Well, before we all turn into Fox Hornblower let me interject a little bit of the sort of analytical analysis favoured by Chica Chubb.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by davem's find
Once upon a moon on the brink of June
a-dewing the lintips went too soon
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Now why is it "too soon" that they went? Was there a consequence for their bad timing? Were they in fact 'uncloaked' by Tom by this untimely appearance, such that, having once been seen, they were rendered invisible and so never more heard of in Hobbit lore? After all, Tom doesn't seem terribly frightened of them or by them.
As for the word
lintips, there's nothing in the OED to match it. But then, neither is
mewlip to be found in the OED. (Unless both are included in the most recent editions of the OED.) There is, however, one most interesting medieval word.
Quoting a text from 1423, the OED records the word
Lintworm, also spelt
Lyntewormes, from MHG. Unusually for the recondite academic research of this famed dictionary, the meaning is rendered but tentatively, preceeded by a question mark. The meaning is "A figure of a dragon." Yes, that's right. Dragon.
So what was in the "star winks" or "moon slide"? Was Tom, He who is First, witness to the sub-creation of dragons, little dragonets? And was Tom in his playfulness unable to see, appreciate, understand the terrible marring that Melkor was making? Did dragons smell like rodents?
I myself find it difficult to believe that Melkor could be more powerful than Tom. Almost prefer to think that Tom was engaged in chasing down pixielint or toejam.
Now, if any of you think that I am once again
being extreme or too serious, well, I simply resign myself to the fact that reading is a dangerous business.