first year home, when he thought he might stand a chance of getting his life back to normal.

MarigoldReviewed Chapter: 999999 on 3/10/2005
Thank you again Dreamflower! You already know I love it, and Merry's part with the tambour is just what I was wanting! ((((HUGS!))))

Author Reply: I had to sit on that story forever, and make you think that your bunny was going to be in "Chance Encounter". I *so* wanted to surprise you, and hope that I did! But I was on absolute pins and needles till I knew you had finally seen it! I'm glad that you loved it, and one more time: Congratulations!

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 1 on 2/23/2005
'But I have found I do not care for politics.' I always thought Frodo had a lot of sense. And I like Pippin's reaction. I can't see him wallowing in political chicanery.

It's rather fun to see Merry being edged into doing something he doesn't want to - and quite unusual.

“I *think*” said Merry, through gritted teeth, “that I am just going to kill him and tell everyone he died.” Has he kept a list of the number of times he has thought that?

And Frodo knows before Rosie, does he? Multi-talented hobbit.

(We used to dance to 'Mairi’s Wedding' in country dancing when I was a little thing at school about five hundred years ago.)

Author Reply: Well, after everything Frodo had to put up with to get Aragorn's edict ratified during "A New Reckoning" it was no wonder he got fed up. And I have a feeling that Pippin is going to be just about as straightforward a Thain as the Shire has ever seen. His role model is going to be King Elessar, who is a statesman, not a politician.

That was Marigold's plot bunny--for him to have to play in public, all unprepared. She's going to be surprised to see it in *this* story!

Umm...let's see--start with when he was a faunt, and work it up through the years--several occasions on the Quest--he might have lost track by now.

My opinion on Frodo is that he has been gifted with an almost Elven foresight by this time...I'm really extrapolating on what he told Sam before he left. I don't believe that was a one time thing.

It's a fun tune to dance to. The one we usually do to it in the SCA is called "Gey Gordon".

SharonBReviewed Chapter: 1 on 2/22/2005
A very nice present for Marigold.

I love Pip's reply that he only has to do it and not like it. He's learned a lot from watching Aragorn in court. ;-) He'll manage well. That is as long as he doesn't keep dragging Merry into situations that Merry doesn't want to be in. Merry might keep that promise some day, oh dear!!

A nice simple wedding, which gives the hobbits more time for music and food. What they really want in a party anyway.

Author Reply: I hope she'll like it.

Yes, he's learned a lot from his Strider, one of them being that doing one's duty well does not depend on enjoying said duty.

Merry was getting back just a little of what he'd dished out in the past, but it didn't set well with him. He is not a hobbit who likes spontaneity--he'd rather plan it all out and be in control.

I'm glad you liked the wedding; I wanted it to be hobbity.

GamgeeFestReviewed Chapter: 1 on 2/21/2005
What a wonderful wedding! Poor Merry, getting caught off guard like that - and Frodo's amusement of it was great.

Author Reply: Thank you!
Yes, Merry gets caught off guard so seldom--though it's almost always Pippin's fault when he is--that it would be amusing. Especially to Frodo, whom Merry has caught off guard himself from time to time.

French PonyReviewed Chapter: 1 on 2/21/2005
What a nice character study! Everyone gets a little moment in the sun to let their personalities show. And they are all such vivid, rounded personalities, too! You'd swear it was just like being around real people getting married, right down to the groom wearing a collar that's suddenly too tight.

The wedding ceremony was imaginative and, I thought, ever so slightly Jewish-flavored, what with the emphasis on the contract. I had a grand time picturing it all done up in calligraphy and illustrated just like a ketubah, something that the couple can frame and keep forever.

And the dancing! I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought of hobbits as Scottish country dancers. What a clever idea to put links to the music right there at the end of the story. I might just have to try that one of these days. I'm glad I followed them, for I've been dancing Mairi's Wedding for four years and never knew the words. Do you dance?

Author Reply: Thank you! I'm so glad you like my characterizations!

I first used a similar ceremony for Sam and Rose in "A New Reckoning". My thought was that as JRRT has told us hobbits were not particularly religious the ceremony would be more or less a civil ceremony. I do think that the marriage lines are kept and framed.

I've had several stories in which the hobbits dance, most notably "A New Reckoning" and "It Takes a Took", and most of the dances are either country dance or Renaissance dance. I use the dances that we do in the SCA, but just give them hobbity names. Of course, the dances they do are my favorites. For example, I call Hole-in-the-Wall "Exchanges" because of the "poaching"; and the dance we usually do to Mairi's Wedding is Gey Gordon, which I called "Happy Hob". I think of the hobbits doing most of their dances in "sets", not really very many dances with just the couple dancing alone.

cherReviewed Chapter: 1 on 2/21/2005
Sweet story, and a nice end to Frodo's turn as Deputy Mayor.
I also appreciated the music. It does seem like they would play Celtic music, doesn't it?

Author Reply: Celtic Music seems very hobbity to me. I've listened to a lot of it, for years, and there are some pieces I can just *see* hobbits dancing to.

Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: 999999 on 2/21/2005
A lovely wedding gift for your friend and also a very enjoyable read.

Author Reply: I hope she'll like it, and I'm glad you did!

Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: 1 on 2/21/2005
I like the listing of the music at the end of this chapter. I also loved that this time it was Merry who was caught a bit off guard and put in a situation that he wasn't too sure he could handle. It doesn't often happen to Merry, does it? Loved this line:

“I *think*” said Merry, through gritted teeth, “that I am just going to kill him and tell everyone he died.”

That one made me laugh out loud. Also enjoyed Pippin's stand on politics and being Thain. A lovely wedding!

Author Reply: Yes, the part about Merry playing the tambour, and not really wanting to, was the plot bunny Marigold gave me. The funny thing is, she knows I was planning to use it soon, but she thought it was going to show up in "Chance Encounter", LOL!
I'm glad you liked the music listing. I had quite a time getting the links to format. They kept trying to join up into one long link whenever I hit "edit chapter".

LOL! That line is actually a variation on something my husband sometimes says when people tick him off: "I think I'll just kill them and tell God they died."

Well, the Quest made Pippin realize he could not evade his duty to be Thain, and Aragorn set him a very good example. But, as he said, it did not mean he had to like it.

And I'm glad you enjoyed the wedding.

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