Fell Winter

[rabidsamfan]

December

At first the snows were welcome, a playworld for Bilbo and the other newly-minted tweens. Never had even the gaffers known such deep and glorious drifts. There wasn't a smial in all Hobbiton that month which wasn't thick with the fug of drying mittens and scorched wool; and the lads and lasses scarcely did more than turn up for their suppers before running out again into the changeling world. They built the most marvelous snow forts and refought the Battle of the Green Fields, beheading snowgoblins and squabbling happily over who got to be the Bullroarer for the next round.

January

The sickness started soon after Yule, as if it had been waiting for the visits and gatherings to touch as many folk as possible before showing its colors. Within a week half the village was coughing, and Bilbo was kept busy running baskets of herbs and honey around for his mother and helping his father move the woodpile into an inside storage room to save digging through the snow. He knew that his parents were worried. They'd worried before -- but this time was different somehow, and he sang silly nonsense songs as he worked to keep from thinking about why.

Comments

[periantari.livejournal.com]

These are lovely~ i love the idea of looking at different times during Bilbo's life. The second one is especially great i thought. =) really love the singing nonsense songs to keep from asking why... too often we ask why and that's a question that can hardly be explainable in tragedies... :*(

very nice~ i'm glad to see you drabbling again. =)

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to try drabbling again. Can you tell that I was amusing myself by flipping through The Hobbit?

[periantari.livejournal.com]

sounds like a good idea =) I should reread Hobbit again sometime soon. =)

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

Very nice! I can echo what Peri said above...That last line was especially perfect.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm working on it.

[lame-pegasus.livejournal.com]

Very good - the first time I ever read a little bit more about this time in Bilbo's life was in The Legacy by Anglachel. And it is interesting and very touching to see him as a child - not as the good-natured, clever bachelor he's normally portrayed. Thank you!

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for aiming me at that story. I read it all today and really enjoyed it.

[lame-pegasus.livejournal.com]

Wow! You read the whole monster at once? Reminds me that I still have to translate the last chapter.... But you're right - it's one of my All-Time-Favorites, and her characterization of Bilbo is brilliant - strong, wise, courageous and clever. And a wonderful portrait of Frodo!

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I printed it out and read it in the bathtub. The water got quite cool by time I was done, believe me!

I'd encountered the essay she references before, and I have to admit it's influenced the way I see the Fell Winter on the whole. A sudden drop in population in the Shire when Bilbo was twenty one would explain, among other things, why a comfortably well-off hobbit, whose father had built the most magnificent smial for miles around, does his own washing up when he is fifty.

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

The strings of words are just excellent. I loved to read something about Bilbo's teenagehood.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Not nearly so prosy as he thought he was...

*wink*

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

You know how much I love hobbit life stories, and hey, Bilbo!

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. I'm trying to think up the next pair.

[ansostuff.livejournal.com]

A lvoely glimpse into Bilbo`s youth! :)

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm still thinking on it, too.

[melilot-hill.livejournal.com]

This is really lovely :-)

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[danachan.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is nice, very nice.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Thank you! *bows*

[dreamflower]

I love this! I remember noticing the other day while perusing the family tree that Bilbo would have been a youngster during the Fell Winter, and wondering what his reactions would have been to it...

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

He was twenty one. And since I use the 7 to 11 rule, that puts him equivalent to nearly fourteen.

Thanks!

[dreamflower]

Yep. That's the formula I use as well.

[mariole.livejournal.com]

Ah, December so reminds me of my childhood in Minnesota. Lovely!

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I'm unreasonably amused that you ended up reading these backwards... but glad you enjoyed them anyway!

I remember a couple of storms in Denver and Omaha when I was a kid that were sheer joy once we got outside to play...