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

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Ah, good spot with the sons. That would explain a lot.

But, anyway, when I read the part again it is somewhat hazy. The author must have known what he's writing. Why count up all the people so carefully when in the end the author skips the arrival of the rest? It looks like there is something missing at least. We are told what the sons did, what the daughters did, what Mrs. Maggot did, what the farmhands did, and then we are told that "all fourteen", as if their identities were something already known to us, sat down to the table. Yet we know only about eleven or twelve of them. You know what I mean? It is as if I said "In the room there was an old woman sewing, two boys fighting and then all six of them greeted me." Yes, in the Maggots' case we can at least deduce, as you did, that the missing ones could have been Maggot's sons - but anyway, it's odd at least.

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

Darn, now that we've explained the possibilities, we can't use this as a quiz question!

Surely not everyone will read this... and if necessary, I can always edit the post