Chapter 4: A Short Cut to Mushrooms and Chapter 5: A Conspiracy Unmasked
I said at the outset of this blog-esque adventure that I owned something like 8 copies of The Lord of the Rings (in various editions, from 1-volume all the way up to 7-volume) and that I would probably amuse myself by hopping between editions. Well, let’s switch from “probably” to “definitely” since I think it might be fun to make use of basically every copy I’ve got at one point or another on this journey. Tonight, that meant hauling out my beat-up old Ballantine mass-market paperback -- this is the edition from 1973, the last one issued in Tolkien’s life-time. The front cover bears Tolkien’s own illustration of Hobbiton-across-the-Water; the back cover, a photograph of Tolkien in 1973, just months before his death. While this is NOT the very first edition of Fellowship I read -- I’ll deal with that one later on -- these editions were VERY familiar to me, and I’ve probably spent more time reading them than any other edition. That photo of Tolkien on the back appears on all three Ballantine volumes, and it’s indelible in my childhood memory.
Anyway, I picked up my battered old Ballantine and had a really lovely experience going through these two chapters, which complete the first stage of Frodo’s journey, and finally get us to our full complement of four hobbit travelers (peace to you, Fredegar Bolger, you missed out on the adventure of a lifetime). The friendships Tolkien depicts between these four fellows are really wonderfully realized, to me, and that’s part of what struck me tonight -- I love it when Pippin is busting Frodo’s chops about sleeping in late, and Frodo comes right back at Pippin, insisting on a short cut to avoid having to watch Peregrin Took get hammered at The Golden Perch. The back and forth between these hobbits (Sam, of course, doesn’t give and take as much as the others, yet) charms me because it reminds me of other great friendships I’ve known -- friendships in which I’m one of the two parties and friendships I’ve enjoyed observing from outside. The verbal sparring, of course, wouldn’t be as sweet if they didn’t also look out for each other: I was more moved than I expected to be by Merry’s simple hospitality, when I saw that he’d drawn three baths for the weary travellers, and while they bathe he and Fatty Bolger are putting together a really lavish supper for everyone down in Crickhollow’s well-appointed kitchen. It just feels so cozy to me, and so natural, with the generosity of these characters coming so easily that they hardly notice it. It warms the heart.
And perhaps that pre-warmed heart explains why this was the first point in the story that I was moved to actual tears -- the conversation in which Frodo gradually learns that his friends know exactly what’s up, and in which they make plain to him that they are going with him, is much more emotionally powerful than I had remembered. I mean, I really felt shaken by Merry’s speech about trust, which reaches its apex at “you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word” and then which hammers the point home by concluding with “we are horribly afraid -- but we are coming with you; or following you like hounds.” There is something about relentless love, isn’t there? Especially the relentless love of friends, who are ready to face dangers with you because nothing could be more horrifying to them than the knowledge that they abandoned you. I’m realizing that these are the moments that made me admire Merry, in particular -- Pippin’s comedy here is great for the tone, and it’s clear that Peregrin Took is just as brave as these other lads who are ready to set forth with Frodo, but it’s Meriadoc Brandybuck who’s masterminded this whole thing. I love Dominic Monaghan, and there’s no denying that he and Billy Boyd are hilarious in the sort of jester roles that Peter Jackson planned for them in Fellowship, but I wish he’d been given more moments like these -- you can see it at times in the films, though, and I’m grateful for it. Anyway, I loved that whole scene.
One thing that felt distinctive about these two chapters was the way that Tolkien kept surprising us with good outcomes in scary packages. After the relative simplicity of the previous chapter -- creepy, shadowy Black Rider versus glowing, singing Elves -- I enjoyed that, time and again, Frodo gets a good surprise. He’s anxious about Farmer Maggot, but it turns out that Maggot is about the best ally they could have hoped for, in that moment. He hides from the ominous hoofbeats of an approaching rider only to find that it is Merry, come to escort them straight to the Buckland ferry. He’s worried about parting with his friends -- a worry heightened as he learns more and more about their spying on him, which leads him to think that all his movements are widely known and that he will have to argue against being forced to stay in the Shire -- only to find that they have kept his secret better than he did (as they are happy to tell him) and that far from arguing against his departure, the industrious Merry Brandybuck has everything packed and ready to go, with a route planned into the Old Forest that will keep their departure undercover. This is, to me, a lot of foreshadowing for an even more significant surprise ahead -- the shadowy figure they will encounter at the Prancing Pony in Bree -- but it’s also a more general truth about the universe, isn’t it? That what we fear often doesn’t materialize, and that contrary to expectation, sometimes the folks we most expect to stand in our way are the ones most ready to aid us? I mean, there’s plenty of bad in the world, don’t get me wrong. But it was nice, as I read this evening, to think of the good that’s there also.
Other than that, this was just a really pleasant read -- a very well-described journey, and one that I could follow in my mind’s eye with great ease (Tolkien’s details were really helpful, in fact, since I had some of this wrong in my head -- I’d envisioned a very different house for Crickhollow, for starters), I know I whined a little last time about not really loving Tolkien’s use of poetry/song, but I enjoyed these -- I think in part because I’ve got a melody for them, thanks to Peter Jackson. He and his co-writers, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, managed to fuse together the drinking song that Sam and Pippin sing in the woods (until interrupted by the cries of two Nazgul) and Pippin’s ridiculous bath song at Crickhollow, with some amendments/adjustments, into one song that Merry and Pippin sing inside the Green Dragon Inn (at least, they do if you watch the extended edition of Fellowship of the Ring instead of the theatrical edition...and why wouldn’t you?), and I can borrow that melody to hum/tap my way through these songs fairly happily.
Well, that’s it for the Shire for a while -- ahead of us lies The Old Forest and Chapter 6. Cheers to you all!