LotR - Prologue

[Firefoot]

The Bree-hobbits claim to have been the first actual smokers of the pipe-weed. The claim, of course, to have done everything beore the people of the Shire, whom they refer to as "colonists"; but in this case their claim is, I think, likely to be true.

By the general tone of this section of the prologue, I do not get the impression of hobbits being liars. It has always seemed to me that hobbits from Bree and the Shire have a sort of friendly "competition". Here you see the Bree-landers refer to the Shire hobbits as "colonists" and yet in "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony" Shire folk refer to Bree hobbits as "outsiders". Then there is the "Sure as Shire-talk" and "News from Bree" quote, which I can't seem to find. Being that this particular information is (supposedly) being presented by Merry, it seems to me that rather than accusing them of being liars, per se, he is boosting up the Shire hobbits (Bree hobbits claim to have done everything before Shire hobbits) at the same time as giving credibility to the Bree hobbits for the smoking of pipe-weed.

And maybe this is just because I have a problem with lying hobbits...