This was originally written for Marigold's story challenge, and the original posting can be found here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/talechallenge01/2815.html#cutid1

Disclaimer:  Lord of the Rings is not mine, and I'm making no money off of this (and alas, I do not own any Gamgees).

Why My Dad is a Hero

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My dad saved the world, but he'd never tell you that.

The Big Folk away in the south treat my dad like he's a prince, but he never thought they needed to.  Two kings have bowed to my dad, no matter how much he told them not to.  If someone started talking about all the great things he did, he'd just blush and say, "A job needed doin', and so I did it as best I could.  Nothin' heroic about that."

My dad's plenty smart, and he'd never tell a lie, but I just don't believe him when he says he's not a hero.

Most every hobbit in the Shire is nice to my dad, and would never say a word against him, but I don't think he notices.  Mum says he's just never had a mind to feel important, even when the King himself thinks of him as a good, wise friend.

Mr. Pippin says that my dad would be horrified if anyone told him he was a hero, so it's best to just keep it a secret from him.  I suppose Mr. Pippin's right about that, but it's not easy for me.  Sometimes, when I hear my dad reading from the Red Book about all the things that he did, I want to run up to him and throw my arms about him and declare in my proudest voice that he's the best hero there ever was.

But I know what my dad would say to that.  "Heavens, lad, don' go overlookin' those folk who did so much more than I!  What about that King livin' in the south?  He makes a far greater hero than I do.  And certainly don' forget the hobbit you were named after."

My dad will always say that Mr. Frodo Baggins was the greatest hobbit that ever lived, greater even than Mr. Merry or Mr. Pippin.  And since I know how wise my dad is, I believe that Frodo Baggins was a fine hobbit indeed.

But I don't think I can ever think that he's the greatest hobbit to ever live.

My dad went up against all kinds of terrible things:  wraiths and orcs and a horrid spider.  He carried the Ringbearer up that mountain, and he stood by his master even when Mr. Frodo couldn't do what they'd set out to do.  He was in the middle of it all when the world nearly ended, but he helped to keep the world going, and that's why the Big Folk praise him so.

I love to hear those tales.  I love to sit at my dad's feet and listen to him reading from the Red Book about everything that happened to him all those years ago.  I love it when he pulls me into his lap and helps me to read along with him, and how he never scolds me when I get a word wrong.

My dad also wrote songs about that war, about what Mr. Frodo and Mr. Merry and Mr. Pippin did, and he'll sing them when he's out working in the garden.  He brings me and the other children out there to help him, and he'll sing those songs to us while he helps us tend to the flowers.  He never sings songs about what he did to save the world, though Mr. Merry said that there've been plenty written about him.  My dad says it'd be silly for him to sing about himself, and so he never has.

But my brothers and sisters and I, we don't mind if our dad doesn't sing about what he's done; because we know the tales well enough, and we know why the Big Folk think our dad is a hero.

My dad sometimes sings to me when I can't go to sleep at night; sometimes he'll tell me stories about the hobbit I was named for, and I'll gladly listen.  He says that the hobbit I was named for is the greatest hobbit there ever was, and that's all well and good.  But when my dad kisses the top of my head and holds me close and tells me he loves me, I know why my dad is a true hero.

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(In case it wasn't obvious, the narrator is a young hobbit by the name of Frodo Gamgee. :) )