Amy Sturgis reminds us that today is the birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, and she gives us this delightful passage about Frodo’s friend Sam Gamgee, who departed the Shire today:
Wild fantasies arose in his mind; and he saw Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age, striding with a flaming sword across the darkened land, and armies flocking to his call as he marched to the overthrow of Barad-dûr. And then all the clouds rolled away, and the white sun shone, and at his command the vale of Gorgoroth became a garden of flowers and trees and brought forth fruit. He had only to put on the Ring and claim it for his own, and all this could be. In that hour of trial it was the love of his master that helped most to hold him firm; but also deep down in him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden, even if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray him. The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.
The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due
Though Sam does later serve as Mayor of the Shire for almost fifty years, so he’s not quite as humble as all that.Report
@Mike Schilling,
They should have term-limited him, the scoundrel. A Long-Expected Tea Party, perhaps?Report
@Jason Kuznicki,
Thread victory.Report
They were born on September 22? Gregorian or Julian calendar? Does this imply Middle-Earth had a Roman and/or Papist past?Report
Obviously, not enough Americans have studied Tolkien with the aid of cannabis.Report
@Larry Signor, I take serious exception to that, Mr. Signor.Report
@Will, Sir, that really does not surprise me.Report