Disclaimer: I own nothing Tolkien. I’ll put the characters back safely, I promise!

Bedtime Stories, Wizards, and Magic

By Elendiari

 

Elanor Gamgee sat by the fireplace in her nightdress, twirling a lock of her long golden hair. Her parents, and their guests, Mr. Meriadoc Brandybuck and Mr. Peregrin Took-Uncles Merry and Pippin-were laughing over a joke that she had not understood. Seeing her puzzled face, Rosie ruffled her hair.

     “There now, love, shall we tell you a bedtime story before we send you off to bed?”

     Elanor nodded. “Yes, please. Make it a good and long one!”

     Pippin grinned at her. “I’ve got one for you, Elanor. It features your dear old dad, too.”

    “And which one would that be?” snapped Sam. “I’ve learned all of your tales by now, Pippin; it had better not be bad.”

     Pippin smiled and gestured for Elanor to sit down next to her mum. When Rosie was holding her in her lap, he settled back, and bit his pipe stem for a moment, trying to think how to begin. Suddenly, Merry straightened up and said, “Pippin, are you going to tell her about Frodo’s first meeting with Gandalf?”

      “Yes, I am,” stated Pippin, as Sam choked on his tea. “It is the oddest tale I know.”

    Sam snorted. “I daresay Ellie would be amused enough by some of your escapes. No need to slander Mr. Frodo’s name.”

      “I most certainly am not going to slander Frodo’s good name. I am simply going to tell Elanor about the first time he met Gandalf,” Pippin said.

    Merry was snickering, but Rosie looked confused, and Elanor fascinated. “Tell me,” she insisted, her voice loud.

      “Shh,” Rose soothed. “Mr. Pippin will tell us in his own time.”

      “If you’ll all kindly be quiet, I’ll tell her,” Pippin said.

     The Gamgee parlor fell silent, although Sam grumbled a bit under his breath. Pippin put his pipe out and began.

     “You know who Frodo Baggins is, Elanor.”

     “Yes, he saved Middle Earth for us,” Elanor replied.

     “Yes, he did. Now, old Bilbo Baggins adopted Frodo when he was a young lad. Frodo came here to live at Bag End right before his birthday, in late September. He and Bilbo lived in peace and quiet for several months, until Yuletide came. Then, late one evening, as Frodo was getting ready for bed, there came a knock at the door.

     “Bilbo went to open it, and who should come into Bag End’s front hall but the wizard Gandalf! Bilbo was very happy to see him, of course, as they were good friends, but Frodo was very shy. He had never seen a wizard before, and Gandalf was a very tall wizard.”

     “Taller than you and Uncle Merry?” queried Elanor.

    “Yes, much taller. He looked around and saw Frodo peering around the corner of his door, and smiled.

     ‘Bilbo, I see you have company already. Are you sure that this lad won’t eat you out of house and home?’ Gandalf asked.

     ‘Quite sure,’ laughed Bilbo, taking the wizard’s hat and staff and putting them away. ‘My dear Gandalf, this is my young cousin, Frodo Baggins, come to live with me.’

      “Gandalf towered over Frodo, so that he cowered shyly by his door. “Well, I’m pleased to meet you, my boy.’ He said, and straightened up. ‘Bilbo, I have some things in my cart that I must bring in myself. Things that I don’t want anyone to see.’

   “He gave Bilbo a funny look, and wouldn’t you know, Frodo got a funny feeling in his stomach, like there would be trouble brewing. So, early the next morning, he went out to the garden to wait for your dad and the gaffer.”

        “Aye, here we go,” sighed Sam. “Who told you this tale, anyway?”

      “Bilbo did,” replied Pippin. “When I saw him soon after. He had the whole thing straight from Gandalf, too. But to continue. As soon as Frodo saw your dad, Elanor, he ran to him to tell him that there was a wizard in the house, and that he had something hidden in his room that he didn’t want anyone to see. Frodo had the suspicion that Gandalf, for all that he was Bilbo’s friend, didn’t like the idea of him living at Bag End. He thought that maybe Gandalf was going to try to get rid of him.”

     “Would he send him to the Lonely Mountain?” Elanor asked, enthralled.

    Pippin grinned mysteriously as Sam writhed in his chair, red faced. “You’ll find out. Anyway, Frodo and Sam knew that they could not allow Gandalf to hurt anyone, and so decided that Frodo would sneak into Gandalf’s room and find the mysterious object while Sam made a distraction.”

