Larner
· 12 August 2005
· Chapter 63: Memory and Sorrow
Yes, much as I'd envisioned it, too. The sudden increase in responsibility and decrease in time spent with his friend, a friendship which yet continued to grow in spite of all.
Author's reply
That's it exactly.
Sam, as he took on the job full time, and grew nearer to coming of age himself began to try and meet the expectations of being a "proper" hobbit--which did not include being close friends with the gentry.
Fortunately for Sam the gentry in question never doubted his true friendship, nor gave up trying to erase the distance and tear down the wall. Love, loyalty and courage, of course, won out in the end over stuffiness and propriety.
And it was, I think, the times of sympathy and sharing, that held Sam back from truly trying to maintain his "proper" distance.
Larner
· 12 August 2005
· Chapter 62: Whisper of Hope
A whisper of hope indeed. And healing foreshadowed, as well as the loss.
Author's reply
Thank you--yes, I wanted the good foreshadowed as well as the sad.
Andrea
· 12 August 2005
· Chapter 63: Memory and Sorrow
"But underneath it all, that understanding of shared pain remained, a friendship cemented in compassion."
Dreamflower, this story is a little gem!
They both have had the same sad experience, but they are able to share their pain now and to give comfort: Frodo to Sam and Sam to Frodo. And that creates the strong bond and the wonderful friendship between them!
Thank you :)
Author's reply
Well, I think of course, that they already had a strong friendship, but that sharing, that time of empathy, made it so very much stronger that in spite of Sam's efforts to be a "proper" gardener, the friendship still survived, and his loyalty in following Frodo to the mountain was the result.
Hai Took
· 11 August 2005
· Chapter 63: Memory and Sorrow
Certainly Frodo would understand best! He did a very good job with Sam! The emotion really shone through in this piece and had me weeping right along with poor Sam! Thank you for the story!
Author's reply
You are welcome, dear. Thank *you* for reading and reviewing.
Baggins Babe
· 11 August 2005
· Chapter 63: Memory and Sorrow
This was a sweetly beautiful and sad story, Dreamflower. I've always loved Bell and I think she must have been around in Sam's life for a while, because he is so well balanced and caring.
I love the fact that Frodo knows how Sam is feeling, and I'm sure this was just one of the incidents which drew Farodo and Sam closer.
Thank you for this - can never have too any hobbit tales.
Author's reply
Yes, my idea is that she was around until just before Bilbo left, as you can see. I know some authors have her die in childbirth with Marigold, or have her die of a lengthy illness when Sam is quite young. But, like you, I think he had her influence for a long time before she was lost; and as to the manner of her death, I decided on quick and painless. "Apoplexy" was used for both a stroke and an aneurism--it came on so suddenly, and in those days was often immediately fatal. Since, in spite of the fact that JRRT makes it obvious that the Gaffer is a widower by the time of the Queast, he gives no DOD for Bell, that leaves it up to us.
Frodo *does* know how Sam feels, none better. This had to make for a special closeness between them.
No, *never* enough! I hope to see an update of your Sam's birthday fic soon--hint*hint*--I can never get enough of "Reunion-verse".
Armariel
· 10 August 2005
· Chapter 61: Stop and Smell the Roses
Oh myyyy this sounds very tasty...gotta try it sometime! *g*
Cute story!
~~~{~@
Author's reply
They really are quite good!
Bodkin
· 9 August 2005
· Chapter 62: Whisper of Hope
Poor Merry. Being left behind to worry is such a trial - but I love the way Eowyn coaxes him out and attempts to cheer him up. And the shell - and the sea - and Frodo. All very indicative of the future.
Author's reply
Yes, it was probably the hardest thing he'd had to do--actually stay behind! But I think he mostly coped pretty well. My notion is that he had used up a lot of his own reserves of hope trying to cheer Eowyn when she was down. So then it was her turn to return the favor.
Yes, when Marigold gave me a seashell as one of my elements, Frodo was the first thing that came to my mind.
