OK, Bird, I've got it. I don't want to be one of the messengers (sorry). I want to be a "lost" hobbit. Actually, you and the Shire say I am lost but I personally do not think so.
First, I am modelling my hobbit on the figure of Trotter in "The Return of the Shadow." Actually I am his ancestor, A Fallohide and a descendent of the Tooks. Like my great-great-great -great etc. grandson Trotter, I have even visited Mordor which was then a deserted land! The hobbit messengers would have been sent out about 1610, and the Nazgul didn't get back to Mordor till the fortresses were deserted in about 1636
I am about 40 years old. I wear a coat with a hood that can be pulled down over my face. Like Trotter, I am fond of apples and pipe tobacco (but I don't wear wooden shoes--I draw the line there.) I am on my own out in the wilderness, very knowledgable about the lore of nature, and able to defend myself. (I mean I don't kill balrogs or anything, but I'm pretty good for a guy who is three foot, eight.) I don't have much use for books or learning, but I do have a good heart.
My job is to act as a kind of "ranger", keeping the hobbits out in the wilderness as safe as I can. I travel on my own, or with friends and allies as I need them. I deal freely with dwarves and men, and even an occasional Elf. And just try finding me! It's not so easy. After all, this wilderness is my home turf!
I am very suspicious about the whole idea of the Shire. Believe me, I'm no farmer! I may or may not come in the end, but I carry a great deal of influence with the other "lost hobbits" whom I protect. If I tell them it's a good thing, they'll listen to me (and you). If I tell them it's a bummer, they'll throw rocks at you.
(By the way, you DO know where Aragorn and his folks got the idea of rangers from???.....)
And are you absolutely certain that all the people in the Shire want to be innundated by these "rustic" outsiders? The leadership was willing and able, but I have my doubts about some of the others. Your written down shire history may be missing some critical points! I bet there would have been a few grumblers and dissenters who had their doubts. You know --the ancestors of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins!! Maybe one or two of the messengers sent out would actually have come from this dissident party---maybe they had to include these guys to win their approval and get their support.
Tolkien gives us a description of hobbits outside the Shire at the time of the Ring quest. Think how much more this would be true in the earlier period. And please note how the Shire felt about these "uncivilized" dudes.
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Not all the hobbits lived in the Shire by any means, but the Outsiders were a rustic, not to say (though in the Shire it was often said) uncivilized lot, and not held in much account. There were probably a good many more of them scattered about in the West of the world in those days than peope in the Shire imagined, though many were indeed no better than tramps or wanderers, ready to dig a rough hold in any bank, and stay only as long as it suited them The Return of the Shadow
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Oh, yeah, my real name is Peregrin Boffin (that's a secret!), but I only go by Perry.
Is this alright? sharon
[ August 26, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]