Stories of Arda Home Page
About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search

The Purple Path  by Dreamflower 39 Review(s)
KathyGReviewed Chapter: 12 on 1/26/2024
This essay could go into "Dreamflower's Musings", I'm thinking.

KathyGReviewed Chapter: 14 on 1/26/2024
You know, it occurs to me that your three "Concerning the Shire" essays would go nicely in your "Dreamflower's Musings"! Why don't you transfer the essays there?

KathyGReviewed Chapter: 9 on 7/23/2021
Any chance that they got to visit the shops after lunch, or was it just too wet after that downpour to be feasible?

This one-shot of yours is one of my favorites!

Drea Walker-SkyeReviewed Chapter: 12 on 5/20/2017
A variant I've used is "the first law of songwriting...dare to suck".

Drea Walker-SkyeReviewed Chapter: 12 on 5/20/2017
A variant I've used is "the first law of songwriting...dare to suck".

AndreaReviewed Chapter: 11 on 5/13/2017
Perfectly fitting for each of them indeed.

But what I liked most, was this one:

If anything was wanting, it was Mr. Frodo. But Sam could see the West through his window. He slept soundly, dreaming of their reunion.

AndreaReviewed Chapter: 9 on 5/13/2017
Wow! What a treasure! I think lots of people would love to have this set of "action figures" :-)

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 16 on 4/21/2017
I added in both trade and farm partnerships in which various entrepreneuers were able to raise capital to help fund their new businesses or make larger purchases such as new plows, draught animals, or additional farmland by receiving grants from investors, either known or secret, who would receive dividends in either funds, products, or foodstuffs until they were bought out by those in whose enterprises they'd invested. A northern farmer who raised sugar beets might purchase farm shares in a pipeweed plantation and receive a certain number barrels of cured pipeweed per year, while those who owned the plantation might reciprocate and receive so much sugar in return; a carter might purchase a new wagon due to investment from one who manufactured furniture, and repay it by providing so much cartage per year, and so on.

But I DO love Carlo's mercantile business!

Author Reply: I love the additions you've always made within your Shire, showing the hidden side of the Shire economy, and I've no doubt that in mine, much of this occurs as well.

The barter, especially, is something that would go on in any agrarian society, but I also like the hidden investors you have in your Shire--I do hint a bit at that with some of the things Bilbo did--particularly with his dragon gold after returning from Erebor.

I first thought of that idea when I wrote "Pippin the Protector"; I needed a shop where that sort of encounter could take place, and it was fun to think up a backstory for the Brownlocks' stores.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 15 on 4/20/2017
I agree with a good deal of this, but think that in the larger families such as among the Brandybucks and Tooks, there might have been someone actually hired to do the teaching, and that one reason young Hobbits might choose or be sent to work for these families was because they would be expected to learn to read, write, learn basic arithmetic skills, and learn to keep records and do basic bookkeeping while they were working within Brandy Hall or the Great Smials. Thus they would be more likely to be successful once they were out living on their own and perhaps running businesses or farms of their own.

Good thoughts here!

Author Reply: Well, in the Brandybuck and Took families, there sort of were--only they were *always* relatives. In Brandy Hall, it so happened to be Uncle Dinny for the last few decades of the Third Age, and the senior servants who may have also taught the new servants answered to him.

And among the Tooks, being more numerous, there were usually three or four cousins who were tutors. And one of those was directly responsible for teaching young servants.

With the exception of Bilbo and his father (who WERE Family Heads themselves) the family members who tutored were always given a special stipend, so I guess you could call them hired.

I agree that many families might have used your reasoning for sending their young ones to service among the Great Families.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 13 on 4/20/2017
She is blest so many times over, having found a love amongst Hobbits and learning that their progeny are so wonderful and worthy! And Gandalf will so often slip out from Olorin to share that love with her!

Author Reply: My "Gandalf" decided that Gandalf he would remain, so long as he had mortal friends to tend to on the Western side of the Sea. And I think that his Gandalf form would be a special comfort to Adamanta/Mirime since that was the way her descendants knew him.

Also, I think he always liked being Gandalf. 8-)

First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page

Return to Chapter List