Larner
· 8 August 2005
· Chapter 61: Stop and Smell the Roses
A recipe for candied rose petals:
Take rose petals from bushes that have not been sprayed while the roses are open or been treated with systemic poisons.
Carefully clip the portion of the petal that attaches the petal to the flower--these are rather bitter.
Cover in egg white, then dip into white sugar until completely coated. Allow to dry on racks.
Can be eaten as is, used in decorating cakes, and so on.
The sweeter the odor of the particular rose used, the better the candied rose petals.
Had a recipe for rose petal jam as well, but have lost it. It truly tastes like the roses smell. Made three batches once, one from a peace rose, one from a yellow, and one from a brilliant red--can't remember the variety. It was quite the experience, eating the sweet odor of roses spread over biscuits and rolls!
Author's reply
I'd love to try that recipe, that and I have a rose petal jelly recipe also, that I've never tried. But I don't grow any roses myself that are large enough, (both my rosebushes are minis) and it's almost impossible to buy roses that haven't been polluted with pesticides. *sigh*
Bodkin
· 8 August 2005
· Chapter 61: Stop and Smell the Roses
Sounds very tasty. So typically Rosie. Very practical and down-to-earth with a hint of something special. And a very hobbity way to help.
Author's reply
I thought it might be a hobbity way of doing things. Since hobbits don't have churches and such, I thought perhaps the leading matrons of each community might get together sometimes, when the need arose, to have such things as bake sales.
fricandfrac5
· 7 August 2005
· Chapter 61: Stop and Smell the Roses
The Bucklebury cakes sound delightfully delicious! What a treat to relish the sweet scent of roses whilst partaking in a cake or two---fabulous!...
Author's reply
They are quite good, really, not oversweet, and the taste of the rosewater is extremely subtle, really the nutmeg is more noticeable. But when they are baking, the whole house smells of roses!
Anso the Hobbit
· 28 July 2005
· Chapter 60: Home at Last
Very nice! Especially after reading your chapter about the family trees. Poor Bilbo! No-one treats him nice except Drogo. I`m glad they have a good relationship though and it also explains a bit about how Bilbo got to be so fond of Frodo. :)
Author's reply
I think Bilbo *must* have had a special relationship with Drogo, for him to end up adopting his son.
I posit that Drogo and Primula left Bilbo and Saradoc as co-guardians of Frodo. As long as Frodo was still quite young, Bilbo could be persuaded to leave him with Esmeralda and Saradoc. But I think he intended to take Frodo in eventually all along. That's my theory, anyway, and the way I develop it in my stories.
Baggins Babe
· 25 July 2005
· Chapter 60: Home at Last
What a wonderful story! We know about the disconnected feelings Frodo experienced when he returned but this is the first time I've really considered Bilbo's feelings of dislocation from Shire society. It must have been very unsettling for him, to feel so undervalued by his fellow hobbits.
I love Drogo and I'm so glad that he comes visiting, updating Bilbo on all the news.
Thanks, Dreamflower.
Author's reply
Well, we know that after his return he was considered "not respectable", and we know how important "respectable" is to hobbits in general. I am sure that he found his loss of reputation very difficult. But by becoming a storyteller, and by using his wealth and position wisely, he eventually overcame a lot of that. He still was not considered quite respectable, but he was once more a valued member of the community. It took him a long time though--remember how gossip still waged, years later?
I think that Drogo must have been a very special hobbit, to catch the affection of a beautiful young Brandybuck, and to be father to such a remarkable hobbit as Frodo.
Larner
· 24 July 2005
· Chapter 60: Home at Last
Ah, it is pleasing to see the first telling of the Adventure going to Drogo, to Frodo's father. Maybe there is a tiny hint of Tookish curiosity there in the corners of his being after all.
Author's reply
I don't know that the curiousity had to be Tookish--after all, Sam was no Took, nor had a drop of Took blood--and he was always interested in Mr. Bilbo's tales. I think a good deal of it had to do with intelligence, as well as simply being very fond of Bilbo.
And I did think it appropriate that Frodo's father be the first to hear.
