IHOP - The International House of Panacea

[Mnemosyne]

Originally Posted by alatar

When the hobbits reach Bree, Sam suggests that instead of the Prancing Pony that they find lodging amongst some local hobbit families. How would this arrangement work (though the accommodations be somewhat less than those found at the Last Homely House) ?

I imagine it'd be something rather like a homestay. Sam is banking on the idea of hobbit hospitality that existed within the Shire--hobbits may be insular but that doesn't mean you shouldn't take a guest in, even if he is from all of twenty miles away!

However, I have to wonder whether that same courtesy actually existed within the Breelands, where iller sorts of people prowled and not everyone was to be trusted to behave himself in someone else's home. No doubt Sam is thinking that hobbits are hobbits and that's enough to be able to trust someone else--especially if that someone is relatively familiar in a new setting.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Mnemosyne

No doubt Sam is thinking that hobbits are hobbits and that's enough to be able to trust someone else--especially if that someone is relatively familiar in a new setting.

The four of them probably could have found some lodging for a night or two at least. After all, the Shire hobbits were descended from the Breelanders, and that fact was commonly recognised.
Any chance of that would have been gone after Frodo's 'prank' with the Ring however. Even the Underhills from Staddle who had taken to Frodo had shunned him after that. News of that affair likely would have traveled fast.