LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 04 – A Short Cut to Mushrooms

[Kuruharan]

I think that Gorwingel and HerenIstarion have mentioned (or linked to) something that is worthy of further discussion.

And then another part that stood out to me is the entire part (which is also mentioned above), where Maggot tells Frodo that he should have never associated himself with the "Hobbiton folk". Basically telling him that him moving there is the source of all of his problems. And even though he is partly right, this stood out because to me it's a very hobbitish response. He is not looking that his problems could have came from the world around them, he is saying that the problems came from the hobbits that he didn't know very much, again reinforcing the fact that the hobbits tend to mistrust strangers.

Farmer Maggot is not the hobbit from whom we would expect such insular thinking. Of all the hobbits in the Shire he is probably one who has some of the broadest experience. He’s even friends with Tom Bombadil for goodness sake, and how many people can claim that!? As we will see, Tom had highly complementary things to say about Maggot, aside from Tolkien developing their friendship elsewhere.

Why would Tolkien have Maggot say the things that he said? Was Tolkien trying to reinforce the typical hobbit way of thinking through this atypical hobbit or was there something else going on there?

[Bombadil]

Very ironic indeed. Up to the line Maggot uses,

'You should never have gone mixing yourself up with Hobbiton folk, Mr. Frodo. Folk are queer up there.'

I don't believe he proved himself as of yet. In that I mean as an extraordinary hobbit. He was very generous, but he also knew Merry and Pippin. Bilbo (although extraordinary) took 13 dwarves into his home without question-well not explicitly at least. Therefore I would think re-readers of the book would question such a thing, knowing at that point his personality. But was it meant to be pondered when his extraordinary character and deeds came after this talk?

One more thing I'd like to point out is Maggot's description of the black rider:

'But this fellow was the most outlandish I have ever set eyes on.'

Perhaps i'm over-analyzing, but that is a very hobbit-like characteristic. Of associating those past their borders as queer. I'm guessing the black rider was the most extreme thing he had ever seen, and to describe that he called it 'the most outlandish.'

Before his friendship with Bombadil is known, and his deed of carting the hobbits to the ferry, is he really any different than a normal hobbit?

[Legolas]

Bilbo (although extraordinary) took 13 dwarves into his home without question-well not explicitly at least.

Maybe he hasn't proved himself entirely yet, but his deed measures up and exceeds Bilbo's of bringing in the dwarves. The circumstances were very different - in Bilbo's time, there was no talk of dangerous Black Riders about. Further, Maggot actually spoke with the Rider. The Rider asked “Have you seen Baggins?”; Maggot still accepts Frodo into his home knowing that he is putting himself in the potential line of danger.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Fordim

I rather suspect that Tolkien spelled it that way not because it was old and archaic the way that "thees" and "thous" are (that is, nobody uses them anymore), but because it was how the word was spelled in his own childhood in the part of the world he grew up in.

As a Yorkshireman I can't let this pass! thee, thine, thou (usually contracted to tha') are still common in Yorkshire dialect, as are middle english words like 'lake'/'laking' = play/playing. ('That's thine, tha' 'nus' = 'That's your's, you know'. 'Gi' o'er lakin' abaht' = 'Give over (stop) playing around')

Not perhaps a trivial point given Tolkien's interest in the way language both changes & survives over periods.

On to the 'loneliness' of the nazgul. One thing that I find interesting in Tolkien is that names have meanings - every place & personal name means something, & often has a story attatched, a history. We only know two of the nazgul the Witch King of Angmar, & Khamul (&isn't Khamul a title) Do any of them still have personal names, or have they gone the way of the Mouth of Sauron? If they have no names, they have no lifestory, no personal history, no memories - were they married, did they have children? We'll never know about most of them, & we have very little knowledge about the Witch King - ironically, his enemies probably know more about him than he does himself. Imagine having no identity, no past, being simply driven by the will of Sauron. I wonder if the terror they inspire in others is perhaps down to those others catching some kind of glimpse into what it is to be a Nazgul. When you encounter a nazgul, its like looking suddenly into nothingness.

[Osse]

<shudder>

Good speculations dav...

Farmer Maggot knew that he was probably putting himself in some danger by harbouring the other hobbits, yet he could not possibly fathom how much, nor how terrible. Maggot was willing to "see off" the 'men', with his dogs and his axe!

I wonder if he'd still have been willing to help if he had known the peril he was in. I'd say probably yes. Rather than see the four hobbits face that peril alone, he'd try and help. But perhaps if he knew the real threat, things would not have gone as well!

[Boromir88]

Osse,

I believe the Farmer, if he knew the full peril, probably still would have helped. Maggot said something like "I'll send off those riders, I'll tell them you're dead...I'll protect you." So, for me I believe he would have helped out, but he wouldn't have been much help. If the riders found out Maggot was "harbouring" them Maggot would have been no match for ONE RIDER!!! Farmer Maggot did his job and helped out the hobbits in whatever way he could, I can ask no more for him.

[The Saucepan Man]

While Maggot could have no way of knowing the true nature of the Black Rider, he nevertheless does show great bravery in light of the facts that he does know.

He is faced with an imposing black-cloaked fellow on horseback. His normally fearsome dogs have just sloped off in terror. It must have been clear to him that this fellow could do him great harm if he chose to. And yet he gives him short shrift, telling him to clear off. And when the Rider asks him to tell him if he sees "Baggins", tempting him with the promise of gold, Maggot makes clear that he will not do so.

It is to Farmer Maggot's great credit that, at great risk to himself, he offers the Hobbits shelter and drives them to the Buckleberry Ferry. Combined with Gaffer Gamgee's similar steadfastness in the previous chapter and Sam's resolve to stick with Frodo whatever the danger, this is real evidence of what we were told in the Prologue about Hobbits being "tough" and "difficult to daunt". We are beginning to get a good idea of the great courage that these small folk are capable of, and which will come to characterise them later on, Sam in particular.

On another subject, has anyone else noticed the recurring theme of nurturing and protective trees? In the previous chapter, they make camp on the first night in a patch of fir wood, within the "deep resin-scented darkness of the trees". The next day, they take a meal inside "the huge hulk" of a hollow but living tree. And they spend the second night with the Elves in a "wide space like a hall, roofed by the boughs of trees". Then, this chapter opens with Frodo having slept in a bower:

... made by a living tree with branches laced and drooping to the ground; his bed was of fern and grass, deep and soft and strangely fragrant. The sun was shining through the fluttering leaves, which were still green upon the tree.

And later, when they take lunch, they shelter from the rain beneath an elm tree. Indeed, the belt of trees provides cover for them from the Black Riders and they feel afraid at first when they leave its shelter.

Not surprising I suppose, given Tolkien's love of trees, but the extent to which they are used as a device to provide the Hobbits with rest, shelter and safety in these two chapters rather struck me (and is a precursor to the safe haven provided by the forest of Lothlorien).

Of course, some of them will find themselves inside another tree in two chapter's time, although one of an altogether different nature ...

Finally, two words that struck me as interesting:

The kitchen was lit with candles and the fire was mended.

and

Mrs. Maggot will be worriting with the night getting thick.

I like the idea of a fire being mended, since it suggests that its natural state is alight and that it is somehow "broken" when extinguished. And "worriting" is just a great word: one which I now intend to make great use of.