Harrowcat
· 24 July 2005
· Chapter 60: Home at Last
Oh poor Bilbo. To lose such a treasured vocation and because of hidebound viewpoints must have been heartbreaking indeed. I could have wept for him.
Author's reply
Yes, Bilbo enjoyed his status as family teacher, and I am sure it did break his heart; but it led the way for his vocation as family storyteller instead, and gave him the time he needed to pursue his studies in Elvish languages. And of course, many years later he was able to resume teaching: Frodo, Sam, and even Merry and Pippin when they were visiting.
Bodkin
· 24 July 2005
· Chapter 60: Home at Last
Good for Drogo! It's no wonder that he and the beautiful Primula produce the one suitable to be heir to Bilbo and, just by the way, saviour of Middle Earth.
It was quite depressing to follow poor Bilbo round the place he was so happy to see again, only to watch his fellow hobbits turn up their stuffy little noses. (Not that I'm surprised that his students have found other teachers, mind. That would have been a long break in their education.)
He needed a little fellow feeling and a pair or two of wide eyes as he told his tale.
Author's reply
My idea is that Drogo was Bilbo's best and brightest--and incidentally favorite--student, and that the fondness was mutual. In a way a template for his later relationship with Drogo's son.
It was sad. But I am quite sure that the hobbits felt he would be a bad influence on their children--and you are right about the lengthy break. If nothing else, his taking off without notice would have incensed most of the parents.
And you are right. Drogo was just the right person, and those wide eyes were exactly what he needed.
billypillow
· 24 July 2005
· Chapter 59: The Knight Has Been Unruly
I've enjoyed all of your stories, this chapter in particular. I know you said this was part of an ongoing story at Lindelea's LJ - where can I find that?? Is there a link a lurker like me could check out? I'd love to read the entire work!
Author's reply
Yes, Lindelea hosted a group story called "To Tell a Tale". Here is the link: http://www.livejournal.com/users/lindelea1/36470.html#cutid1
It was a lot of fun to participate, and several good writers took part. Each writer had a different chapter.
Tigger
· 22 July 2005
· Chapter 59: The Knight Has Been Unruly
Well...That sounds vaguely familiar. ROTFLOL!!! Oh, that was exactly what I needed. Thanks for the great story and a badly needed laugh!!
Author's reply
Just "vaguely" familiar? LOL!
I'm very glad to have given you a laugh! And don't you agree that is likely the way it *really* happened? *grin*
Lindelea
· 22 July 2005
· Chapter 59: The Knight Has Been Unruly
And thank you again for *two* contributions to the group story! Above and beyond the call of duty!
You mentioned in one of the review replies, a story of yours where Pippin hears a song about his exploits. Which story was that? Sounds very funny!
Author's reply
It was a lot of fun! I always enjoy that kind of thing!!
In Chapter 30 of "A New Reckoning" one of the Gondorians visiting the Shire sings a song very popular in Minas Tirith called "The Smallest Guardsman". Poor Pip listens in amazement.
Larner
· 21 July 2005
· Chapter 58: Waiting for Bilbo
I used to make fairy footprints myself on paper with fingerpaint for use in wrapping paper. It can be fun. Nice to see the relationship between Frodo and Merry before Frodo went to Bag End. And I suspect that for Frodo those lessons with Bilbo WERE fun.
Author's reply
I loved to make them on the frosty windowpanes. It was an older cousin who taught me how to do that on the schoolbus windows. So I thought it a very appropriate thing for Frodo to show Merry.
My Frodo absolutely dotes on little Merry, and it is only Merry's sweet nature and Esmeralda's vigilance that keeps him from spoiling the child completely rotten, LOL!
And you are right about the lessons, too.
Andrea
· 21 July 2005
· Chapter 59: The Knight Has Been Unruly
“Look at this,” hissed Siggy. He held up a rather large rocket.
“No,” said Chop, “the big one!”
Wonderful! I really enjoyed that scene in the movie. And seeing it with Bilbo and "Old" Rory involved is very funny.
