[Fairleaf]

The Chubbs encounter Miz Bella’s notice

Little Daisy Chubb was delighted by the music. Her father, Wilfrid, had come into Bywater to sell some of the fine wool from their sheep. It had been a generous shearing this Spring with several extra bales. Marigold, Daisy’s mother, had scoured the wool, and half of it she had carded and combed and spun into yarn. All of it, the worked and unworked wool had fetched a good price and now the little family was celebrating at the Inn.

Daisy’s younger brother, Reginard, was there at the edge of the band’s little stage area with his sister, clapping and dancing along to the story of Old Dan and his fiddle. He was five with dark brown curls and hazel eyes, while his sister, with her auburn curls and dark brown eyes had reached the notable age of nine. Notable at least to Reginard, or Reggie as he was mostly called, because he was always amazed by her. She knew so much and so many fun things to do. And didn’t she stand up for him when he got in some sort of a scrape.

‘Can we get some cake?’ asked Reggie, watching as the server who’d brought out the slices was now disappearing into the kitchen with her empty tray. ‘And a cup of cider, too!’ he added, looking at the empty mug in his hand. ‘Can we? Can we?’ he chanted, hopping from one foot to the other.

Daisy placed her hand on her brother’s shoulder to quiet him down. ‘Now what have I told you, Reggie,’ she asked. He screwed up his little face, thinking, then shrugged his shoulders. ‘It’s “MAY we”, not “can we”,’ she went on. ‘That’s the magic word, remember?’

He hopped up and down a grin on his face, holding his cup out to her as he sing-songed ‘may . . . may . . . may . . . may . . . may we?’ With a laugh, she spun him about and fetched the empty cup from his chubby little fingers. ‘Oh, come on then!’ she cried grabbing his hand to pull him toward the kitchen door. ‘We’ll just see if there’s any cake left and find us a little cider to go with it.’ She glanced up quickly and waved to her parents who were sitting across the room. Some friends had joined them it seemed. Daisy’s mother waved and smiled back then returned to her conversation.

Near the entry to the kitchen, Daisy spied a notice pinned up on the hook. It was printed in a fine hand and she puzzled over it, not able to decipher a number of the words. Her mother had taught her some letters and numbers, saying that when she married a farmer, she would have need of them for keeping the ‘accounts’. Her mother had shown her the accounts’ book written in her plain, bold hand. Not much to it really, Daisy thought. Names of vegetables and animals and wool sold on one side and what was gotten for them on the other. Ordinary things. None too exciting.

But this was different, she thought, as she murmured the sounds of the letters and tried putting them together. She saw the words ‘Green Dragon’, that was easy enough as she recognized it from the sign at the front of the Inn. And here was the word ‘tut – or’ and the word ‘dragon’ again, but now a bunch of them. Daisy grabbed hold of one of the older server’s sleeves and asked if she would read the notice to them. Buttercup, it was, who read it through. Daisy thanked her politely, asking if she might point out Miz Bella. There at a table with several other children was the older Hobbit lady.

Reggie pulled at his sister’s skirt and pointed insistently at the kitchen door. ‘Listen here, Reggie,’ Daisy said, picking him up and pointing toward the grey haired Hobbit. ‘She’s some sort of teacher, I think. And she knows all about dragons, and ships on the sea, and Elves and such. Lots of grand stories, I’m thinking. Let’s go see if she’ll tell us one.’ Reggie was torn, but in the end the two had come to a compromise. Daisy would fetch him a plate of cake and a cider and he would come see Miz Bella with her.

Bella was talking to the children’s mother when Daisy and Reggie drew up near her. They hovered by her elbow as she spoke, then as she grew quiet waiting for a response to her offer, Reggie, not one to wait patiently for long, piped up with a question of his own.

‘Can we come to school and hear about dragons, Miz? Can we?’ He felt a small shove at his shoulder. Blushing, he took a deep breath and began again. ‘MAY we?’ he asked, grinning up at Bella. ‘We like dragon stories. My sister and I. We like them a lot!’