Fatty?

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is Tolkien’s

Summary: How exactly did Fredegar Bolger earn the name Fatty? A tale of young hobbits and insecurity. Written for Marigold’s challenge number four, in which I was asked to write a hobbit-centric story beginning with the line that was sent to me.

"Well we’re really in the frying pan now," Pippin Took said to his cousin Merry. Indeed they were in trouble. It all started at Merry’s birthday party…

*******

Fredegar Bolger was not always "Fatty." In fact, he was once unnaturally thin for a hobbit.

Come on, Fredegar, you need to eat before you waste away to nothing." Merry said to his guest, with only the kindest of intentions.

"The old gaffers and gammers are starting to talk, you know. It’s not right for a hobbit to eat as little as you do!" Pippin explained.

Fredegar did not show it, but he was truly hurt. What if he was abnormal? He resolved to eat more.

He really did eat. In fact, he kept eating. He ate so much that his parents started worrying about him. Then he went outside and cried. You must not think that Fredegar was oversensitive, for he really was not. This was just the proverbial "straw that broke the camel’s back." It seemed everyone was busy telling him to keep eating. He had no peace about it, and he felt like a freak.

It was there that Esmeralda Brandybuck found him. "What’s wrong, sweetie?" she smiled kindly.

Fredegar, being just young enough to be comforted like a child, cried in the kind hobbit’s arms and poured out the whole story.

"You aren’t abnormal: eat when you’re hungry, and until you’re full. Enjoy you’re meals, but don’t let the pressure get to you. Perhaps you were just designed to need a little less food."

Fredegar took comfort from the words, but still kept eating. In fact, he came to enjoy his meals immensely, and eat even more than the average hobbit.

******

"Too bad your mother made us wash all these dishes. Oh, well. At least Fredegar is eating more. Why, soon we’ll be able to call him Fatty!" Pippin said good-naturedly. So they did get "in the frying pan" with Merry’s mother, and had to scrub some frying pans, too. They learned to be more sensitive, while Fredegar learned to be less so. He really did become "Fatty," but he did not mind the light teasing, because he had learned his lesson well.