LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 04 – A Short Cut to Mushrooms - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Estelyn Telcontar · 02-02-2008, 01:45 PM

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!

02-02-2008, 01:45 PM	#33
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,500	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! __________________ 'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'