LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 04 – A Short Cut to Mushrooms

[Estelyn Telcontar]

This chapter is shorter than the first three, and quite transitional. I already mentioned the safe havens in my introductory post, so I shall do my best to bring out new aspects without being repetitive.

Tolkien's humorous lines are often almost hidden; this time I took note of the exchange between Pippin and Frodo on the first page, with the former saying a question was important, and Frodo answering, "In that case I am sure Gildor would have refused to explain it." Go not to the Elves indeed! I don't remember - did we discuss the question of the significance of the sniffing Nazgul?

I'm also amused over the end of that brief conversation:

[Frodo]'I don't want to answer a string of questions while I am eating. I want to think.'
'Good heavens!' said Pippin. 'At breakfast?'

Despite the movement and action of this passage of the story, there is a good deal of dialogue - which I enjoy very much. The short cuts... proverb and its extension to inns is nice. Have any of you ever heard the 'short cuts' proverb in real life, or did Tolkien make it up?

The "Ho! Ho! Ho!" poem is used in the movie, in an inn scene, though the words actually do not fit that context. They seem to be custom-made for the situation in which the three Hobbits find themselves at that moment.

We have two cases of misleading identification of friends as foes - Frodo's perception of Farmer Maggot, and Merry's figure as seen in the fog. That provides suspense, especially for first-time readers.

The Hobbit surname 'Puddifoot' reminds me of C. S. Lewis' Marsh-wiggle in the Narnia books.

By the way, the Reader's Companion mentions a comment written by Tolkien in a draft for a letter (Letters #297) concerning the relationship between Sam and Frodo:

...as having the status of one who serves a legitimate master, but the spirit of a friend (if not an equal).

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

I must say this chapter is just great and I always have the urge to go on a trip when reading this one (the same with the previous chapter - though there it has to be a nightly trip, while this time it has to be "through ").

Concerning the dialogue in this chapter, I must agree with you, Esty, that it is great and amusing from beginning to the end - in fact, this chapter is full of jokes, even the final revelation of Merry as the mysterious rider is a heart-lifting joke. The whole conversation between Pippin and Frodo at the beginning is very funny, it's one of the funniest parts of the book I remember.

Another interesting quote is Farmer Maggot's

You should never have gone mixing yourself up with Hobbiton folk, Mr. Frodo. Folk are queer up there.

Which is total contradiction, or rather: a copy of the opinion of the Hobbiton folk on the Bucklanders, only with reversed subjects - we read the very same thing at the beginning of the book from Gaffer. It nicely shows the opinions of people from one place on "the others", and it's all the same wherever you are.

The short cuts... proverb and its extension to inns is nice. Have any of you ever heard the 'short cuts' proverb in real life, or did Tolkien make it up?

I hereby call the English members to help us answer this one. I can contribute a bit by a Czech saying, which is not even a regular proverb, more like a joke you say in reply when someone asks you if you don't know about a shortcut: "Yes, I know one - it's a little longer, but on the other hand it's more dangerous."

And now the last thing that I immediately noted down "You have to ask this one when you post up there". Please follow.

Two of Maggot's sons and his three daughters came in, and a generous supper was laid on the large table. The kitchen was lit with candles and the fire was mended. Mrs. Maggot hustled in and out. One or two other hobbits belonging to the farm-household came in. In a short while fourteen sat down to eat.

Count with me, please. Frodo, Sam, and Pippin - that's three. Farmer Maggot and his wife - that makes five. Two sons and three daughters make another five, so we are on ten people now. One or two other hobbits - that's eleven or twelve. "In a short while fourteen sat down to eat." Okay, just asking - is that intentional? I realise it's not that apparent in original, but in Czech it plainly says "two other hobbits". But the number fourteen immediately reminded me of another occassion with dubious welcome, dinner and miscounting - Queer Lodgings. "Twelve isn't fifteen", resp. in this case "twelve isn't fourteen, the reader should know that much!" And the words "one or two other hobbits..." remind me of "I was coming over the mountains with a friend or two..." Maybe hadn't it been for the plainly-seeming translation, I wouldn't have noticed; but still - do you think there was any intention behind this? Or anything that was supposed to connect the scenes of being welcomed by Farmer Maggot and Beorn? Most curious.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