       “What’s a distraction?” interrupted Elanor.

       “It’s what you’re doing to Mr. Pippin right now,” scolded Rosie. “Keeping him from telling his tale. Go on, then.”

        “Later in the afternoon, Bilbo ran down to the market, and the two lads saw their chance. No need to be so embarrassed, Sam, we were all young once. Anyway, Gandalf was in the kitchen, drinking tea and smoking his pipe. Frodo snuck back into Bag End through his bedroom window, but Sam walked boldly into the kitchen and sat right down next to Gandalf.

      “‘Hello, sir,” he said. “Are you coming to stay for Yule?’

        ‘Why, yes, I am,’ replied Gandalf, a little curious, but guessing who the lad was. ‘And speaking of Yule, have you seen Frodo hereabouts? I have something to give him.’

        “Well, of course, your dad was all shaken up, thinking that Gandalf was going to turn Frodo into a frog, or maybe even a goose, and have him carved up for dinner. Wizards could do such a thing to folk, if they wished. He opened his mouth to say that, no, he hadn’t seen Frodo, when there was a loud crash from the back of the house. Gandalf jumped up and ran from the room, and Sam followed him.

      “They found Frodo in the big guest room in the back of the house, the one with the man-sized furniture, which Gandalf was using. He was completely covered in black powder, and a bright green canister lay open at his feet. Well, Gandalf gave a strangled cry, and seized him by the neck. Then he ran all the way down the hall with Frodo yelling under his arm, and Sam behind him, trying to think of ways to save Frodo. They all ran outside, and Gandalf set Frodo down in the snow.

     “ ‘Get all that black powder off, my boy, or it will be the end of you!’ he thundered, rubbing snow into Frodo’s face and clothes.

     “ ‘Get off him!’ Sam shouted. He came up to them both, holding a broom. ‘Or I’ll have you, wizard or no!’

     “Well, Gandalf looked from the terrified Frodo to the angry Sam, and sat down, holding his hands up. ‘All right, I surrender,’ he said. ‘I just want to save the lad from being blown up, Master Samwise.’

       “ ‘B-blown up? If you don’t want to blow us up, then why did you have this stuff in Bag End?’ Frodo asked, now more curious than afraid.

    “ ‘Because I was going to save it for Yule,’ Gandalf said patiently. ‘They look very nice in the evening, you see.’

    “ ‘You can’t blow Mr. Frodo up!’ snapped Sam. ‘You’ll have to blow me up, too, if you do.’

    “Gandalf looked at the two lads in amazement. ‘Good gracious, what makes you think that I am going to blow you up?’

    “ ‘You told Bilbo that you had something that you didn’t want anyone to see,’ Frodo said. ‘And I thought that it was something to get rid of me, because you didn’t like me.’

    “Well, the whole misunderstanding was fixed in a moment. Sam and Gandalf, of course, got the mess cleaned up while Frodo washed the strange powder off-he didn’t want to blow up, after all-and when Bilbo came back, they were all sitting in the kitchen, ready for tea. They had it, and later on, Gandalf told your dad that he should keep as good an eye on Frodo in the future as he had that afternoon. Which, of course, he did. Oh, and they set off the rest of the fireworks on the night before Yuletide.”

     Pippin, finished with his tale, sat back in his seat and surveyed the group. Elanor was giggling with glee, and Rosie’s eyes were shining.

       “Good for you, Sam,” she said. “I don’t know why you’re embarrassed for helping Mr. Frodo.”

        Sam was, indeed, blushing, although he looked gratified by Rose’s praise. After all, no one likes to be reminded of mad misadventures that they had in the past.

      “That was wonderful! Were the fireworks nice, Daddy?” Elanor demanded.

     Sam smiled at her, and took her from Rose. “Yes, they exploded in stars of blue and green, and in big flowers, too. I wish you could have seen them.”

      Elanor nodded, yawning, and Sam took her off to bed. Merry turned to Pippin and smacked him upside the head. “Careful, Pip,” he said. “You don’t want to get into a Gamgees’ bad graces.”

     Pippin just rolled his eyes. “It’s payment, my dear Merry, for all the tales all of you told about me on the Quest. Just wait until you have children.”

     Merry sat back, alarmed. He would have to be extra nice to Pippin for a while…