There must be something about the Bagginses, that little Brandybuck cousins always adore them :)
Author's reply
I really enjoyed the scene as well. So I figured out a way to make it canon, LOL!
I think there must. Perhaps, just being "onlies" gave Bilbo and Frodo the patience needed for having little ones tag after them. But I thought it made a nice parallel.
Grey Wonderer
· 21 July 2005
· Chapter 59: The Knight Has Been Unruly
That was a very clever way to work in a bit movie verse to canon. Well done! I did love Bilbo in this one.
Author's reply
Thanks. You know how I like to do that once in while. *giggle*
I thought it would be fun to do a young Bilbo--I never had before. It was interesting to comb the family tree and figure which of the ancestors would have been his childhood chums.
Bodkin
· 21 July 2005
· Chapter 59: The Knight Has Been Unruly
I love Pippin resting on his bed with his belly sloshing. And Sam's shrewdness in having Gandalf check up on the rascal.
And the firework story is a highly entertaining revision of the eleventy first. As well as a rather clever explanation of how Aldagrim came to be a farmer.
Very good.
Author's reply
Yes, well a whole pitcher of water will do that! *grin* But I think Sam knows Pip rather better than Pip thought he did, LOL!
Just a little tweaking there. It didn't happen in the book; PJ must have heard about it from *somewhere*--8-D
I am quite sure Gerontius felt that any hobbit who was being such a bad influence on the younger ones needed a bit of "settling down".
Larner
· 20 July 2005
· Chapter 59: The Knight Has Been Unruly
What a wonderful manner in which to bring movie-verse into book-verse; and quite appropriate. Don't know if Bilbo would truly have failed to recognize Gandalf later had he seen him while in his twenties, but it is a wonderful tale nonetheless. Got a few good giggles out of it, I must say.
Author's reply
I like to do that once in a while. PJ said he made LotR as though it were a historical movie instead of a fantasy. So I like to think of ways in which the changes he made might have come about--perhaps he heard of stories and sources which were not as reliable as the Red Book, or which had become garbled or changed in some way. If he confused Merry and Pippin for their grandfathers in this story, for example. (In one of my other stories, Pip encounters a song about himself in which he does all those things that he did in the movie,but not in the book. He is very surprised to hear he was supposed to have lit the beacons, LOL!)
About Bilbo not knowing Gandalf, actually, it is canon. In Unfinished Tales, "The Quest for Erebor", Gandalf himself says that he saw Bilbo frequently up until his mid-tweens. And when he and Bilbo encounter one another in the Hobbit, and Bilbo says he doesn't know him, Gandalf tells him that he does. I think his failure to recognize was his Baggins side trying vainly to suppress his Took side, LOL!
PIppinfan1988
· 11 July 2005
· Chapter 53: Muffled Conversation
This almost had me in tears at work!! LOL...that is NOT good! Gotta keep up my salty/crusty personality at work (snorts laughter). I'm a softy at heart, and this pulled at my heartstrings. The images of Primula eargerly spinning yarn and then knitting gifts for her beloved hobbits...I really liked that. How it got passed down from Bilbo to Frodo and then to Pippin is what almost got me. Thank you for such a sweet tale!
Pippinfan
Author's reply
It was kind of bittersweet. But I could just imagine how Pip cherished that scarf, and the story behind it would make him cherish it even more.
Bodkin
· 11 July 2005
· Chapter 58: Waiting for Bilbo
Cute spherical little Merry - pouting to manage his cousin. I love the way Frodo calls him 'sprout'. And the fairy footprints are sweet.
Author's reply
I love how cute little children are when all bundled up for the cold, and could not resist the chance to do that to Merry. And as to the pouting, at that point in his life, he was probably more spoiled by Frodo than Pippin was later on by him, LOL! I am quite sure he "managed" his cousin outrageously even as he adored him to distraction. And you will notice that once the pout served its purpose, he was his own sunny sweet self. 8-D
I've always loved those little footprints, and it was an older cousin who taught me how to do that, so I thought it only fair that Frodo teach Merry.