You know what, Legate? I'd never noticed this passage in detail before, but this time when I read it I started counting as well!! I looked at the sentence more closely and deducted from it that the Maggots have more than two sons. After all, "his three daughters" denotes that that's all of them, while "two of Maggot's sons" implies that there are more. Depending on whether it was "one or two" other Hobbits (farmhands, I would guess) that would mean two or three more sons. Considering the size of Hobbit families, seven or eight children is not improbable. The uncertainty whether the people were farmhands or (grown-up) children could have easily come from the bewildering crowd that was there all at once.

Darn, now that we've explained the possibilities, we can't use this as a quiz question!

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Ah, good spot with the sons. That would explain a lot.

But, anyway, when I read the part again it is somewhat hazy. The author must have known what he's writing. Why count up all the people so carefully when in the end the author skips the arrival of the rest? It looks like there is something missing at least. We are told what the sons did, what the daughters did, what Mrs. Maggot did, what the farmhands did, and then we are told that "all fourteen", as if their identities were something already known to us, sat down to the table. Yet we know only about eleven or twelve of them. You know what I mean? It is as if I said "In the room there was an old woman sewing, two boys fighting and then all six of them greeted me." Yes, in the Maggots' case we can at least deduce, as you did, that the missing ones could have been Maggot's sons - but anyway, it's odd at least.

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

Darn, now that we've explained the possibilities, we can't use this as a quiz question!

Surely not everyone will read this... and if necessary, I can always edit the post

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Tolkien also mentions the Maggot family in one of his other works - the poem "Tom Goes Boating", in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. Maggot approaches Tom with his pony cart and they greet each other with the humorous contempt that only good friends can express. Tom calls Maggot "Muddy-feet", which sounds very similar to "Puddifoot". Besides reading that the two of them sat up long exchanging news of the area and the wide world, we also find that the daughters danced the Springle-ring - as far as I know, the only time aside from Bilbo's Birthday Party where that dance is mentioned.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

Besides reading that the two of them sat up long exchanging news of the area and the wide world, we also find that the daughters danced the Springle-ring - as far as I know, the only time aside from Bilbo's Birthday Party where that dance is mentioned.

The recent book Ring of Words has an entry for 'Springle-ring'. It states that the Oxford English Dictionary has no entry for Springle-ring, but it does mention an 18-19th century word 'springle' meaning ' a young man, youth or stripling'. They mention it could be a learned joke as 'springle/springald' has a meaning similar to 'halfling' - which is a Northern English/Scots word meaning 'one not fully grown; about the age of 15.'

[Thinlómien]

Fourteen, you say? Frodo, Sam & Pippin + Mr & Mrs Maggot + three daughters + two sons + one farmhand + three dogs. Makes sense, doesn't it?

A bit more seriously though, I always liked this chapter as well. While other posters on this thread have mainly considered it a humorous chapter, I must say I think it is partly one of the scariest in the book.

I mean, look at these quotes:

Ho! Ho! Ho! they began again louder. They stopped short suddenly. Frodo sprang to his feet. A long-drawn wail came down the wind, like the cry of some evil and lonely creature. It rose and fell, and ended on a high piercing note. Even as they sat and stood, as if suddenly frozen, it was answered by another cry, fainter and further off, but no less chilling to the blood. There was then a silence, broken only by the sound of the wind in the leaves.

"It was not bird or beast," said Frodo. "It was a call, or a signal - there were words in that cry, though I could not catch them. But no hobbit has such a voice."

Every time I read them, they just make a chill run down my spine. They must be among the creepiest passages in the whole book.

Also, the episode of Merry The Black Rider is very scary. I remember when my father read LotR aloud to me and my little sister when we were about 6 and 4 years old and that passage was simply horror. I was sure the Black Riders had finally found them and I was so relieved when it turned out that the rider was Merry. The passage is very impressive - especially as when something is read aloud to you, you can't even accidentally see the next phrases that reveal the truth.