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Not only does it seem fitting that various cultures of Middle-earth have these elements present, but it serves build a poignant link to our own. (And apparently a very real one, judging from the earlier posts.) Whether that is intentional, I won’t pretend to know. But hearing familiar sayings, though at times garbled, does make it seem to be more of a historical account, than fiction.
I am thinking of how today I hear the changes in sayings I remember from childhood. Having moved residence in the interval might account for some changes, but I can’t help but ascribe it to the growth of the living language over time, as well as over distance. It is only a little stretch to adopt these sayings as a predecessor of own.
On a light note though, Gandalf’s musing over the “Tall ships and tall kings, three times three” does recall trying to remember history in school. “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”
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