Ponderables

[rabidsamfan]

If hobbits don't wear shoes or boots (except in rare instances) then why on earth does Sam sing about big Boots in the Troll Song, and why does he pack woolen hose?

And when Sam puts the Ring on and chases after the Orcs when they take Frodo, when does he take it off again? How many minutes/hours does Sam wear that thing, actually, and where was Gollum all that long time?

Why is it that I've never run across even one fic so far where Frodo starts out on the Quest properly hobbit-shaped, i.e. tubby in the tummy? And what happened to those rosy cheeks that Gandalf told Barliman about? Well, no I actually know the answers, don't I...

Comments

Re: Sam's troll-song

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Given the natural restriction I think most of us would assume against growing crops on graves and the general food needs of hobbits, whether the burial grounds were churchyards or not I'd expect them to be of limited size -- particularly if they are near enough to villages for the kind of small visits relations might make to the grave of a beloved elder. The English had plenty of woodland if they'd been inclined to place graves higgledy piggledy across the countryside too.

Authentic folklore tends to include a lot of details more genteel literature does not -- well, except for Chaucer, who still put the farts and crudities into the voices of the lower classes...